Warming Up

Neil Walker -- seen here on a wintry night in April -- got off to a very slow start with the Yankees. A late spring training signee, his bat was on par with the weather through the first month of the regular season. The injury to Greg Bird and the sluggish start by Tyler Wade gave the 10-year veteran plenty of playing time -- but his production simply wasn't where he or Aaron Boone expected it.
Flipping the calendar to May appears to have helped. In the last 10 days, he's hit around .340 and has made a habit of contrubuting to game-changing rallies.
Saturday was the capper: in a game where the Yanks erased a 6-2 deficit, they were tied at 6 with the A's in the last of the 11th. After getting two effective innings of relief from the long-ignored AJ Cole. Walker came up to face Chris Hatcher with runners on 1st and 2nd and delivered an RBI single for the walk-off win. A Walker-off win. Authored by the veteran whose bat warmed up with the weather.

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