Baby Bombers Page 27

  With third base coach Gary Pettis aggressively waving Altuve home, Gregorius had no time to set his feet. He was still able to get off a throw while firing around Correa, who was executing a pop-up slide into second base. Gregorius said that the play was clean on Correa’s part, though he acknowledged they did make contact. Girardi spoke with the umpires immediately after the play to ensure they had not seen interference.

  Gregorius’ throw skipped and Gary Sanchez could not handle the short hop, with Altuve swiping his left hand across home plate with the winning run. Resting on one knee, Sanchez allowed himself an extra beat before dutifully trudging over to pick up the baseball, which now rested a few feet in front of the right-handed batter’s box.

  “Bottom line is, if I catch that ball, he’s going to be out,” Sanchez said. “I dropped the ball. It was a small bounce, but that’s a play that I know I can make.”

  In the Houston clubhouse, Brian McCann came to Sanchez’s defense, saying that he thought it was a tough play and that his former teammate should not be blamed for the loss. On the contrary, McCann could speak to the hours required in the video room to throw the gear on and handle the Yankees’ variety of pitchers, having done it one year prior. For a twenty-four-year-old in his first full season, McCann believed that Sanchez was doing fine.

  “That is not an easy staff to catch,” McCann said. “Guys that have splits, and they’re throwing for strikes. You’ve got to frame them and then they bounce them. It’s really hard to block a split-finger fastball, especially when they throw them for strikes as well.”

  Overshadowed by Sanchez’s drop was the fact that Severino had been removed from Game 2 after four innings, having allowed a Correa homer that clipped the glove of a young fan perched in the first row behind the right-field wall. While it appeared to be a health-related exit, there was relief when it turned out there had been no injury to speak of.

  As Girardi detailed later, there was concern when Severino appeared to flex his pitching shoulder in the fourth inning, and someone in the dugout told Girardi that Severino seemed to be “pushing the ball.” Girardi visited the mound after a changeup to Marwin Gonzalez, and though Severino insisted that he was “100 percent,” Girardi opted to err on the side of caution. Including the playoffs, Severino was now past 200 innings after having thrown 151⅓ between the majors and minors in 2016.

  “I think it is my responsibility to protect this kid,” Girardi said. “He’s very young. He gave us a great effort, but I felt that I couldn’t take a chance.”

  Severino simmered over the early exit, and it took him a while to cool off. Two days later, Girardi greeted Severino by asking him, “Do you still hate me?” The answer, Severino replied, was no. Girardi smiled, saying that it represented progress.

  “I didn’t agree with that. I wanted to go over there and pitch,” Severino said. “I was feeling good. Even though I didn’t strike out anybody, I was feeling good. I was getting outs…. I’m a smart guy. If I feel something, I’m going to tell them. I’m not going to go over there and hurt myself.”

  If the Indians thought Yankee Stadium had been loud during the previous playoff round, the Bombers’ home crowd took it to a new level when the ALCS shifted to New York, the first time in five years that a battle for the World Series had been played in the Bronx. The building was thumping before Sabathia threw the first pitch of Game 3, creating flashbacks to the Cleveland series as the players put on their pinstripes with the assignment of erasing an 0–2 series deficit.

  “Everybody’s heads were still high,” Todd Frazier said. “We’ve been there before, that kind of thing. I think that kind helped us on the plane ride home. We’re still playing some cards and getting going. We were coming home, we’ve got three home games here, and we know we’ve got a good shot.”

  The next nine innings served as a showcase for Judge to enjoy a postseason performance for the ages, crushing a three-run homer off reliever Will Harris and contributing several splendid defensive plays—the best of which was a fearless fourth inning crash into the right-field wall, sacrificing his body to take an extra-base hit away from Yuli Gurriel.

  “He had a bead on it and he was going hard after it,” Gardner said. “I knew that if he could get to it, he’d reel it in. That was a big play. He made another great play coming in and diving. He’s an athlete out there. I know he’s a big guy, but he covers a lot of ground and makes a lot of plays. He makes a difference on both sides of the ball.”

