Two in a row! Is this the reawakening... or a glitch in the Matrix

Thoughts after a night of torturing the Twins.

1. Fun fact: Last year, the Yankees made the playoffs by beating up on Boston (9-1) and Baltimore (7-3.) Delete those games, and we were the Dopeytown Dildoxes. 

This year, against those two, we are combined 6-7. There remain ballots to be counted, but if the Redsocks and O's have improved - or if they're just sick of losing to us - we are in bigger trouble than we think. Wins over sad Minnesota show a false read.

2. When someone named "Billy McKinney" homered twice for the Mets this week, my Spider Tack sense began to tingle. Where have I heard that name? Oh, yeah, that Billy McKinney... the former Cubs first-rounder who came along in the Gleyber/Chapman trade, 100 years ago. He was almost a mirror image of Clint Frazier, supposedly a pure hitter and a sure-thing. We traded him to Toronto for - brace yourself - J.A. Happ. From there, he bounced to Milwaukee and now the Mets. 

Today's essay question: Could McKinney turn out to be better than Frazier? Could he be The One That Got Away? 

Okay, this is a "what if" parlor game. Also, after a guy hits two HRs in a night, perspectives can be skewed. But here's the line on U.S. SUPREME COURT YANKIVERSE DISTRICT MCKINNEY V. FRAZIER:

McKinney, 26, has 7 HRs this year, batting .227. He's been hot since moving to the Mets, (4 HR and .275.)

Frazier, 27, is .190 with 5 HRs, though lately with a slight uptick. One problem: he might be on the verge of losing ABs to Miguel AnDUjar, who - fingers crossed - might be back?  

So, yeah, right now, McKinney beats Frazier - sorta - but that's because Red Thunder is still a .190 washout. One other thing: McKinney is exactly what the Yankees need, a LH outfielder who also plays 1B. If this turns out to be his breakout season, well, did you need another reason to greet Cooperstown Cashman with tar and feathers?

3. Speaking of 2-HR games, Giancarlo Stanton! Two big games in a row, TWO!, thanks to Minnesota cooking. If this hitting streak lasts, it means one thing: An injury looms.

That's the line on Yank Aarons: They get cold, get hot, get hurt. 

This season, Stanton was basically horrible through the first 23 games. On April 26, he was hitting .192, and we assailed the juju gods with righteous fury. 

It worked. Stanton got hot - a blistering 14-game heat wave,  which at one point raised his average to over .300. On May 13, he stood at .282.  

Then came The Tweak. (He is, after all, "Mr. Tweak.") Giancarlo missed 14 games, returning May 28 - as Foreigner would say - "as cold as ice, unwilling to sacrifice." His lame spell coincided with Tampa and Boston, lasting eight games. Now, for the last two, he's been hot in Minnesota.

So, according to my calculations - cracks knuckles, punches keyboard, brings up amazing Hollywood graphics, bites into donut - Stanton should tweak something by... next Tuesday. Got that? On the IL by Tuesday. Hope I'm wrong. Let's watch and see. 

4. As the Death Barge desperately seeks a LH bat, one great ex-Yank tugs at our heartstrings. I'm talking about the original sin of winter 2020 - letting go of Sir Didi.   

Essay question No. 2: Could we somehow trade for Didi Gregorius, put him back at SS - move Gleyber to second and DJ to first - and install him as the lefty bat between Judge and Stanton? Probably, no. But fun to imagine.

Didi has had a tough year. He's in minor league rehab - the Iron Pigs of Lehigh! - and was hitting .229 with the Phillies before going out with a sore elbow. (He did have 4 HR and 22 RBIs though.) Last year, he hit .284 with 10 HRs - decent.  

I'm not sure a trade makes sense to Philly, unless they want to ditch his contract: They have him for one more year, at $15 million, and some teams get skittish over 31-year-old shortstops with touchy elbows. 

Here's the thing: The Yanks seem to see Oswald Peraza, age 20, as their future SS. That means Gleyber's time there is limited, and the dominoes would seem to fall on Luke Voit, who's also having a wretched year. 

Peraza was recently bumped up to Double A. If he keeps hitting, he could take over SS next spring. But if he stalls, someone like Didi could hold the position, at least through mid-2022. (Or Gleyber would stay.) Didi wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. 

Not saying it can. Hey, in Minnesota, it's all a parlor game, right?