Here come Da Judge

 This is not a precinct where the New York Yankees are held in great esteem. Let's begin there this morning.

Let's begin with the Blob's general disdain for the pinstriped little darlings, which is not a reflection on any of the current Yankees but mostly the residue of a time when everyone from the owner (George Steinbrenner) to the manager (Billy Martin) to the resident superstar (Reggie Jackson) was a thoroughly unlikeable human. Plus they won all the time in those days, and their fans were world champion frontrunners.

It was easy to be a Yankees fan then. They had all the money, and so generally you never had to worry about heartbreak -- which of course is an essential component of true baseball fandom.

However ...

However, attention must be paid today.

That's because yesterday Aaron Judge mashed his 41st home run in the first inning at Yankee Stadium. This came a day after he'd mashed his 40th home run, a 477-foot moonshot, also in the first inning.

The victim in both these instances were the sadsack Toronto Blue Jays, who just held a yard sale at the trade deadline because they're 14 1/2 games out of first in the AL East and aren't inclined to get much closer. Accordingly, Blue Jays manager John Schneider decided to commit some quasi-history.

Having seen Judge greet his pitching with first-inning homers two days in a row, Schneider decided to walk Big Aaron with two outs and the bases clean when he came up again in the second.

It marked the first time in 50 years a player was intentionally walked with the bases empty in the first two innings of a game. And the last time it happened with two outs in the first two innings was Aug. 10, 1972, when Minnesota Twins catcher Glenn Borgmann, a career .229 hitter, was walked to get to the pitcher.

(Yeah, I know. It's completely bizarre that baseball apparently keeps track of such things.  No other sport I know of is such a total nerdfest.)

(By the way, I looked it up. Glenn Borgmann is still alive. He's 74 years old now. And so in my mind's eye I see him reading about what happened in Yankee Stadium yesterday and saying "Dammit! My completely obscure baseball feat has finally been matched!")

But I digress.

What matters here is not just Schneider making quasi-history, but Aaron Judge -- by all accounts a thoroughly likeable human -- sitting at 41 dingers on August 3. That means he has two more months to hit 22 more and eclipse his own club record of 62, which he did just two seasons ago.

So Aaron Judge is chasing Aaron Judge. Something to spice up the dog days, and what's wrong with that?