1 key to Yanks changing narrative in 2nd half

Going into their four-game series with the Red Sox on Thursday at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees are eight games behind in the American League East. They enter the second half three games over .500, have a 79-70 record dating back to the start of the shortened 2020 season, and over the past few weeks have had their three worst losses of '21.

They lost to the Angels at home, giving up seven runs in the top of the ninth after scoring seven to open the game with Shohei Ohtani on the mound.

They lost to the Mets at Yankee Stadium in a seven-inning game, giving up six runs in the top of the ninth.

Then last Sunday in Houston against their real nemesis, the Astros, they watched the bullpen blow a five-run lead, giving up six last-inning runs, and finally lost 8-7 on a walk-off home run from Jose Altuve -- and stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

“Another gut punch,” manager Aaron Boone said when that one was over.

But as big a disappointment as the Yankees have been so far, they have a chance to change the narrative in the two weeks before the Trade Deadline. The first game of the series vs. the Red Sox is the first of eight they play with Boston over the next 11 games. They also have three games against the Rays before the Deadline.

All of it starts with Aaron Judge. He has to be the one for the Yankees, who have not produced the offense everybody expected them to produce this season, even more than Gerrit Cole does. Judge, blessed with good health so far, leads the Yanks in home runs, RBIs, batting average, runs and OPS, and even in calling team meetings, which he did before the Subway Series against the Mets. Judge has 21 homers, and if he stays on the field, could double that in the second half.

“No matter what anybody says, it’s not a coach or the front office,” Judge said at the time. “It’s on the players. We’re the ones on the field out there competing. The front office has their hands in it to put the players on the field, but ultimately, it comes down to the work and the results on the field.”

Everybody knows the Yankees' flaws. They currently have an All-Star, a big-ticket closer in Aroldis Chapman whom his manager was concerned about using out of the bullpen in the run-up to the All-Star Game. They still have no big left-handed presence in the batting order. There have been underachievers all over the field, and that includes the reigning batting champ in the AL, DJ LeMahieu (.270 after .364 in 2020), who was so clearly the team’s MVP over the past two seasons.

But despite all that, they have not fallen out of things in their division. And despite those late-inning calamities, the Yankees have shown the ability to come back from the various gut punches that Boone referenced. They got one-hit by Logan Gilbert on July 8 in Seattle, came back and won the first two games of the Astros series, seemed to be set up for a sweep. After the ceiling caved in against the Mets on a Sunday afternoon, they won the second game of the doubleheader that night.

Now come these 11 games before the Deadline against the Red Sox and Rays. Of course Judge, the big guy, can’t do it alone. But if the Yankees are going to be anything in the second half, it doesn’t start with trades. It starts with their stars. He’s still the biggest one they have. All Rise, in all ways.