Yankees let the 'Dawgs' out to start the season
New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the second inning against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Mary Altaffer
The Yankees are going to the dogs. Or, more accurately, the Dawgs.
Fans lucky enough to be seated near the Yankees' dugout at home and on the road may hear a strange sound emanating from the players after a home run or a big hit.
Barking.
Yes, barking.
The Yankees — who even after Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to Miami had the best record in baseball at 10-3 — are woofing it up.
It all started after the season-opening four-game sweep of the Astros in Houston. New Yankee Alex Verdugo referred to the team as “Dawgs,” and a theme (and many memes) was born.
“It’s been fun,” Verdugo said on Tuesday night. “To hear the crowd out there barking, to see everybody kind of running with it, has been a lot of fun. Who doesn’t like to bark, right? Anytime I hear the teammates barking — I got [Anthony] Rizzo throwing up the little ‘arf, arf, arf,’ so it’s a lot of fun. They’re running with it and we love it.”
At the moment he said that, Verdugo was wearing a “Bronx Dawgs” T-shirt. Verdugo said the more you accomplish as a player, the louder the barks.
“We kind of joke every day, it’s a baby chihuahua,” he said. “We start with a baby bark and the more damage you do, the bass starts going a little deeper and you start turning into a big dog. So every day it’s a little dog and if you do something, it’s a big dog.”
Manager Aaron Boone — who once famously referred to his hitters as “Savages in the Box” — said he’s enjoying the canine antics of this year’s squad.
“I laughed — 'Dawg!' — that’s first how I heard it,” Boone said on Wednesday. “I thought it was great. And they've taken to it. It's been fun to watch this group come together. It's been fun to watch. I go back to the purpose that this group has, [it] has been evident from day one of spring training and even before that. That's a fun little mantra that they've taken to that they believe is really what they want to be, what they want to embody.”
Asked what that word meant to him, Boone exclaimed: “Dawg!”
“C’mon,” Boone said. “Get your Urban Dictionary.”
To the Yankees, the phrase represents how close they are as a group.
“I'm always a believer,” Boone said. “One-hundred-and-62 games in 180 days. Stretch that out even further over spring training. It's a grind. And I want guys that are energy givers, not energy suckers, in that room. That looks a lot of different ways. I've played with people that are more outspoken, talkative and bring an energy like that. Some guys just bring a healthy energy that's a little more subdued. Then there's guys that suck the energy out of the room. We don't want that.”
Boone didn’t mention names when it came to energy suckers over the last few seasons. But it’s the energy of new arrivals such as Verdugo, Juan Soto and Marcus Stroman that has helped fuel the Yankees to their hot start.
“Feels pretty good,” Soto, who is batting .360 with a 1.008 OPS in his first 13 games with the Yankees, said after the 4-2 homestand. “The crowd shows up every game. It was unbelievable. More than excited that we got the win in both series. I think it was pretty cool.”
The Yankees and their fans know Soto could be a one-year rental. But the way the fans reacted to Soto in the first homestand, and the way Soto returned their love with open displays of affection in rightfield, could all of these good feelings help the superstar decide to stay in the Bronx when he becomes a free agent after the season?
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “You never know how those things play out. Hopefully.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
