SAN FRANCISCO -- When the Giants visited Pittsburgh last May, they had just reached MLB's threshold for vaccinations, so they finally got to take their masks off in the dugout. For the first time since he had been named Giants manager, Gabe Kapler got to show his face in the dugout. But when the camera panned to him for the first time, he was not the most notable thing in the shot.
See, this happened in May, and Mike Yastrzemski and his glorious Mustache May addition were standing right there, hogging the spotlight. Yastrzemski was crouched in a pose that Kapler has come to love over the last three seasons. When Yastrzemski is going right, Kapler looks over before his at-bats and sees the outfielder leaning on the dugout rail a few feet away, a bat in his hands as he locks in on the pitcher.
Kapler knows something good is about to happen in those moments. He knows Yastrzemski is at his best when he is calm and poised as he digs in.
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"It kind of looks like a cat chasing prey, just very locked in and focused and nothing can take his attention away from it," Kapler said. "And then when he gets in the batter's box he kind of carries over that calm, easy, soft demeanor, so then he sees the ball early and makes really good decisions."
It got lost in the Joc Pederson mania on Tuesday night, but Yastrzemski had that look going. He reached base five times, including twice ahead of Pederson in the final two innings, scoring both times. After the Giants hit into a double play against Edwin Diaz, Yastrzemski worked a tough walk, setting the stage for Pederson and Brandon Crawford.
A day later, Yastrzemski was again in the middle of all the action as the Giants beat the Mets 9-3, getting a series win.
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He walked in the first inning and scored on the first of two Evan Longoria homers. In the second, Yastrzemski hit his own blast, driving in a pair just before Longoria's second homer. His latest big day raised his OBP to .409 and his slugging percentage to .500.
"His swing is in a really good place. It's fluid, it's athletic, it's very similar to what it was in 2020," Kapler said. "Last year he was good as well, but this is a better version of him."
Yastrzemski was a down-ballot MVP candidate in 2020, but last season he got hit on the hand on the final day of the spring and played catchup for 162 games. The Giants, wildly inconsistent at the plate thus far, will be much, much better off if this version of Yastrzemski sticks around at the top of their lineup. They'll be in great shape if this Longoria is back, too.
Longoria was one of Kapler's most dangerous hitters last season before crashing into Crawford and injuring his shoulder. He wasn't the same after he returned and entered Wednesday's game with a .194 average and no homers.
"I've hit some balls good that haven't landed, that haven't found open space in the outfield," Longoria said. "That's kind of the thing I keep telling myself, ultimately if I keep swinging at the right pitches and contacting the ball the way I was -- I was striking out probably more than I would have wanted to -- but when I was hitting the ball I was hitting it hard."
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Longoria finally saw results, hitting a 106 mph homer to dead center and then pulling one right down the line at 108 mph. Throw in yet another Pederson homer, and the Giants had more than enough firepower.
As they prepared to head back out on the road, Kapler could feel like his offense was in a much better place than 24 hours earlier. Yastrzemski has been heating up for weeks, but if the other veterans can get going, this might finally look like the lineup the Giants envisioned.
"In order for us to get where we want to go it's going to have to be Crawford and Belt and Longo and Joc and some of these veteran players carrying us," Kapler said. "Mike Yastrzemski falls into that category as well. It doesn't have to be one of them every day, but we're going to have to lean on those guys having big performances."