Gary Sanchez gets thrown out on the basepaths.

If you want to read about it in the Daily News, here are a lot of words about it:

"The Orioles were shifted on Mark Teixeira, so third baseman Manny Machado had moved closer to second base, leaving third open. Third-base coach Joe Espada waved Sanchez around second, but Machado darted back toward the bag, snared the throw from right fielder Steve Pearce and tagged Sanchez about eight feet from the base.

'They gave me a green light,' Sanchez said through a translator. 'We thought we had a chance there to get to third. Unfortunately not.'

'When I made the turn, I tried to run as fast as I could. Couldn't see the throw because I was focused on getting to the base.

Girardi had no issue with the play, he said, and called it a read by Sanchez, though it's worth noting that a rookie would probably be looking to the third base coach for cues.

'I always say that mind has to be made up by the baserunner,' Girardi said. 'It's not Joe's. I think he was reading the third baseman and he took a gamble that he wasn't going to get back there. It took a really good throw and a really good play by Machado. I don't have a problem.

It's an aggressive play. We've been playing aggressive. That time it caught up to us. But I think the thought process was pretty good, because of the shift and what it took to get him.'

Whatever the case, it was just another moment in the spotlight for a guy who must be getting used to it."

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Am I the only person who noticed how well the Yankees are playing since they got rid of Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran?

Lupica almost made it through an entire article:

 "Are the Yankees missing Alex Rodriguez yet?

Maybe the guy is mentoring Gary Sanchez on Facetime."

"Hello, my name is Mike and I'm an Alex Rodriguez addict."

"Hello, Mike."

The other thing about the Yankees' playoff chances ...

... this is the Yankees' starting rotation right now.

Tanaka
Pineda
Sabathia
Green (Chad?)
Cessa (Luis?)

The bullpen is still quite strong, though weakened relatively since the trade deadline. This relative weakness could negatively affect their .690 winning percentage (20-9) in one-run games ... a few devastating blown saves in crunch time vs. one of the four teams ahead of them in the wild card race.

There is no reason to give up ... it's illogical. May as well try hard and see what happens.

But if Gary Sanchez really is Babe Ruth, then the Yankees could probably use his pitching more than his hitting.

A review of the young Yankees.

"So the trade deadline came, ownership and management pulled off their version of a purge, and Alex Rodriguez went soon after. But instead of a halt, the Yankees have caught fire. Lo and behold, they are even in a playoff race."

See what I mean?

The Yankees managed to get to 4 games over .500 with ARod on the team.

Now they're 5 games over .500 and another month has fallen off the calendar.


"Sanchez’s numbers are so Hobbsian — .403/.459/.883 with a 1.342 OPS and 20 RBIs in 77 at-bats — that the commissioner maybe should demand a check of the specifications of the catcher’s bat. Or is it the catcher himself who is Wonderboy? And was it A-Rod who played the role of Bump Bailey in this movie?

It isn’t and wasn’t just Sanchez. Cessa was fine in winning his second straight start. Ben Heller, who came from Cleveland as part of the package for Miller, pitched a scoreless inning in his major league debut. Aaron Judge smacked a double and threw out a runner at second.

They’re the Baby Bombers and they’re in a race. Next thing you know, Girardi will be telling Sanchez to knock the cover off the ball.

And he will."

Yeah, but the rest of the young players have stunk (despite Ben Heller's entire scoreless inning).

Severino is back in the minors and Judge strikes out half the time.

ARod's replacement, Tyler Austin, is the only person on the entire planet whose OPS is actually lower than ARod's.


Look, the Yankees found a surprise gem in Sanchez. They will ride it as long as they can. They could have promoted Sanchez and benched McCann with or without ARod on the roster (and with Beltran, Miller, and Chapman).

Sanchez is going to hit the skids, the Yankees are going to finish in fourth place in their own division, and ARod will be "advising" from afar for $27 million per year.

It was time to take off the training wheels and prepare for the future. I have no particular use for the dead weight, including the dead weight that remains on the roster.

But if these Baby Bombers are going to pay off, we won't know until 2018.

Sample size is a funny thing and sportswriters should know better.

"But how long will that moment last?

It would be all too easy to invoke the names of other Yankee rookies whose careers began like skyrockets only to fizzle to earth. Kevin Maas, Shane Spencer, Shelley Duncan, anyone? The other two big league rookies to hit as many as 10 home runs in their first 22 games -- Colorado's Trevor Story this year and Boston's George Scott back in 1966 -- provide a little more in the way of evidence as to where this start might lead Sanchez, but it is hardly conclusive. Scott, of course, was a solid big league player for 14 seasons, a .268 hitter who averaged 20 home runs a year. Story is among the favorites for NL Rookie of the Year."

Ronald Torreyes is batting over .400 for the month.

Enjoy it while it lasts.


