Young Ben Rice is a nice story whether it’s a one-day story or he keeps his unexpected magic going. That the Yankees even discovered the Boston kid and Dartmouth alum was the first miracle. How many more are coming? Yankees scouts worked overtime, staffing pickup games and practices in Northborough, Duxbury, Needham, Scituate and other Hub suburbs where Rice and aspiring Ivy League hopefuls played while the academic-first conference went on a two-year COVID break.
The Yankees liked what they saw so they turned him into a 12th-round draft flyer that looks brilliant today. Rice isn’t just a big plus because he may be that third, necessary threat in the two-superstar Yankees lineup or because he made himself the answer to a trivia question on Saturday by becoming the first Yankees rookie to have a three-homer game . He brings energy and youthful enthusiasm to a very veteran clubhouse that’s been missing that.
Rice’s huge game against the team he grew up rooting against — really, he was a Yankees fan growing up in tony Cohasset, Mass. — represented a beautiful diversion from a dismal trend. But even manager Aaron Boone wasn’t necessarily buying a carryover effect.
“I think the focus switches to today,” Boone said, honestly, before the Yankees hoped to defy their recent downturn by beating their rival Red Sox on Sunday night on national TV and logging their first winning series in nearly a month. Rice, mature beyond his 25 years, sees it the same. “Yesterday wa.
