Befuddled in Cleveland...

Credit:  Jason Miller-Getty Images

American League Division Series, Game 1

Indians 4, Yankees 0...

Aaron Judge, four strikeouts. That pretty much sums up how it went in Cleveland on Thursday night as the Yankees dropped the first game of the ALDS to the Indians. Their inability to figure out Trevor Bauer does not bode well for tonight when they face likely AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber.

While Bauer was making mincemeat out of the Yankee bats, the Indians got to Sonny Gray early. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Jay Bruce got the party started for the Indians with a double off the left field wall against Yankees starter Sonny Gray. Carlos Santana followed with a single to center to put runners at the corners. Lonnie Chisenhall was hit by a pitch on his upper arm to load the bases. Gray was able to limit the damage when Roberto Perez hit into a double play at short, but Bruce came home on the play for Cleveland's first run.  Giovanny Urshela flied out to right so Gray escaped a huge jam with minimal damage. Unfortunately, the way Bauer was pitching, the one run deficit felt like the Grand Canyon.

The Indians struck again in the bottom of the 4th. Edwin Encarnacion started the inning with a walk. Jay Bruce, a rumored trade target for the Yankees prior to the trading deadline, came back to haunt his near-employer when he blasted a shot into the right field stands. The Indians had increased their lead to 3-0.

Credit:  Phil Masturzo-Akron Beacon Journal/TNS

Gray walked two of the next three batters to end his night. Adam Warren entered the game and gave up a single to center to load the bases with only one out, but he then struck out the dangerous Francisco Lindor and got Jason Kipnis to fly out to center to escape without any further damage.

Credit:  Jason Miller-Getty Images

Meanwhile, with Trevor Bauer still pitching a no-hitter against the Yankees, the Indians got another run in the next inning. Jose Ramirez started it for the Tribe with a single up the middle on a ball that just got by a diving Didi Gregorius. While Edwin Encarnacion was at bat, a wild pitch, a ball in the dirt that Gary Sanchez dropped in front of him, advanced Ramirez to second. Encarnacion flied out to left in foul territory for the first out, and Manager Joe Girardi made the call to the bullpen, bringing in Jaime Garcia to replace Warren. With Jay Bruce batting, another wild pitch, another ball in the dirt that hit Sanchez in the chest and bounced away, allowed Ramirez to take third. Bruce took advantage of the wild pitches to loft a fly to center, scoring Ramirez on the sacrifice. 4-0, Indians.

In the top of the 6th inning, Chase Headley struck out and the Yankees were still searching for their first hit. Aaron Hicks ended the potential no-no when he doubled to left off the wall. Bauer received a very nice ovation from the crowd. The Yankees couldn't do anything with Hicks at second but at least they had finally gotten their first hit on the board.

The Yankees added another hit in the 7th. After Bauer had retired the first two batters, Starlin Castro singled on a grounder to right field. The Indians dipped into their bullpen, bringing former Yankees reliever Andrew Miller into the game to face Greg Bird. The fear when you trade great players is that they'll one day come back to bite you. Miller was no different with his strikeout of Bird to end the inning.

Despite two strikeouts by Miller in the top of the 8th, the Yankees had two baserunners, courtesy of walks. With Aaron Judge coming to the plate representing an ability to make it a one-run game, Cleveland called on its closer, Cody Allen. Allen proceeded to strike out Judge in the huge spot to end the inning.

In perhaps the lone bright spot for the Yankees, Dellin Betances pitched the bottom of the 8th inning and struck out the side on eleven pitches. It's a good sign to see Dellin pitching so well even if the odds are against the Yankees in this series.

Credit:  Charles Wenzelberg-NY Post

The Yankees had no answer for Allen in the top of the 9th despite Starlin Castro's second hit of the night (and only the third Yankee hit of the game), a single to right with two outs. Allen struck out Greg Bird on three pitches to end the game and hand the overwhelming advantage in the series to the Tribe.

