Blogs – Page 131 – Keefe To The City

Oct 3, 2018

The Wild Emotions of the Wild-Card Game

The Yankees are back in the AL Wild-Card Game. It’s not a place I thought they would be after the way last season ended and this season started. But it’s where they are for the third time in four seasons.

Three years ago, everyone expected the Yankees to lose in the wild-card game, while last season, everyone expected them to win. This season? No one knows what to expect and neither do I.

Here’s an excerpt from my book, The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers, which looks back at the 2017 AL Wild-Card Game.

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AL WILD-CARD GAME

BR-ETT GARD-NER, CLAP CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP … BR-ETT GARD-NER, CLAP CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP

Roll Call had just gotten underway in a raucous Yankee Stadium and I was yelling in unison with the rest of the right-field bleachers, trying to clap without spilling my freshly poured Coors Light all over myself. And then it happened.

I sarcastically laughed, but there was nothing funny about Brian Dozier’s fly ball to left field, which barely reached the seats for a leadoff home run in the AL Wild-Card Game. I was stunned more than upset, though I was very upset.

Luis Severino had come out throwing hard. His first pitch of the game was a 100-mph fastball for a called strike to the right-handed-hitting Dozier. His second pitch was a 99-mph fastball low and away. His third pitch was a 91-mph slider way outside. His fourth pitch was another 91-mph slider barely outside. Three straight balls had put him behind Dozier 3-1, and everyone knew Dozier was going to be challenged with the fastball again. Dozier was challenged at 99 mph and he didn’t miss it.

There was just over an hour left until the 2015 trade deadline and the Yankees had to do something. Yes, the Yankees held a six-game lead in the AL East on July 31, 2015 in a season in which they weren’t expected to be competitive, but they needed to make a move to hold that lead over the final two months. Up until that point, the only player the Yankees had acquired was Dustin Ackley (and what an acquisition that turned out to be) while the Blue Jays went out and traded for seemingly everyone and anyone who was available.

I was on a Metro North train from Manhattan to Connecticut to visit my parents when the news broke that the Yankees had called up Luis Severino with the deadline about to expire. After eight starts in Double-A, Severino had gone 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts to earn the call. He had been talked about as a potential front-end starter, someone with true No. 1 or No. 2 stuff, and the Yankees were finally ready to show off their future as an answer to both their need for starting pitching and the Blue Jays’ deadline acquisition of David Price.

In a move the Yankees never would have allowed in the previous 15 seasons, the 21-year-old Severino made his Major League debut on Aug. 5 against the Red Sox. He pitched well, going five innings and allowing one earned run on two hits and no walks with seven strikeouts, and finished the season with a 2.89 ERA over 11 starts. He was a breath of fresh air for an organization that hadn’t developed and kept a real starting pitching difference-maker since Andy Pettitte. For a team that had spent almost two decades overpaying for free agents and trading for other team’s failed prospects in search of starting pitching, the Yankees finally had a homegrown product.

Severino was my pick to start the wild-card game against the Astros, or at least be part of the formula in the game. After it was decided Masahiro Tanaka would start the game, the only other people I wanted to touch the ball in that game were Severino, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter as the offense couldn’t do anything against Dallas Keuchel.

Severino was rightfully given a rotation spot for 2016 and pitched himself off the team after his May 13 disaster against the White Sox (2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HR). That performance dropped him to 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA in seven starts and he went to Triple-A until the end of July. When he returned, he allowed one earned run in 8 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and was given a chance to start again, but after allowing 12 earned runs and 16 baserunners in eight innings, it was back to Triple-A. When he returned as a September call-up, it was as a reliever. And once again, as a reliever, he was dominant, allowing one earned run in 15 innings.

Severino’s weird 2016 season gave way to all the idiot Yankees fans to call for him to be a reliever, completely disregarding what he had done in 11 starts in 2015 and only focusing on nine starts in 2016. Those fans are likely the same ones who now call for Austin Romine to start over Gary Sanchez when Sanchez slumps, as if 2016 and 2017 Gary Sanchez never existed, and also as if 2011-2017 Austin Romine never existed. Thankfully, the Yankees front office is more intelligent than most fans and stuck with Severino as a starter. And thankfully, Severino reached out to his idol Pedro Martinez to teach him how to harness his stuff and dominate, so that 2016 would never happen again.

Severino went back to his pre-2016 self in 2017. He pitched to a 2.98 ERA with 230 strikeouts in 193 1/3 innings and was named an All-Star for the first time. He gave up two earned runs or less in 20 of his 31 starts, and most importantly, the Yankees went 20-11 in those starts. He had silenced his critics and the many fans who wanted him to become the team’s next closer rather than the team’s next ace, though it’s hard to find anyone who will admit to having that perspective now. The former face of the Red Sox pitching staff had created the face of the Yankees pitching staff, and in turn, helped build one of the best pitchers in the league.

Many times money and owed money make the roster and lineup decisions for the Yankees, but despite having CC Sabathia and his $25 million for 2017 and Masahiro Tanaka and his $22 million for 2017, money wouldn’t decide who would start the one-game playoff.

Severino had become the Yankees’ ace, and was rightfully given the ball for the wild-card game.

I did my best to shake off the leadoff home run and pretend that the Twins scoring three runs in three innings off Severino just 13 days prior — in what was his shortest start of the season — meant nothing. I quickly tried to change the stunning negative into a positive. The Yankees weren’t going to win this game 1-0 anyway. That’s what I told myself to keep the pain that had been building for the last five years — since I stood in the same spot for Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS when Derek Jeter broke his ankle, ending that season and the Yankees’ most recent chance at winning the World Series — from making me cry. Joe Mauer popped up to Todd Frazier in foul territory for the first out of the inning, and I started to feel better.

I didn’t feel better for long. A seven-pitch walk to Jorge Polanco was followed by an Eddie Rosario two-run home run. The game was four batters and less than nine minutes old and the Twins were up 3-0 with one out in the first and Severino’s pitch count at 17.

I wanted to throw up. Had I already eaten the Yankee Stadium bucket of chicken sandwich sliders and fries, I would have. But luckily all that was in my stomach was a couple sips of Coors Light, so only dry heaving was on the table.

I was now sitting down with my head in my hands staring at my feet as Eduardo Escobar lined a 1-1 pitch to left-center for a single. Still seated and acting as though I was done watching while still peering in for each pitch, I looked between the two people standing in front of me as Max Kepler rocked a line-drive double down the right-field line on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.

Joe Girardi raced to the mound as if he tried the Stadium chili fries and needed to get back to the clubhouse. The Yankees manager moved faster than Escobar had going first to third on the Kepler double, wanting Severino out of the game as quickly as possible.

