Roden practiced the "chopping wood philosophy" and the Yankees finished the Rangers 1-0 sweep series

There's no place to swing an axe in the steel forests of the South Bronx, but Carlos Rodón has been with "chopping wood" for the past year. In the Yankees locker room, the phrase symbolizes tenacity, purpose, and tenacity. Aaron Boone mentions the term most often — and when someone recently joked that the head coach seemed to only use that term for Roden, Boone shrugged with a smile: the word was made for him. The left-handed shooter continued to swing his axe on Thursday and led the team to a 1-0 win over the Rangers in six innings at Yankee Stadium to complete the series sweep.

"He's said it a lot of times, and it's become a code message between us: 'Get on the pitch and keep on the board,'" Roden smiled knowingly, "I just want to make as many outs as I can and work hard." His flawless execution lowered the ERA to 2.88 and helped the Yankees on their third sweep of the season (March 27-30 against the Brewers and April 14-16 against the Royals). New York has won 11 of their last 14 games, a season-high +11 win rate (30-19).

Although these 14 games were won by an average of 3.1 points (86-42), the game was narrowly defeated. Jorbit Vivas sealed the win with his first career hit Nathan Eovaldi in five innings. After learning that the team had recovered the commemorative ball, the Venezuelan youngster planned to send it to his family: "They have supported me since I was a child, and this ball belongs to them. "

The memorial ball was all the support Roden had – and all he needed. He blocked the Rangers line with two hits, threw two and eight strikeouts, and left the court with his head held high after a 105th strikeout against Jake Burger. The catcher, J.C. Escarra, pointed his gloves at Roden, as if to say, "You're a real man." "

"He trusted my ball throughout," Escala said, "and we were looking for weak contacts, and strikeouts were an added bonus." After four struggles in the opening season (1 win, 3 losses, and a 5.48 ERA rate), Roden has a 5-0 loss in his last seven games and a 1.47 ERA rate. Boone agrees: "He has built a solid training system, focusing on the day-to-day rather than the results of a single game, and the results are naturally visible. "

Boone's mental build-up for Roden began with a frustrating season of injury-plagued 2023. In the offseason, the pitcher opted to decompress at a remote cabin in Missouri and returned in 2024 with a career-high 32 starts. Now he's more well-rounded. "Every time he got on the board, he gave it his all," said Luke Weaver, who made his seventh rescue, "and he threw more than 100 shots and was still fighting, as if to say, 'Don't replace me.'" "

I still remember that at the Yankees press conference, Roden disdained to use weapons other than speedball + slide in the Eastern Conference of the United States. Now he realizes: "In the past, I was superstitious about ball speed, but this year I am more focused on ball control. Major League hitters can hit red mid-speed balls and must win by position. He threw 38 sliders and 37 four-seam speedballs, supplemented by 21 speedballs and nine curveballs. For example, strikeout Berg's speed ball is a work of art.

"When the slider doesn't work well after two good shots, we switch to a variable speed ball," Escara explained, "and the curved ball is used to grab the number of good balls." He now has four ready-to-use weapons, and success is a matter of course. When asked about his next steps, Roden said indifferently: "Keep chopping wood." Thanks to the coaching staff for their arsenal and matching strategy, only gratitude. "