"If it is not fair to blame all the Yankees' early-season woes on the likes of Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran and of course, Alex Rodriguez, neither is it realistic to fail to notice the difference now that two of them are gone and the third, Teixeira, has had his playing time reduced in his final weeks as a major league player."

Beltran? Beltran still leads the Yankees in HRs and RBIs. Nobody was blaming Beltran.


"Sanchez's at-bats have replaced A-Rod's as must-see events for Yankees fans and even for some of his teammates."

When is the last time an ARod at-bat was a must-see event? 2009?

Why is it impossible to discuss the Yankees without bringing up Alex Freaking Rodriguez?


" 'I think that these young kids have done a really good job; they’ve contributed in a big way,' Girardi said. 'Guys are excited around here, and we believe.'

When's the last time you heard that out of the Yankees clubhouse?"

When is the last time I heard a trite, optimistic answer from the Yankees clubhouse? Every single day.

I hope Sanchez keeps it up, the Yankees somehow make the playoffs, ride the wave all the way the the World Series ... ARod would get another ring, by the way ... and all these young players grow into MLB superstars.

My suspicion, however, is that a lot of the elevation of Sanchez (and excitement over a whoop-dee-doo 12-8 record over 20 games) and exaggeration of Yankees' playoff chances boils down to the endless, tiresome mockery of ARod.

Tyler Austin is batting .148. Aaron Hicks is batting .215 after a recent surge. Aaron Judge is batting .222. September callups are 5 days away.

You can't imagine a scenario where an aging ARod could have fulfilled a pinch-hitting role as the team tilts at September Surge windmills?

So the real idea is that ARod's clubhouse presence was damaging to team chemistry and dragging the whole team down ... and Sanchez's hot streak is somehow proving the hypothesis.

Which is, in Matthew's own words, "all too easy."

Also, I stink. So do the math.

"The Seattle Mariners did not intentionally walk New York Yankees rookie sensation Gary Sanchez once Wednesday to face Mark Teixeira -- they did it twice. And even Teixeira knew the Mariners had no choice.

'Shoot, if Babe Ruth is hitting behind him, you intentionally walk him,' Teixeira said of Sanchez after the Yankees' 5-0 victory over the Mariners. 'I mean, he is as hot as any player I have played with in my entire career. You just don't see guys doing what he is doing. I don't care how old he is.' "

We will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along.

All of this is wrong.

"But here is why Sanchez matters the way he does these days, whatever he eventually becomes in baseball: He has made the Yankees interesting again. Sanchez has become somebody for Yankee fans to want to watch and to care about. And, boy, do they ever care about this kid. You get the idea that as you've been reading this, Sanchez might have found a way to go deep on his way to get coffee."

Ha ha ha. Coffee.

I don't get it.


"This isn't about whether the Yankees can make an improbable run at the second Wild Card in the American League, because it will take a small miracle for them to do that, or a few teams ahead of them simply deciding to go home. No. This is about the Yankees' farm system producing the first young hitter people really want to watch since Robinson Cano was a rookie. In 2005."

This revisionist history is untrue. I don't feel like listing all the names. Fans were excited when lots of bigshot minor leaguers came up. Only in retrospect has Sanchez buzzed past them.

I can list three Yankee catchers: Cervelli, Montero, and Romine.

The buzz died down because their play didn't live up to the hype. But a year ago, Romine was a bigger deal than Sanchez.


"We know the Yankees don't develop lasting, frontline talent in starting pitching any longer. The last homegrown kid who became a star in their rotation was Andy Pettitte."

I will just say Chien-Ming Wang again because I feel like I have to ... and if the Yankee homegrown superstar pitchers all end up in a dominant bullpen rather than the starting rotatino, that isn't so bad.


"If you don't believe that history doesn't sell quite the way it used to at the new Yankee Stadium, turn on a Yankee home game and take a look at those expensive blue seats down closest to the field. It sometimes seems to be as wide an expanse of blue as you would see standing on the beach and looking at the Atlantic Ocean."

Right.

Except for ARod's bizarre last game.

Guess what? Sanchez ain't filling those seats any time soon.


"But now here comes this kid to hit home runs in bunches. He really has taken the stage as one of the Yanks' famous Jurassic Park All-Stars, Alex Rodriguez, is sent home to Miami."

... and the rest of the article is about ARod.

Which is the last time Lupica will write about ARod. I promise.

Robinson Cano is a lens through which one can view Alex Rodriguez.

Felz Stat of the Day

Current Yankee with most HRs this season?

Didi Gregorius with 17.

After 143 games, zero Yankees on the roster have 20 HRs.

Beltran still leads with 22.

The last Yankee to hit HRs in his first two games was ...

... the immortal Joe Lefebvre.

