As Misguided As Marcus Stroman’s Outburst May Have Been Last Night, It Was Exactly What The Yankees Needed To Wake Up

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The spiraling Yankees entered last night having lost 9 of their last 11 games. They'd been blown out in back to back nights, showing no life whatsoever. Vibes were bad across the board. Sure the season is comprised of ups and downs, but this one was brutal to watch.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 5th Friday night as the Jays loaded the bases with nobody out in a tie game. Vladdy chopped one to short, but hustled down the line to beat out the double play ball. That prompted a frustrated Marcus Stroman to let out some steam. In this instance that fire was directed at Gleyber Torres, a guy who has been mightily struggling with all facets of his game this year. He had just returned from a two game benching after not running out a ground ball Tuesday night. 

Now upon watching that replay, did Gleyber do anything wrong? Absolutely not. That's just a normal turn at second on a ball that was hit too slowly to get two. Vladdy hustled and beat it out, end of story.

On the flip side, Stroman is a very passionate dude who wears his heart on his sleeve. He's a gamer and a bit of a loose cannon as well. You know the kind of guy you're getting when you bring him over. In the heat of the moment he snapped and let it all out. Those emotions poured over into the next half inning in the dugout where he could be seen screaming "have a little intensity" 

Judge proceed to put on his captain hat and found Stro in the dugout, telling him to chill. 

I personally think this was all fine. Gleyber played the ball normally and didn't dog the throw to first in anyway. In the midst of the team's slide, Stro letting out some frustration and showing some fire to wake everyone up was necessary. Was it a bit misguided? Sure, but not everything is perfect. The team needed something like that to snap out of this lull. Judge being the captain had to remind Stro that you don't show up your infielders like that. 

Not everything is going to be sunshine and roses throughout the course of a 162 game season. You just gotta deal with the hiccups and respond as a team.

Well, guess what that moment resulted in? An explosion. 

It even got Gleyber himself to go yard. 

That prompted a funny little interaction here with Stro the first to greet him and then Gleyber-Judge giving each other a bit of a "you see what I just did" glance. 

There's going to be people online today bashing Stroman. To me either 1) people hate him in general and are looking for a reason to jump on him 2) Because Judge talked to him and told him to chill they're going to side with 99. I get it, but at the same time this team desperately needed a kick in the ass like that. Something. Show any kind of life that you're not okay getting your ass beat every single game. Are the optics way different if the Yankees lose that game like 5-1? Oh ya. But that's not what happened. They blew out Toronto 16-5. The bats woke up and for the first time in two weeks they showed some fire. Hopefully this can be a turning point to end this rut and get back in business. If that's the case then the team is all the better from that Stroman moment. Listen he's a crazy dude and with that you're going to get crazy moments. Let's just be happy and relieved they responded the way they did. Now do it again tonight, minus the outburst.