Yankee fans are reeling this morning after Freddy Freeman’s 2-out, game winning grand slam last night. SU says score 1 for the Dodgers but this is a best of 7-game series, and plenty of games to go for the Yankees. Of course, there are some concerns:
- Aaron Boone had a great series vs. Cleveland in handling the bullpen. As long-time Yankee fans know, that is unusual for him. He returned to form last night with a few puzzling moves that came back to haunt him. Pulled Cole too soon and you can’t do that if the game goes beyond 9 innings. The Yankees don’t have enough quality relievers this year to go into extra innings and that came back to bite him. Cole is your ace; SU says ride him longer as he won’t pitch again until game 5.
- Cortes instead of Hill? SU knows Nestor is on the roster to face Ohtani and he did get him out. Boone was bold walking Betts to put the winning run on 2nd base to score on a single. Not many managers would do that. The 2nd guessers will say Hill was the obvious choice given how well he has pitched in the post-season. Cortes has good numbers against Ohtani – probably going back to when he was on the Angels. Not sure how relevant that is now. Now, what does Boone do next time? Trust Nestor? Go to Hill? We may find out as soon as tonight.
- Yankees continue to not hit with RISP (1 for 8 last night). However, they did manufacture a run in the 10th and Jazz is coming to life finally in the post-season. He is streaky and that bodes well for the Yankees now. He can actually steal a base.
- Judge continues to struggle but SU says this. He is not good coming off long layoffs, and he did get a hit last night before just missing one in the 9th and popping up (“JUST got under it”). SU says he breaks out tonight and is good for the rest of the series. Jazz and Judge will lengthen the productive part of the lineup.
- SU did not like running for Gleyber in the 9th inning. He is fast enough and perhaps makes that play at 2nd in the bottom of the 10th that Cabrera could not come up with. Stop over managing please.
- Finally: SU would have left Weaver in for the bottom of the 10th. He had not pitched for a week, and his pitch count was manageable. You had the lead there – go with your best to win it.
Bottom line: advantage Dodgers in any close game. Yankees need a blowout win tonight to get the split in LA. The offense has yet to really break out and SU feels this is the night – finally. No need for the Yankees to panic and this team has shown it’s resilient.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Good analysis Go dodgers!!!
Howard,I believe the two runners were rewarded 2nd and 3rd base when Verdugo went into the stands to make the catch off Ohtani, as the ball was dead
Oh, did not realize that from where I was watching. I guess I gave too much credit to Aaron Boone for being a true risk taker!
An incredible finish to a less than stellar game. Both defenses made several questionable plays that lead to runs. Freeman has always been a Mets killer and now he expands his repertoire to New York baseball killer. Just have to tip your hat to him as much as it sucks.
Cole was pitching great but he was running into some difficulty the last 2 innings. I’d say second guess all you want but the bullpen had been pitching well. No reason not to trust them. And I agree, Weaver should have been in it to win it. Go with your best, especially when you have the chance to steal home field advantage. But walks (including intentional) plus errors (or non error misplays) always lead to runs. The free passes are what totally killed the Mets in the NLCS. Dodgers are a very patient team and I’d look to this as a key to the rest of the series.