Yesterday, Carlos Rodon pitched his greatest game as a Yankee

Yesterday, Carlos Rodon played the Ace.

Let the record show that Rodon's greatest outing as a jersey-wearing, card-carrying trustee of the New York effing Yankees came in an exhibition game, one week before anything matters. 

It's a fool's errand to assign meaning to a ball game played the 18th of March - the birthday of Grover Cleveland - but in a Bizarro Superman sort of way, Rodon just pitched the game of his Yankee life. 

Rodon's 2023 game log shows no scoreless outings

Until yesterday, he had never thrown five scoreless innings while clad in Midnight Blue. Not only did he shut out Philadelphia - (albeit without Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber) - but Rodon pitched no-hit ball into the 6th, leaving to earnest snowbird applause.

Let me repeat: Instead of being booed, catcalled or condemned for crimes against the Yankees, Rodon doffed his cap to a rousing sunblock-scented ovation.

As Rodon was pitching, Blake Snell was signing with the SF Giants, ensuring that the NL West will be the baseball's best division. The Yankees can breathe easier: Snell won't pitch for Toronto or Boston - or our greatest nemesis, the hated Astros. 

A solid six innings in March means nothing, unless it brings a tweak or strain. But the Yankees need Rodon like never before. If he recaptures the stuff of 2022, he could anchor the rotation until Gerrit Cole returns, probably in June. (Fingers crossed.) 

Yesterday, with DJ LeMahieu resting a bum toe - he'll likely miss opening day - the Yankees reverted to a harbinger of recent rancid seasons: The lifeless bottom third of the batting order. Their final three: Trent Grisham, Kevin Smith and Oswaldo Cabrera, none of which might hit his weight. Add Jose Trevino, have Anthony Volpe repeat 2023, and rest Aaron Judge's mystery ailments, and the Yankees look perilously like the woeful banjo lineups of recent seasons. Suddenly, the addition of Juan Soto looks more like a stopgap than a transformative piece.

Yesterday, Carlos Rodon gave us a ray of hope.

Finally.