Severino walked off the mound to the type of boos his mentor Martinez used to walk off the Stadium mound to. I didn’t participate in the Bronx cheer for the 23-year-old righty. Not because I was focused on breathing and making sure my heart didn’t stop, but because Severino had been the team’s best pitcher all season and six batters wasn’t going to change that. Without Severino, the Yankees wouldn’t even be in this game, and so I wasn’t going to join in with the idiots booing the best thing to happen to the team’s starting pitching since Pettitte 22 years ago. I just wanted Severino to have a chance to redeem himself against Cleveland. But with runners on second and third and one out, and three runs already in, the possibility of that was on life support.

I wanted to cry, and if I were at home watching I might have. But sitting in the middle of the right-field bleachers I wasn’t about to start tearing up. Fifteen minutes ago, I had been trying to lose my voice during Roll Call with an ice cold beer in my hand while visions of playing the Indians with house money danced in my head. Now I was asking myself if I even like baseball and if the six-month, 162-game seasons were worth following anymore. As Paul Olden announced Chad Green into the game, I sat calculating the amount of hours I had wasted in 2017 watching and listening to games and writing, talking and reading about this team. My girlfriend Brittni, a Dodgers fan, whose team had avoided a one-game playoff by winning 104 games, tried to console me. There’s plenty of time! it’s only the first inning! But I didn’t want to hear it.

I should have known better. In three days it would be the two-year anniversary of me sitting in the same spot for the Yankees’ previous wild-card game, watching Dallas Keuchel run through the Yankees lineup like Cliff Lee 2.0. At least that result had been expected. Keuchel made two starts in 2015 against the Yankees, going 2-0 and pitching to this ridiculous line: 16 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 21 K. So when he pitched six shutout innings en route to a 3-0 Astros win, it wasn’t exactly a shock. That’s not why I should have known better though. I should have known better because after beating the Twins in four games in the 2003 and 2004 ALDS, and after sweeping them in the 2009 and 2010 ALDS, they were due. So of course they would cash in on their long overdue postseason success against the Yankees in a game that shouldn’t even be happening.

The five-team wild-card format implemented in 2012 has hurt the Yankees more than any other team in baseball. It gave the Yankees false hope in 2013 and 2014, keeping them close to contention long enough that they didn’t sell at the deadline, only to fall short of the second wild card both times. In 2015, the format prevented the Yankees from reaching the ALDS even though they were the AL’s best non-division winner. Under the pre-2012 format, the Yankees would have reached the ALDS following their regular season performance, but instead they faced their ultimate kryptonite in Keuchel. And again in 2017, it had screwed them over. Here they were, a 91-win team facing the 85-win Twins in a one-game playoff. And here they were, six batters into the game and trailing 3-0.

Severino had left the game a mess. Not the kind of mess where your dog has an accident on the living room rug, but more like the kind of mess where you have a party at your parents’ house and your friends use their bedroom as a brothel, their kitchen as a tailgate and their dining room as a drug den. Instead of coming home to find a clogged toilet, some used condoms that didn’t end up in the trash can and hundreds of empty beer bottles, Green was entering the game in the first inning with Kepler on second and Escobar on third with no outs and three runs already in. I guess they’re the same thing.

I had gone through the first four of the Five Stages of Grief from the time the bullpen door opened until Green threw his last warmup pitch. “Acceptance” is the final of the five stages and as Green came set on the mound to face Byron Buxton, I had reached it: realizing that the 2017 season was going to end the way 2015 had, knowing that I would have to wait another year to try to end the soon-to-be eight-year World Series drought.

The bullpen would have to get 26 outs and the offense would have to score at least four runs off Ervin Santana and Twins pitching to keep the season alive. At this point in the game, the Twins had an 81 percent chance of winning, but in my mind, it was even higher.

Thankfully, Green did what he had done all summer, blowing a 2-2 fastball by Buxton for the second out of the inning as the Stadium started to get back into it for the first time since the fifth pitch of the game when Dozier went deep. The idea of “OK, if Green gets out of this without anymore damage, things are looking up!” crept into my mind, but I remained cautious as a two-out base hit would mean two more runs and likely mean me in the back of the ambulance parked underneath the Stadium.

After Jason Castro fouled a middle-middle 1-2, 97-mph fastball back, which caused my heart to momentarily sink, Green blew a 98-mph fastball by him to end the inning.

On Oct. 10, 2005, I was sitting on my friend’s couch in Boston watching Game 5 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Angels. I had been at the Stadium the night before for Game 4 and the Yankees’ 3-2 comeback win to extend their season and force a Game 5 in Anaheim. Game 4 ended at 11:09 p.m. in the Bronx and Game 5 was set to begin less than 21 hours later on the other side of the country. Rain had pushed Game 4 back a day, so there was no travel day for the Yankees and Angels, and there was no travel day for me to get back to college with Columbus Day weekend ending.

The Yankees didn’t score in the first inning in Game 5, but with a pair of singles from Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield, they had made soon-to-be 2005 Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon work as he threw 17 pitches in the frame.

Robinson Cano led off the second against Colon and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Colon was injured and removed from the game. Needing 24 outs from his bullpen, Mike Scioscia turned to 22-year-old rookie Ervin Santana.

Santana was a starting pitcher. He had made 23 starts for the Angels in the regular season after making 84 career starts in the minors. He had only ever pitched in relief once, and that was as an 18-year-old in Rookie ball in 2001 — his first professional season. He had finished the regular season strong, going 5-1 in his last seven starts and pitching to a 1.62 ERA, but he hadn’t pitched in over a week, and here he was, making his postseason debut in a winner-take-all Game 5 in a role he had experienced once in 133 games.

Three pitches later, Cano was on his way to first with a 10-pitch walk and I immediately started to think about facing the White Sox, who had swept the Red Sox in three games, in the ALCS. Santana looked not only young, but like a nervous wreck on the mound. He had been thrust into an unenvious situation in the biggest game of his life.

With Cano on first, Santana fell behind Bernie Williams 2-1. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Cano, who has never been fast, and, who at the time, had stolen one base in his career on four attempts in 132 regular-season games, took off for second with Santana looking ready to walk the ballpark. Cano’s inexplicable decision led to an out, giving Santana and the Angels an enormous break.

Williams followed Cano’s 10-pitch walk with a 10-pitch walk of his own. Instead of first and second and Santana at 13 pitches with no outs, it was just Williams on first with one out.

Jorge Posada walked on four straight pitches and instead of bases loaded and Santana at 17 pitches with no outs, it was just first and second with one out.

Despite Cano’s or the dugout’s baserunning blunder, the Yankees did make Santana pay. Bubba Crosby grounded a single to right field to score Williams and move Posada to third, and Jeter drove in Posada with a sacrifice fly to right. The Yankees had an early 2-0 lead and Santana had thrown 26 pitches in the inning with Alex Rodriguez coming to the plate. Crosby stole second with Rodriguez up, but after an 11-pitch battle, Santana struck out Rodriguez to end the inning. It was 2-0 Yankees, but it felt like it should have been more and it could have been more.

