What a difference five days make. Last Friday night, every baseball sportswriter was calling for Joe Girardi’s head for not challenging the foul tip call and taking CC Sabathia out too soon. Outrageous! He’s too serious, too programmed, not instinctual, makes the players stressed and nervous, etc. Hey, let’s fire him – time for new blood in the Bronx.
Fast forward to this morning. It seems Girardi gathered his team together before game 3 and asked them to win one game – one game – Sunday night. And SU fave, Todd Frazier (more on that in a minute) spoke up and made it clear the players had his back and let’s go.
Those same sportswriters are now saying that Girardi’s career is intact once again and that the world forgives him for his brain freeze moment. As written here for several days, SU had Girardi’s throughout, did not believe any challenge would overturn that call, and dismissed the screeds of people like Joel Sherman in the New York Post. If you stayed up late like SU last night to watch Girardi’s post-game comments, you saw an emotional Girardi that you never see. He truly felt terrible about not challenging the call and wanted so badly for the team to somehow win this series. Say what you want about Terry Francona and his loose way of managing, his instinctual use of pitchers didn’t work in this series. In the end, his players were the ones who looked tight. Score one for Joe Girardi and his team last night.
Let’s see how SU’s keys to the game played out last night:
- Don’t start Headley. Check although he did get in for 2 at bats and continued to look over-matched.
- Keep Didi in the 3rd hole. Yup, he hits well there.
- Pray that Judge hits an off speed pitch. Not so much. Struck out 4 times but did ground out that last time which for him right now is like hitting a home run. SU predicts carryover in game 1 Friday night in Houston. And I am serious. The good news is that he did not swing and miss in the clubhouse celebration.
- Greg Bird. Eh, not so much there either.
- Cody Allen. Ah!! He did give it up in the 9th inning. Got one right.
Final comment: Todd Frazier is growing on me. I still hate that he is a .200 hitter who swings for the downs all the time. But he showed me something last night with a couple of grind it out at bats and he is a good clubhouse guy. You can hit him 9th as Chase Headley is so lost right now he needs to sit and watch. Actually, with Keuchel starting for Houston, might as well give Matt Holliday a shot at DH in game 1. He literally cannot do any worse than either Headley or Ellsbury.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Would A-Rod still be batting second if he struck out 16 times in 5 games? Judge had three games with four strikeouts and one game with three in this series. Can they DH for him next game?
I thought that Frazier’s “This one was for Joe” comment was cute, but shouldn’t that comment come from someone who has been on the team with Girardi for years, not weeks?
How about Brett Gardner’s 12 pitch at bat in the top of the 9th? As a consistent reader of SU I know much is made about Gardner and his swing mechanics but given how last night panned out (along w/ him being the longest tenured Yankee), you don’t want anyone else up in that situation. Five consecutive pitches he fouled off en route to a game changing hit. Going into the bottom of the 9th 5-2 vs. 3-2 is a world of difference- not just for the mindset of the Indians, but for Chapman. Very excited to be a fan of THIS team this morning.
Two final notes on the game:
1. David Robertson not giving into Jay Bruce was big given what transpired in Game 2- not to mention he shouldn’t have even had to unintentionally intentionally walk him…. which leads me to my final note
2. How awful was the home plate umpire? Judge had a much larger strike zone than usual and not even the last strike call on former Yankees phenom prospect Austin Jackson was properly called- the teams, and even the announcers, were shocked.
Looking forward to your ALCS takes.
Mark, agree on Gardner at bat. I was hoping he would not walk there as there was no way Judge was going to get a hit. I would have intentionally walked him and risked the bases loaded walk. It was a great at bat. The thing with Gardner is always that he is red hot or ice cold. Never a middle ground. He is now heating up once again. I am convinced the FOX strike zone box is not set up in the right place. Both for game 4 and game 5, so many pitches were called strikes that landed way outside the box. I say don’t even show it as it’s just irritating for both teams and we don’t really know how it’s placed.
Fair point. You would think a guy like Gardner who is the most senior would step up there or even CC. Maybe Tanaka’s translator. Judge will stay the course in right field. He can snap out of it quickly as we saw in September so you can’t stray from what got you here.
In reverse order:
1. Yes… give Holiday a shot at DH. Actually, with the definition of DH’s usually including the word power… I’d actually go with Ronald Torreyes. We have enough home run hitters. We need men on base. This guy is batting close to 300…. a real contact hitter with some speed. Put him in the 9 hole. It’s like having 2 lead off hitters in a row for the Baby Bombers to drive in.
2. With Cleveland having the best pitching staff in the AL I expect Judge, Sanchez and Bird all to do better. I can see these games with more runs overall.
3. Even the great Joe Madden made a few bonehead decisions for the Cubs in the post season last year. They all make mistakes. No one I know is a flawless manager…. except Billy Martin…. not
4. Let’s go with Tanaka and Severino in Games 1 and 2. Sonny Gray in Game 3 and then CC and the bullpen in Game 4.
Every game seems to have a few different heroes for the Yanks. This is a good thing as we are pretty much talented from top to bottom. How many teams would have a Frazier in the 3 thru 6 hole while we have him slotted more in the 8 or 9? I think our best #9 hitter since the DH was instituted could be Scott Brossius.
When was the last time a team won series from back to back 100 win teams. Imagine if the Yanks then go up against the Dodgers and beat them to. I’m sure its never been done by 3 100 win teams or for that matter even just playing against 3 of them.
Yanks in 6 …. with Sanchez, Bird, Didi, Castro, Hicks and Gardner all playing key roles. Judge will hit 1 home run too.
All the pressure was on Cleveland this series and it seemed to take a toll on the defense. I don’t watch them enough but all the talk was about their great defense. This did not carry over to the playoffs. Maybe it was pressure. Maybe it was guys out of position.
I’ve always liked Gardner. He’s a huge contributor. The trick with him is to not expect to much. Don’t expect him to hit for a high average. Don’t expect him to be consistent. Don’t expect his speed to carry over into base stealing. But he plays with intensity and good things can happen. Last night’s at bat in the 9th was fantastic.
Girardi is now a darling which is pretty much what he was a week ago after the wild card game. I guess we should forget that everyone wanted to fire him in between. He’s a top manager and the Yankees are lucky to have him. He’s not the best but he’s up there.
The ALCS should be fun.
Congrats to the Yankees and all their fans. A gutty performance with several veterans really stepping up in the clutch. Gardner, Frazier, CC and Roberts came up big but Didi has shown himself to be a true emerging star who knows how to step up his game when it counts most. Very impressed!
It will be fun to watch New York October baseball for another week. Hard to get into football, hockey and basketball when it is still 80 degrees.
PS… has anyone else noticed that Starlin Castro is a Bruno Mars doppelgänger?
Does anyone have any insight as to how Sonny Gray went from number 2 starter to an almost after thought as he goes in game 4 (only one start in series). I was a big fan until I saw how many pitches he throws and thought his strong point was few homers, but seems like he gives up at least one every game. Maybe I just answered my own question.