Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he saw it Saturday. First baseman Greg Bird said he felt it Sunday.
On both days, Bird, who struggled so mightily in his return from surgery this season, homered.
And now the key is to keep it going for the rest of the days in the season.
Bird delivered the key blow in Sunday’s 10-2 romp over Toronto at Yankee Stadium when he pulverized a first-inning Ryan Borucki offering for his second career grand slam, a towering drive into the second deck in right.
“I feel like I was doing a better job of using my legs today. That’s a good thing,” said Bird.
Actually, a great thing, especially coupled with his Saturday home run.
“I definitely felt it today. I’ll be honest. I thought I was in a good place just getting ready to hit. And we’ve got to build on that and keep going,” said Bird, who homered in back-to-back games for the second time in his career. “The consistency just hasn’t been there like I’d like. If not you’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
Boone was honest in assessing Bird, who was 1-of-13 (the one hit a homer) entering Sunday. For too long, he didn’t see aggression, authority, confidence at the plate. He saw indications Saturday. And he definitely saw whatever the next step is Sunday.
“Huge, that’s big,” Boone said of consecutive blastoff days for Bird. “That’s two swings in a row where we see the life through the zone. Really night and day from just a couple of days ago. [Here] you really see the bat coming through with some authority. And what I also liked about him in that at-bat? He’s still Greg Bird in that what he does do so well, kind of almost falling out of bed, is control the strike zone. So he’s laying off pitches.”
And the one he went after?
“A no-doubter with some authority and obviously the big blow of the game to really break it open early and allow us to kind of cruise from there,” Boone said.
The manager had suggested a lack of stamina as surgeries have wrecked two seasons for Bird. He missed all of 2016 with shoulder surgery. Ankle surgery in July 2017 also cost him 47 games this season.
“I just keep playing. I enjoy playing and I love playing and I love playing with these guys. That’s it. I just keep going,” Bird said. “There’s always fatigue. We just got done playing 21 [games] in 20 [days]. That’s always a factor, but that’s not excuse.”