Garret Anderson led off the bottom of the second with a home run off Mike Mussina. Bengie Molina walked before Darin Erstad struck out and Juan Rivera popped out to second. With two outs and Molina on first, Mussina lost Steve Finley on a full count to bring up Adam Kennedy with first and second and two outs.

Crosby had started Game 1 of the series in center field for his defense, forcing the 37-year-old Williams to designated hitter. Joe Torre had gone back to Williams in center field for Games 2 and 3 and then again to Crosby in Games 4 (Ruben Sierra hit for him in the seventh inning and Williams took over for in center field in the eighth) and 5. The 29-year-old Crosby was in center field for Game 5 for his legs and Torre most likely told him to go get anything and when Kennedy hit a fly ball to right-center field, Crosby did just that.

Kennedy made good contact on the first pitch from Mussina and the combination of Kennedy’s star-gazed expression and slow bat release coupled with Mussina not wanting to turn around and see where his pitch was headed initially made me think it was a three-run home run. But when the camera switched to the outfield, Joe Buck let out a monotone, “In the air to right-center field,” and it seemed as though Kennedy’s drive would die on the warning track.

Buck continued, “Crosby on the move …”, and as Crosby approached the wall and the San Diego Zoo ad just beyond the 370 marker on the Angel Stadium wall, Gary Sheffield quickly grew closer and closer to Crosby.

“He’s there …”, is what Buck said of Crosby, but as “He’s” came out of Buck’s mouth, Crosby and Sheffield collided. Both outfielders lost their hats in the collision, with Crosby falling on his right side and Sheffield falling on his back. Crosby sprang up and raced to the ball that had rolled toward center field, throwing it into the cut-off man Cano as quickly as he could, but not before both Molina and Finley would come around to score on what was scored a triple. The Angels led 3-2.

Leading by one in the third, Santana settled down to pitch around a one-out Jason Giambi single. After Mussina allowed two more runs in the fourth, the Angels’ lead grew to 5-2, giving the Angels’ rookie right-hander three runs to work with.

In the fourth, Santana induced three groundouts from Williams, Posada and Jeter, not allowing a two-out bunt base hit from Crosby to amount to anything.

Torre, feeling the pressure of the 2004 ALCS collapse and the rumors that this would be his last season as Yankees manager unless it resulted in a World Series win, had turned to Randy Johnson to get the third out of the fourth and he was back on the mound for the fourth. The Yankees traded for Johnson six months too late, but after not landing him at the 2004 deadline, they landed him to avenge the 2004 disaster. The Yankees wanted Johnson for big games, the kind of games he won against them in the 2001 World Series, and in finally landing him, they expected the regular season to just be a formality leading up to games like Game 3 of the 2005 ALDS against the Angels.

Johnson was awful in Game 3, allowing five earned runs on nine hits in just three-plus innings of work. He was booed off the same Yankee Stadium mound I helped cheer him off of on Apr. 3 on Opening Night in a season-opening 9-2 Sunday Night Baseball win over the Red Sox in which he went six innings, allowing one earned run against the defending champions. Now a little more than six months after he made his way to the Yankees bullpen at Yankee Stadium to warm up on Opening Night to loud RAN-DY JOHN-SON, CLAP CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP, cheers, he was trying to hold the Angels at 5 and give the offense a chance to come back so he could have a chance to redeem himself in the ALCS.

The 41-year-old version of the Big Unit retired the side in order in the fourth and with 15 outs left in their season and the heart of the order due up, the Yankees had their best chance to break through against Santana.

The third pitch of the fifth inning hit Rodriguez and Giambi jumped on the next pitch from Santana, singling to right field and moving Rodriguez to second. With first and second and no outs and Santana at 68 pitches through three-plus innings of work, the Yankees had Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and Cano coming up with a chance to get back in the game.

Sheffield flew out to left, Matsui popped up to first and Cano struck out swinging, and just like that there were 12 outs left in the season.

In the sixth, Santana worked a 1-2-3 inning, needing just nine pitches to retire Williams, Posada and Crosby. A leadoff home run from Jeter in the seventh, closed the gap to 5-3, but Santana got Rodriguez to ground out to short, ending his night and postseason debut.

5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR.

It wasn’t Roger Clemens or Curt Schilling in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, but for a 22-year-old making his postseason debut, in a role he had no Major League experience in and virtually no experience in at all, it was a very solid and respectable performance. And when the Yankees were unable to come back against Kelvin Escobar or Francisco Rodriguez, Santana earned the win to send his team to the ALCS.

It wasn’t just Santana settling down that led to the series loss for the Yankees. Three errors and three unearned runs lost Game 2 for the Yankees. Johnson lost them Game 3. A combination of Cano’s stolen-base attempt, Mussina being bad in a big spot and not getting through three innings, the Crosby-Sheffield collision and leaving 13 runners on base cost them Game 5. And I will always remember Game 5 for the collision, but after that I will remember it for Santana not succumbing to the pressure in a winner-take-all game.

Santana is no longer a scrawny, 22-year-old kid with a 133 2/3 Major League innings to his name pitching for his team’s season. He’s once again pitching for his team’s season, but now he’s 35 years old with 149 career wins, 13 seasons in the majors and nearly $100 million in career earnings. As he throws his warmup pitches, all I can think about is Oct. 10, 2005 and waiting for him to implode to send the Yankees to the ALCS, but he never does.

Give me a walk over a hit when needing a rally. When the Yankees are trailing by three runs in the ninth inning of a game, I would rather have the leadoff hitter walk than hit a solo home run. A walk sets a rally in motion, rattles the pitcher and gets the crowd going. A solo home run in that spot allows the pitcher to shake it off and reset as if nothing happened. No, statistically it doesn’t make sense, but a leadoff walk to start a rally brings the human element into the game, and that can’t be discounted.

Had Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run, maybe that’s the only run Santana gives up the entire game. He had been given a three-run lead before he ever threw a pitch, so challenging Gardner right away and forcing him to beat him and giving up a home run in the process wouldn’t have been a big deal. Sure, it would have caused the Stadium siren to turn on and the crowd to cheer, but Santana would have been able to say he challenged Gardner and got beat. But to be given a three-run lead before you throw a pitch and then to walk the leadoff hitter and awake a Yankee Stadium crowd looking for any inkling at all to get excited, well, that’s where the game changed.

Gardner worked a six-pitch walk to start the inning and Aaron Judge drove a line-drive single to center field on the seventh pitch of his at-bat as Gardner coasted into third after taking off on the pitch. Gary Sanchez got jammed on 1-2 fastball and popped it up to Castro, who nearly tripped in the Yankees’ on-deck circle. With Gardner on third and Judge on first, the Sanchez pop-up felt like a missed opportunity and I started to think back to the second inning of Game 5 of the 2005 ALDS.

Didi Gregorius taking over for Derek Jeter at shortstop in 2015 went about as well Nick Johnson taking over at designated hitter for Hideki Matsui following Matsui’s 2009 World Series MVP performance. Between the early-season baserunning and defensive miscues and him batting .215/.276/.289 with two home runs and 11 RBIs through June 1 of 2015, I was done with Gregorius. Shane Greene, who he was traded for, was thriving for the Detroit Tigers, and I was on board with Cincinnati, who gave up on Gregorius in December 2012, and Arizona, who gave up on him two years later.

