Come on, Yankee fans, you should have seen last night’s game coming. If you have watched the Yankees all season long, this game played out just like so many others against the better teams with the better pitchers. Cases in point:
- Boone went with the platoon lineup. Rosario was 6 for 9 vs. Crochet with a home run this year so SU can see the rationale there. Sitting Chisholm? Not so much but Boone did not want to sacrifice defense on the left side of the infield. OK – SU gets it. Didn’t work out but defensible.
- Fried exits with one out in the 7th and having thrown over 100 pitches – a season high. He had labored the prior inning and you want him fresh for the next rounds. As SU has said previously, the Yankees’ bullpen is basically a crapshoot every game. You need a 3-run cushion (or more) if you want to comfortably win a game with the lead. I didn’t have that much of an issue there but you do hold your breath with any of these relievers from game to game. Last night, it was Weaver’s turn to implode and truth be told, it took a nice running catch by Judge with the bases loaded to even hold it there at a 1-run deficit. The relievers are terrifying and they will be again tonight.
- The Yankees did not score with the bases loaded and no one out in the 9th inning. Long-time subscriber, D. Harmon, notes that the Yankees are the first team in MLB postseason history to have the bases loaded with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th but not score a run and lose the game. At least they made history! If you have watched this year’s team in extra innings, you knew this could very well happen. This team is terrible with RISP – they score via the home run for the most part and unless someone was going to hit a homer there (or maybe we see a wild pitch which the Yankees have often benefited from this year), it would be a surprise to have seen a single there. The key at bat was Stanton’s with no one out but hey, it was still September and he is not good until October. His doubleplay in the 1st inning was also a killer. SU is sure he will own up to it and be ready tonight. He failed in game 1 but as we know, baseball is a game of failure.
- No pinch runner for Goldschmidt in the 9th inning. SU thought they could have put in Dominguez for him after Stanton struck out as who were you saving him for at that point? He would have scored on the Chisholm fly ball in the 9th but in the end, does not matter.
Is the season now over? Come on. Rodon has been very consistent this season and he is a highly competitive guy. SU expects he will give them a quality start for 6 innings but then, here you go again with the bullpen. Can the Yankees muster more offense against Bello? He’s right handed so you can play your better players and now it’s October, so expect Stanton to make up for last night. But they will need a substantial lead to get through the final 3 innings.
The Yankees will still need to overcome the questionable moves by Boone during the game but they should be able to do that. SU expects the Yankees to prevail in game 2 and then set up an agonizing game 3 filled with more drama and angst. But that is why we watch!
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Interesting take, with one glaring omission: how about your future Hall of Famer, superstar captain showing a little more sense of urgency in right field getting the ball to the infield quickly, rather than allowing the potential go ahead run to get into scoring position in the 7th inning? (Which eventually turned into the winning run in the game as a result of the next batter getting a base hit.) I’m not a Yankee fan, and I think Judge is a great guy and a hell of a player, but in the last two postseason games, both hellaciously bad Yankee losses, his lack of concentration or effort in right field was a major contributing factor. That should not be swept under the rug.
For Judge, I am not sure if it’s a matter of he can’t throw vs. not running after that hit. He certainly just lobbed it in but that really may be the limit of what he can do right now.