NEW YORK _ Didi Gregorius has a knack for giving the Yankees just what they need exactly when they need it. A spectacular play at shortstop? No problem. A routine play? It's his pleasure. Did someone say a cleanup hitter was required? Check.
And of course, there was the one from a few years back: A strong and steady replacement for a retiring icon? Gregorius is your man.
On Tuesday night, in the postseason _ the favorite time of year for the fellow who held the position before him _ Gregorius gave the Yankees an unusual mix of adrenaline and equilibrium. After the Twins had shocked the ballpark with three runs against Luis Severino, Gregorius lifted everyone's spirits and put the club at ease with a three-run home run. That was before Ervin Santana had achieved his second out. Just the right time for the Yankees.
It fit in with what Joe Girardi said about Gregorius recently: "You think about how we lost some hitters from the middle of the order because of injuries and Didi has done a fabulous job. Just really impressive, what he's done. The home runs, the RBIs, the big hits that he's had, the outstanding defense. He's had a really good year. Here again, here's a guy who has 80 RBIs who missed a month of the season and that's really impressive."
Whoever was going to replace Derek Jeter at shortstop was going to have his hands full. Since Gregorius became a Yankee before the 2015 season, he has made the transition seamless for the team and its fans. The multilingual shortstop never has liked to talk about the succession, or much of anything else. Truth be told, in interviews, he is not the charming cutup he appears to be in the emoji-packed tweets he issues after each win.
That is just fine with the ballclub. Teammates say he always is happy on the field and in the clubhouse. Much more to the point, he is productive. He broke you-know-who's single-season record for homers by a shortstop with 25. Then he hit his most important home run of the year in the bottom of the first of the wild-card game, just in time, before any semblance of doubt could creep into the Stadium.
It was what any club would hope to get from its cleanup hitter. So is the respect that Twins manager showed by ordering Gregorius to be intentionally walked with no outs and runners on second and third in the seventh.
For his part, Gregorius does not think of himself as a prototypical power source ("I don't try to do anything different. I just try to hit line drives and when I hit some fly balls, they sometimes carry out," he said recently) or cleanup batter ("It doesn't matter to me if I hit leadoff or the last. I mean, I'll hit anywhere in the lineup. As long as I'm in there, I'm happy").
He prefers to be a man for the moment, providing whatever the moment might require.