Gregorius worked his way back to respectability in 2015, finishing the season at .265/.318/.370 with nine home runs and 56 RBIs and then broke out in 2016 at .276/.304/.447 with a career high 20 home runs, and I apologized to him (on Twitter) for wanting to reverse the Greene deal. This regular season, he improved again, batting .287/.318/.478 with 25 home runs and 87 RBIs, becoming a fan favorite for his TV, Stadium big screen and social media personality, and he stepped into the box against Santana with a chance to get the Yankees back in the game.

After sitting in the right-field bleachers for 95 percent of the games I have attended at the Stadium (on both sides of River Ave.), my eyes have grown accustomed to the perception from behind the right fielder, so when I sit anywhere else, the view takes a few innings of getting used to. I don’t want to say when I sit elsewhere that I become those fans (or John Sterling or Michael Kay) that think every ball in the air has a chance to get out, but for the first inning or two, I feel like someone trying to drive on the right side of the road.

The beauty of sitting in right field, other than having the best depth perception on balls in play and knowing if those fans cheering for any ball in the air have a right to be cheering, is when those big moments come your way. When the bleachers become a party. I desperately wanted the bleachers to become a party. I wanted a beer shower. I needed a beer shower.

Gregorius’ body language said it all before his bat could fall to the ground following his quick-wristed and concise flip of it, and my eyes and their years of judging fly balls from this vantage point let my brain know what was happening and where the ball was headed.

Gregorius had turned around Santana’s 23rd pitch of the inning — a 96-mph, full-count fastball — and the white dot that started roughly 400 feet away grew larger and larger and larger until it looked like a beach ball, flying into Section 102 in right field. I went wild. I had missed this feeling. I hadn’t had this feeling in over five years since Raul Ibanez’s game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS went out to right field, and 20 minutes earlier, I thought it would be at least another year until I would have that feeling again.

Tie game. A new game. New life.

It began to rain beer in the bleachers, as I high-fived and embraced strangers, completely thankful that Greene was no longer a Yankee. I felt like I drove for 22 hours straight and then ran a marathon and then biked from New York to Los Angeles, and it was only the bottom of the first inning. I had to take a piss when I left Billy’s before the game and that was at 7:30. It was now 8:52.

Gardner homered in the second to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead, but the Twins tied the game in the third after Green loaded the bases with one out to give way to David Robertson. Greg Bird singled in a run in the third and then Judge hit a two-run home run in the fourth and the Yankees never looked back.

Santana lasted two innings, allowing four earned on three hits, two of which were home runs, and two walks. He had a chance to escape the first inning like he had escaped that second inning 12 years ago, but unlike the 2005 Yankees, the 2017 Yankees didn’t let him off the hook.

Max Kepler took a beating from the fans all night in right field, the way he would have on the other side of River Ave., and after three hours and 51 minutes (most of which came in the first inning), the Yankees were going to the ALDS, and I was elated.

The previous four seasons had given me time to reflect on taking the ability to reach the ALDS for granted from 1996-2012 (minus 2008, but that’s what happens when Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson make 21.6 percent of your team’s starts), and I wasn’t going to do that again. The Yankees were headed to Cleveland to face arguably the best team in baseball and a team that won 22 consecutive games in August and September. They were headed there with their ace’s confidence in question, a beaten-up bullpen and a postseason-inexperienced lineup, but I didn’t care. The Yankees were back in the postseason, the real postseason, and that’s all I cared about.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Postseason

Sep 30, 2018

Yankees’ AL Wild-Card Game Starter Is an Impossible Decision

The Yankees have three good options to start the wild-card game, but no really great options. There’s no consensus pick on who should start against the A’s and that’s a problem.

Last season, the decision of who would start the wild-card game was easy: Luis Severino. He was the best pitcher on the team (and one of the best in the entire league, finishing third in the Cy Young voting), and it wasn’t even close. Had the offense not been able to overcome his disastrous one-third of an inning performance, it would have been a disappointing end to the season, but no one could have faulted the team for going with their ace in the game. He was the unanimous choice among the organization and Yankees fans, and if the Yankees were eliminated in that game, it could have easily been excused as the textbook example of how anything can happen in a single baseball game.

This season is much different. The Yankees have three options to start the wild-card game, but no true option. There’s no consensus pick on who should start on Wednesday, Oct. 3 against the A’s and that’s a problem.

It won’t be a problem if the offense goes out and scores eight runs the way they did a year ago. But it will be a problem if the starting pitcher lays an egg the way Severino did in last year’s game and the offense goes into one of its familiar funks and the season ends at home after triple-digits wins in the regular season.

The Yankees have to be right their in their decision because if the season ends with a home loss in the wild-card game a year after they came within one win of the World Series, the season is a complete failure. That’s not some Steinbrenner mentality either, that’s fact. It doesn’t matter how many games the team won in a season in which six AL teams lost at least 88 games and a team in the Yankees’ division is one of the worst teams in the history of baseball. The Yankees have to at least reach the ALDS for this season to be anything but a wasted one in their current window of opportunity. If the Yankees are wrong with their decision and the starting pitcher is the reason for a loss in the game, it will be second-guessed forever.

If it’s Severino and they lose, it should have been Masahiro Tanaka or J.A. Happ. If it’s Tanaka and they lose, it should have been Severino or Happ. If it’s Happ and they lose, it should have been Severino or Tanaka. They’re all good options, but none of them are great options.

Severino was the best pitcher in the American League for the first half of the season and after shutting out the Red Sox 6 2/3 innings on July 1, he was 13-2 with a 1.98 ERA. But over his next 11 starts, he allowed 89 baserunners in 55 2/3 innings and 13 home runs, pitching to a 6.83 ERA as opposing hitters batted .323/.360/.574 against him. He has returned to form of late though, pitching to a 2.04 ERA and a 1.019 WHIP in his last three starts spanning 17 2/3 innings.

Tanaka had a 4.54 ERA at the All-Star break, but after the break he pitched to a 2.09 ERA and 1.036 WHIP over 10 starts from July 24 to Sept. 14. His second-half performance had made him the front-runner to start the wild-card game. But then, on Sept. 20, he was knocked around by the Red Sox (4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR), and then knocked around by the Rays in his next start on Sept. 26 (4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR).

Happ has been exceptional since coming to the Yankees at the trade deadline, going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA and 1.052 WHIP in 11 starts and 63 2/3 innings. He’s only had one bad start as a Yankee and that came on Aug. 30 against the White Sox (4.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3 HR). Aside from that, he’s been outstanding, including his Sept. 4 win over the A’s (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR).

The Yankees have said recently they don’t know who they are going to pitch in the game and that they would have those discussions over the weekend, but barring injury, we all know that’s not true. They have known for a while who they want to start the game. At this point, they’re just waiting to announce it.

