SU hung in there last night until 1:20 am to watch the end of the Yankees – Indians game along with several other members of the SU intergalactic subscriber base. This game was not one for the time capsule although since it was an elimination game for Cleveland, there was a lot of drama. A few points:
- Joe Torre was always great in the post-season figuring out how to get the remaining outs from his bullpen. Aaron Boone? Not so much as in “what are you doing?” Once he brought in Chad Green in the 5th inning and then Britten in the 6th, well, even 3rd graders could see that this formula was not going to work. SU is available to script the next game for Boone if called upon as I am experienced preparing 3rd and 4th grade girls rec basketball substitutions for a full game. What was he thinking last night? Ultimately, Loaisiga got the key batters and came up short. SU says you have to pitch Ottavino – especially with Kahnle out for the year. Note for the next series: do better.
- Boone also made some curious decisions late in the game with pinch runners and pinch hitters. He pulled Voit in the 7th for Wade as a pinch runner but then didn’t have Wade try and steal. Of course, that spot came up in a huge spot in the 8th inning and he then put up Frazier to pinch hit vs. a tough righty instead of Mike Ford or just leaving Wade in to hit. Boone is a great communicator (apparently) but his in-game moves are lacking. Paging Don Zimmer.
- A-Rod predicted what was going to happen several times last night. The Sanchez passed ball in the 9th inning on a slider from Chapman on strike 3 to end the game was classic. Of course, all Yankee fans were way ahead of him. I must also give A-Rod props in the top of the 9th when he said Sanchez had a good shot to hit a sac fly to tie the game. Really? I am sure the stats said around the horn double play or strikeout there but OK, he was right.
- Sanchez did have a wind-blown home run to right field and another short fly to right which showed SU that he might, finally, be trying to hit to the opposite field.
- Aaron Hicks, SU’s prediction for the big series, is just terrible hitting left-handed. 3rd in the line up? Er, no. Move him down as far as you can.
Bottom line: the Yankees escaped game 2 despite themselves and now face the Rays in San Diego. Keys to that series:
- Assuming the games are prime time as MLB will want to feature this series, they will start around 4 or 5 pm PST in the twilight with shadows all over. That means a lot of strikeouts. Good for Cole in game 1 but also good for the Rays in every game with their hard throwers. This will be a key issue. Not good for the Yankees.
- These teams truly hate each other. Good for MLB and the fans. No more big hugs at first base and yukking it up.
- The Yankee bullpen is terrifying. No longer a strength. Either pitch Ottavino or take him off the roster.
- Stanton will not see another fastball until April of next year. Buster Olney said that scouts were texting him last night wondering why the Indian pitchers kept throwing him fastballs as he clearly cannot hit a curve.
- The winner of this series will win the World Series. Sorry Dodger fans.
Feel free to share your thoughts today. SU has spoken.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
This was a very exciting and naol biting game. Sometimes the hitters have the upper hand and sometimes the pitchers do. Yes, there were alot od walks however this was helped by the umpire not calling strikes consistently. How many times did he call a strike when the ball was clearly outside against righty hitters. Almost as bad when some pitches were right on the border whether outside or low in the strike zone a strike was called. There was a called high strike on Sanchez when the replay showed it was high. Pitchers, I’m sure would then have to throw more toward the center of the plate. Many swings by the Yankees were off the end of the bat for groundouts because of the wide strike zone. Yet with that said they Yankees look like a different team at the plate. The word that come to mind is PATIENCE… like the old Yankees around the turn of the century. Wear down those pitchers and then feast on the relievers. With Cleveland’s two top pitchers both with great ERA’s the Yankees had the most runs in MLB a 2 games of a 3 game playoff ever. I think they will be ready for Tampa Bay this time around. Oh… and BTW…. the 22 runs were scored in the other “guys” home. It should be a great series. The Franchise vs The Unknowns. Yanks in 4.
PS The only bad move i felt our Coach made was replacing probably our MVP this season with Wade. He didn’t even try to steal a base when there was 2 strikes on the batter. What was the purpose then of him coming in to run.
Lastly, with enough AT BATS…. here comes Sanchez. If he can remain somewhat patient and remains somewhat hot what an added weapon we have in the 9th hole. He will see more pitches because the next batter up batted 364 this season. I like the batting order.
PS Lakers in 4. It was like watching men against boys last night.
I did not make it through, missing about 15 lead changes.
No mention of Urshella? That was his game at the plate and in the field. And it’s as good a time as any to highlight this as one of Cashman’s best pickups. I would also in include LeMahieu and Didi in this category of guys who had been around the league in various capacities but arrived in NY to really establish themselves as great players. Of these, Urshella is obviously the biggest delta but they have all overperformed and stand out in contrast to players who come in with expectations that are never fully met. It’s a good trend as I don’t recall this happening much over the past couple decades. Last ones that come to mind are Paul Oneill or Tino Martinez. Maybe Mussina and CC but they probably stand out for meeting expectations rather than exceeding them.
Lots of bad blood with the Rays but will anyone remember by the time they play, on Monday! Really. We’re trying to keep these guys from getting/spreading a virus and we’re going to have them sit around for 4 days with nothing to do?
We were really worried about the Indians starters and the Yankees were effective. So maybe this carries over to the Rays series.
I have been really bothered by all the post-season stats offered during broadcasts since the introduction of the division series format. More players participate in the playoffs and the successful teams can play play twice as many playoff games as they did a generation ago. It is absolutely meaningless to talk about playoff records and that was even more true yesterday when they kept talking about how it was amazing for so many post-season records to be broken in a single day. (This seemed to include the most strikeouts by a pitcher on the Reds in the post-season which I didn’t know was the type of record anyone actually kept.) We can enjoy these games without thinking they’re making history every single moment.
Also, can we create a minimum number of games to earn the word “sweep.” Winning 2 games is not a sweep.
Agreed on Boone’s moves. I guess you can’t complain if they get the win but he doesn’t seem to pull the right levers.
Did you see that this was the longest 9-inning game in MLB history, either regular or post-season- sure didn’t feel like it (not!). Agree on Hicks- Yankees really miss Didi in the 3-hole. Have never been impressed with Boone’s in game moves and he did nothing to dispel that last night.