Credit:  Getty Images

It's hard to find positives in a loss but this could have been a blow out and the Yankees kept the Tribe from any big innings. I've been down on Jaime Garcia but he did a nice job with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. A few timely hits and the Yankees could have gotten back into this one. The team needs to regroup and hopefully find a way to get their hits tonight against Corey Kluber in Game 2. They have not fared well against Kluber but clearly the team has the potential to take advantage of mistakes. Everyone can have an off night (see Sonny Gray) and the Yankees need to exploit any opportunities they are given. I am sure that the Houston Astros didn't expect to get seven runs off Chris Sale yesterday, including two home runs (three overall) by Jose Altuve. CC Sabathia, pitching this evening in his original MLB city, has been the Yankees' stopper all season. He'll be asked to step into that role once again. It would be huge if the Yankees could earn a split at Progressive Field before heading back to the Bronx.

Odds & Ends...

The Houston Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox, 8-2, to take the first game of their series. As noted above, it was a night to forget for Chris Sale. When the Astros acquired Justin Verlander in August, it was clearly a move designed for October. He didn't disappoint, holding the Red Sox to two runs over six innings. No disrespect for Sonny Gray (or Yu Darvish of the Dodgers), but I thought Verlander was the most significant pitching acquisition of the summer.

Credit:  Karen Warren-Houston Chronicle

All of the playoff teams will be in action today with the first game (Red Sox-Astros) starting at 2:05 pm ET. I hate to go against the Yankees but I think today's winners will be the home teams (Indians, Astros, Dodgers and Nationals). I would love for the Yankees to prove me wrong.

Have a great Friday! Let's steal a win from Kluber. Go Yankees!

So it Seems… Work Got Busy

Good morning everyone and Happy Friday. Another late night of watching baseball last night but it’s all worth it, it’s the playoffs! This time next week for all we know the Yankees could be home for the long winter ahead so enjoy every second of it while we can is what I always say. My apologies in advance though if my enthusiasm isn’t shown on the blog over the next few days to a week, work got busy. As many of you know I do the vast majority of my writing at work and when work gets busy the blog seems to suffer for it. I apologize for that but things just are what they are sometimes unfortunately and there is very little that you can do to change it. Please stick with me.

I hope everyone has a great Friday and an even better weekend. Yankees are back on television tonight so prepare for another roller coaster of emotions from the boys in pinstripes.

AND HEY YOU. I love you Kari Ann Burch. To the moon and back. Always have, always will.

This Day in New York Yankees History 10/6: Midges Attack

The New York Yankees made the postseason once again in 2007 extending the team's consecutive streak of making the playoffs to 13 straight seasons as they drew the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. On this day in 2007 the Yankees and Indians played in Game 2 of the ALDS at Jacobs Field in a game that the Yankees had in hand before the eight inning. Joba Chamberlain came in to try and hold the lead and hand the ball to Mariano Rivera but a rare infestation of insects, or midges, appeared and took over the pitchers mound and the field. Joba threw a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score in Joba's first blown save of the season.

Also on this day in 2005 the Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi won the American League Comeback Player of the Year award. Ken Griffey Jr. won the award for the National League in the first time that the award was given out by the fans vote on MLB.com. Giambi finished the season with a .271 average with 32 home runs and 87 RBI.

Also on this day in 1995 Bernie Williams set one of his many records in postseason history as he became the first player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same postseason game. The Mariners fan who caught the eight inning blast was unaware of the milestone and foolishly threw the ball back onto the field.

Finally on this day in 1985 the Yankees Phil Niekro became the 18th and oldest player in major league history to win 300 games when he shut out the Toronto Blue Jays on the final game of the season. Niekro was 46 years old and 188 days and would ultimately finish with 318 victories.

ALDS Game 1 Thread: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians

Ladies and gentleman it is game time once again in the 2017 postseason as the New York Yankees have made the trip out to Cleveland and Progressive Field to take on baseball’s best team in the Cleveland Indians. The pleasantries are over and the Yankees are presumably done asking former teammates like Andrew Miller and Nick Goody how they’ve been and now it’s time for baseball. In the opener of this best-of-five American League Division Series the New York Yankees will send Sonny Gray to the mound to face off with Trevor Bauer for the Indians. The game will be played at 7:30 pm ET inside Progressive Field and can be seen on FOX Sports One. You can also follow along in your cars and on the radio by tuning into either WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman or you can also tune into ESPN Radio if you’re a glutton for punishment.

