Your daily pace update: With 49 home runs through 129 Yankees games, Aaron Judge projects for 61.56 homers this season.
That exact amount will not happen, but what is happening is historic.
Two seasons after breaking the franchise and American League record with 62 home runs, the Yankees superstar is again chasing history — this time his own.
The hunt for 63 is on, No. 49 coming in the sixth inning of a 3-0 win over the Rockies in The Bronx.
Baseball, just about everyone around the sport will tell you, is built upon failure.
Unless you are Judge, who is homering just about daily.
Friday’s moment arrived against lefty Kyle Freeland, who tried a 1-1 fastball that wasn’t even on the plate.
But Judge turned on the would-be ball and smoked it 388 feet to left, clearing the wall for his fifth home run in the past four games.
“The amazing part about what Aaron’s doing is I don’t even necessarily feel like he’s on fire right now,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees shut down Colorado in the series-opener. “I just feel like he’s just this good.”
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In 100 games since April 27, Judge is batting .378 with 45 home runs, 24 doubles, 106 RBIs and 84 walks.
No one — not Babe Ruth, not Ted Williams, not Barry Bonds — had hit at least .375 with 45 home runs over a 100-game span in MLB history.
“He’s a remarkable player,” said Rockies manager Bud Black, who had managed the Padres when Bonds was shredding the record books with the division-rival Giants. “He’s put up seasons that are Bonds-like.”
The dreadful Rockies pitched to Judge four times and were not hurt three times, Judge grounding into a double play, lining out to third base and popping out.
But given enough chances, the best hitter in baseball will come through.
His sixth-inning shot led off the frame in a game the Yankees were winning by two, the Rockies deciding against an intentional walk that has become increasingly common.