  Judge’s chest also thudded hard against the turf in the fifth, when he dove to steal a hit from Cameron Maybin on a sinking line drive. That aggressive play looked more like a wide receiver trying to pick a pass off the turf, and confirmed what Mike Batesole had told Judge in his freshman year at Fresno State: if he could run down a football, he could do the same with a baseball.

  The Yankees rolled to an 8–1 victory, and though Judge had been 2-for-27 with nineteen strikeouts in the postseason, he said that there had been no temptation to shake up his routine. Andy Pettitte, whom the Yanks summoned to throw a ceremonial first pitch during the ALCS, said that the approach that Cleveland and Houston pitchers were employing against Judge was easy to decipher.

  “I would try to not throw it in the strike zone, try to make him expand the zone for sure, and I think that’s what you’re seeing,” Pettitte said. “You’re also running into a lot of great arms in the postseason. Every time he gets in situations like this and has an opportunity to be here, I believe that he’ll get better and better at it and be able to control his emotions at it. You’ve got to remember, he’s six-foot-seven, also. It makes you realize how special of a talent he is, to be able to do what he’s done at that size.”

  Frazier also hit his first postseason homer, flicking his bat to connect with a low and outside Charlie Morton offering for a three-run shot to right-center field. As Frazier rounded the bases, he glanced down at his left wrist, as though he were checking a timepiece.

  “I put my arm out and say, ‘What time is it?’” Frazier said. “Just a little thing I do. I’ve been doing it forever, but I guess TV just finally caught onto it. I’m saying, ‘What time is it? It’s my time.’”

  The Yanks tagged Morton for seven runs in 3⅔ innings, supporting what Sabathia called his “smoke and mirrors” attack plan, generating soft contact while limiting the Astros to three hits and four walks over six scoreless innings. Girardi tried again to allow Dellin Betances some slack to figure out his mechanical issues, but Betances walked both men he faced and Tommy Kahnle had to finish off the victory while Chapman got loose in the bullpen.

  “I can’t keep putting my teammates in those situations,” Betances said. “My job is to go out there and have a clean inning and the next thing you know Kahnle has to clean up my mess like last time. Aroldis had to warm up. That’s what upsets me the most. I know I’m better than that.”

  As Girardi mulled his lineup card for Game 4, run prevention was on his mind. Though he had lauded Sanchez’s progress behind the plate, Sonny Gray’s spinning arsenal had banged up the backstop in Game 1 of the ALDS against Cleveland. With that in mind, Girardi assigned backup Austin Romine to catch Gray’s simulated game prior to the ALCS opener, then teamed them for Game 4.

  “It just looked like more of a comfortable mix. It happened with me as a player,” said Girardi, who recalled that Joe Torre initially was reluctant to pair him with Pettitte. “I can’t tell you sometimes why one guy might handle one guy better than the other. It just seems to happen for whatever reason. These two have worked a little bit better together.”

  The swap seemed to work acceptably, as Gray held the Astros to one hit over five-plus innings, but the Yankees couldn’t get into gear against Lance McCullers Jr.’s curveball-heavy mix. Prior to the first pitch, Girardi had remarked that he would be “shocked” if McCullers reversed course and tried to pump gas by hitters, drawing laughter when he referenced Rocky Balboa’s strategy in a (fictional) 1979 rematch against Apollo Creed.


  “It’s his DNA. It’s how he gets people out,” Girardi said. “Don’t tell him I said that. It’s like when Rocky switched from left to right and went back. It worked out pretty well for Rocky.”

  A twenty-three-year-old left-hander whose father, Lance Sr., pitched in sixty-three games for the Yankees in 1989 and 1990, McCullers threw forty-three curves in eighty-one pitches. The scouting report was dead on. The Yanks’ issues were best represented by Judge’s bizarre fourth inning sequence on the basepaths that left many scratching their heads. With one out, Judge took off on a shallow Sanchez fly ball to right field, then was forced to reverse course when Josh Reddick tracked it down for an out. Reddick threw to first base, where Judge was ruled out for an inning-ending double play.