Follow us on Twitter to interact with us during the game, for the entire postseason, the offseason or whenever because we aren’t going anywhere and the rumors of our demise were a bit presumptuous and premature. We’re here as long as the Yankees are so need a win? Get a win! Then get two more. Go Yankees!!

Prediction: Yankees win 4-3

Article Revisit: Why I’m Not Afraid of the Cleveland Indians in the Postseason

With tonight’s start to the American League Division Series just a couple hours away I feel this urge to “put up or shut up” after posting this article we are about to revisit just three weeks ago. The article was titles “Why I’m not afraid of the Cleveland Indians in the postseason” and boy was it a popular one for us here on the blog. Whether the view count, tweet mentions and comments made the article “famous” or infamous remains to be seen but I felt compelled either way to post it again before the New York Yankees begin their quest to make me look like a wizard, a Messiah and a God by basically calling the upset here in the ALDS. I mean, I guess the team could make me look like a complete homer and a fool as well but since the Yankees are expected to lose and come in as huge underdogs I see this as a no-lose situation for me anyway…. So enjoy the article revisit and get pumped for the start of the ALDS tonight inside Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Why I’m Not Afraid of the Cleveland Indians in the Postseason

The Cleveland Indians are one of, if not the best team in Major League Baseball here in 2017 but you know what? If the New York Yankees and the Indians meet in the playoffs here this season I am not at all worried and here is why.

They call the playoffs baseball’s second season for a reason, what you did in the regular season and $15 will get you a beer at Yankee Stadium. It means little to nothing and I personally, as a fan, refuse to be psyched out or taken off my game because the Indians won their division, won 21 games in a row, etc. etc. etc. I’m not scared. The playoffs are usually won by the hottest team at the time and aren’t always won by necessarily the best team. That’s the great thing about baseball, any team can beat any pitcher and any opposing team on any given night. You can’t predict baseball so you can’t necessarily predict that the Indians will be the hottest team when the calendar changes to October. Hell you can’t predict that the Indians will be the hottest team tonight or this weekend, they could go on a slide much like the Los Angeles Dodgers have of late. You just don’t know and I’m not that scared of them to be honest. None of this is to disrespect the Indians, their team or what they have done this season either. They are a great team and they are playing extremely well, much respect to all, but respect and fear are two entirely different things.

The New York Yankees are built for short series and the postseason. The team is young, energetic and overall healthy at this point in the season when most teams cannot say the same here in September. The pitching has been fantastic, the bullpen has the potential to be absolutely and completely dominant when on and used properly and the offense can hang a crooked number on the scoreboard at any given inning. Again, not to say that the Yankees are better than the Indians or that Cleveland cannot do the same because they can. I am merely saying that I have confidence in this group of Yankees players and the team. Again, I am not saying the Yankees will necessarily reach the ALDS or ALCS (more than likely the ALDS though if New York does not win their division) and meet Cleveland, I am just saying IF they do I am not worried. I think New York can stand and throw punches with the best of teams in baseball this season and at the end of the day, win lose or draw, whoever they are facing will know that they were in a fight for their lives.

How did the 2002 Oakland Athletics fare in the postseason, the last team to win 20 games in a row in a season, you ask? After winning 103 games and after having both the AL MVP (Miguel Tejada) and AL Cy Young Award Winner (Barry Zito) the team lost in five games to the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series. 

ALDS Schedule, Pitching Matchups and Television Schedule

The American League Division Series is set to kick off here in a few hours between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, be sure to check back with the blog for the game and game thread tonight. Also make sure to bookmark this post as this post will be constantly updated with the schedule of all five potential games, the pitching matchups and what channel each game can be seen on. Enjoy as the Yankees look to take down David, Goliath style.

Game 1, Thursday, Oct. 5

New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians, 7:30 p.m. ET (Fox Sports 1)

Sonny Gray at Trevor Bauer (17-9)

Game 2, Friday, Oct. 6

New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians, 5:00 p.m. ET (MLB Network)

CC Sabathia at Corey Kluber (18-4)

Game 3, Sunday, Oct. 8

Cleveland Indians @ New York Yankees, TBA (Fox Sports 1)

Carlos Carrasco (18-6) at TBA

Game 4, Monday, Oct. 9 (if necessary)

Cleveland Indians@ New York Yankees, TBA (Fox Sports 1)

