Yankee force: Giancarlo Stanton wanted to play for his hometown Dodgers, but they decided they could not fit him into their budget, so the Yankees happily plucked him from the Marlins' fire sale. Stanton has nine home runs, one fewer than all the Dodgers outfielders combined, through Friday. He hasn't yet his stride — he's batting a career-low .238 — but the Yankees have. They won 17 of 18 games against a formidable series of opponents: the Blue Jays, Twins, Angels, Astros, Indians and Red Sox. In his eight seasons in Miami, he never played for a team with a winning record, so he was delighted to sense the urgency in New York.
Three up, three down: Stanton and the Yankees get hot, but big league bats overall are cooler
