1. The same situation. That’s what the Yankees had and Aaron Judge faced in the first inning of Game 2 of the ALCS. Gleyber Torres on second, Juan Soto on first and no outs. A chance to break open a game as soon as it started.
The same situation took place in Game 1 of the ALDS, Game 2 of the ALDS and Game 1 of the ALCS and each time the Yankees failed to capitalize. Between Judge, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton, Torres and Soto were stranded all three times. In Game 2 of the ALCS, Judge failed to get the job done again, but Gold Glove finalist Brayan Rocchio did it for him.
2. Judge popped up the second pitch he saw from Tanner Bibee and as I looked up in the Bronx sky to track it, it was so high it looked like it may leave the atmosphere. I glanced back to the field to watch Rocchio try to position himself to catch it, battling the wind and shuffling his feet toward second base. The crowd’s roar began to ascend as the ball began to descend and after what felt like minutes of hang time, the ball hit the side of Rocchio’s glove and Torres raced home, Soto ran to second and Judge stood on first. The Yankees had a 1-0 lead, still had two on with no outs and Bibee had already thrown 11 pitches.
Would this be the game the Yankees broke the game open in the first inning and coasted to their first lopsided victory of the postseason? It would not. Wells struck out and Stanton flew out to right.
Leaving baserunners on has become a staple of the Yankees’ postseason. They seemingly have multiple baserunners in every inning of every game and fail to cash in unless runs are walked in or there are wild pitches and errors. They’re still waiting for that big hit. That big hit that can create separation on the scoreboard and take some of the pressure off of their starting pitcher.
3. The Yankees didn’t necessarily get the big hit for Gerrit Cole in Game 2, but they did stake him to a 3-0 lead and he couldn’t make it through the fifth inning. Cole unraveled in the fifth inning, loaded the bases without recording an out, allowed a run on a sacrifice fly and reloaded the bases. Four of the five batters he reached in the fifth reached as he allowed 10 baserunners in 4 1/3 innings.
“I lost a little bit of the zone,” Cole said, “a few too many walks again.”
It was a putrid performance from the Yankees’ “ace” and his second performance like that in the postseason. A three-run lead against the Guardians offense should be enough for Cole to give his team at least six innings. Leaving in the fifth after being unable to get an out in the sixth in Game 1 of the ALDS doesn’t exactly exude confidence in Cole if the Yankees reach the World Series to face the Dodgers’ or Mets’ offense. Thankfully, for Cole, that Kyle Isbel ball died on the track in the seventh inning of Game 4 of the ALDS in Kansas City, or the Yankees may not still be playing and the conversation around being unable to perform in the playoffs would be focused on Cole and not Judge.
4. Judge finally hit a ball over the wall in his sixth game of the 2024 playoffs, sending a two-run shot to Monument Park in the seventh inning off of Pedro Avila.
“I was excited it went out,” Judge said. “You never know on these windy, chilly nights what the ball is going to do when you hit it to center here. The ghosts were pulling it out there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”
The two runs were two much-needed insurance runs as the Yankees’ lead had dwindled from three to one and back up to two before that home run.
“It’s always a matter of time with Aaron,” said Boone. “It’s definitely good to see him put one in the seats and really give us a cushion there.”
It was the first “game-opening” hit of the postseason for the Yankees as it put them up four with six outs to go.
5. Those six outs came from Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver. Kahnle got seven outs in the game in relief of Tim Hill, who got five. Hill was the unsung hero of the game, getting his five crucial outs across the sixth and seventh innings. When he entered the game, the Guardians had cut their deficit to one run and Hill kept it right there, allowing the Yankees to increase that deficit to two in the sixth and four in the seventh. The White Sox release the 34-year-old, left-handed Hill on June 18 and the Yankees signed him on June 20. He pitched to a 2.05 ERA across 35 games in the regular season for the Yankees and has gotten nine big outs in the playoffs so far.
6. The bullpen as a whole has been outstanding in October, especially Clay Holmes, and obviously, Luke Weaver. Holmes has been pitching like the guy Aaron Boone and the Yankees didn’t want to remove from the closer role all season despite the mounting blown saves. Weaver has pitched like Mariano Rivera 2.0. The only blemish from either has been the solo home run that Jose Ramirez hit off of Weaver in the ninth inning in Game 2, which served as a harmless, meaningless run. Well, unless that’s the swing Ramirez needed to get going. But if it is, hopefully Judge’s home run was the swing needed to get him going, which would negate Ramirez starting hit like he’s capable of.
7. Jazz Chisholm picked up his first hit since his “lucky” comments following Game 2 of the ALDS. Anthony Volpe added a pair of hits and also walked as he has looked like the player of the first two weeks of the regular season that then disappeared for the rest of the regular season. Torres had three hits, Anthony Rizzo had two and Alex Verdugo had an RBI double. Only two Yankees failed to get a hit: Stanton, who is more than excused, and Wells, who again, needs to be removed from the cleanup spot.
8. I understand Aaron Boone is superstitious in not wanting to change the batting order while the team is winning, but Wells batting cleanup isn’t why they are winning. Hopefully, Wells is moved down in the lineup in Game 3 (if he plays) and until further notice, considering he has been abysmal since the end of August.
9. Clarke Schmidt gets the ball in Game 3 against veteran left-hander Matthew Boyd. Boyd didn’t allow a run in 6 2/3 innings over two starts against the Tigers in the ALDS and racked up 10 strikeouts. But that was the Tigers. Judge has a home run off Boyd in six plate appearances, Soto has one off of him in two and Volpe has a double off of him in two plate appearances, so the Yankees have had success against him in limited opportunities.
10. “We’ll got there and try to play like we didn’t do anything here,” Torres said, “just the same mentality.”
The Yankees have yet to play to the best of their abilities in the postseason, and they’re 5-1. They haven’t been hitting the ball out of the park with any frequency, leave nearly every baserunner on, have gotten two good starts from the rotation in six games and are running into outs on the bases. It would be welcoming to see what they’re capable of when they’re hitting with runners on, getting strong starting pitching and not making foolish baserunning mistakes.
After living through and attending the 2004 ALCS, I would never say a win in Game 3 in Cleveland would mean the series is over, but the 2024 Guardians aren’t the 2004 Red Sox, and a win in Game 3 would put the Yankees one win away from winning the pennant. The last time they were that close to winning the pennant was in 2017. The last time they won the pennant was 2009. Two down, two to go in the ALCS. Five down, six to go overall.
Last modified: Oct 23, 2024