Josh Tomlin (10-9) at TBA

Game 5, Wednesday, Oct. 11 (if necessary)

New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians, TBA (Fox Sports 1)

TBA at Corey Kluber (18-4)

ALDS Game 1 Preview: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians

The New York Yankees rode their wave of emotions and momentum all the way to Cleveland after their roller coaster victory over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Wild Card Game. The postseason is a second season and the Wild Card Round is over, now it’s time to focus on the American League Division Series and the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were the best team in baseball in 2017 rattling off 22 straight wins at one point in the season but that plus $15 will get you a beer inside Progressive Field tonight. It means nothing and the Yankees need to play like that if they want a chance to steal Game One and steal home-field advantage in this series. The arm donned with that task tonight for New York is Sonny Gray while the Indians will counter with Trevor Bauer who is a bit of a surprise to start the game for Cleveland in my opinion. Is it a gift from Terry Francona and the Baseball Gods? Stay tuned tonight to find out.

Gray will get the ball in Game One of the ALDS for the New York Yankees after coming over in a trade from the Oakland Athletics on July 31st. This will be Gray's second time in the postseason after allowing three earned runs over two starts in his first trip to the postseason with Oakland.

Bauer had the best regular season of his young MLB career here in 2017 and will look to build on that here in the postseason for the Indians. Bauer finished the season with a career-high in wins with 17 and strikeouts with 196 K’s. Ten of those wins came at home where Bauer will pitch tonight.

The game will be played at 7:30 pm ET inside Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, and can be seen on FOX Sports One. Thank God it isn’t ESPN again, that was brutal on Tuesday night. Need three more wins, so get a win tonight. Go Yankees!!

2017 ALDS Story: The New York Yankees vs. the Cleveland Indians

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians are not division rivals. The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians are not bitter rivals or even postseason rivals. Really, the Indians and the Yankees are just two teams both in the American League that are both vying for one thing, the World Series championship. The Indians are facing a drought that has kept the World Series trophy from the team since the 1948 season while the Yankees won their last World Series in 2009, their 27^th overall. This is the story of two different teams with two different histories and two different paths to get here… and as of tonight at 7:30 not a damn bit of it matters anymore. This is October. This is the postseason. This is the American League Division Series.

Now I know I may be contradicting myself a bit by covering what these two teams did against one another this season just a few lines after saying none of it matters but stick with me. Even if I spend the next 2000-3000 words talking about the battles that these two teams endured head-to-head here in 2017 it doesn’t change the fact that none of it matters. The playoffs are a second season and it’s not always the best team that wins these short series, sometimes it is the hottest teams and the teams with the most momentum. After Tuesday night you have to think that’s the Yankees, right?

The Yankees and the Indians squared off seven times head-to-head this season with Cleveland winning five of those seven games, ouch if you’re a Yankees fan. You can see a basic breakdown of those games below thanks to Baseball Reference. There’s a few games that look especially scary if you’re a fan of the Bronx Bombers, especially the fact that two of the Yankees five losses were against tonight’s starter Bauer. Again, second season though. Here are the stats:

YANKEES V INDIANS 2017 STATS:

Team Game-by-Game Schedule

Gm#	Date	Tm		Opp	W/L	R	RA	Win	Loss	Save
107	Thursday, Aug 3	NYY	@	CLE	L	1	5	Kluber	Gray
108	Friday, Aug 4	NYY	@	CLE	L	2	7	Bauer	Garcia
109	Saturday, Aug 5	NYY	@	CLE	W	2	1	Robertson	McAllister	Chapman
110	Sunday, Aug 6	NYY	@	CLE	W	8	1	Severino	Carrasco
130	Monday, Aug 28	NYY		CLE	L	2	6	Kluber	Severino
131	Wednesday, Aug 30 (1)	NYY		CLE	L	1	2	Bauer	Garcia	Allen
132	Wednesday, Aug 30 (2)	NYY		CLE	L	4	9	Merritt	Montgomery

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

The pitching matchup is an interesting one if you ask me, especially on the Indians side, as the Yankees send Sonny Gray to the mound to face off with Trevor Bauer for the Indians. You have to wonder why Corey Kluber isn’t starting Game One as he could still be saved for Game Five if necessary but I am not one to question Terry Francona, he has been here before and he probably forgets more baseball knowledge than you or I will ever hope to contain. What have the Yankees done against Bauer here in 2017? What have the Indians done against Gray here in 2017? See below:

BAUER VS. 2017 YANKEES STATS:

2017 Pitching Gamelog

Rk	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
21	Aug 4	CLE		NYY	W,7-2	GS-7	7.0	7	1	1	2	7	1	5.00
27	Aug 30(1)	CLE	@	NYY	W,2-1	GS-6	6.0	4	1	1	4	4	0	4.46

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

GRAY VS. INDIANS 2017 STATS:

2017 Pitching Gamelog

Rk	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
6	May 30	OAK	@	CLE	L,4-9	GS-5	4.2	9	7	7	2	3	1	4.72
14	Jul 14	OAK		CLE	W,5-0	GS-6	6.0	2	0	0	1	5	0	3.72
17	Aug 3	NYY	@	CLE	L,1-5	GS-6	6.0	4	4	2	3	6	0	3.41

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Photo credit and stat line credit to Baseball Reference.

The Yankees are the underdogs in this series and you didn’t need my post and my ramblings to tell you that. It doesn’t look good but to be honest, who thought the Yankees would even be here right now? Who thought the Yankees would even make the postseason in 2017? Not many. Who thought the Yankees would come back on Tuesday night when the Twins got them down 0-3 early? I’m sure there were more than a few doubters. Who thought the Yankees would even make the postseason when Aaron Judge hit his little slump after the All-Star break? See my previous statement about doubters, yet the Yankees are still here. Yet the Yankees did make the playoffs. Yet the Yankees did survive an early onslaught by Minnesota in the American League Wild Card Game. Yet the Yankees are here and this is their October. I am not afraid, and you shouldn’t be either despite what these stats say. 

So it Seems… THE ALDS

Good morning everyone and welcome back to playoff baseball for the New York Yankees. Say what you will about whether the AL and NL Wild Card games are playoff or play-in games and say what you will about whether each team should celebrate after winning these games or not but there’s no denying that the Yankees are officially in the postseason now with their return to the ALDS. What do the Yankees get for scraping together a win in the Bronx on Tuesday night? The Cleveland Indians, the team with the best record in Major League Baseball in 2017. No problem though, I’d rather the Yankees take down the best of the best rather than “back in” to the World Series personally so bring on those Wahoos. They can fall as the Yankees rise just like anyone else, I’m not even worried.

Baby! Baseball date night #2!! I know you’re not excited about potentially staying up until after midnight and dealing with my roller coaster of emotions during the game but I love that you do it anyway, and without complaint. Reason #8672 that I love you. HEY YOU. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 10/5: Billy Ball & The World Series

On this day in 1980 the New York Yankees broke the American League regular season attendance record of the time by passing the 1948 Indians with their 2,627,417 fans through the gates.


Also on this day in 1963 Mickey Mantle tied Babe Ruth's home run record in the World Series when the Mick blasted his 15th fall classic home run of his career. This homer would tie the score in game four against Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers but it would not be enough as Los Angeles would sweep the Yankees for the title.


Also on this day in 1960 Roger Maris became the seventh player in Major League history to hit a home run in his first World Series at bat.


Also on this day in 1957 in the first World Series game to ever be played in Milwaukee the Yankees rookie short stop Tony Kubek became the second rookie ever to hit two home runs in a World Series game. Kubek would join Charlie Keller who also hit two in the 1939 World Series.


Also on this day in 1953 the Yankees would win their fifth consecutive World Series title in dramatic fashion as Billy Martin would get a walk off hit against the Dodgers. Martin would be named the World Series MVP as he collected 12 hits in the series.


Also on this day in 1951 Mickey Mantle's season ended in game two of the World Series as he injured his knee when his cleat got caught in a drainage cap at Yankees Stadium, really? The injury was initially blamed on Joe DiMaggio as he called off Mantle at the last second on a fly ball off of Willie Mays bat causing the 19 year old rookie to stop awkwardly.


Finally on this day in 1949 Tommy Henrich hit the first walk off home run in the history of the World Series when he led off the bottom of the 9th with a homer off of the Dodgers Don Newcombe. Allie Reynolds would get the complete game victory and manager Casey Stengel would get his first post season victory of his career.