Serenity, in The Bronx, is the Twins occupying Yankee Stadium’s visiting dugout and Gerrit Cole throwing the first pitch (and beyond).
It’s Luke Voit on a mission, Tyler Wade going the other way, Andrew Velazquez bringing his family in the stands to tears with his first big league homer.
It’s … Aaron Boone blowing bubbles?
Much of this Yankees season, including the part valued most by the fan base, remains, so this constitutes no time for a pinstriped victory lap, even after Boone’s guys thumped the Twins again at home on Saturday afternoon, 7-1, for their ninth straight victory and 31st in 42 tries.
Yet the Yankees’ return to relevance, their rise from the ashes of some of the worst baseball they’ve played since 1993, does put to bed one lazy narrative: No, the team did not require a fire-and-brimstone skipper to roust them back into the playoff race.
Yes, there’s something to be said for the calm and stability that Hal Steinbrenner exhibited, defying those who yearned for a return to his late father’s impetuousness, in trusting his general manager Brian Cashman, who in turn trusted manager Boone, who does keep it pretty cool and enjoys a nice piece of in-game bubble gum, to turn around their 2021.
“Look, one of the things that I try to pride myself on is being consistent,” Boone said before the game. “And one of the things I try to challenge our room, our culture, is that regardless of where you are in the season, if we were to drop you into our clubhouse, you wouldn’t know if we had lost eight in a row or won eight in a row or [were] playing great or struggling a little bit. So I try to model that consistency.
“It’s not always easy. We’re all human and you tend to enjoy success and the struggles are tougher, obviously. But as far as who I am, who we are, I think we do a pretty good job of remaining consistent from who we are as people.”
“I think his mentality day to day is certainly to be commended,” said Cole, who threw six shutout innings to raise his record to 12-6. “He’s been remarkably consistent. Sometimes, when it’s been a bit challenging for all of us, he’s been a leader in that aspect. I think that he’s been able to keep us at that level where we keep wanting to get better regardless of the results that we’re having. I think he’s done a good job.”
Let this not be interpreted as a full acquittal of Boone, who of course must account for the team’s poor first-half play as well as questionable bullpen decisions that led to some but not all of the many legendary “gut-punch” losses. However, if Boone owns zero World Series appearances as a manager, he accomplished enough prior to this campaign, most notably guiding the Yankees through a minefield of injuries to 103 wins and an American League Championship Series appearance in 2019, to earn the chance to guide this group — significantly reconstructed by Cashman during the season — out of this quagmire.
And that he has done, remaining his calm self through a confounding COVID-19 breakthrough breakout and the aforementioned myriad ninth-inning meltdowns, including their most recent loss to the White Sox in the Field of Dreams Game on Aug. 12.
“Just keep the confidence,” Giancarlo Stanton, who contributed a single and two-run double Saturday, touted of his manager. “Understand we’re going to go through rough patches. We went through a longer one than we anticipated. He’s always been that steady, even-keel presence that we’ve needed, and he’s done a great job.”
Boone, in his walk year, must keep going in order to earn an extension from the Yankees. To climb back as he has, though, says something about his resilience. About his bond with his players.
There’s serenity now with the Yankees. And if Boone drew blame for what preceded it, he must get some credit here, back in the high life again.