Fast Start

DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit jump started the Yankees offense on Wednesday. Their back-to-back homers leading off the bottom of the 1st paid off in an immediate 2-0 lead. That gave the healthy-again James Paxton a nice cushion to work with in what ended as an easy 7-0 shutout of the Padres.

There were plenty of standouts in this game: Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela -- no sign yet of his jersey when I was Tuesday night's game -- each homered; Urshela turned in another dazzling play at 3rd base; Paxton worked four no-hit innings and the deep bullpen kept the door closed to a San Diego club whose bats came alive the night before.

Let's circle back to LeMahieu and Voit, who connected off NL Rookie of the Year candidate Chris Paddock. In the 100 years since Babe Ruth made the home run the focus of hitting attacks, this was just the 10th time in club history the Yankees began a game that way, Honestly, I thought they'd done it more often; then again, bunching putting power guys at the top of a lineup is relatively new.

If you grew up with Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Richardson or Willie Randolph lead off, you didn't expect a home run -- followed by the next batter doing the same. And while Hank Bauer and Rickey Henderson were legitimate power threats, the hitters who followed them normally weren't. So this "instant offense" is relatively recent, one more present-day example of more players facing fastballs and swinging for the fences.