Skip to main content

Yankees Survive, Force Game 5 Friday Night

 YANKEES 5 - RAYS 1 

The Yankees needed Jordan Montgomery to channel his inner Andy Pettitte in order to keep their season alive. While he wasn't as thoroughly dominating as the former Yankees' lefty, Montgomery held his own, kept the Rays off the board, and gave his team a shot to put the pain of Game's 2 and 3 firmly behind them. 

Montgomery did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do. He settled things down. The Yankees, specifically manager Aaron Boone, General Manager Brian Cashman and the entire Yankees analytics department came under heavy fire for their gamble to use the opener in Game 2; a decision that backfired badly. 

After dropping Game 3 last night, the Yankees found themselves on the brink, with their ace Gerrit Cole unable to pitch until a potential Game 5. But the Yanks needed Montgomery to pitch well in Game 4. A loss and the questions would almost certainly come as to why the Yankees sabotaged their chances when they burned Deivi Garcia in Game 2, only to remove him after an inning in favor of inconsistent J.A Happ.

Thanks to Montgomery's four solid innings where he worked around three hits and three walks, and Chad Green's two innings of perfect baseball, the Yankees had the perfect tonic for their ills in this series. 

Meanwhile, the Yankees did just enough offensively to make the efforts of the Yankees pitching stand up. 

Luke Voit got the party started with a solo blast in the bottom of the second to give New York the early 1-0 lead.

After walks to Brett Gardner, Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres, D.J. LeMahieu lifted one to deep right for a sac fly, scoring Gardner from third to make it 2-0. 

The score would remain 2-1 New York until the bottom of the sixth when Torres lifted the first pitch he saw from Ryan Yarbrough, and deposited it over the left field wall for a two-run homer to break the game open at 4-1. 

The Yankees would tack on some insurance in the eighth on Kyle Higashioka's RBI single to extend the lead to 5-1. 

With the game firmly in control after the Torres homer, Boone turned to Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman to finish it off. Britton twirled 1.2 shutout innings, striking out three, while Chapman held the Rays to a walk over the final 1.1 innings. 

With the series tied at two, the Yankees now can turn the page and bring back Cole for Game 5. Cole pitched really well in Game 1, a 9-3 Yankees victory. If Cole is worth the $324 million the Yankees paid him last off-season, this will be the game to showcase why he is the true ace of this franchsie for years to come. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...
8 comments
Read more

Is Aaron Glenn in Danger of Getting Fired?

 According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio there is a "chance"   that Jets head coach Aaron Glenn could be fired at seasons end.  While Florio doesn't site any sources, the rumor has caught fire the last two days. The question is would it make sense? Let's examine this for a second?  Why it Makes Sense:  Glenn has not been great in his first year as Head Coach of this team. The talent has taken a major step backwards, granted two of those talented players were traded away in Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and Quinnen Williams to Dallas.  The decision he and GM Darren Mougey made to give Justin Fields a two year deal proved to be a horrible mistake, and Glenn stuck with Fields for far too long before pulling the plug following the Jets loss to the Patriots on a Thursday night in mid November.  Glenn gave now former Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks too much power to run the defense, and the players couldn't stand Wilks. Reports indicated this week af...
Post a Comment
Read more

Same Ol' Jets! Gang Green Dropped by Ravens

 RAVENS 24 - JETS 9  In short the opener to the 2022 season for the New York Jets was a complete and utter disaster.  A team that came into the season with the promise of better days ahead, a team that had taken on so many kudos in the off-season for what so many in the media had claimed was an impeccable off-season and draft, came out flat as a pancake when it mattered the most.  If this was a debut of what is to come for the Jets in 2022, you better start preparing your 2023 draft boards.  Sunday's 24-9 loss wasn't just a defeat at the hands of a better team, it was a total indictment of the Jets current predicament.  The Jets offensive line, which has been battered and beaten this summer with the losses of Meckhi Becton and Duane Brown looked like a sieve on Sunday. Joe Flacco, who is not exactly fleet of foot, was under siege all afternoon. The fact he came out of Sunday's game having been sacked only three times was a miracle in itself.  George Fa...
Post a Comment
Read more