If Giancarlo Stanton gets hot for the Yankees, the Red Sox are toast in the AL East | Politi

Giancarlo Stanton had his third multi-homer game of the season in a 3-2 Yankees win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 (5/8/18) at Yankee Stadium. Imagine this lineup if he goes on a tear.

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton sent a high fastball screeching toward the left-field wall on a 17-degree angle. It traveled at 111.5 mph and landed in the seats in just 3.8 seconds, an exit so speedy that could force Yankees radio voice John Sterling to alter his home run call to something more efficient. 

“It is high? It is far? Is it … gone?” 

Yeah. That’s not going to work. 

How about this: “Highfargone!”

As that ball rocketed into the Yankee Stadium seats, all the crowd could do was gasp, and then roar, and then remember that this team has gone on this epic spring tear without truly seeing the best from its new marquee star. 

“Superhero swing” is what manager Aaron Boone called it. Teammates Aaron Judge and CC Sabathia had a hoot mimicking it on the dugout steps. Stanton hit another bomb, a more traditional parabola to right field, in a 3-2 victory for the Yankees over the hated Red Sox. 

It was his third multi-homer game of the season, which naturally led to a familiar question: Is this the night that jumpstarts that week-long or even month-long tear the Yankees are waiting to see from him?

Boone sounded almost omniscient when asked about his cleanup hitter a few hours before his Yankees climbed back into first place, calling a hot streak imminent. “He will have that breakout week,” Boone promised, although this is isn’t exactly climbing out on a limb. 

Stanton was the National League MVP last season. But, this being the Bronx, fans expected him to hit most 59 of those home runs during the team’s first home stand. The sluggish start, both for the team and player, led to far more handwringing than was warranted. 

No one is booing Stanton any more — winning at a tidy .941 clip tends to calm even the harshest bleacher critic — but the expectations haven’t changed. Stanton hasn’t quite approached them. Yet. 

But his numbers, a .237 batting average with nine home runs and 21 RBI, aren’t all that far off from where they were a year ago at this point in the season. He also is saving his best at-bats for the biggest games, a fact that shouldn’t be lost in the top-heavy American League.   

Stanton is batting .600 with two home runs, five RBI and a .647 OPS in four games against the Red Sox this season. He also carried the team against the other likely AL postseason foe, the Astros, with a two-homer, four-RBI game against long-time nemesis Dallas Keuchel.

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For much of his early career in New York, the last reigning MVP to defect here — Alex Rodriguez — was criticized for hitting too many home runs in the ninth innings of a blowout. Stanton is doing the opposite.

“For as much as I feel like we’ve talked about (his struggles), he’s still been fairly productive,” Boone said. “Obviously we know there’s going to be a point where he gets it rolling. But we’re built that way. It’s going to be different guys.” 

The way the Red Sox steamrolled to a 7 1/2 game lead in the AL East, the Yankees had to figure it would take several months to track them down. Instead, incredibly, it took just three weeks. 

That’s what a 16-1 stretch will do, and yes, it is pretty darn historic. The last time this team has gone on a roll like this, Mickey Mantle was still batting cleanup. It was 1953, when the dynasty Yankees won 21 out of 22 during a remarkable late-spring run. 

“We’re right there where we need to be,” Stanton said. “There’s still one tomorrow. There’s still plenty more to go. We’ve just got to keep fighting.”

A three-game series before the flowers bloom in Central Park won’t prove anything — this two-team AL East race should take us into the fall. The angry reaction to Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly, who started a brawl in April when he beaned Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin, is proof that this rivalry is alive and well again. It’s going to be a hoot. 

Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the Yankees won’t be the team clawing its way out of the do-or-die AL Wild Card this October. This won’t be a popular opinion in Beantown, but here goes: The Red Sox might have the better starting rotation (when David Price is healthy), but the Yankees have a better bullpen and, from top to bottom, a far better lineup.

They have put together this remarkable run without seeing the best from their cleanup hitter, but with the way he was putting those “superhero swings” on display Tuesday night, that hot streak might be coming.

If it does? Look out. 

Steve Politi may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.