Yankee fans and Girardi haters, in case you have not noticed it, Girardi has managed his team to win 3 elimination games in less than a week. I have read and heard all the complaints: manages by the book; too tense; makes his players tense; committed to his binder; and has the game laid out hours in advance and won’t deviate.
Well, last night, did he have Tommy Kahnle pitching the last 2 innings? SU says probably not. I did not have a problem giving Betances the 8th inning but he earned being taken out after two walks. Luckily, he didn’t kill anyone with his fastball. SU says do not expect to see him again in any close game the rest of this post-season. Too bad as he’s a nice guy who wants to do well but is scared he could actually kill someone with his fastball as he has no clue where it’s going.
SU says Brian’ O’Nora’s strike zone last night was either terrible or else the FOX virtual box for the strike zone was not lined up properly. So many missed calls on the corners – for both teams. SU says take the box off there. It’s an unneeded distraction and it just becomes annoying. The YES Network has an overhead shot of home plate that helps to determine if pitches are on the corners. Is that not available? And while we are at it, can FOX once in a while reference who is warming up or not warming up in the Yankee bullpen?
Did you see the stats on the record of post-season starts by pitchers on 3 days rest? Something like 2-4 with a 5.35 ERA. So, why go that route last night for the Indians? They have 5 legitimately good starters with impressive records. A sign of panic? No doubt Kluber will be his normal self tomorrow night. SU is a bit worried about Sabathia. I agree he should start over Gray and the Indian hitters seem to have more trouble with the soft tossers which is what CC is at this point in his career. But the recency effect is legit – you start to get used to the pitchers you see frequently. SU also was surprised that Francona rolled out all of his relievers last night except for Miller – same thing applies. He is helping the Yankee hitters by pitching them so frequently.
I would have CC on a short leash tomorrow night. You will know early if his change up and curve are on or are rolling up there. The Yankees must score first against Kluber. One thing I notice about the Indians is that they show no signs of panic. They are a loose team. It comes from not having lost 2 games in a row for the past 45 games. That will be a factor tomorrow night.
Keys to game 5:
- Do not start Chase Headley. Of course, neither he or Ellsbury has a hit in the post-season but he is late on every pitch.
- Keep Didi at the 3rd spot and Bird 5th. This forces Francona to mix and match more with his relievers and it breaks up the right handed bats.
- Pray that Judge sits on an off speed pitch just once and lays off the high fastball.
- Greg Bird.
- Hope that Francona relies on Cody Allen to close. I am convinced he is poised to give it up.
As a Yankee fan, I have no complaints. The team shows heart, resilience and is having fun. Plus, the Red Sox have already lost which makes us all feel good.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Betances, like the All Star 2nd basemen whom we got from Minnesota 20 years ago….who has a major head problem and couldn’t field his position anymore. He just couldn’t throw the ball accurately. Start Ellsbury against the righty or Holiday against a lefty. I like Hicks up in the 9th spot as it gives us two leadoff men in a row,
Girardi like a QB gets too much credit when they win and too much ridiculing when they lose. The players must perform… and that’s the bottom line. This isn’t the beginning of the season in which the players need to get into a groove. No excuses. Hey, if we lost the game then we’d all be looking back at 2nd and 3rd with no outs and bases loaded and one out. If it wasn’t for Cleveland’s 4 errors last night’s game would have been alot closer.
If we play good defense and Sanchez can hang on to the ball we stand a decent chance to win. I think its going to boil down to a mental mistake from the Yankees perspective. Error-less baseball and we have a shot.
Optimistic – 5-4 win
Pessimistic – 6-2 loss
Francona used the whole bullpen but it wasn’t the overtaxing playoff, multiple inning type stuff we’ve been seeing. They were all about an inning or less, plus there’s an off day. During the game I was actually thinking that he was using the opportunity to get some work in for everyone. I doubt that yesterday’s game would leave any lingering effects for Wednesday and it may actually keep them fresh.
The place where Francona is getting away without a lot of criticism in in CF. I don’t know their roster enough to understand their options but you hear about the importance of defense up the middle and the Indians are a good fielding team but Kipnis is hurting them there. He made a diving catch early in the series but since then he’s missed catches and he didn’t have himself in position to throw out a tagging Frazier yesterday on a play where no major league runner even tries to go against any major league center fielder. It was only an insurance run but the Indians are making a mistake here. CF is not a place to “hide” a fielder playing out of position.
Wednesday should be fun. And tense.
I would move Hicks into 2 hole against Kluber and drop Judge down to 6th, Need as many lefties against him early to get that lead. I love Judge but the strikeouts are killers with men in scoring position where even ground balls or fly balls move people along. I agree Betances doesn’t get into any meaningful roles going forward, it is just scary for the hitters at this point and no one wants to see a Giancarlo Stanton situation ever again.. Headley is done as DH, Ellsbury gets start Wednesday in 9 hole and if we move forward, give Holliday some at bats. CC on short leash as bullpen is ready to go 5-6 innings with Green, Robertson and Chapman. Look for any opportunity to exploit Kipnis in center