Three Yankees takeaways from their series sweep over the Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — Three takeaways from the Yankees’ three-game sweep in St. Louis, their first sweep since winning three straight against the Mariners July 8-10:

1. The Yankees took care of business against a going-nowhere team. That’s progress.

But is it, at long last, a signal that the Yankees are in the early stages of a long-promised stretch of quality baseball? That cannot be said yet. But Saturday night’s 12-8 victory allowed the Yankees to win a second straight series for the first time since May 23-28, when they took back-to-back road series against the Rockies and Angels, and they took advantage of multiple mistakes by the Cardinals in Sunday’s 8-4 victory.  The Yankees are 25-32 since moving a season-high 17 games over .500 (42-25) on June 12, but they have won five of their last six and six of their last eight. Yes, five of those victories came against the Twins and Cardinals, but you can only play the schedule in front of you. The Yankees did what they had to do.

2. It doesn’t sound as if Giancarlo Stanton will be back in the outfield anytime soon.

Before starting in rightfield Aug. 9, Stanton had not played the outfield in two years. He ended up playing the field in four of five games, including three straight games Monday through Wednesday against the Twins, but he hasn’t started there since because of what Aaron Boone described over the weekend as difficulty with his “lower-body” recovery.  “That’s accurate,” Stanton said Sunday, declining to elaborate. Stanton has been red-hot at the plate but has been blocked from his usual DH role because Aaron Judge is not yet ready to play right as he recovers from the flexor strain in his right elbow that cost him 10 games on the injured list. Boone left open the possibility of Stanton playing the outfield in one of the two games in Tampa this week, but it seems as if that is on hold. “I’m available to pinch hit, so I’m not really going to get into all that at the moment,” Stanton said.

3. Boone said Ben Rice hasn’t taken over the starting catcher duties from Austin Wells, but the proof is in the playing time.

Rice has started behind the plate in five of the last eight games. The reason is simple: He has been hitting the ball hard “since February,” in Boone’s words, and it’s been a struggle all season at the plate for Wells, who is hitting .206 with a .668 OPS and is in an 8-for-65 skid. “Wellsie’s still going to play a lot,” Boone said. “We just have to work it out. Again, it’s fluid and day-to-day, but I think you can definitely say Ben has thrown himself much more in the mix.” Much, much more.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.