If their decision is based on who’s the best pitcher, it’s Severino, who is still the ace and future of the rotation and when on, he’s one of, if not, the best pitcher in the majors. If they’re going with with the best postseason pitcher, it’s Tanaka, who pitched well in the wild-card game in 2015 and then was dominant in three starts in last year’s postseason against the Indians and Astros, allowing two earned runs in 25 innings. If they’re going off recent performance, it’s Happ, who has done nothing but win and pitch well since putting on the pinstripes aside from that one game over a month ago

There’s this idea that the Yankees are only going to allow the starter, no matter who it is, to go through the lineup once, and then turn it over to the bullpen. But that’s hard to believe because if any of the three are pitching a three-hit shutout through four innings, are they really going to be relieved? And while the Yankees do boast Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, David Robertson and Chad Green, the goal shouldn’t be to use all of them, the goal should be to use as few of them as possible. The more relievers used in the game, the better the chance one of the pitchers entering for the Yankees might not have it that night and the game could be lost in the middle or late innings because of it. It’s nice to have a plan and strategy going into the game, but baseball very rarely lets you plan ahead.

I honestly don’t know who I would pick. When I lean toward Severino because he’s the best pitcher on the team, I get worried that he might try to do too much and make up for last year’s first-inning debacle. When I lean toward Tanaka because of his postseason resume, I start to envision the home run-hitting A’s against the home run-prone right-hander and the game getting out of hand. When I lean toward Happ because of his Yankees tenure, I worry that if his location and command are off, he doesn’t have the stuff to get through the game.

I don’t know who should start the game. All I know is I’m happy I don’t have to make the decision. But whatever the decision is, it better be right.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees

Sep 27, 2018

No Urgency from the Yankees with Four Games Left

The Yankees gave away another game on Wednesday in Tampa Bay with poor management and poor play and the possibility of the wild-card not being at Yankee Stadium is now very real.

Masahiro Tanaka

The way the Yankees have played over the last few weeks, or the entire season really, you would think they were the 107-win team in the AL East waiting for Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday, Oct. 5. Instead, all the Yankees have clinched is a wild-card berth. With now four games to play (one in Tampa Bay and three in Boston), we still don’t know where the wild-card game will be played. How is that even possible?

It’s possible when the team is managed as if everything has been wrapped up for weeks or even months. It’s possible when Aaron Boone continues to let starting pitchers stay in too long or when his wildly unsuccessful batter-to-batter strategy backfires time and time again or when he elects to give players unnecessary days off when so much remains on the table. There have been countless examples of this throughout the season and Wednesday’s loss to the Rays was just the latest.

When Neil Walker hit a three-run home run in the first inning on Wednesday, I figured the game would be a laugher. Then the Yankees were held scoreless until the ninth when they produced another failed comeback. (Yankees blue balls as I like to call them.) Between Walker’s home run and the Yankees eventual 8-7 loss, Masahiro Tanaka gave the three first-inning runs right back in the bottom of the first and got knocked around for his second straight start, most likely taking himself out of the wild-card starter conversation; Giancarlo Stanton, who has had maybe four big hits all season, failed to produce any runs with the bases loaded and one out, hitting into an inning-ending double play; Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Adeiny Hechavarria and Gleyber Torres combined to go 0-for-12 with a walk (Sanchez) and six strikeouts; Boone decided to keep letting David Robertson try to get out of the eighth inning when he clearly didn’t have it, throwing 24 pitches and giving up four runs (three earned); and Boone decided to let Tyler Wade bat, the career .168/.227/.487 hitter who has had two at-bats in September and whose last hit in the majors came on July 28, as a pinch hitter with the game on the line in the ninth.

The least egregious of those things are the four hitters combining to get on base once in 13 plate appearances because that will happen. But nothing that happened on Wednesday night surprised me. That has been Yankees baseball since the end of June and that has been Boone all season.

Despite Boone saying Torres was healthy enough to play on Wednesday, the Yankees manager wanted to give him another day off because of the turf. Thursday’s game would also be played on turf. Would Boone then give Torres a second unnecessary day off because of the playing field? Boone ended up using Torres anyway, completely negating his entire plan. So Torres was able to play on Wednesday, just not start. With Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks banged up and unavailable, Boone took one of his few remaining trustworthy bats out of the lineup for what? To prevent a 21-year-old from playing baseball on a hard surface, even though Torres plays the middle infield, which is played on dirt.

There’s nothing Boone could say or a move he could make at this point that would surprise me. It was just Sunday when he let A.J. Cole destroy a lead against the historically-bad Orioles and it was only last Thursday when Chad Green struck out the side against the Red Sox in the sixth to hold a one-run lead and Boone decided to run Green back out there in the seventh, despite every Yankees fan knowing to not let him pitch a second inning. Green allowed a leadoff home run in the seventh to the light-hitting Jackie Bradley Jr. to tie the game and then was allowed to give up a single to the next batter, the ninth-hitting catcher. It was only then that Boone took the ball from Green, after he made sure he let him put one more runner on. That runner came around to score. After the game, Boone said the Red Sox “weren’t going to be denied”, believing his bullpen management had nothing to do with the loss that clinched the division for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

Friday’s loss to the Red Sox, Sunday’s loss to the Orioles and Wednesday’s loss to the Rays all happened in six days. Six days with the first wild card still not clinched following months of the same style of nonchalant managing and accountability.

It’s been 15 days since I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble and back then I said the following:

If the A’s do pass the Yankees for the first wild card and the Yankees somehow win the game in Oakland, they will have to fly from Boston following Game 162 to Oakland for one game then fly back to Boston to begin the ALDS. They will have used the starting pitcher the organization deemed their best starting pitcher in the one-game playoff and then will face the well-rested Red Sox, who clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday, in a best-of-5 series knowing that the team’s likely best starter won’t be available until Game 3.

With the way the Yankees are playing, I would almost rather have them lose the AL Wild-Card Game than have them win it only to be embarrassed by the Red Sox in the ALDS. Like I have always said, there’s nothing to gain from the Yankees ever playing the Red Sox in the postseason. If the Yankees win, they’re the Yankees and they’re supposed to win. And if the Yankees lose, it’s the end of the world. Even in a season in which the Red Sox might win 110 games those rules still apply. I want no part of a postseason series with the Red Sox, especially given the huge travel and personnel disadvantage the Yankees will be in following the one-game playoff.

I have kept telling myself that there’s no point in getting upset with any losses for the rest of the regular season because the next game that matters is on Wednesday, Oct. 3, but that was when it seemed like the first wild-card spot was a given. Now it’s anything but a sure-thing and all I envision is Mike Fiers shutting down the Yankees for six scoreless in Oakland and the A’s bullpen putting an end to the 2018 Yankees season, a season that was supposed to end with a trip to the World Series.

