Sweeny: Visitor's Dugout Has Been Place To Find Young Stars At Yankee Stadium
By Sweeny Murti
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Giancarlo Stanton comes to Yankee Stadium with the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night, and it represents something unique over the last two weeks. The last three home series with the Angels, Nationals and now Marlins coming to The Bronx mean that Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Stanton will all play at Yankee Stadium in a two-week stretch.
Certainly there were many stars to walk through the visiting clubhouse in decades past, but it was always the players in the home pinstripes that you came to see. Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Mattingly, Jeter -- these are the guys who were always in the conversation of the best young players in the game.
But for the last two weeks you've needed to look into the other dugout to see the best the game has to offer. In a time when the young talent in this game appears to be at a peak, it is hard to find three players who fit the Face of the Game profile better than Trout, Harper and Stanton.
"It is pretty cool," CC Sabathia said. "It's like the next wave of guys, I guess. They're all bona fide stars and it's cool to see. It's good to see natural young power, and those three guys have got it."
Adam Warren feels it brings a little extra focus to the job at hand.
"I think it's a challenge," Warren said. "As a competitor you want to face the best. You go into it looking at it as a challenge, step your game up a little bit against those guys."
"It's definitely exciting when you see that young group, that young core," Dellin Betances said. "The things they've done the past couple years have been impressive. These are superstar players and it's fun to watch. You just hope they don't punish us. They have a little bit already (Trout hit two home runs on the previous homestand and Harper hit one), but hopefully we can (handle) Stanton in these next couple games."
Players are fans, too -- to a certain degree, anyway. And many of the Yankees players carry a level of awe to go with their respect as an opponent.
"Those guys are the future of baseball," Chase Headley said. "Obviously when you're playing against them you're trying to beat them, so you don't want to sit back and admire, but you respect their ability and the things they've accomplished at such an early age.
"Maybe at the end of the year you look back and say that's pretty cool to see them all back-to-back-to-back. But when you're going through it you're just trying to figure out a way to beat them, and you hope you don't see much of what they can do."
Betances added, "I grew up watching Jeter and Manny (Ramirez) and some of those guys. Now to be here, playing and seeing these young guys doing what they're doing, you can enjoy it as a fan of the game. I admire watching them; I just don't want us to give up any home runs to them."
The time to admire them is usually before the game.
"I'm probably going to go watch Stanton take BP," John Ryan Murphy said. "I haven't seen him and I heard it's a treat."
Trout, Harper and Stanton. These are the kinds of players that make fans stop what they're doing so they can watch them hit. I asked Brett Gardner if anything special comes to mind when he's in the field and they come to bat.
"Yea, back up a little bit," Gardner replied.
And while the Yankees and their fans might breathe a little easier when the big sluggers finally leave town, Joe Girardi was quick to remind me, "and then it's Miguel Cabrera."
The visitor's dugout at Yankee Stadium. The parade of superstars doesn't stop.
Follow Sweeny Murti @YankeesWFAN.
