With two walk-offs and a no-hitter over the course of the weekend, the Yankees-Astros series may go down as one of the most wild in the history of Major League Baseball.
Both teams had won eight of 10 coming in, and both teams ended having won two of their last four thanks to a split because of those two Yankees walk-offs. It was a chance for the Yankees to finally face a stiff test – outside the AL East, Minnesota and Cleveland are the only two AL teams over .500 that the Yankees had played – but if you ask manager Aaron Boone, don’t call it a playoff preview just yet.
“I don't look at it [that way]. That's a fun game to be a part of when you got two great opponents going at it and the competition of it,” Boone said. “I'm not caught up in that right now. We prepared for Houston and had four tough games with them. They're obviously a great team. So now it's time to move on. Oakland's coming in and we gotta get ready for another series.”
Still, these are the two teams with the best records in the American League – and Houston’s 45 wins are tied for third-most in baseball – and even though they have one more series scheduled this summer, one Yankee knows that they could see each other in the fall, too.
“We're gonna be seeing each other a lot, probably down the road,” Aaron Judge said after Sunday’s game. “We’ve seen each other a lot in years past and in the postseason. You look forward to these weekends, playing good teams and seeing where you stack up in the AL.”
Judge played a big part in the festivities, as he was just 3-for-17 in the series but had two of the biggest hits: the walk-off single to win Thursday’s opener, and the walk-off homer to end Sunday’s finale.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Matt Carpenter said Sunday of Judge’s two walk-offs. “He’s as special a player as I’ve ever seen. He has a chance to impact the game every night, every at-bat, every way.”
“I told him I have to quit taking him for granted again,” Boone joked of Judge. “What I marvel at is just how easy he swung (on the walk-off homer) – he looked like he was just trying to touch the ball, and with his power he was able to ride it out.”
And thankfully, it was the final blow to earn a split in a series that required walk-offs for both wins, and saw the Yankees become the first team in the expansion era to be no hit for 16 1/3 consecutive innings, going between the eighth inning Friday and seventh inning Sunday without a knock.
Had Judge not come up big either or both times, it could have a much different feel…for the fans at least.
“We're a really good team and if we would have lost three out of four, swept, or got swept nothing changes. We expect to be a great team,” Boone said of the series. “Our goal is to be a championship team and nothing here in a series in June is gonna alter that. We don’t sweat anyone; we’ve got a great team and we know it. We're here to play.”
“It’s a little adversity, but I’d rather have it in June than October,” Judge added. “Every team needs a little reminder that this is a hard game to keep them in check.”
And even with Judge in the middle of a possible MVP season, series like this one are going to happen for him. But, he knows that even though two of his three hits in the four game set ended things, it was the other eight guys in the lineup that set him up for those spots.
“My confidence lies in my teammates,” Judge said. “We have the best team on the planet, and showing up to work every day with these guys gives me confidence. I walk up to the plate with no fear – if I can’t get the job done, somebody else will do it for us. When you have that type of team chemistry, it makes it fun every day.”
And that, Judge says, is why the team is confident in themselves despite this blip.
“One through nine, you never know who’s going to come up with a big hit. Somebody’s going to do something big for you, and that for me is what shows up in October,” Judge noted. “Clutch hitting, moving runners over, great defensive plays, you never know what’s going to happen and each day someone’s going to do something special.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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