The Yankees are in even bigger trouble than they were when I wrote that over two weeks ago. The magic number to clinch the first wild card sits at 2 and the Yankees have to play in Tampa Bay on Thursday and then in Boston the next three days where the Red Sox will be playing their actual lineup for at least a couple of the games before a four-day layoff leading into the ALDS. The A’s, meanwhile, have Thursday off and then play their last three regular-season games against the Angels, who haven’t had anything to play for in months, and can taste the finish line and end of the season and the four-plus month break before spring training.

There’s a good chance the A’s won’t lose any of their final three games. I don’t think they are going to lose any of three games in Anaheim, which means the Yankees will have to go 2-2 in their final four games against the Rays, who desperately want to screw up the Yankees’ season, and the Red Sox, who after clinching the division at Yankee Stadium can give the Yankees one more big EFF YOU by sending them across the country for one game. The Red Sox would certainly rather play the A’s, who are without any real postseason starting pitching option, and by sending the Yankees to the West Coast, they would be assured that whichever teams win the wild card would have to fly across the country and then play a well-rested best team in baseball about 36 hours later.

If the Yankees end up as the second wild card, I really would rather have them lose in Oakland. They will have burned a starting pitcher, likely have used their best bullpen arms, will have had to fly to California and back and will have then been on the road for 11 days before first pitch in the ALDS. It would be a miracle if they were to upset the Red Sox under those circumstances and I can’t bank on a miracle when I know what it feels like to lose to the Red Sox in the postseason. If the Yankees are playing in Oakland next Wednesday, they should end the season there as well.

The Yankees are in real trouble now. They went from World Series favorite to potentially the second wild card in the span of three months all while playing as if they have had everything locked up over that time period.

I have waited for Aaron Boone to manage with any sense of urgency this entire season. I waited while he gave games away with his bullpen management all summer and when he frequently gave players days off in an attempt to prevent injuries that arose anyway (Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gregorius, Torres and Hicks have all missed significant time). I waited some more while he let fringe major league pitchers let one-run deficits become four-run deficits and when he would create nonsensical lineups with his best hitter at times batting ninth and batting behind the pitcher in interleague games.

Thankfully, I don’t have to wait much longer to find out if the Yankees are in fact going to completely collapse and head to Oakland for one game, in which we will already know the outcome. Unfortunately, there’s now only four games for Boone to manage and the Yankees to play with urgency and avoid having this seven-day road trip become a 10-day road trip and a 13-day road trip if they were to win the wild-card game in Oakland. The Yankees haven’t managed or played with any urgency for 158 games, I doubt they will now.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • Giants

Sep 27, 2018

NFL Week 4 Picks

After this week of football, one quarter of the season will have been played. It seems like just yesterday I was watching Ereck Flowers take penalties on two of the Giants’ first three offensive plays of the season.

It’s Week 4. Week 4? Yes, Week 4. After this week of football, one month and one quarter of the season will have been played. That doesn’t even seem possible. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting on my couch watching Ereck Flowers take a tripping and holding penalty on two of the Giants’ first three offensive plays of the season. But that was way back in Week 1. Weeks ago, when Flowers was still starting for the Giants. Now, he’s on the bench, where he has belonged for a long time and the Giants are undefeated without him playing.

The 10-6 fast start to the season in Week 1 was quickly slowed by a 6-10 Week 2, in what will always be the hardest week to pick games and last week was an 8-8 performance. So after three weeks it’s about as average as it could be with a 24-24 record. It’s time to get hot before we begin the second month of the season.

(Home team in caps)

Minnesota +7 over LOS ANGELES RAMS
Every week in the NFL needs to be treated like the movie 50 First Dates in that each week you need to forget what happened the week before and start over every week of the season. Aside from injuries and the absence of players, nothing from the previous week matters the following week. If the Vikings don’t get embarrassed in what was one of the biggest upsets in regular-season history as they were beaten 27-6 despite being 17-point favorite then this line is probably 4 given that these two teams might be the best two teams in the NFC, and quite possibly the entire league, and the only reason it would be even lower is that the Vikings are traveling in a short week

I had a feeling the Vikings might overlook their Week 2 game against the Bills with a potential NFC playoff or even NFC Championship matchup just four days later. And I had a bad feeling about the Vikings last Sunday after Mike Francesa pretty much said the only thing to watch for in that game would be if the Vikings recorded a shutout.

The Rams might very well be the best team in the league, and they have played like it through the first three games, scoring 102 points and allowing only 36. And they might be playing their third straight home game after also playing their season opener in California. But the Vikings are much better than whatever it is they were in that debacle four days ago. They might not be on the Rams level at this point, but a giving a touchdown to a fellow contender? That’s a lot.

Buffalo +9.5 over GREEN BAY
I hate everything about this game. I can easily see Aaron Rodgers going down the field with ease on the first drive of the game and me wondering how I could back the Bills. Like I said earlier, you need to forget everything you watched the week before, and I am. This pick has nothing to do with the Bills’ win over the Vikings. It has everything to do with me knowing the Packers defense is garbage and needing to cover two possessions is too much when your defense is as shaky as theirs is. The Bills aren’t good, but neither are the Packers, who needed a miraculous comeback in Week 1 and then the worst field-goal kicking game of all time to avoid being 0-3 right now. It’s one thing to give 9.5 points when you’re good, but the Packers aren’t.

Miami +7 over NEW ENGLAND
Is this the end of the Patriots? I want it to be, but I know better. Normally, I wouldn’t be surprised to watch them now win 12 of 13 and finish the season 13-3, but I don’t think this team is built to do that. It has to end at some point, right? I mean Tom Brady can’t play forever, right? He can’t just keep winning MVPs and reaching the Super Bowl every year, right?

The loss to the Jaguars made sense, but the loss to the Lions didn’t. Thankfully, I was against the Patriots in both game and have been against them all three weeks this season. Now they are playing an undefeated Dolphins team that keeps on winning close games for yet another season. I don’t expect the Dolphins to win, and they will probably even get blown out. But until I see even a hint of the Patriots of old, I have to keep picking against them. Especially in a division game with a touchdown line.

Houston +1 over INDIANAPOLIS
When the Texans are on the field on both offense and defense and you see the last names on the back of their jerseys, it’s absolutely ridiculous that they are 0-3. The team is stacked on both sides of the ball and yet they’re winless and their season is essentially over. Their playoff chances aren’t as bad as if they were in the NFC, but because of how weak the AFC is once again, there is still a path for them to get there and defy odds. A loss on Sunday will officially end their season. Meanwhile, I’m more than happy to root against Andrew Luck after he failed to drop the Eagles to 1-2 last week.

CHICAGO -3 over Tampa Bay
I was on a plane on Monday night during the Buccaneers last game, and while I was sitting looking out the window at the beautiful weather I was leaving behind in Florida to return to fall in the northeast, I was also watching my money go down with Ryan Fitzpatrick. I knew the clock would strike midnight on Fitzpatrick’s latest story because it always does, I just thought it might last another week, so I could cash in on the Buccaneers -1 after going against them the first two weeks of the season.

