Judge Owns Miami!

I’ve never seen anything like it, in fact, I tweeted as much.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like @TheJudge44 . Sweet Lord. #HRDerby2017 #BYB

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) July 11, 2017

The home run derby was incredible.  I love the way they do it now, I love the excitement.

Aaron Judge is the real deal.  Sure the guy has enormous power, but there’s so much more.  He’s happy to be there, never says the wrong thing, and I’d even suggest that he’s more likeable than some of the Yankees of the past.

Oh, here we go! Wait. Don’t misunderstand me. 

The Yankees I’ve seen in my life are incredible, but there’s something about Judge.  When you hear the kid talk, he actually gives you something.  There’s that smile, that excitement… it’s not corporate… it’s real.

Look, Judge won big last night in Miami, and while it means absolutely nothing, what it did do is show him off to the world… and he’s a New York Yankee, and that’s pretty damn cool. He’s ours! I love that!

Oh, and for the record, last night I was very happy to see Justin Bour crank out homers in his home field of Miami… he was having a lot of fun. But there was something very interesting that I observed.  He KNEW he had the round in the bag.

Wow. Message to Bour. Arrogance doesn’t always bring victory. #BeHumble Atta boy @TheJudge44 nice hitting by both of those guys

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) July 11, 2017

Yes, there was confidence…. but arrogance crept in. I saw it immediately. And as he sat there all proud of himself after the fun of screaming and high fiving… something changed.

His face turned to stoic and annoyed once Judge tied him up.  I’m not gonna lie, I smiled. Even though it didn’t mean a thing, I smiled, because in the end, while it may not have changed a thing if he didn’t get all “celebraty”… he did seem a bit more humbled when Judge passed him up. And Bour did the right thing… he didn’t get all cranky about it. He took it like a man. Instead he and Judge embraced… and to me, in the end… that’s baseball and I tip my cap.

Do I think Bour was having alittle fun? Absolutely. But I also think that he was straightened out in that moment when Judge took the lead.

Any way you slice it though, over all, the Home Run Derby was freaking great.  Everyone who participated seemed to have a great time, and Judge? He’s just a beast, and there was nothing better than seeing him win big.