  Girardi challenged that call, and though replay indeed showed that Reddick’s throw had arrived too late, it also gave the Astros ample time to look at the center field scoreboard and see in high definition that Judge had failed to touch second base on his way back to first. The Astros planned to appeal at second base, and so when play resumed and McCullers stepped off, Judge broke for second base immediately and was caught stealing to end the inning.

  “The screen is as big as the state of New York,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We could see that he didn’t touch second base on the way back. They saw it, as well. Judge knew. As soon as the ball was put back in play, Judge was going to be out either way, so why not try for an easy base? If he gets to second base safe, then we can’t appeal, because that play is a live play.”

  Houston struck in the sixth, as Gray was chased by a leadoff walk and a catcher’s interference error charged to Romine. With one out, Yuli Gurriel gave the Astros a 3–0 lead with a bases-clearing double off David Robertson, and Houston extended that lead to four runs in the seventh thanks to an error by Starlin Castro.

  New York was nine outs away from having to face Dallas Keuchel with their season on the line. The most powerful Baby Bombers answered, beginning with Judge, who sparked the comeback with a long homer off McCullers that smacked into the restaurant glass over Monument Park. McCullers didn’t bother to look, flipping his right arm with disgust.

  “We’ve been in that situation a lot this year,” Judge said. “We get down, but we keep fighting, keep putting out quality at-bats. We’re never out of a game with the kind of offense we have.”

  Gregorius followed with a triple, scoring on a Sanchez sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 4–2. The Yankees pushed for more in the eighth, stunning the Astros by sending ten men to the plate with a furious four run rally. Todd Frazier and Chase Headley started the inning with hits off right-handed reliever Joe Musgrove, and Headley slipped as he touched the first-base bag, momentarily dropping to his hands and knees between first and second bases.

  Headley’s elation at having delivered a pinch-hit line drive instantly transformed into panic. Astros shortstop Carlos Correa threw to first base and Headley scrambled, slamming his left hand into second base ahead of Altuve’s tag.

  “I knew that Correa wasn’t looking at me, so I knew he was going to be getting yelled at to throw the ball to first base,” Headley said. “As soon as he made the throw, I’m going the other way and hopefully I can sneak in there. You’ve got to make the best out of a bad situation.”

  Brett Gardner knocked home New York’s third run with a ground ball to the right side of the infield. Recognizing that a fly ball would have tied the game, Ken Giles threw four straight sliders to Judge, running the count to 2-2 before Judge fouled off a fastball. Giles went back to an 86-mph slider, but he left it up enough for Judge to launch a game-tying double, which was touched by a fan hanging over the auxiliary scoreboard in left field.

  “That ballpark is alive,” Judge said. “It was unbelievable. That stadium was rocking, the fans were going crazy. That’s why we play this game, for a moment like that.”

  Didi Gregorius kept the line moving with a single that brought Sanchez to the plate. Giles fell behind Sanchez with two sliders out of the strike zone, then challenged with a 98-mph fastball right down the middle. Hitless in thirteen ALCS at-bats to that point, Sanchez punished the heater, blasting a two-run double to right-center field that gave the Yankees their first lead of the night.

  Aaron Judge and Greg Bird wait for Didi Gregorius to cross home plate during the eighth inning of the Yankees’ improbable comeback win in ALCS Game 4. (© Rich L. Wang)

  “When I got to second base, my emotions were through the roof,” Sanchez said. “When I looked around and saw the fans cheering and screaming, it’s nice to see all their support to come out here. It’s amazing.”

  The electric Yankees had come all the way back for six unanswered runs, securing a 6–4 victory. Gardner said that the four-run eighth was “one of the most fun innings I’ve ever been a part of,” and as the Bombers remained undefeated at home in the 2017 postseason, a new feeling pervaded their clubhouse—one of confidence.

  They’d still need to find a way to defeat either Dallas Keuchel or Justin Verlander to advance, but the emotional high of the last two games erased any fear of those matchups. Bring ’em on.

  “I thought about it, ‘Oh man, it’s going to be a really uphill battle,’” Frazier said. “But once that gets in your mind, you have to think positive after that. I thought we still had a chance. We were still in grand slam range. Things started cooking. The fans were perfect for us today. They never stopped. They just keep pushing for us and we got something crazy going.”