I want Fitzpatrick to do well. I really do. Because I want nothing more than for Jameis Winston to return from his suspension and stand on the sidelines with an earpiece in, holding a clipboard. But when you’re the backup to a former No. 1 overall pick, the leash is short, even if that former No. 1 overall pick isn’t any good. A loss in Week 4, which would produce back-to-back losses for Fitzpatrick would likely mean back to the bench for Ivy leaguer. And with the wild decision making and errant throws we saw from him on Monday night, the Bears defense is going to send him back to the sidelines.

Philadelphia -4 over TENNESSEE
I like Carson Wentz as a player and as a person, but as a Giants fan, I so badly wanted the Eagles to lose to the Colts last week in his return from knee surgery. A loss would have sent the Eagles to 1-2 and created chaos for Eagles fans wondering why the Super Bowl MVP was benched after one loss even if it was for the face of the franchise. Luckily, there’s a still a chance for that to happen and for the biggest quarterback controversy in history to take place. After this week, the Eagles play the Vikings, who will be coming off two bad losses and will have three extra days of the rest on the Eagles. Then they go on the road to play the Giants in a short week on Thursday Night Football. Then they host the Panthers and the Jaguars, and later in the season after their bye week, they have trips to the Superdome and to the Rams.

There’s plenty of time and opportunities for Eagles fans coming off the team’s first Super Bowl win to completely turn on their team and question why Nick Foles isn’t playing after beating the Falcons, Rams, Vikings and Patriots months ago and then having a statue built in his honor. Just sit back, relax and wait for it to happen.

ATLANTA -3.5 over Cincinnati
When are the Falcons going to put it together? I remember asking myself that same question last season, a season in which they were coming off the biggest collapse in Super Bowl history. If the Falcons can’t win big at home against the Bengals, I will finally have an answer to my question and that answer will be never.

JACKSONVILLE -7.5 over New York Jets
It was fitting that the Browns’ first win since 2016 and their second win in two-plus seasons came against the Jets. The same Jets whose fans thought after their Week 1 rout of the Lions that they would then take care of business at home against the Dolphins and then go on the road in a short week and hand the Browns yet another loss and be sitting at 3-0 with the very real chance of reaching the playoffs in Sam Darnold’s first season. Instead, the Jets are now 1-2 and going on the road to play what’s currently the best team in the AFC. The Jets are going to be 1-3 after Sunday and the only games you might consider them a favorite in for the rest of the season are against the Bills, and after what the Bills showed against the Vikings in Week 3, there’s a very good chance the Jets will be picking in the Top 3 of the draft again in 2019.

Seattle -3 over ARIZONA
The Seahawks saved their season last week with a rather easy win over the Cowboys. I think there are going to be a lot of easy win against the Cowboys this season, unfortunately, just not when the Giants play them. Now the Seahawks get a Cardinals team that looks like the early favorite for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft after getting outscored 74-20 in their first three games, and they get a Cardinals team that is starting rookie quarterback Josh Rosen for the first time. This after Rosen was thrown into his first NFL game needing a game-winning drive against the Bears defense. It never seizes to amaze me the poor decision making of NFL head coaches and first-year Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks is the latest to join the club.

OAKLAND -3 over Cleveland
I couldn’t help but feel happy for the fans of Cleveland who suffered through a 4-45-1 record since the start of the 2015 season before beating the Jets last week. And I couldn’t help but feel happy for the fans, who might actually have found their franchise quarterback in Baker Mayfield after so many failed attempts to find their guy at the top of the draft for years. If not for missed field goals in both Weeks 1 and 2, the Browns would be 3-0. But because they’re the Browns, they did miss those field goals and are 1-1-1. Maybe the culture will finally change for the team with Mayfield playing.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the news that the Browns officially named Mayfield their starting quarterback for Week 4 as if there were another option. It’s not that Tyrod Taylor played poorly in his two starts with the team, but there’s just no way you’re going to sit the No. 1 overall pick and the face of your franchise after he just led your team to its first win since the end of the 2016 season and its fifth win three-plus seasons.

But right now there is too much Cleveland love, and don’t you think for one second the Football Gods don’t recognize all of the hype surrounding a team people think should be undefeated and on their way to the playoffs. I’m not sure what the exact mood is in Cleveland entering Week 4 after last week’s win, but a trip to Oakland to face a winless team that had incredibly high expectations this season will be make the Browns remember they still have a long way to go.

NEW YORK GIANTS +3.5 over New Orleans
If this game were being played in the Superdome, I wouldn’t even watch it. OK, who am I kidding, obviously I would watch it, but it would be painful. I want no part of watching the Giants ever play against the Drew Brees Saints in the Superdome. But the Drew Brees Saints outdoors in the elements? That’s a different story.

The Saints were embarrassed in Week 1 by Ryan Fitzpatrick, needed the Browns to pull a Browns to avoid a disastrous loss in Week 2 and then needed overtime in Week 3 to get by their division rival Falcons. I really thought this season might lead to a Super Bowl appearance for the Saints in what is a stacked NFC, but through three weeks they haven’t been even close to the team that was a Stefon Diggs miracle touchdown away from going to the NFC Championship Game last season.

The Saints will be outside this week, in the northeast, where it might not be November or December yet, but this week has been rainy, windy and cold and no matter what the weather is in the Tri-state area on Sunday, it always seems to be worse in East Rutherford. The Saints offense has an inside and outside version even if they do have Brees, Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara. And with their defense having allowed 103 points in the first three games, I’m not sure how they plan on covering Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley given the trouble they have had covering anyone this season. The Giants are going to win this game.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS -10.5 over San Francisco
The 49ers season came to an end in Week 3 when Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL. Now the 1-2 49ers are heading on the road, knowing their season is over, to play a good Chargers team (that I keep thinking plays in San Diego) and they are starting C.J. Beathard at quarterback. Remember how bad the 49ers were last season before the Garoppolo trade? Those are the 49ers you will be seeing for the remainder of the season.

Baltimore +3 over PITTSBURGH
When these two teams meet, the game is decided by 3. So knowing this, how can you not take the team getting points?

DENVER +5 over Kansas City
The Chiefs offense is incredible. Their defense is not good at all. I get that the Chiefs are built on the idea that “the best defense is a good offense” and they have the best in the league and maybe even the best in history, but offense doesn’t always travel, and it rarely travels to Mile High Stadium. Five points is a lot to be giving on the road against an elite defense in a divisional game. The Broncos likely won’t be able to stop the Chiefs because I don’t know if anyone can, but the Chiefs won’t be able to stop the Broncos either, and five points becomes too much to give up in a back-and-forth offensive divisional game.

Last week: 8-8
Season: 24-24

Blogs • Giants

Sep 24, 2018

Giants-Texans Week 3 Thoughts: So This Is What It Feels Like to Win

I forgot what it felt like to experience a Giants win because it’s been so long. The Giants had gone 3-16, including the postseason, in their last 19 games before saving their season with a win in Houston.