As for the next big thing, Mike Conforto is back down in the minors while Travis d'OntThrow tries to pick up the Next Big Thing slack left by Josh Thole ... and those two represent just one position on one team.

I mean, who knows? All great players and HOFers started off as young phenoms.

But when you say something like this:

"Austin, who sat out Monday's game after 3-for-8 in his first two, looks like he might be a nice player for the future, too, but Judge has the potential to be a star, maybe a guy who will bash 40-to-45 homers season after season in his prime."

You are caught up in the hype.

Early returns don't mean much.

"Aaron Judge hit another home run on Sunday. Two innings later, Gary Sanchez did the same. In the past two weeks, the Yankees have reloaded their lineup with young sluggers from the farm system, and the early returns could be hardly any better.

But there is a danger in assuming too much, too soon.

For a cautionary tale, look to the mound.

Luis Severino no longer looks like the future ace from a year ago. His command is erratic, his breaking ball is inconsistent and his changeup is nowhere to be found. The latest Yankees home runs meant nothing because Severino was knocked around in a 12-3 blowout loss to the Rays. Severino was optioned to Triple-A immediately after the game."

I hope it works. I hope the Yankees win the World Series as soon as possible.


If early returns meant anything, there would be a Kevin Maas wing in the Hall of Fame.

But I surely don't have to go back that far. David Adams and Andy Phillips would be manning the corners on the 2016 World Champs ... and the battery every night would be full of All Stars: Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Ivan Nova, Luis Severino, or Vida Nuno pitching to Jesus Montero.


As for the idea that this team is fun again, well, we'll find out if Buster Olney is anywhere to be found if the Yankees only manage to win 74 games next season.

Mets win a moral victory ... and Terry Collins confuses baseball rules for horseshoes rules.

Meet the Mets

I know everyone is preoccupied with a part-time DH hitting a fly ball to right field, but if you check the standings, the World-Series-or-Bust Mets have the same record as the Trade-Everyone Yankees.

Up-to-the-minute stat tracking as Teixeira makes a final push for the 2016 AL MVP.

Two outs and runners in scoring position

AB: 32

H: 4

BA: .125

OPS: .438

Strikeouts: 15

I imagine Greg Bird batting in Fenway with bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning.

I'll bet Bird does not strike out looking.

Point being, half the players in the lineup are as bad as ARod.

If the Yankees wanted to embarrass ARod, they could have just cut him. They didn't have to pretend they liked him.

Nobody believes you.

I think Torre's evasiveness was charming to the press, but Girardi's evasiveness is irritating.

As Seattle wins 5 in a row and gets back into the wild card race, I truly think the Yankees might have done the same thing if they had kept their team together. Will it pay off in the long run? I guess we'll see.

But, c'mon. You can't have it both ways. You can't say you think you have a chance to make the playoffs while you throw AAA players out there every day.

Ewww. I wouldn't normally send you to twitter, but ...

Look at this guy's twitter account.

This is downright creepy.

I'll officially go bearish on the notion that Alex Rodriguez will end up playing for the Mets.

Should the Yankees trade McCann?

I'll let the hosts of the Magic Garden answer that question.

Trying to predict the future.

Steroid users are already in the Hall of Fame and more will be voted in.

Once this is revealed, the steroid users with superior stats will be voted in.

What are you going to do with all the spare time? Read a book? May I suggest Journalism for Dummies?

I wish I could say this is the last Lupica takedown of ARod, but I somehow suspect the fever won't die so easily.

Just admit it.

Deep down, you love ARod. There's no other explanation for the amount of time you've spent thinking about him over the past 12 years.

An alternate universe.

"Yet Teixeira is also a symbol of something else. Always ready to play, play hard, and with the old-world nobility that still appeals to the masses. And someone whom even the most ardent Yankees hater couldn’t quite get himself to hate."

I don't consider him particularly hard-nosed or noble.

But I like the fact that you're referring to him in the past tense.


"Maybe Teixeira came too late to be a minted member of the Core Four, but he surely played with their collective spirit."

Whatever that means, I think you're imagining it.


"When people parse the Yankees, and all the bad they allegedly represent, you never hear the name Teixeira as a symbol of all their sins. Simply, it’s just impossible to dislike someone who was as good, humble, and charitable as Teixeira."

I feel honored to have achieved the impossible.


"In spite of all the home runs, Gold Gloves, and All-Star games, Teixeira maintained the blue-collar ethic that defines the Big Apple."

Teixeira's exaggerated howls of pain when he dove out of the way of a low pitch do did not seem blue-collar to me.


"Despite all the money and marble of Madison Avenue, the swollen billboards and media dysfunction, New York City was built by blue collar people who still lug their lunches to work, don’t mind getting dirty, and don’t own a single pair of skinny jeans.

So despite his nine-figure contract, Teixeira kept his old-school sensibilities. Some players get to Gotham, sign for biblical money, and forget who they are and what got them here."

