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The first game of the 2021 postseason
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This is the first time the Red Sox will play in the wild card game. The Yankees been there 4 times, losing to Houston in 2015 and beating Minnesota in 2017, Oakland in 2018 and Cleveland in 2020. Not that any of that really matters!!
I caught on as a Yankee fan in 1964. My older brothers were both NYY fans and so I followed suit. Except they had enjoyed the late 50's and early 60's. I came on just as the dynasty (and Mantle's legs) died. I was allowed to stay home from school to watch the pivotal game 5. I remember thinking how can a brother do that to a brother? when Ken Boyer hit a grand slam.
Anyway, I didn't have the luxury of enjoying that Yankee dynasty so I learned to hate the Boston Red Sox. And I got to watch a lot of teams other than the Yankees in the postseason. Didn't particularly like Bob Gibson in 1964 but I loved him in 1967. Didn't care much about The Big Red Machine but I loved them in 1975. Then they gave me a taste of that medicine in 1976. Couldn't stand the Mets but in 1986 I loved them. You get the idea. I realized though I'd love to see the Yankees knock Boston out of the postseason, because they were both in the AL East that would never occur.....until expansion!!!
Before that there were regular season games that were just like postseason games. I read about 1949, when the Yanks and Sox battled all year for the AL title. The Yanks began September 3 games up on the Sox and by the end of the month they were 1 game behind. But Boston came to Yankee Stadium for the final 2 games of the season. After taking a 4-0 lead in the first contest, they blew the lead and the Yankees won 5-4, setting up a winner take all, final game of the season. The Yankees won 5-3.
If we're old enough, we know of that famous 163rd game of the season at Fenway in 1978. Red Sox and Yankees tied at 99-63. Ron Guidry vs Mike Torrez. Bucky Dent. Lou Piniella. Reggie. Yaz. Dewey and Rice. Most forget what got them to that point. Trailing Boston by 14 games on July 19th, the Yankees battled back to just 4 games behind by beating the Tigers and arriving in Boston for a 4 game series with the 'Sawx'. "The Boston Massacre" is what it was called (now not politically correct due to the Boston Marathon bombing, I'm told) and I have a T-Shirt commemorating it, that I'm not allowed to wear anymore. The Yankees won 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4, so you can see why is was labeled that way. They left town in tie with the Red Sox.
Anyhow, I remember reading a quote by Graig Nettles after that "playoff game" in 1978. He said, "wow, Mike Torrez might have pitched us to the World Series two years in a row". He came on in relief in Game 5, 1977 ALCS against KC with the Yankees trailing 3-1 in the 3rd and pitched 5.1 innings (3 H, 0 R) as they came back to win with a run in the 8th and 3 in the 9th. Leave it to "Puff" to know that kind of shit!!
After that it was postseason meetings between the Yankees and Red Sox that always got all of the ink. 1999 ALCS. Yankees won 4 games to 1. 2003 ALCS, Aaron Boone's grand slam off of Tim Wakefield in the 11th sent Grady Little out the door for leaving Pedro in the game when he was clearly out of gas.
The 2004 payback for all the hurt. Coming back from 3-0 to beat the Yankees and go to the World Series for the first time in 18 years. Big Papi, Jason Varitek and Dave Roberts. Oh yeah, and Bill Mueller. Then in 2018, Boston beat the Yankees in the ALDS, 3 games to 1. Something with that "18" when it comes to the Red Sox!!!
