Happy October! Tibbar, tibbar, if you do that. October baseball is officially here, and we’ll get at least two days of it at absolute minimum!
Man, what a game for the ages yesterday was. Every Sox fan
who watched or followed along collectively had a heart attack in the bottom of the ninth, and I saw a LARGE amount of “I’m going to throw up” posts online during that timespan. Fortunately for us, the Sox secured the Game 1 win, which, statistically, bodes very well for them regarding the rest of the series; with this new(ish) best-of-3 playoff/Wild Card format, every team that won the first game won the series, and 10-12 of the series were only 2 of the 3 possible games. But it’s the Yankees, and they’re still very capable of winning games, especially with their Super Convenient Short Porch at the ready. (I was dismayed to find out Volpe’s home run yesterday was not a Short Porch Gimmick Homer and would have, in fact, been a home run in every ballpark except Fenway. Go figure.)
In any event, I’m just happy that when I write a summary of tonight’s game, the title won’t be “It’s Over” if we lose, because we’ll still have Game 3 if necessary. What Game 3 entails is a bit up in the air since Giolito won’t be available, but let’s focus on the present. Bello has been a Yankee Killer in the past, and has stated he enjoys the mound at Yankee Stadium. He’s a ground-ball guy and the Yankees are home-run hitters. Will Bello’s pitching style work in his favor today, or will his recent mediocrity come back to bite him? Will our offense manage enough runs against Carlos Rodón to have a comfortable lead, or will we need to try and rely on the Yankees bullpen again? Will Chapman be available if necessary, or will we need to go to Whitlock or other relief pitchers? And will all of our blood pressure be stable enough to not warrant trips to the hospital? Let’s see if the Dirty Water stays sloshing!
First Pitch: 6:08 p.m. EST
Watch: ESPN
Radio: WEEI (I recommend you mute ESPN and tune into WEEI for game audio, unless you want to hear near-constant Yankee-glazing)
Lineups:
