SU is back from Happy Valley having suffered through Michigan’s beatdown by Penn State in a whiteout game. A lot of fun being in that setting despite the mildly abusive treatment from the Penn State fans. As SU has said before, there is an energy to college football that is different from the NFL in a positive way. The fans are equally passionate but not as abusive/crazy/intoxicated as we see at the professional level. Impressed with State College and their 110,000 fans. Michigan is in a transition year with a lot of young players but they need to be competitive against their major rivals. Last night was not from the start.
Unfortunately, you can’t access the internet when there are 110,000 fans in the stadium so it was challenging to follow game 7. SU did get to see much of game 6. Here is what you need to know:
- The Yankees scored a total of 3 runs in 4 games in Houston. Seriously, this is all you need to know. You are not going to win many games that way.
- As SU has said, a playoff series does not really start until you win on the other team’s home field/ice/court. Well, no one did that in this series.
- There were several articles out there about how Houston was intimidated playing in Yankee Stadium and how the Yankees had all this momentum going into game 6. As we know from John Sterling, momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher.
- So many strikeouts. Inability to move runners along So many strikeouts. Did I mention all the strikeouts?
- I think the Astros caught up to the Yankee relievers in the end. If you see the same pitchers over and over again, you start to figure things out.
It was a great season for the Yankees and they over-achieved by making it to the ALCS. I seriously believe that. I also believe that you need to fail before you can win it all – usually. The Yankees failed in 1995 the same, painful way. The rest if history. Their roster will only get stronger next year. And the year after as their next wave of prospects is promoted and the current crop get better. It’s disappointing for sure but a lot to look forward to.
Will Girardi come back? SU hopes so – he deserves to. It may be his call. But think of it this way: if he takes a year off, his next job will not be in NY and he will have to uproot his family. SU says that is not happening. He will return.
So, Yankee fans. What do you say?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Yes… at the end of the day 3 runs in 4 games is not going to get you there. Yes, they did strike out a ton…. and many looking at really bad pitches. Can you get a little nit picky with Castro sometime looking lackadaisical in fielding or no stolen base attempts, Sanchez definitely does needs to sure up fielding the ball, especially a play to the plate. He blew it on more than one occasion. I just don’t know if you can teach that. The bang bang plays requires good instincts besides getting in front of the ball.
Comparing this team to 1995…. hopefully generally speaking it would be nice to go that path. There is one very big difference I see, which I wonder if its correctable. Taking pitches…seeing the ball. The Yanks were very close to leading the league in strikeouts. You can look at their overall average, runs production and home runs. The strikeout can just kill you though. The 1995 team was a very patient team. In fact through their 4 World Series championships we were really a grinding out team by making the competition throw alot of pitches. The Red Sox were another grind em out team. That’s why the games always went well beyond 3.5 hours. This was an effective way to win. The 2017 team does not win that way. I think you need that working for you if you want to win 100+ games. Can our personality change a bit so we become more patient and really SEE the ball. I’m guessing that pitches thrown to us versus all the other teams we had to have seen more curve balls than anyone else. Down and away most of the time was how we struck out from the right side and down and inside as lefties. If we can reduce some of that then we will win 100 games…. its only 9 more than what we won this season. That’s not asking too much.
Now if the Giants can get the #1 selection in next year’s draft and the UConn women can get back to winning it all coupled with my catching up to The Game of Thrones I think I can get through the winter time of lack of NY sports.
In game 7 the strike zone was big and the Yankees pitchers didn’t adapt. The Astros pitched two journeymen who benefited from a lot of the calls just outside of the zone (at least outside of the imaginary box that the TV folks thinks we want). When CC and bullpen missed, they missed by a lot.
The Yankees struck out a lot. They also looked very uncomfortable with some of the more aggressive plays they had to make. How many guys got thrown out on the bases? But they lived all season by the long ball so this is to be expected.
Gary Sanchez was a problem during these playoffs. The defense was not good. He can’t catch pitches or throws for plays at the plate. And he had an at bat in Game 6 that was the end of the season for me. He was up in a big spot, while they tried to come back and got to a 3-0 count. He had the green light and took what looked like a half swing for a weak ground ball. That was an 0-2 swing, not a 3-0 swing.
Castro did not look right during this series. Lingering injury could have been part of it.
Time to start planning for 2018. There are a few guys I don’t want back. Todd Frazier cannot be a part of this team. His swing is ugly. Ichiro is going to ride an ugly swing to the Hall of Fame. Frazier is not. He seems to swing with his eyes closed and gets lucky sometimes. He may be fun to have around. Fine, he can travel with the team if he likes but not on the payroll and not in the lineup. Elsubry needs to go. I don’t know how but one way or another. Maybe he can sit next to ARod in the TV studio. I don’t like players complaining but did you ever see a former star so content to sit the bench during the season and playoffs. The team was desperate for an offensive spark many times during the playoffs and he provided none when he played and sat quietly when he didn’t. We heard Headley’s frustration with limited playing time. Elsbury is making twice as much money and seems content. If Holiday will take a small contract, he can come back. Sabbathia should come back too but for short, small contract. I doubt Tanaka will opt out of his contract but you never know. I’ve commented here all season about this: Greg Bird is a bottom of the order guy. This is not a knock. Teams need 7/8 hitters too and I think he’s one of them.
A few general things I learned in the playoffs:
Minute Maid Park is not good.
Yankee Stadium is not great but seems to come alive during the playoffs.
Doosan is a construction equipment company.
Girardi is a great manager…I mean a terrible…I mean great. Whatever, he’s not the best but he’s better than most. There isn’t some obvious replacement out there. Look at what the Mets just did. Maybe they found something but who knows. I’d keep Girardi if he wants to come back.
National broadcasts are terrible and are worse when the games matter. Some actual insight would be nice.
The Yankees policy on hair styles and facial hair has always felt a bit silly…until now. Looking around the Houston dugout you see a lot of really questionable looks. The Yankees are saving these players from their own bad decisions. Guys like Keuchel and Gurriel are not going to want their kids to see their team photos.
This little article below is a fun read on the future of the Yankees – could be a fun few years assuming we don’t hire the Mets trainers who injure everyone…
https://www.theringer.com/2017/10/22/16515602/new-york-yankees-alcs-loss-houston-astros-future-outlook