SU says it’s clearly not ideal and you would prefer to be heading home to New York with the series tied at 1-1 vs. being down 0-2. But let’s step back and see what’s gone on here so far:
- The Yankee hitters strike out at a historic rate. Some are tough at bats and then there are the Gary Sanchez ones where he is missing by 2-3 feet in 3 pitches. As said here many times, they don’t manufacture runs and rely on the home run. Clearly not working in games 1 and 2.
- They have been out-scored 4-2. Certainly not blowout losses but the 2-0 deficit in game 1 felt enormous and let’s be honest: did you really think they were going to win game 2 with the scored tied 1-1? SU did not. They never threatened in any inning. That’s why I was not overly distraught by the play in the bottom of the 9th inning – it felt more like putting them out of their misery than a crushing defeat.
- But about that play. How does Sanchez not take off his mask there? It makes it that much harder to see and field a low throw from Didi. He should have stepped forward and caught the ball and then lunged back to nail the runner. Sure, it was an aggressive National League type of play to send the runner but he should have been out by a mile and then it was a dumb send by the 3rd base coach. Sanchez is a great offensive catcher with a gun for an arm but we have all seen his defensive liabilities throughout the season. No one is surprised that he failed to scoop the throw cleanly – certainly not any Yankee pitcher.
- The reality is that when you score 1 run a game, tough to win. Chase Headley showed signs of life at the DH spot yesterday and deserves another start in game 3. SU does not think the Astros will start Keuchel until game 5 but I could be wrong. They may want him lined up for a game 7 if necessary. Btw, if he starts in game 4 or 5, can we please put Torreyes in the DH slot? Someone with a short swing who hit .290 for the year and can produce against a tough pitcher.
As Pat Riley likes to say, a series does not officially start until one team loses on its home court. SU believes in that and if they can find a way to win in game 3, things will look differently. If they don’t, well there it is. But the priority needs to be on offense to at least put the ball in play and make the adjustments. Judge has been making contact more the last two games and he might just be ready to get untracked – yet again. Sanchez and Castro must hit to right field. How do they not see that or recognize that’s necessary?
Finally, an appeal to FOX. Get rid of the box at home plate. Unless you tell us that you are meticulously fitting this for every batter, it’s just an annoyance and it makes the umpire look bad on almost every pitch. The real fans watch games all season long without it. And finally, finally, as SU has said many times, the umpires get the close calls correctly about 30% of the time. It’s amazing how many calls they miss but to be honest, very hard to see. I know baseball has the human element and all that but other sports are working to get calls correct and baseball needs to incorporate technology more.
So, Yankee fans and Yankee haters, is the series over? Or is there life in the Bronx come Monday night?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Not over yet. Every break has gone to Houston so far. They throw out one at the plate and one at third–inches, could have gone either way. We miss home plate tag which was an easy out if our catcher could catch a ball. Their right fielder takes away a homer, ours just misses taking one away. Our pitching matches theirs even though those two Houston starters are better than ours right now. Law of large numbers says these breaks have to even out but unfortunately we don’t have large numbers to work with, just 5 more games at most.
We have to beat up on their 3 and 4 starters, hope Severino is healthy and get either Judge or Sanchez to hit a homer. Gray has to come up big in his start and we have to figure out how to hang an oh-for on Altuve which is the most unlikely of events. I know we are ahead of where we should be but when you get this close to going to WS, that is small consolation for a Yankee fan.
Also, it is really troubling that Sanchez is not very good at catching a ball. So much is made of his throwing arm but if you don’t catch it cleanly, the arm doesn’t make up for it. Even Yogii had to move to right field to make room for Ellie Howard.
Howard: Totally agree on what Sanchez should have done. Fundamental, I believe in taking off your mask during a play like that.
The difference in these two very tight games has been execution in the field. They have made some excellent plays when it really mattered…. that’s it. Offensively the game has been even. I am surprised how badly we look offensively. Cleveland was by far the best pitching staff during the season ERA-wise… but getting Verlander has really been the difference. Even with that said when you see a pitcher of the course of the season and then go around the batting order 3 times you would think we should do better.
I agree with giving Torreyes a shot at DH. We need men on base to win a game.
Though we are down 0-2 I feel we will bounce back tonite with a 7-4 win and feel much better about ourselves. You certainly don’t want Boston saying “well at least we beat them one time.”
PS Slider and curve ball away again and again and again. How many at bats will it take for Judge and Sanchez to identify those pitches. I think they should be swinging more often at the first pitch. Most of the times when the pitcher gets that first pitch called a strike these two guys are in big trouble.
Maybe some of the NY Giants superstars are now reminded that we can win without them… injured or just being arrogant. Home against Seattle is winnable. A BYE and then the next 2 games are also winnable before KC rolls in to town.