Giancarlo Stanton and the records to come
It took fifteen years, but the New York Yankees managed to entered history again. This time, thanks to Giancarlo Stanton, as the slugger turned into the fourth player in his team to shoot 10 homeruns in 40 games. The Yankees line-up is proving as brutal as predicted and hurlers will have a hard time when facing it.
With about a quarter of the season running in 2018, the New York Yankees recorded a new feat in their history. According to ESPN, when designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton hit a homer to center right field during the 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, the slugger became the Yankees' fourth player to hit 10 homers. Before that, the Yankees had never had four players with 10 or more home runs for the 40th game of a season, not even for the 50th game. "We really have a very good lineup. I just love the way they face the games," said manager Aaron Boone. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees are now the first team since the 2003 Texas Rangers to have four hitters with 10 homers in the first 40 games of a season. The quartet formed by Rafael Palmeiro, Carle Everett, Juan González and Alex Rodríguez combined to achieve that feat for Texans 15 years ago. In 2018, the group of four men of the Yankees is formed by Stanton (10 homers), Gregorius (10), Aaron Judge (11) and Gary Sanchez (10). Prior to Stanton, Judge was the most recent Yankees slugger to reach 10 homers by adding home runs 10 and 11 in the first two games of the series against the A's.
"We can do damage at any time and that's why I say my job is just to catch up so that these guys will hit," said the first in the bat order, Brett Gardner. "Once I, Judge, Didi and Stanton, Sanchez and Aaron Hicks, in that order, light up, we have several players who can do various things, win the at bat and actually make the pitchers work.” But everyone knew that before the season started. Stanton's home run on Sunday came in the fifth inning. With two outs and a 2-1 score, Oakland's lefty Brett Anderson threw a 91-mile fastball that was up and around the outside corner. Stanton hit it and sent it to the opposing side, at the Yankees' bullpen, to decree the solo homer. The homer ended a 4-4 performance with at bat for Stanton, who sent the ball to all areas of the garden in his second game of the year with four hits. He also hit a pair of singles and hit a double just inside the third base line. The next hit that Stanton connects will record another feat. Currently he has 999 hits and will seek to reach and exceed the barrier of one thousand when the Yankees travel to Washington for a two-game series that starts on Tuesday against the Nationals.