PHILADELPHIA — For the third straight day, South Philly sounded like the South Bronx.
When Bryce Harper, the unofficial mayor of Philadelphia, stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Wednesday, he did so as the potential winning run. With Kyle Schwarber on first base and the Phillies down a run, a Harper blast would’ve ended the proceedings. The Yankees, so close to turning a corner, would’ve been handed another gut-punch loss.
But instead of heroics, Harper — mired in the worst 30-at-bat stretch of his career — produced a meek grounder to second. The Yankees turned a game-ending double play to win 6-5 and complete the three-game sweep, Philadelphia’s first home sweep loss since July 2022. The visiting pinstripe faithful at Citizens Bank Park let forth a thunderous, cathartic roar.
Even the typically taciturn and robotic DJ LeMahieu — his teammates literally call him The Machine — pumped his fist into his glove and yelled in excitement upon catching the final out.
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It was that kind of day, that kind of series, that kind of road trip for the New York Yankees, who head home to the Big Apple a more settled version of themselves. After wobbling through late June and most of July, the Yankees appear rejuvenated, ascendent. As manager Aaron Boone was quick to point out in his postgame remarks, the season remains long and full of terrors, but a 5-1 roadtrip against a pair of contenders in Boston and Philadelphia was still quite an impressive display.
And with the chaos of the trade deadline done and dusted, the Yankees have a clearer picture of their roster. The team’s major deadline reinforcements, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Mark Leiter Jr, have already arrived, clean-shaven and contributing. Chisholm went yard four times in two days against the Phillies. Traded to the Yankees on Tuesday, Leiter went from the airport to the park to the mound in the span of a few hours. He tossed a scoreless frame, having never before met his catcher, Austin Wells.
“I don’t even think he had time to take off his airplane shoes,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge joked after his team’s 7-6 victory Tuesday.
This Yankees roster remains flawed. General manager Brian Cashman confirmed to reporters that he had been close to acquiring pitcher Jack Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers, a sign that he viewed his roster as insufficient or incomplete. LeMahieu, despite his game-defining grand slam Wednesday, looks rickety and unreliable. The hitters around him at the bottom of the lineup also come with questions. Closer Clay Holmes, who survived a spotty ninth inning Wednesday after a potential Austin Hays walk-off homer died at the warning track, hasn’t looked like his dominant self lately.
But this road trip offered a reminder of what this team is supposed to look like. The levity, the confidence, the F.A.A.F.O., as Simone Biles might say — that’s back in abundance. Which, here, more than anywhere, is important.
The entire Yankees operation thrives off a superiority complex. Everybody — from the players to the coaching staff to the front office — moves with an unapologetic, New Yorkian braggadocio. Such is life with 27 banners, a mammoth payroll and two generational linchpins. And with great players come great expectations.
For six weeks this summer, these Yankees failed to live up to that standard. The starting pitching regressed. Holmes blew save after save. The lineup, besides the ever-sensational duo of Judge and Juan Soto, was punchless and lethargic. From June 14 to July 26, New York went 11-23; the second-worst mark over that span. Only the trainwreck Chicago White Sox did more losing.
During that skid, Boone was adamant that his club would turn things around. In fact, he was reluctant to even define his team’s lull.
“Stretch, slump, recent — I don’t give a s***,” he passionately proclaimed during a news conference on July 24. “We got to play better the rest of the way.”
Since that day, the Yankees are 5-1. Yet on Wednesday, beholden to the equilibrium of a long season, Boone employed the same tactic from the other direction. When asked whether he thinks his team has “gotten to the other side” of its poor play, the Yankees skipper remained focused on the long game.
“We’re playing well. We know we’re good. And when we play well, we can beat anyone,” he said. “The past is the past. The reality is we got two months of baseball to hopefully put us in position to play for something meaningful in October.”
But then, even-keeled as Boone might be, he admitted that his club’s emphatic sweep of the Phillies carried a little extra weight.
“When you win a day-game getaway day, to get a sweep, against a club like that, into an off-day — that’s one of those good feelings in a baseball season,” he said, flashing a smile toward the camera, the glint of optimism back in his eye.
