New York Post, Tuesday, August 6, 2019nypost.comRB
ALTIMORE — The Replace-
ments?
The Expendables?
The B-Team?
Forget it, I’m not any good at
nicknames. Someone smarter
than me (setting the bar low)
can come up with a handle for
the Yankees’ never-ending ar-
ray of guys fresh off the last
Bus From Nowhere who have
played a considerable role in
getting them Somewhere.
With each step forward, that
Somewhere feels more special.
Another lousy performance by
Masahiro Tanaka came with the
silver lining of a 9-6 Yankees vic-
tory over the terrible Orioles Mon-
day night, their sixth straight over-
all, as chants of “Let’s Go Yan-
kees!” reverberated throughout
Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Rookie Mike Ford delivered the
game-winning, tiebreaking homer,
a solo blast to right field off Ori-
oles southpaw Paul Fry, and three
batters batters later, reserve-
turned-stud Mike Tauchman — a
lefty batter like Ford — slammed
his second homer of the night,
both of them to the opposite field,
a two-run shot to give the Yankees’
bullpen some breathing room.
“When guys come up here, they
know they’re going to play,” Tauch-
man said afterwards. “They know
that the team is rolling. Culturally,
... when you’re here, you’re going to
be counted on and you have the
full support of the team, and it’s
just time to attack with a lot of
positivity and enthusiasm.”
“That’s been a theme for us all
year, you know?” Aaron Boone
said. “It can come from a lot of dif-
ferent places.”
Yes, we know. Given the flurry of
injuries they have overcome, it has
been hard not to notice. The same
goes for the Yankees’ American
League East lead, which grew to
nine games over the Rays.
The Yankees’ 6-1 lead came cour-
tesy of yet another under-the-radar
pickup, ninth hitter and second
baseman Breyvic Valera, who de-
livered a two-run triple in the Yan-
kees’ three-run fifth. And after
Tanaka and Tommy Kahnle teamed
in the bottom of the sixth to give
back their 6-1 advantage, the no-
names went right back to work.
Ford, an undrafted free agent
who returned to the team Saturday
when Edwin Encarnacion frac-
tured his right wrist, approached
his first career at-bat against Fry —
whom O’s manager Brandon Hyde
summoned for the at-bat, replacing
the more experienced Mychal Giv-
ens — with a strategy.
“I kind of stuck to my plan, waswaiting on one pitch and I got it,”
he said. That one pitch was a
slider, and it arrived — and hung
— at 1-1. Ford sent it over the wall
for the Yankees’ second lead of the
night. Tauchman, whom the Yan-
kees acquired back in March to
cover for Aaron
Hicks’ injury ab-
sence, followed
with his dinger —
with 32 homers at
this ballpark in
seven games this
season, the Yan-
kees set a record
for the most round-trippers by a
team in a road ballpark — and the
Yankees’ bullpen took care of the
rest.
The entirety of it might repre-
sent the best display of “Next man
up!” we’ve seen in professional
sports, and it would serve as cause
for a full party if not for the Yan-
kees’ continued worries in their
starting rotation. Tanaka gave upplenty of hard contact — eight ex-
tra-base hits, for crying out loud —
to the team that entered the night
with the 12th-best offense in the
American League. He now has an
11.57 ERA over his last four starts.
The Yankees have less than two
months to solve
their rotation
woes.
Consider the of-
fense, on the
other hand, al-
ready solved.
“I think it’s just,
give the organiza-
tion a lot of credit, just having guys
ready at all different levels, mainly
Triple-A,” Ford said. “There’s a lot
of talented players there that are
just waiting for their chance. When
they get it, they’re trying to run
with it. That’s a good thing for
both them and the team.”
For sure. Now all they need is a
nickname.
[email protected]WATCH CLOSELY:
Mike Ford watches his go-
ahead homer in the Yankees’
9-6 win over the Orioles on
Monday. Whether it’s Ford,
Breyvic Valera or Austin
Romine, these Yankees are
making this run feel more and
more special, writes The
Post’s Ken Davidoff. Ron SachsNext Men Up keep Yanks
bats firing on all cylinders
Ken Davidoff
BE LIKE MIKE:
Mike Tauchman hits
one of his two home
runs in a 9-6 win over
the Orioles on Monday.
Masahiro Tanaka (left)
gave up five runs on 10
hits as the Yankee fill-
ins stepped up once
again. Ron Sachs (2)