By William Coppola: Contributing Writer Bronx Chronicle
Friday night the baseball was flying out and around Yankee Stadium with such velocity, that the New York Transit Authority had to stop service on the 4 train running past right field, for fear of injuring passengers. Whether it is the ball being juiced, the velocity of the pitches thrown, or some new way of making bats, things are not what they used to be.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Gary Sanchez hit a moon shot himself. A 481- foot blast into the left center field bleachers.
Yes it is good to be a Yankee fan right now. The 41,166 in attendance who came to see Aaron Judge make his first start after coming back off the DL were treated to another display of power hitting, good defense and gutsy pitching.
Yankee lefty starter James Paxton did not have his best stuff but worked hard every inning. In the second inning he walked the first two batters and then struck out the next three and put his team back in the dugout. He would eventually pitch through five innings with 3 walks, 7 strikeouts and 100 pitches, leaving with a 2-1 lead.
The Yanks had a nail biter in the eighth when after one out Zack Britton walked the next two batters. After getting the second out he faced Josh Reddick who battled him to an 8- pitch at bat. Getting him to hit into a crushing inning ending double play for the Astros.
Two not so happy things were Giancarlo Stanton striking out three times and hitting into a double play. Leaving three on base. He does not look comfortable at the plate. The other bad note was Camerom Maybin having to leave after scoring ahead of Sanchez’s blast with a strained left calf.
The Yankees oppose the Astros, who have now dropped their last six games, two more times in this home stand. The Yankees are riding a seven game winning streak and will send Masahiro Tanaka (5-5, 3.23 era) to the mound to face lefty Wade Miley (6-4, 3.30 era) where they hope to continue making their fans happy in the Bronx Saturday night.
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