So now it comes down to this. 1 game for all the marbles (well Wild Card marbles). Win or go home. 1949, 1978, 2003 and 2004 all wrapped up in 1. I really hope this game doesn't disappoint. It just seems like when these two get together, there's always a number of turning points, back and forth in each game. The skinny? Nathan Eovaldi has pitched 6 times against NYY this season. He's 2-2 (they gave him his last 2 losses) but that's extremely misleading. In the first 5 games he didn't allow more than 2 runs in any game and lost on August 17, 2-0. He pitched 31.1 innings, allowed 31 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 34!! His ERA was 2.15. Then there came the September 24th game vs Gerritt Cole. 2.2 IP, 7 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, 0 K's. Obviously that game is the outlier. He's had the Yankees number going back to game 3 of a 1-1 5 game series in 2018. 7 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 5 K's in a 16-1 win and command of that series. They will be going without JD Martinez as he proved once again, DH is his position, when he tripped over 2nd base on his way to RF in the season finale and sprained his ankle!
On the other side we have the Yankees, winners of 6 straight against Boston. Judge and Stanton. The former batting .306 with 8 doubles, 12 homers, 33 rbi, .363 OB%, .974 OPs in the last 38 games. The latter batting .301 with 6 doubles, 15 homers, 38 rbi, .657 slug% and .982 OPS the last 38 games. Combined they're hitting .303, 42 runs, 27 homers, 71 rbi, .353 OB% and a .987 OPS. Then there's Rizzo, a saavy vet with playoff experience and Joey Gallo, playing in his first postseason game of his career. But lastly there's Gerritt Cole. 16-8 with a 3.23 ERA and probably #2 in CYA voting. This is THE game the Yankees brought Cole here to pitch (sure a game 7 of the WS would be bigger...a little). Except a funny thing happened on the way to the mound. Prior to his last 3 games (17.2 IP, 24 H, 15 runs, 15 earned runs, 4 walks and 19 K's), he was 15-7 with a 2.75 ERA and looked every bit the CYA winner. But those last 3 games!!! Will the real Gerritt Cole show up tonight or the late 2021 season Gerritt Cole? If it's the former, I don't care who pitches for Boston. If it's the latter...well we have a deep bullpen!!!
Funniest thing (it's a game, it's gotta be fun) I heard on the radio today. "Aaron Boone is often accused of not managing the bullpen as well as Joe Torre or Joe Girardi. Really? The hardest thing they had to do was get Mariano Rivera to the ballpark!!!"
I caught on as a Yankee fan in 1964. My older brothers were both NYY fans and so I followed suit. Except they had enjoyed the late 50's and early 60's. I came on just as the dynasty (and Mantle's legs) died. I was allowed to stay home from school to watch the pivotal game 5. I remember thinking how can a brother do that to a brother? when Ken Boyer hit a grand slam.
Anyway, I didn't have the luxury of enjoying that Yankee dynasty so I learned to hate the Boston Red Sox. And I got to watch a lot of teams other than the Yankees in the postseason. Didn't particularly like Bob Gibson in 1964 but I loved him in 1967. Didn't care much about The Big Red Machine but I loved them in 1975. Then they gave me a taste of that medicine in 1976. Couldn't stand the Mets but in 1986 I loved them. You get the idea. I realized though I'd love to see the Yankees knock Boston out of the postseason, because they were both in the AL East that would never occur.....until expansion!!!
Before that there were regular season games that were just like postseason games. I read about 1949, when the Yanks and Sox battled all year for the AL title. The Yanks began September 3 games up on the Sox and by the end of the month they were 1 game behind. But Boston came to Yankee Stadium for the final 2 games of the season. After taking a 4-0 lead in the first contest, they blew the lead and the Yankees won 5-4, setting up a winner take all, final game of the season. The Yankees won 5-3.
If we're old enough, we know of that famous 163rd game of the season at Fenway in 1978. Red Sox and Yankees tied at 99-63. Ron Guidry vs Mike Torrez. Bucky Dent. Lou Piniella. Reggie. Yaz. Dewey and Rice. Most forget what got them to that point. Trailing Boston by 14 games on July 19th, the Yankees battled back to just 4 games behind by beating the Tigers and arriving in Boston for a 4 game series with the 'Sawx'. "The Boston Massacre" is what it was called (now not politically correct due to the Boston Marathon bombing, I'm told) and I have a T-Shirt commemorating it, that I'm not allowed to wear anymore. The Yankees won 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4, so you can see why is was labeled that way. They left town in tie with the Red Sox.