The last time the Giants won a game that mattered was Week 17 of the 2016 season when they beat the Redskins 19-10, and that game didn’t even really matter. It mattered more to the Redskins, who had to win to clinch a playoff berth, but it didn’t matter for the Giants. All it did was make everyone think the team could go on an extend postseason run because they played to win a game they didn’t need. Instead, their extended postseason run lasted one half.

I forgot what it felt like to experience a Giants win because it had been so long. That win over the Redskins was nearly 21 months ago and since that win the Giants had been 3-16, including the postseason. That’s an incredible amount of losing over almost a two-year period that had Odell Beckham Jr. telling the media last week he didn’t remember the last time he won a football game since the Giants were still winless when he was lost for the year last season.

I didn’t think the Giants were going to win in Houston. Even though I wagered on them at +260 despite swearing off betting on them following the disaster in Dallas the week before, I talked myself into placing money on them despite not truly believing they would win.When the news broke that Ereck Flowers was going to be benched, I was ecstatic. It had been a move now two seasons overdue and even if the Giants were going to lose, at least they weren’t going to lose with the untalented Flowers ruining the game for them.

After their first two losses and the way the offensive line played against the Cowboys, going on the road to play the also 0-2 Texans and the mobile Deshaun Watson and Top 5 wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and the stacked pass rush featuring J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus, I figured the Giants were in for their second straight 0-3 start. When the Texans marched down the field to the Giants’ 5 on the opening possession of the game, my expectations for the game were flawlessly unfolding.

First-and-5 at the Giants’ 5 after driving 69 yards and I was furious both at the Giants defense and at myself for wagering on the team after what they had done to my bank account in the first two weeks. Somehow, the Texans didn’t target Hopkins once in the end zone, after a pair of runs to Lamar Miller and an incomplete pass to Will Fuller, and the Giants were able to hold them to 3.

Not only had I forgotten what it felt like to win, I had forgotten what it felt like to have a lead. The last lead the Giants had that mattered was back in Week 3 last season when they scored 24 fourth-quarter points against the Eagles to take a 24-21 lead before eventually losing 27-24. Once they lost that game, their season was over at 0-3, so that 24-21 lead was the last time they had a meaningful lead.

Ten plays and 75 yards later and Saquon Barkley capped off the Giants’ most impressive drive of the season (their only real drive of the season) and the Giants had a 7-3 lead. I didn’t know how to feel or how to react. It had been so long since I had that feeling, I can only imagine it’s how a major league pitcher feels to take the mound after a pair of Tommy John surgeries. I suddenly remembered what it felt like when watching the Giants was fun and when they were good and when they were expected to win.

The Giants scored on all four of their first-half possessions for a 20-6 lead at halftime, and they were getting the ball to start the second half. I began to wish I had only hammered their money line at +260 even more than I had, but the negative thoughts about blowing a two-touchdown lead started to creep in.

The Giants punted on their first possession of the second half and the Texans answered with a field goal. 20-9.

The Giants punted again and I began to get worried as the Texans drove to the Giants’ 33. But on second-and-10 from the 33, Miller fumbled and the Giants recovered to take at least three points off the board from the Texans.

Unfortunately, the Giants punted again, and the worrying returned as Watson hit three passes in a row for 24, 22 and 14 yards to put the Texans on the Giants’ 8. An illegal block penalty on Miller followed by a sack moved the Texans back to the 25. And on second-and-goal from the 25, Watson noticed Miller was being covered 1-on-1 by linebacker Alec Ogletree, so he went for the touchdown, and Ogletree intercepted it in the end zone.

The offense had punted three times in the second half already and had been saved twice by the defense with two turnovers in Giants territory. Four plays and a couple of sacks later and the Giants were punting again, having wasted the interception.

With 8:28 left in the game, Hopkins scored a touchdown that was called back for a holding penalty, but two plays later, the Texans scored a touchdown that would stand to cut the Giants’ lead to 20-15. The two-point conversion failed. The once 20-6 halftime lead had dwindled to 20-15 and visions of the Vince Young Titans comeback started to appear as I stared blankly at the TV.

There was 7:37 remaining and the Giants were clinging to a five-point lead, having failed to add on to their 20 first-half points. They desperately needed to put points on the board. And now just 3. They needed 7. I envisioned them either not scoring or kicking a field goal only to have the Texans score a touchdown and tie the game on a two-point conversion. These are the thoughts that enter your mind when you’re a Giants fan.

Eli Manning found Sterling Shepard for 23 yards on the first play of the drive to put the ball on the Giants’ 46. Three plays later and the Giants were face with a third-and-2 at the Texans’ 27. I could already feel the handoff to Barkley getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage to bring out Aldrick Rosas, who would miss for the first time this season, giving the Texans great field position to go down the field to win the game. I had seen this game too many times before, and I knew what was going to happen before it happened.

The Giants didn’t run the ball though. Instead, Manning hit Barkley for 21 yards and a first down, putting the ball on the Texans’ 6 and forcing the Texans to use their second timeout. I felt a sense of relief, but not complete relief, for the red zone stall followed by a field goal followed by a Texans touchdown and two-point conversion were all still on the table.

On first-and-goal from the 6, the Giants lost two yards on a pass to Barkley. On second-and-goal from the 8, Barkley ran the ball one yard. Here it was, third-and-goal from the 7, a season-changing play. There would be no end-around to Beckham like there had been in Week 1. There would be no draw to Barkley. Manning connected with Shepard for the touchdown. 27-15, Giants. It was everything Manning and the Giants used to be. A clutch, game-winning (or game-sealing) drive. It’s weird how when given time, Manning is no longer old or washed up or unable to start in the league anymore.

The Texans had 2:08, two timeouts and the two-minute warning to score 12 points. I was cautiously optimistic about the Giants’ chances, but again, I’m not foolish enough to think any Giants game is over.

The Giants were going to exchange yards for clock, but it looked like it might not matter anyway after the Texans were suddenly faced with a third-and-20 from their own 15. But this is the Giants defense, and sure enough, after a 16-yard pass and 12-yard pass, the Texans had a first down.

The Texans did score a touchdown, but by the time they did, there was one second left in the game. The Giants had won and they have saved their season. It’s never good when you’re faced with a must-win game in Week 3 of the season, but for the second straight season, the Giants were, and this time they won. The win was overshadowed by my anger of wondering how many more wins the Giants could have had over the last few seasons if not for the presence of Flowers on the offensive line.

Nothing has ever come easy and nothing ever will for this team, not even when they hold a 20-6 lead at halftime, are getting the ball back, and win the turnover battle in the game. That magic record of 4-4 is still needed if this team is going to go on a run when their schedule softens after the bye and this win was just one of the four. It was finally a step in the right direction for a team that hasn’t taken a step in the right direction in almost two calendar years. But don’t get too excited yet. I’m not.