MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Ben Rice has carried the Yankee offense in the early going, hitting .370 with three homers heading into this week’s series with the A’s. Rice represents a developmental success the Yankees haven’t seen much of in the last few decades, that of a homegrown lefty slugger. Just one homegrown player (Robinson Canó) has hit 30 homers from the left side for the Yankees since Don Mattingly. What will Rice do this year? “Forty-plus homers. High-on base. All-Star,” said YES analyst David Cone.
New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: As we noted yesterday morning, the only real problem the Yankees faced during their strong start was pitiful production from the bottom of the lineup. They’re not concerned so far, pointing to offsesaon swing changes made by Ryan McMahon that will take some time to fully implement, the track record and talent of Jazz Chisholm Jr., as well as the defensive value players like Austin Wells and José Caballero can bring. All that said, even if it’s fair to give this particular quartet more time before we jump to conclusions, the leash isn’t infinite; the Yankees went with Amed Rosario in McMahon’s place last night even against a right-handed starter.*
*And it worked out well! Rosario hit two homers, and each of Chisholm, Wells, and Caballero delivered hits, too.
The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: Anyone who’s been to Yankee Stadium is familiar with the chicken bucket, one of the team’s most popular concessions. Over the weekend, another bucket went viral, as the Yankees debuted their new “chicken” bucket dessert, a drumstick-shaped ice cream concoction consisting of white chocolate covered in cornflakes with chocolate-covered pretzel at the center. Frankly, it sounds delicious, and fans appear to agree, with the club’s reserves of the dessert, which they anticipated would be sufficient for the entirety of this six-game homestand, exhausted by the first inning of game two.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: It’s going to be cold this week at Yankee Stadium, but the Yankees opted against altering any of their start times, unlike some of their rivals. In the face of chilly conditions, the Mets bumped up the scheduled starts for their Tuesday and Wednesday night matchups against the Diamondbacks, from 7:10 pm to 4:10 pm. A source with the Yankees noted that team has played “upwards of a dozen games the last couple of years where temperatures were similar, if not worse” than what was forecasted for this week. Temperatures were around 40 degrees at last night’s 7:05 first pitch, with “real-feel” temperatures closer to 30 degrees.
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