In Between the Pinstripes #33

In Between the Pinstripes_33: On to Cleveland
It’s been a long while since I’ve done one of these, but is there a better time to bring this series back? What an incredible game! If you told me when I woke up this morning that Luis Severino would only pitch a third of an inning and David Robertson would be the pitcher of record through 5 innings, I would have told you that you were insane.

Robertson pitched the most pitches and the most innings in his career [52 pitches, 3.1 innings],Chad Green continued his great season coming on in the first, getting the much needed two outs and resetting this ball club. Then, Tommy Kahnle showed what Brian Cashman saw in the middle of July when the Yankees where just hovering on the bubble of contention.

For me, this game could be described in just 4 plays. The first is Chad Green’s first hitter coming out of the bullpen, striking out Byron Buxton with second and third after Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario hit homers to give the Twins a 3-0 lead before Ervin Santana even toed the rubber. The second was the Brett Gardner walk leading-off the first after that crazy top half off. That’s because the Yankees needed to run up Santana’s pitch count regardless of the score, but it was even more of an importance down three runs. The third was the Didi Gregorius 3-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the 1st. This bomb got the crowd back into the game after being shell shocked after 3 runs, and a pitching change after just a third of an inning. That is something that the 2015 group could never do when Dallas Keuchel blanked the bombers in the 2015 Wild Card Game. The 4th play that mattered to me was the Aaron Judge 2-run homer in the bottom of the 4th. This gave the crowd a chance to blow the lid off the place, it gave the Yanks a chance to take a step back relax, and yet simultaneously put the peddle through the floor and finish off the Twins.

This game was an absolute basket case of emotions that I couldn’t even begin to describe. But hey, that’s why you play the game, and why we as fans love the game.

The next thing on the agenda is the best team record wide in baseball, the Cleveland Indians. This is going to be a tough task for the Yankees to get passed, but they did just come back from three runs down and saw their ace only last one out through this Wild Card Game. That is something to be concerned about, but this is something that I thought would have been something Severino would do in April, not in the Wild Card Game. But, he did and if Severino’s  2017 season was anything, it was resilient and I am confident that he can bounce back in Cleveland come Game 2 against the soon to be AL Cy Young Corey Kluber.


The Bronx Bombers were supposed to win this game according to many—so naturally anything after this win is a plus for this ball club. Us Yankee fans are used to winning so we want a World Series Championship, but putting up a fight against Cleveland and battling to a Game 5 could be as big as a World Series win for the morale of the team. This is the Post Season and if you’re in the dance, you have a chance. And if you have a chance, well, that’s as good as gold.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more