“Is this gonna be one of Those Games?”
That was the last thought I had, as a 100 mph fastball bored in on Aaron Judge’s hands. What happened in the seconds after that all but assured us it would be one of Those Games, Those Games that filled the old ballpark with so many ghosts and legends, Those Games that alone provide the justification for a player’s all-time status. We don’t know how this series will end — maybe the Yankees bought themselves 24 hours of oxygen. Even if this is a very abbreviated
October, we got one of Those Games. The Yankees staved off elimination for at least one day, winning an instant classic 9-6.
Carlos Rodón stunk, and there’s no other way to say it. I am compelled, by contract and for posterity’s sake, to discuss his level of stink in greater detail, but the truth is he just stunk. The Yankee starters have posted a 16.88 ERA in this series, having the offense behind the 8-ball in nearly all 27 innings. For his part, Rodón didn’t get out of the third inning, spotting the Blue Jays the six runs that made it so hard for the Yankees to claw back.
Vlad Guerrero Jr. of course got his pound of flesh, putting the Jays up early while some fans were still getting their chicken buckets:
The Yankees managed a run back in their half, but it was just a run-scoring single from Giancarlo Stanton — Aaron Judge, of course, scored the run.
The third inning is where things broke open for the Jays, with Davis Schneider doubling and Aaron Boone finally agreeing to intentionally walk Vlad. While the Jays’ first baseman was taken out of the equation, the rest of the lineup wasn’t, with three straight singles after Alejandro Kirk’s lineout plating four runs. It was 6-1 and the way this series has gone, I wouldn’t blame any of you for checking out. Indeed, I was discussing post-loss and post-elimination analysis with my editor.
And then of course Aaron Judge came around again, and somehow the guy with a .524 OBP at start of play was the sin-eater of this playoff run. He stung a ball to left field for a double and an RBI, and it wouldn’t even be his most important hit of the game:
The biggest hit Judge had, and arguably the biggest hit of his likely Hall of Fame career to date, came in the bottom of the fourth:
Give yourself a second. Watch that again, and maybe a third time. You just shouldn’t be able to drive that pitch out, you should be holding a shard of a baseball bat:
Like I said above, I don’t know how long this run will last. We could be sitting here at this very time tomorrow feeling a very different set of emotions. The Blue Jays are still the favorites in this damn thing. Still, boy the ghosts were out in the Bronx tonight.
Of course the game was only tied. To untie it, the Yankees would need perhaps the second-most-scrutinized player on the roster this fall:
I said in the gamethread that the Yankee plan was clearly to dance with the guys that brought ‘ya. The lineup for Game 3 was the exact same as the first two in this series, and it paid off in full. It would have made sense to sit Jazz, or Ben Rice, or even Austin Wells. The three combined for the go-ahead run, and two massive insurance runs as the game went on.
For all the praise that Judge and Jazz will get, and earned, the Yankee bullpen was just as responsible for this win. 20 outs were recorded and no runs were allowed, with five different relievers all being called upon and all delivering. Perhaps most crucially, Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill both threw fewer than 20 pitches, and David Bednar just 21 in recording five outs, meaning it should be easy to go to them tomorrow if you need to.
You eat a Blue Jay one bite at a time. The Yankees took their first bite tonight, but still need to win two more games to meet either Seattle or Detroit in the ALCS. On paper, they have the pitching advantage tomorrow, with Cam Schlittler coming off his now-iconic Wild Card Game 3 performance, but the one bad start he’s had in his MLB career came against these Blue Jays. Toronto will counter with a bullpen game, which makes the six relievers they used tonight a possible weakness.
I’m going to leave you with Roger Angell, because I am kind of a crappy baseball writer and he is not, and he can sum up those two home runs better than I can:
Game 4 comes tomorrow at 7:08pm ET, with all eyes on rookie Cam Schlittler after his Wild Card brilliance against Boston, while the Blue Jays are expected to go with a bullpen game. The Yankees are 3-0 facing elimination in the postseason so far. Keep it up.
