In between the Pinstripes #38

In Between the Pinstripes_38: On to Houston
What a game, what a series, what a ball club. Great team win from top to bottom. Didi Gregorius hit two HUGE homers to give the Yankees the lead early in the game and deliver the knockout punch to the potential Cy Young winner in the AL. C.C. did all he could before handing the ball off to Robertson who shut the door in the 5th with a big double play to end the inning. Brett Gardner had the at-bat of the year—a 12 pitch at-bat, fouling off five pitches in a 3-2 and serving up two insurance runs in the top of the 9th.

Down two games to none, facing a pitching staff that just owned the Yankees bats threw the first two I had dwindling confidence heading into Game 3. After barely sneaking through Game 3 thanks to a Greg Bird moon shoot homer and the best start Tanaka has had in a Yankee uniform, the Yanks were back in the series. Severino has almost destined to win Game 4 following his implosion in the Wild Card game against Minnesota, so it really was all hands-on deck for Game 5.    

Cleveland tested the will of the bombers, and this resilient bunch responded every single time. Heartbreak on Friday night has turned into exuberance tonight. Excitement and determination has taken over a fanbase that was just hoping for a good series. This is a team that you almost always count out and they fight back into it. This is my favorite team to watch since I started watching baseball, and this is my favorite Yankee team because, how can you not love this team?

That being said, the task at hand has gone from maybe put up a fight and make some noise against Cleveland to give it your all the rest of the way.

This is the first time the Yankees have been in the Championship Series 2012 (I know it’s been that long) and, Houston will be tough, they are a very good team. Jose Altuve is batting .681 with 3 homers and 4 RBI’s so far this year in the post season and will be a throne in the Yanks side all series. Dallas Keuchel still gives me nightmares after the 2015 Wild Card game where he absolutely shut the bombers. But, this is a different team, and if the bombers can battle Verlander (who they’ve owned throughout the year’s) and Keuchel and get to Houston’s pen the Yanks have a real good chance at making it to the World Series. Verlander in his career against the Yanks has gone 6-7 with a 3.87 ERA in 111.2 innings with a modest .266 batting average, but has given up 18 homers in 18 games against the Yanks.


Everything thus far through the playoffs has been an overachievement, just enjoy the ride and route like hell for 28! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 MLB Preview

  Opening Day is about 24 hours away and the Shohei Ohtani gambling story has stole all the headlines and fleeting moments of baseball conversation over the past few days, many have now forgotten about the exciting marathon ahead of us! Even with the ever-evolving Ohtani story clouding the beginning of the Los Angeles Dodgers season, that doesn’t change the fact that L.A. is still the team to beat in baseball. The Dodgers have put their chips at the center of the table, no pun intended, for 2024 to show they can raise another World Series trophy after sending upwards of a billion dollars in free agency. In division however, the surprise Arizona Diamondbacks are capitalizing on their newfound championship window with a fantastic offseason that will have them in the mix to get back to a second straight fall classic. The San Diego Padres are done shopping for superstars, sort of, following a massively disappointing season that saw them move on from one of the games generational talent...
Read more

Dan Hurley Saved College Basketball

When you think of Men’s College Basketball, the names of Wooden, Dean, Krzyzewski, Williams, Thompson, and Calipari shoot to mind right away. All the memories of the great teams from UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, the Big East, UNLV, and even the Fab Five start to rush back. Nostalgia of a time when the sport meant something different. For all those longing for the days when great teams didn’t dissipate into the transfer portal after one disappointing year—Dan Hurley and the Connecticut Huskies are here to save the day! UConn has done something that only seven other programs have done in the history of college basketball, repeat as champions. Forget all the talk about “best team of all-time,” even though if you look at point differential (like it truly matters), this UConn team is the best team to ever play in the NCAA Tournament. This team means much more to the game of college basketball than that. Coach Hurley has given college basketball what it has been missing since the in...
Read more

Last Year the Season was one game long, it's different this year

  It took 363 days, but Jets fans finally got the debut from Aaron Rodgers they waited for. This time around that debut ended in a blowout loss on the road to the San Francisco 49’ers. Last year the Jets won the battle but lost the war following their overtime walk-off win against the Buffalo Bills. This year, the Jets hope they lost the battle but because they have Rodgers they will win the war.   Of all the ways the game could have gone last night, having the Jets defense get thoroughly dominated on the ground by a third year running back, Jordan Mason, who wasn’t a household name until last night, wasn’t on the bingo card. The trademark for Robert Saleh has been his defense. That’s what got him hired from San Francisco. The defense is what Jet fans have pointed to as a reason for optimism heading into this year with Rodgers. The defense was finally supposed to get the complimentary football they have been dying for since Robert Saleh walked in the doors at Florham Park...
Read more