Well, that was an interesting weekend

It was an interesting weekend in the Bronx.

First off, Alex Rodriguez was honored Friday night, playing his last game for New York. I definitely don’t think it’s his last MLB game. I think he’ll play again, just not for the Yankees. But he had a decent send-off, including an RBI double in his first at bat, and came off the field to a nice ovation in the 9^th inning.

The Yankees then wasted no time calling up two top prospects, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge. The day started off by honoring the 1996 Yankees, one of my favorite teams ever. I was in 7^th grade when they won that World Series, and it’s definitely one of the defining moments of my sports childhood. Obviously, Tino Martinez was a part of that team, and here’s a new Tino I’ve been waiting to show off:

This is from Panini National Treasure. I have actually preferred this bat relic to the jersey patch version, as the jersey is definitely from his Tampa Bay days.

The Yankees went from honoring the past on Friday night and Saturday morning to ringing in the future with two massive swings of the bat on Saturday afternoon. The aforementioned Austin and Judge got their first major league hits, and they did it in dramatic fashion, with each bashing a HR. As if that wasn’t enough, the homers were back-to-back in their first career at bats. Man, you just can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.

Sunday saw Judge homer again, as well as a moonshot by Gary Sanchez, another top prospect. Boy, this is fun is so far. Sadly, Luis Severino, their former top pitching prospect, didn’t get the memo. He’s had a rough season, and yesterday was not good – falling to 1-8 with a 7.19 ERA. He allowed 7 ERs while strike out 7 in 3.2 innings. Man, he’s got a bit too much Pineda in him. Still, he’s learning, and I think the Yankees are wise to keep him as a starter and letting him iron things out in AAA. He did that once and came up and pitched much better, although yesterday was a step back. If all else fails, his stuff did play up well in the pen a few weeks ago, but it’s too early for that.

Here’s a nice Severino from Panini Immaculate Collection that is new to my collection. I hope we see him again in September with some newfound confidence.

So what does this all mean? I don’t know. But what I do know is that it’s been fun watching Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin, and Aaron Judge play these last few days. More young reinforcements are on their way, and hopefully they can keep within striking distance of a playoff spot. Wouldn’t that be something?