Unlike earlier in the season, the Yankees’ clubhouse is often a place of jubilance, great conversation, and hip-hop music abound.
Since that infamous trade deadline day, when the Yankees’ roster turned over like we’ve never before seen, the team’s clubhouse resembles more of a night club than that of a mortuary.
Gone is the sterile emptiness of teammates ignoring one another; the dull murmur of TV’s playing nonsense in the background.
Credit it to the play of the Baby Bombers, or the sensible acquisitions by the front office, but even the elder statesmen of the club, namely CC Sabathia are hanging footloose and fancy-free as Drake plays over the loud speaker system.
The camaraderie of this bunch is electric. You can sense that these guys genuinely like one another because the results are apparent on the field of play; acting more like brothers than co-workers.
“We play the music before the game, after the game, every day,” second baseman Starlin Castro said. “We have some really good fun.”
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Castro credits Aaron Hicks, who is currently on the 15-day DL with a calf issue as the team’s unofficial DJ of choice, saying Hicks even takes requests.
Unfortunately, the music after Sunday’s contest against the Rays, in which the Yankees lost 4-2, was probably played a few decibels lower.
Right-handed pitcher Luis Cessa, who has been one of the rotations brightest of spots, lost his first game since being moved into the rotation on August 20.
Cessa’s main bugaboo has been his inability to keep the ball in the park, giving up three dingers on Sunday, bringing his season total to 13 in 182 at-bats.
“Obviously, when you play at this level you can’t miss spots because when you do they hit it out,” Cessa said. “So I have to be better at hitting them.”
Despite the loss that saw the Yankees’ seven-game win streak snapped, general manager Brian Cashman conveyed his belief in the 24-year-old acquired from the Mets this past offseason.
“He (Cessa) is what we hoped he would be, a viable every-fifth-day starter,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “He has mental fortitude, is a good teammate, and he has the stuff to be a successful starter.”
Fangraphs put the Yankees’ playoff odds at 18.2 starting on Sunday but they fell to 14.3% after the loss. Regardless, let’s hope that the next song heard out of the Yankees’ clubhouse is Drake’s hit, “Started From the Bottom…(Now We’re Here).
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