SU was in the house last night at Yankee Stadium way up high with some of the SU faithful to take in the Yankees’ wild card game victory. The stadium was loud – a welcome change from the regular season where most fans have their faces in their i-phones. Great game, great win. Some takeaways:
- Joe Girardi made all the right moves with the bullpen. Chad Green got the biggest outs of the game in the 1st inning where a 5-run deficit may have felt too large to overcome. Bringing in David Robertson early turned out to be the key as he threw over 50 pitches in what had to be the longest outing in his career as a reliever. And best of all, Girardi avoided having to use Betances in a high pressure situation which was a relief to all fans. The bullpen is not in great shape for Thursday but the goal here was to advance and he played this masterfully.
- Kudos to Brian Cashman as relievers Green, Robertson and Kahnle were not even on the opening day roster this season.
- In the post-season, you worry if the young players will find the moment too big for them. Clearly, Severino was over-amped or just nervous. SU feels he will learn from this experience and should be back to normal in his next start. But notice that Judge, Sanchez and Didi all delivered big hits and showed they are ready for prime time. SU says that is huge. Don’t forget that a seasoned veteran like A-Rod struggled in most of his Yankee post-seasons.
- SU liked the fire from the team last night. Gardner got brushed back on a 2-2 pitch and then put the next one in the 2nd deck down the line. Dropped the bat, watched it and did a bit of a staredown at the pitcher. Judge was really pumped after his laser to left for a home run. This has been a fun team all year. And it’s because they are young.
- Even Todd Frazier hit a shot to center that almost cleared the fence. SU was on the hook there to buy a round of beers for the entire row if he hit a home run.
- Interesting that Headley did not get the start. SU says note that Ellbury has cooled off markedly the last week and should be on the bench for game 1 against the Indians with Headley back in as DH.
- A tip of the hat to long-time SU subscriber A. Grossman who caught a foul ball last night down below with his glove. Sweet.
On to Cleveland and their hard throwers. Not a great match up for the Yankees with a tired bullpen but they are playing with house money now in my opinion. They will only get younger next season and even more fun to watch. Given the state of the NY Giants and your NEW YORK KNICKS!, enjoy the next few days.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
With a day off after having at least a few days off for most of the key bullpen and toss in having the adrenaline flowing…. hopefully more even keeled than Severino and the bullpen should be just fine. Two games in a row followed by a day off…. I don’t dee this as a problem for them.
I’m not worried about Elllsbury getting back in the groove but Headley earned a shot to hit too so who knows who will DH on Thursday. Girardi, in keeping to form will probably go with the historic stats versus the pitcher they will be facing.
With Judge not striking out, getting 2 hits and a walk and during the month of September looking more like the Judge of the first half of the season you have to feel good… especially with the next 2 batters also hitting pretty well… and Gardner too. Bird got a clutch hit so that makes it the first 6 batters doing their job nicely.
If we lose to Cleveland it will be a hard fought series. I can accept that for 2017.
Lastly, u r correct that there is not much to look forward to in New York after baseball until next March.
Good point on Girardi. Funny thing is, had Severino gone 5 innings, Girardi probably would have used MORE pitchers. He would have been mixing and matching. He needed length and, guess what? When a reliever pitches a strong inning, they may have another strong inning or two left in the tank. I like what he did.