The reminder of what the Yankees have been and what they somehow still expect to be remains plastered on Joe Girardi’s back. The manager wore 27 when he was hired in 2008, switched to 28 in 2010 because his Yankees had just won their 27th championship the previous fall and immediately began hunting No. 28.
“That’s the message, we’re not complacent,” Girardi said at the start of spring training 2010. “We do want to move forward and try to win No. 28 for this organization and the great city of New York, because we have a wonderful group here, we have wonderful fans here. … As far as this organization, you’re expected to win every year.”
Let others, in subways and bars and restaurants, on the sidewalks of New York and in the press box, even in the stands at the Stadium, guarantee that Girardi will not be wearing No. 29 next spring.
The Yankees concede nothing, the ghost of Yogi Berra boarding the flight to San Diego with them Thursday for the start of a 10-game road trip that will go a long way toward defining whether they are contender or pretender.
For the time being, following Didi Gregorius’ walk-off HR that capped a six-run ninth inning on Wednesday and Chase Headley’s daring headfirst slide home on a passed ball in the ninth for a 2-1 win Thursday over the Rangers, the Yankees are comforted by the belief that it ain’t over till it’s over. They are back from the dead again, Walk-off Warriors back to .500 again, feeling nothing like Dead Team Walking toward the All-Star break or trade deadline.
“Nobody’s sitting here saying, ‘Hey, we got a win, so such and such stays on our team,’ ” Headley said. “It’s just hey we need to win so we can be in position to get in the playoffs, because that’s what the New York Yankees do and that’s what we’re about and that’s what our goal is.”
As he walked past the media horde that engulfed Headley, Rob Refsnyder cracked, “speed kills” on his way to his locker, and Headley smiled. Moments earlier, Headley had leaped triumphantly to his feet and thrust both arms skyward as he was mobbed by his teammates.
“I’ll tell you one thing about this club is we have a close-knit bunch of guys, and guys care about each other, and we’re pulling for each other,” Headley said. “A lot of guys have had some adversity this year, and we’ve leaned on each other to kind of pick each other up, so when you have a good feeling like that, everybody really enjoys to celebrate and jump around. … I feel like we’ve come closer through this mess that we’ve kinda built for ourselves, and hopefully it’ll make us better.”
Never mind that Girardi managed another game as if it were Game 7 of the World Series — yanking brilliant Michael Pineda after 92 pitches and six innings in the burning Bronx in favor of The Big Three. The Yankees had risen up against all odds, beginning with that devastating rain-delayed defeat, and stared down a damn good Rangers team.
“We bounced back in a big way,” Headley said, “a lot of resiliency, and hopefully we can kind of keep this momentum going forward.”
The 2016 Yankees, for payroll reasons, were and are too dependent on the 2015 Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. If you’re looking at these Yankees through pinstriped glasses, you see a pair of A-Rod singles against right-hander A.J. Griffin on a day when Carlos Beltran (hamstring) was a pinch hitter; you see Teixeira leaving four runners on but effortlessly scooping a pair of throws in the dirt; you see Pineda forgetting a leadoff home run and resembling a pitcher who may be turning a corner; you see the nasty relay team of Betances-to-Miller-to-Chapman; you see the next steps towards stardom from Gregorius, whose solo HR tied the game in the fifth, whose sacrifice bunt down third set the table for the ninth-inning drama.
“It’s nice to have a guy that can do a lot of different things for you, and you have to win that way sometimes,” Girardi said.
Back-to-back walk-offs is the best way to help a team believe.
“I still feel like we’ll put it all together and have a good run,” said Nathan Eovaldi, who starts Friday against the Padres.
“The confidence now is really better,” Starlin Castro said.
Padres, White Sox and then four games against the rampaging Indians. Girardi was asked whether this could be a defining road trip for his Yankees.
“Obviously we have a tough road trip — three cities, three different time zones, some long flights,” Girardi said, “and hopefully this is what really got us going.”
Don’t tell us. Show us.
“I don’t feel like we’ve played our best baseball,” Headley said. “I think the mindset’s pretty good — hey we’re not playing the way that we know that we’re capable of, and we’re still in this thing, so hopefully we start playing the way we’re capable of and we make up some ground.”