Sooooo ... you're saying he's white? 

Teixeira seemed to forget what got him here, by the way. What got him here was playing good baseball.


"Not Teixeira, whose handle, Tex, evokes the notion of a simple man with a simple plan. No matter the big numbers on the field and absurd numbers in his savings account, he never floated above the team, was never too big to dive for a baseball, or too important to get his pinstripes muddy."

I truly don't follow.

Other than Cano, every player dives for baseball.

Teixeira never struck me as a particularly humble guy, not that it really matters.

Or is all this just an indirect dig at ARod?


"Teixeira’s teams may have seen more success, but you’ll never get Teixeira to say he was better than Mattingly, or anyone. It’s not the way he played, the way he lived, or the way he won."

I mean ... 


"Teixeira was one of the rare players who came to New York needing little more than a tour of the locker room. He was never bothered by the lights, shaken by the media fishbowl, or intimidated by the fans."

So what happened?

Check out his clutch stats.

Maybe he wasn't intimidated by fans or media, just by the pitchers in Major League Baseball.


"Sabathia, A-Rod, and Teixeira are the last legends left from the last legendary team. So while Tex may not be the same player he was back then, he’s still the same man. So rather than notice what he means to this year’s team, perhaps we should remember what he meant to the Yankees, and what it meant to be a Yankee."

Worst free agent signing in Yankee history.

I will remember.

I wish I could forget, but I will remember.

Maybe they just don't like him and they are intentionally embarrassing him.

"For the good of everyone, the New York Yankees must make a decision on Alex Rodriguez, then announce it and move on.

They can cut him or keep him. They just need to decide. Right now."

So far, they have kept him, which is the status quo.

So they're already decided.


"They can release him today, eat his $27 million and let him find out if anyone else wants a 41-year-old DH with a .609 OPS, or they can let him ride the pine the rest of the year and let him give it another crack next spring to see if he has anything left."

I think they have decided the latter.


"What they should stop doing is trying to figure out what they think. Because they already have announced that A-Rod is not going to play much, if at all, the rest of the way, then the baseball operations people must tell Hal Steinbrenner if they think Rodriguez has anything left. If they don't, thank him for his work and let him and the franchise move on."

You seem to be imagining some internal decision-making angst which doesn't exist.



"If they think Rodriguez might be able to regain some magic next year, then announce he will be on the team the rest of the season and they will give it another go then."

Eh, don't hold your breath.

Besides, you'd have nothing to write about.

Mike Lupica spreads ignorance to a national audience.

"There were still so many times, even after the last Yankee dynasty ended in 2001 -- Game 7 against the Diamondbacks, bottom of the 9th, Luis Gonzalez dunking one over Derek Jeter's head -- when the Yankees would automatically be declared the champions of the offseason every time they signed another free agent or spent more money. They were the Yankees and there was this idea that they were smarter than everybody else because they had more money. And because, well, they were the Yankees."

The 2001 World Series?
 

"The funny thing is, it was losing that World Series to the D-backs -- and nearly winning it despite scoring just 14 runs -- that really made them start spending like sheikhs. Bidding against themselves that offseason, they spent nearly $120 million to go get Jason Giambi. But Giambi didn't put them back on top, so they didn't blink in early 2004 when they absorbed Alex Rodriguez's contract via a trade from the Texas Rangers. Now the left side of the infield alone, Jeter and Rodriguez, had contracts whose total value was nearly $450 million, though the Rangers were willing to pay $112 million to get out from under the rest of A-Rod's contract.

It would be five years before the Yankees won a World Series with A-Rod playing baseball for them, the only one they have won since 2000. And all they had to do that year was spend another $450 million or so on CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett."

Winning the World Series isn't easy.


"So even though the Yankees were still selling a World-Series-or-bust model to their fans every single year, and even though they never had a losing season, they were now far more likely to miss the playoffs entirely with another $200-million-plus payroll, or not make it past the first round, as they were to get near the last week of October."

True.

It isn't easy to win the World Series.


"The Yankees have kept this thing going for an amazingly long time in the Bronx, and sold a lot of tickets at the new Yankee Stadium. Even when the 2013 and 2014 Yankees missed the postseason, they gave themselves a chance. But there has been nothing special, or remarkable, about them for a while. You know what their biggest attractions have been lately? Farewell tours for Jeter and the great Mariano Rivera. Legendary Yankees at the back ends of their contracts. You know what they might be selling now, now that Beltran is gone and the full-time DH job opens up wide? The 41-year old Rodriguez trying to get to 700 home runs, as if that number matters to anybody else except him."

I find it astonishing that Lupica thinks the 2016 Yankees are going to market ARod's chase for 700 HRs when (1) no one cares about the chase for 700 HRs, and (2) most observers think ARod is about to get cut.