Anyhow, I remember reading a quote by Graig Nettles after that "playoff game" in 1978. He said, "wow, Mike Torrez might have pitched us to the World Series two years in a row". He came on in relief in Game 5, 1977 ALCS against KC with the Yankees trailing 3-1 in the 3rd and pitched 5.1 innings (3 H, 0 R) as they came back to win with a run in the 8th and 3 in the 9th. Leave it to "Puff" to know that kind of shit!!
After that it was postseason meetings between the Yankees and Red Sox that always got all of the ink. 1999 ALCS. Yankees won 4 games to 1. 2003 ALCS, Aaron Boone's grand slam off of Tim Wakefield in the 11th sent Grady Little out the door for leaving Pedro in the game when he was clearly out of gas.
The 2004 payback for all the hurt. Coming back from 3-0 to beat the Yankees and go to the World Series for the first time in 18 years. Big Papi, Jason Varitek and Dave Roberts. Oh yeah, and Bill Mueller. Then in 2018, Boston beat the Yankees in the ALDS, 3 games to 1. Something with that "18" when it comes to the Red Sox!!!
So now it comes down to this. 1 game for all the marbles (well Wild Card marbles). Win or go home. 1949, 1978, 2003 and 2004 all wrapped up in 1. I really hope this game doesn't disappoint. It just seems like when these two get together, there's always a number of turning points, back and forth in each game. The skinny? Nathan Eovaldi has pitched 6 times against NYY this season. He's 2-2 (they gave him his last 2 losses) but that's extremely misleading. In the first 5 games he didn't allow more than 2 runs in any game and lost on August 17, 2-0. He pitched 31.1 innings, allowed 31 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 34!! His ERA was 2.15. Then there came the September 24th game vs Gerritt Cole. 2.2 IP, 7 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, 0 K's. Obviously that game is the outlier. He's had the Yankees number going back to game 3 of a 1-1 5 game series in 2018. 7 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 5 K's in a 16-1 win and command of that series. They will be going without JD Martinez as he proved once again, DH is his position, when he tripped over 2nd base on his way to RF in the season finale and sprained his ankle!
On the other side we have the Yankees, winners of 6 straight against Boston. Judge and Stanton. The former batting .306 with 8 doubles, 12 homers, 33 rbi, .363 OB%, .974 OPs in the last 38 games. The latter batting .301 with 6 doubles, 15 homers, 38 rbi, .657 slug% and .982 OPS the last 38 games. Combined they're hitting .303, 42 runs, 27 homers, 71 rbi, .353 OB% and a .987 OPS. Then there's Rizzo, a saavy vet with playoff experience and Joey Gallo, playing in his first postseason game of his career. But lastly there's Gerritt Cole. 16-8 with a 3.23 ERA and probably #2 in CYA voting. This is THE game the Yankees brought Cole here to pitch (sure a game 7 of the WS would be bigger...a little). Except a funny thing happened on the way to the mound. Prior to his last 3 games (17.2 IP, 24 H, 15 runs, 15 earned runs, 4 walks and 19 K's), he was 15-7 with a 2.75 ERA and looked every bit the CYA winner. But those last 3 games!!! Will the real Gerritt Cole show up tonight or the late 2021 season Gerritt Cole? If it's the former, I don't care who pitches for Boston. If it's the latter...well we have a deep bullpen!!!
Funniest thing (it's a game, it's gotta be fun) I heard on the radio today. "Aaron Boone is often accused of not managing the bullpen as well as Joe Torre or Joe Girardi. Really? The hardest thing they had to do was get Mariano Rivera to the ballpark!!!"
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snackdaddy
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On the bright side the Dodgers have another trip to the NLCS. Seems like they have a standing reservation to that dance lately. 