  In Game 5, the Yankees finally solved their Keuchel bugaboo, moving nine good innings away from what would have been the forty-first World Series in franchise history. Bird, Judge, Sanchez, and Gregorius all contributed run-scoring hits to back a dominant Tanaka effort as New York sent the Astros to the airport with a 5–0 victory.

  Bird got the party started, stroking a second-inning RBI single that represented the first run they had scored off of Keuchel in 14⅔ postseason innings. Judge ripped a third-inning RBI double down the left field line—remarkably, the first ground ball extra-base hit of Judge’s big league career—before Sanchez and Gregorius contributed back-to-back run-scoring singles in the fifth, sending Keuchel on his long walk to the dugout.

  It was later revealed that Bird, Castro, Gregorius, Judge, and Sanchez had all made an important adjustment to take some of the bite out of Keuchel’s late-breaking arsenal, moving up in the batter’s box so that they could catch the pitches a few inches in front of home plate.

  “Getting on a great pitcher like that early is key,” Bird said. “You try and take advantage of those situations. Getting on there, getting in scoring position, it puts pressure on him early. It doesn’t let him settle in.”

  Tanaka ensured that the Astros were not able to get off the mat, leaning heavily on his slider to generate ten outs on the ground and eight via strikeout, limiting Houston to three hits and a walk over seven scoreless innings. Sanchez tacked on with a seventh-inning homer off righty Brad Peacock, and the Yankees clearly appeared to be the better team at that moment in time; they’d outscored the Astros, 19–5, and outhit them, 25–12, in the three games at Yankee Stadium.

  “They played well, man,” Houston outfielder George Springer said. “This is a tough place to play and they feed off that energy. Ideally, it would have been great to come out of here with a win or two but that’s not the case. We’ll see what happens.”

  As he fielded questions in front of his Yankee Stadium locker for what would turn out to be the final time as a rookie, Judge was asked if it had sunk in that he was one win away from playing in the World Series.

  “Not yet. We’re not going to think about that yet,” Judge said. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’ve still got a job to do in Houston.”

  Including the postseason, the Yankees won nineteen of their final twenty-two games at Yankee Stadium, and now they needed to win one at Minute Maid Park. Constructed on the former site of the city’s Union Station, the ballpark’s most distinctive feat
ure is the 800-feet of railroad track above the left-field wall upon which a train rolls, blowing its horn and ringing a bell when an Astros player hits a home run.

  It would be up to the Yankees’ pitching staff to keep that locomotive stationary and silent. The team took a later flight and opted to give their players a full day off between Games 5 and 6, with Girardi and Severino conducting dial-in conference calls with the media instead of heading to the ballpark. There were a few players in the clubhouse who would have liked to take the field, viewing their travel to the Space City as the equivalent of a football team icing the opposing kicker by calling a timeout.

  “I think probably everyone would have probably rather played today,” Girardi said. “When you’re on a roll, you never want to stop playing.”

  The deep freeze in Game 6 had more to do with Verlander, who was once again sharp on his way to securing ALCS MVP honors. The Yankees had their bags packed for Hollywood, as the Dodgers had dispatched the Cubs in the NLCS one day prior. In the visiting manager’s office at Minute Maid Park, Girardi said that he’d watched some of Los Angeles’ 11–1 win over the defending World Series champs, though he’d eventually flipped off the lopsided action at Wrigley Field in favor of the Memphis-Houston college football matchup.

  Verlander ensured that the Yankees kept their feet planted deep in the heart of Texas, firing seven scoreless innings while holding the Yanks to five hits. With fianceé Kate Upton cheering from a luxury suite, Verlander struck out eight, including Todd Frazier, who exhibited one of the worst swings of his career when he flailed comically at a nasty curveball.

  “He buckled me. We all saw it. I looked silly,” Frazier said.

  Severino had said that his excitement level for the start was “about 100,” and he matched Verlander through four innings on a hit and a walk before coming unraveled. Severino walked two of the first three batters in the fifth inning before McCann ripped a double that one-hopped the right-field wall, giving Houston a 1–0 lead.