You hear it among New York Yankees fans, and fans everywhere: Spring Training games mean nothing, that you watch to see players on the rise, and how the vets look. And the 2018 Yankees were no exception.
With Gleyber Torres on the come at short, and Miguel Andujar looking to stake a claim at third, however, the week-old acquisition of Brandon Drury to anchor the hot corner may have turned the page on “Miggy’s” 2018 shot. Given that story come Spring games, Andujar tied a game with the visiting Phillies on February 26, 2018, with a first at-bat pinch double in the bottom of the seventh.
New York went ahead in the eighth only to see Scott Kingery tie matters with a two-out home run in the ninth. But “Du†was “due” up third in the bottom half and, with two outs and a 2-2 count, he homered to left for the 4-3 win.
Chapter Two:
Even though Brandon Drury would hit one of five home runs in the visiting Yankees’ 6-4 win against Philadelphia in Clearwater, Fla., on March 1, 2018 (with Estevan Florial scoring the other run after leading off the seventh with a triple), the victory had Miguel Andujar supporters in the crowd feeling triumphant, as Miggy gave the Bombers an early 2-0 lead with singleton jacks in the second and third innings. CC Sabathia and Domingo German had the Yankees up 6-2 through six, and the team coasted from there.
Chapter Three:
The terrific start to the Yankee 2018 Spring Training campaign continued apace on March 2, despite the quick 4-0 lead visiting Atlanta took, largely on Ronald Acuna, Jr.‘s first-inning home run off Masahiro Tanaka. Miguel Andujar got two runs back with a fourth-inning rbi double, and Tyler Austin had a walk-off two-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth in the 5-4 Yankee win. No one could know that Drury health issues would soon derail his year, but plenty were watching closely to see if “Du” was ready to take the call.
More New Good News:
Another sign of a team on the rise features the Yankee 9-4 February 24, 2017, win over the Phillies. Didi Gregorius took the first pitch he saw over the fence in right center in the first, and, yes, Aaron Judge gave the home team a 2-0 lead with a bomb to left center in the fourth.
A Trade That Helped:
The Yankees traded catcher Aaron Robinson, lefthander Bill Wight, and righty Fred Bradley to the White Sox on February 24, 1948, for portsider Eddie Lopat, who would post a 113-59 mark in the Bronx and won four out of five decisions for five Yankee World Series teams, all of them winners.