SU stayed up until the bitter end last night around 1 am. Btw, there is no truth to the rumor that Boone came out to replace Happ after Correa’s home run. Can these games be any longer or slower paced?
As a Yankee fan, you had won 4 games on a row in the playoffs and you are playing the best team in baseball. You are not going to win every game – especially on the road. But…. SU has some thoughts for you this morning and it’s a bit troubling for the Yankees:
- The Generational One, Stanton, made the mistake of running hard to first base in game 1 and well, this year, the reality is that no Yankee should run hard to any base. He strained his quad and SU says this is a big deal for this series. The Yankees took an extra pitcher on the roster (we saw why last night) and you only have 3 position players on the bench. If Stanton can in fact still play but only as a DH and not in the outfield, Boone will need to decide who to play at DH: Stanton or Encarnacion. Wow, that is a tough call. SU says Maybin has a knack for getting on base and is a solid outfielder in spacious Yankee Stadium left field. Hicks looked decent last night in his pinch hitting role. I would either play Stanton ahead of Encarnacion (enough of the wild swings already) or put Hicks in there but then you are limited if you wanted to pinch hit for Maybin and you lose the DH. Either way, not ideal and Boone is limited. As SU has said before, check your ego at the door and if Encarnacion becomes a pinch hitter, don’t say a word.
- The suspension of German is a killer. No-one talks about it but you are not putting Happ in there in the 10th inning if German is on the roster. SU says Happ will be playing the official Paul Quantrill role in this year’s ALCS. When the game goes into extra innings and you just need to end it, he is your man. He did get a couple of guys out in the 10th but it was just a matter of time.
- SU thought the strategy to have every reliever in the 10th inning start out with a 3-0 count was interesting. CC, Loaisiga and then Happ. It’s not what you want.
- And then there is the case of Gary Sanchez. SU will not bash him as he will no doubt hit 2 home runs in game 3. But when I see him up in any situation, I just can’t picture him doing anything hitting into the shift. The Astros could take the right fielder and put him in the infield on the left side, and he would still look to wildly pull the ball. In the 11th inning, he got 2 huge breaks: first the pop foul hits the roof of the stadium (and what the hell?); and then his swing and miss for strike 3 is amazingly called a foul tip. He was called out on the next pitch which was 2 inches outside but hey, that’s your make up call. SU had no issue with the umpire all night. He was excellent and no one talked about him.
- Should Boone have pulled Paxton in the 3rd inning? SU says absolutely. He could not get his slider over the plate – not even close. The Astros are good at seeing if pitchers are tipping their pitches – not sure if they can read his slider or not as they never seemed to swing at it out of the strike zone. But the game was about to get out of hand there. Now, Green did well but there were a couple of shots hit off of him right at people. Also, the reason he was pulled to bring in Ottavino to pitch to Springer (who promptly homered), was because Springer’s stats against the type of fastball that Green throws is just about the best in all of baseball. The sabremetrics guys on Twitter were all over this but not our friends at FOX.
- Speaking of FOX, enough of the long commercials between innings. When Correa hit his home run to start the bottom of the 11th, SU actually thought it was a tape of some previous game when Happ had faced him. They barely got back for that pitch.
- Finally, SU does believe that letting the Astros see every reliever every game is a problem. They will get more and more comfortable with them. And Chapman was not fooling anyone in the 9th inning.
You have to figure game 3 goes to Houston with Cole pitching. The hope is that Severino can give you enough innings to not burn out the relievers. Now, the forecast for game 4 is rain all day and night on Wednesday. If that one is rained out, Houston has to decide to pitch Greinke on full rest Thursday in game 4 or go with an opener. The same question exists for Boone. If you’re down 1-2, SU says go with a rested Tanaka on Thursday and scramble with an opener in the next game (or go with Paxton). Cole is lined up for game 7.
For the baseball purist, it’s very interesting. For Boone, he’s open to the 2nd guess about 20 times every game. The reality for him is that the Yankees will lose any extra inning game this series once you start rolling out Happ and CC. Have to win in 9.
If the Yankees can some how beat Cole in game 3, everything changes. Big, big, game.
Finally, SU came across a story about George Springer who had a major stutter as a child. He started a foundation to help kids overcome stuttering. Good guy. Heart-warming story and major props to him.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
The bullpen of the Astros looked every bit as good as the Yankees bullpen last night. I’m sure this wil change if we get Cole out of the game. He is beatable like Verlander was assuming our pitchers can go toe to toe with them… which seems to be the case. Each team had their opportunities yet it took till the 11th to beat us.
I don’t agree with Boone taking Chapman out of the game, especially with a lefty to lead off the next inning.
Someone who is in their late 20’s to early 30’s should be able to run the freakin bases all out all the time. Stanton being coddled while receiving $30mm per year is ridiculous. I’d start Hicks and have Stanton DH. He should be in there over Encarnacion. If Stanton or Encarnacion gets on base late in the game in a tight score then Maybin can come in and pinch run for either guy.
Houston does make contact and can be patient just as much as the Yanks. They can also strike out, but I’ll give the Astros the edge in contacting the ball.
BTW… Sanchez got completely jipped on the called strike…. but I guess it balances out since he did not make contact with the pitch before.
I say we get to Cole and win Game 3 6-4. We are not afraid of anyone.
I like the optimism. The one X factor with Cole is that his 2 starts last series were both at home. You wonder if he can maintain his composure in Yankee Stadium. As for Sanchez, he got 2 huge breaks in one at bat. Most times you don’t get any. And he still could not put the ball in play. Maybe he is legitimately close now. But as he’s never on base, you know that the first time he reaches he will strain his groin.
There’s plenty to second guess when it comes to the pitching decisions but when you hold a great offense to 3 runs over 11 innings, it’s hard to complain. The bigger issue was the offense. You can tip your cap to Verlander but they did get to him.for two runs and put the pressure on in the inning where they were thrown out at the plate. (Not sure why you send the runner there. The infield is trying to keep the ball in the infield for exactly that reason.) They generally looked inept on offense. Really need to get more runners on base. I guess some may say that they missed Stanton but I’d have a hard time believing he would have done anything other than strikeout or hit pop flies vs. Verlander.
Agree that the offense was really non-existent last night. That’s the problem with all of the sluggers who don’t try and put the ball in play or even on the ground. I miss Tauchman.
Great baseball game last night. Spot on comments and thanks for sharing the Springer video. Shame the Mets or Yanks could not snag a kid like this in their own backyard.
One big key to the game was Springer’s 9th inning at bat verses Chapman. He worked Chapman hard and forced him out of the game after one inning. The little things add up to help win games.
A couple proposals to throw out. I do not want to limit pitching changes, it’s such an integral part of the strategy of baseball but this is getting a bit ridiculous. Soon we may have 16 pitchers and only 9 position players. Maybe we should limit the number of pitchers on the game day roster to 10 or 11. I’d allow a 2 man taxi squad that is eligible to be subbed in on a day to day basis to provide depth. I’d also suggest that we get right to it when a pitcher comes in. 2 or 3 warmups and lets go. Stop wasting so much time.
Every year, the ny sports fake news media cries about how bad the Yankee pitching is, and every time we get to the playoffs, it’s the same story. The pitching does its job, and the hitters stop hitting. I am tired of watching Encarnacion and Sanchez flail at every pitch. How about waking up Sanchez by substituting Romine or bat him ninth. If Stanton can stand up, play him instead of Parrot man.