Bleeding Yankee Blue: AS JUDGE STATS GROW, COMPARISONS DWINDLE

Monday, June 12, 2017

AS JUDGE STATS GROW, COMPARISONS DWINDLE

Photo: Getty Images

For the benefit of anyone who missed the Yankees' weekend sweep of the Orioles, be advised it was more than just three more W's in the won-loss column.

It was an extended beating that saw the Yankees gleefully wreak havoc on a divisional rival wire to wire, solidifying their hold on the AL East lead and propelling them to a season high 14 games over .500.

There were so many amazing storylines and insane stats coming out of this series somebody may collect them all and write a book about it someday. It was a sight to see.

Photo: Getty Images

And of course, all of the stories about this series begin and end with Aaron Judge, who with his four hits and third career multi-homer game Sunday finished the series at the top of the American League leaderboard in all three Triple Crown categories: batting .344 and collecting 47 RBI to go with his MLB-leading 21 dingers -- as well as runs scored, walks and others too numerous and/or nerdy to list here.

Add all that to the sheer magnitude and majesty of his swing -- he added MLB's season-longest homer Sunday to his stranglehold on Statcast's hardest-hit dingers and other assorted batted balls list and it's little wonder most writers have been left breathless and grasping for the appropriate comps and adjectives. They're simply seeing things they've never seen before.

Photo: Getty Images

Perusing some of the many post-series wraps, I particularly enjoyed the take by NY Post writer Joel Sherman: "We are not only clocking them in total — 21 and counting now — but also in speed and distance. And perhaps best of all, in our imaginations as we wonder if we have ever seen anything like this before. Judge’s at-bats are not to be missed, the most must-watch event in baseball right now — perhaps all of sports. Before the Yankees devastated his pitching staff yet again Sunday en route to a 14-3 rout, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter kidded, “If they start letting me shift guys into the bleachers, then maybe I can get Judge out.”

I confess that in the afterglow of the Yankees' Baltimore beat down I'm feeling a certain warm and fuzzy bias toward Sherman.

Following Sunday's game when he tweeted the link to his story containing the above passage, he was met by a trolling reply from Marlins beat writer Clark Spencer.

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Spencer, who eats, prays and loves at the altar of Giancarlo Stanton, took a smarmy shot at Sherman, New York media and the ridiculous notion that Judge could possibly measure up to the Miami slugger.

What ensued was a Twitter war of words between the two scribes, delighting those of us who tend to linger late over their time lines after satisfying Yankee wins.