Giancarlo is on last year's MVP pace

For months now, the Yankiverse has echoed with one starkly disturbing, whispered fear: That Giancarlo Stanton's great seasons came with a team that couldn't view the pennant race without an electron telescope. After all, if a tree falls on a bear shitting a home run in the woods, does anybody count it? Last year at this time, Stanton's Marlins were already 8 games down in the fleabag NL East and sliding ever-deeper into the sinkhole of irrelevance that defines baseball in Florida, where the ghost of Anita Bryant still turns the bleachers pungent, and - come August - you're more likely to encounter a Burmese python than a fan. 

Well, here are the Stant Man's numbers, then and now:

May 16, 2017: 11 HRs, 27 RBIs, .253-.325-.521 (.846)

Today: 10 HRs, 26 RBIs, .255-.344-.516 - (.860)

Yeesh, there's almost an eerie algorithm at work here. Barring injuries, he's on course to follow up his NL MVP season - when he hit 59 HRs and drove in 132 - with similar numbers. Those stats give me the Viagra sweats. Certainly, Boston is giddy over the early season production of JD Martinez and Mookie Betts - currently 2nd and 3rd among MLB in batting average. (Our top BA, Aaron Judge, ranks 25th, with .307.) And if Mart-Mook have career years, the Redsocks will be far more explosive than in 2017, when they easily won the AL East. But neither is Stanton, and it now appears as though Giancarlo is not going to be Kemp, or Tartabull, or even Barfield... but Giancarlo.

Two nights ago, he blooped a single over first base for his 1,000th major league hit. Generally, by the time a player reaches a thousand, he has defined himself. (FWIW: Martinez has 860; Betts, 662.) But whenever a player hits New York, all bets are off. As Bonnie Raitt once said, every night, you must win over the crowd. In his first month, Stanton shat the bed, earning boos. These days, every time he steps up, his average seems to have jumped a point or two. 

He is on the verge of winning New York City.

Soon, Greg Bird will return, Didi will rise from his funk, and Aaron Hicks either will start hitting or be replaced. (Clint Frazier is waiting.) Gary Sanchez - if you disregard his 2 for 36 start of the season - is doing fine. Add Gleyber and Miguel - both pressed by Brandon Drury - and we see more firepower than any team in baseball, more than the Yankees have fielded in decades... maybe, gulp, even since 1961. (NO, I DID NOT WRITE THAT. IT JUST APPEARED ON MY SCREEN. I DID NOT WRITE THAT NUMBER.)

Last night, Chance Adams threw seven shutout innings for Scranton, struck out 10. Until now, the guy's been lost. Another outing like that, and Sonny Gray might become the bullpen long man. 

Listen: The days are growing longer. I wake up to birds chirping in the trees. Around here, we piss and moan as a matter of normalcy. But damn, it's a great time to be a Yankee fan. Giancarlo is for real. Let's enjoy this, while it lasts.