The Stanley Cup Finals—it looks like the Colorado Avalanche will win. The Golden State Warriors won the NBA title and pundits are already asking if they will repeat (Are you kidding me—no!). The NBA Draft happened. Oh, and the baseball schedule continued its meandering to October.
For me, I had something different happen. I actually went to Yankee Stadium on Thursday night for a match up between the hated Houston Astros, AL West leaders, and the home standing New York Yankees, AL East frontrunners, possessing the best record in baseball. This was the opener of a four game series between the two American League powers.
I know I was a bit excited. I had all my Yankees gear ready—shirt, jersey and hat. Plus a rain jacket in case the rain of Thursday crept into the evening—it did, but I was safely under cover.
Two bitter rivals squaring off. On the train ride to the Bronx, the tension was palpable. Yankees fans were voicing their dislike for the diminutive Jose Altuve, the great hitting second baseman for the Astros. The animus that the fans have for Altuve dates back to the sign-stealing scandal which enveloped the Astros in 2018, when they took down the Yankees in the ALCS. Altuve was believed to have been wearing a device which would have alerted him about the next pitch Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman would throw. If the Astros truly cheated, it worked, because Altuve slugged a decisive homer off Chapman.
The chanting picked up steam on the train. Then the racket increased at the 161st Street station. It echoed throughout the gleaming interior of the stadium. The noise got louder when the starting lineups were announced. Even in a half-filled ballpark as game time approached.
For the opening game, the pitching matchup looked to be first-rate. Houston’s Framber Valdez entered the contest with a 7-3 record while the Yankees countered with Jameson Taillon on the mound; Taillon was 8-1 for the season. Both pitchers entered the game with an E.R.A. under 3.00.
First up was Altuve. The vile rant greeting him cascaded from the upper deck, enveloping the second deck, where I sat, reaching the playing field in a crescendo of banality. When Taillon plunked Altuve with a pitch, the masses were giddy beyond reason. The fact that Altuve slowly went to first base, apparently stung hard by the pitch, made the scene even more dramatic. Surprisingly, no warnings were issued by the umpires to thwart further hostilities.
Altuve looked fine when DH Michael Brantley singled. He looked even better when third baseman Alex Bregman, another supposed cheater who heard it from the crowd, loudly deposited a Taillon pitch into the grandstand. 3-0 Astros. Would the vaunted New York Yankees, possessing a 51-18 record before Thursday night’s tilt, a team which came from behind on Wednesday night with a barrage of homers including a monster shot off of Aaron Judge’s bat that cleared the high catwalks of Tropicana Field, be on the ropes so soon against a worthy foe?
Taillon settled down for the moment. In the bottom of the first, Valdez looked rocky when he faced lead off batter D.J. LeMahieu, walking the Yankees third baseman on four pitches. Judge had a solid at bat, fouling off two pitches directly behind him, a sign that he was just missing connecting with Valdez’s offerings. Which was evident by his hard single to left field.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo couldn’t do anything in his first at bat against the Astros lefty. But slugger Giancarlo Stanton surely did. Mired in a very deep slump and making meager contact with pitches he faced in prior at bats, Stanton broke out of his slumber by unleashing a bomb which landed in the second deck in right field, an impressive poke to the opposite field. The score was now tied at 3.
Valdez collected himself. Taillon struggled some more. In the third inning, Astors left fielder Yordan Alvarez, second behind Judge in home runs, uncorked a vicious line shot into the lower field field grandstand, plating three runs. Now it was 6-3 Houston and things didn’t look particularly good for the New York faithful.
Taillon had his worst game of the season, surrendering 10 hits and six runs in 5.2 innings. Valdez kept the Yankees at bay, limiting the Bombers to the two first inning hits by Judge and Stanton over 6 innings.
This Yankees team has very little quit in them. They had eight come-from-behind victories this season heading into the Thursday night affair.
Nonetheless, they looked tired and in a funk until Rizzo manufactured on of the greatest at bats I have ever seen. In the sixth inning, lefty facing lefty, Valdez attained a one ball, two strike count versus the New York first baseman. That’s when Rizzo fouled off ball after ball—11 in all, before drawing a walk in a 16 pitch masterpiece of hitting. He tired out Valdez, who appeared to be coasting to a seven inning thwarting of the Yanks.
Valdez would come out after that improbable inning, still ahead by three. But Rizzo altered the pitching regimen for the Astros and sent a message to his teammates that we don’t give up.
He doubled upon on that in the bottom of the eighth inning when he smashed a liner to the right field wall, where only a great grab by right fielder Kyle Tucker prevented the Yankees from starting a rally against a really good Houston squad.
Through eight innings, New York relievers managed to shut down the Astros after their early outburst. While Altuve endured the venomous rants of the crowd, he managed to collect 3 hits in his night and make an outstanding play on a ferocious one hopper struck by Judge, one registering over 118 m.p.h. exit velocity which staggered the second baseman before he threw to first base to record the out. Altuve also made a different kind of put out on what would have ben a routine first baseman to pitcher covering the bag toss, catching the ball and stepping on the base when Valdez arrived too late. Say and think what you want, he is an incredible talent, even if he will forever be vilified by Yankees fans.
With Rizzo’s loud out, the party to who the tickets belonged to decided that we needed to leave. The Yankees, despite keeping the game in hand, had still not gotten a hit since the first inning. Moreover, one of the plights of New York night baseball for New Jerseyans was befalling us. Beholden to trains, the schedules change after 11:00 p.m.
It had been an eventful evening. Besides the plays I mentioned, a foul ball landed two seats in front of me. I was ready. Also, I saw Le Mahieu tagged out by the catcher on a ball which bounced up at home plate. And the infield fly rule was called on a pop fly caught in foul territory. Some unusual things.
Except that the most unusual things were going to happen with me seated on a subway deep below the streets of Manhattan. That was when the never-say-die New York Yankees may have authored their most stirring comeback of the 2022 campaign.
The bottom of the lineup, starting with outfielder Aaron Hicks, lit into Houston closer Ryan Pressly. With two aboard, Hicks launched a no doubter into the lower right field stands. Game tied.
Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and suddenly surging catcher Jose Trevino reached base, although IK-F was caught stealing. With Trevino and Le Mahieu on base, Judge lined a 3-0 pitch off Ryne Stanek into the left field corner. Trevino scored. The Yankees win. Bedlam in the Bronx. Cheers associated with groans on the train as it reached 33rd Street.
Was I bummed out? Not really. I made it home tired and before midnight. Had I stayed, I might not be writing with any clarity right now. These are the choices one makes at my age and with the train schedules in mind.
What did I learn? This New York Yankees team is for real.
No comments:
Post a Comment