The Yankees Beat Up The A's And Are Headed To Boston For The ALDS
What a fucking baseball game for the New York Yankees. I’m just getting back from the stadium after watching Dallas Braden’s A’s come up empty in the Bronx. The game could not have been scripted better for New York. They had to get off to a quick start, but before they could do anything with the bats, Luis Severino had to show up. The man had a lot on his plate to answer for. The Wild Card Game last year, the god awful second half, all the doubters saying he shouldn’t have started. You know what he did? He came out breathing fire.
You could not have asked for a better Severino in this game. He was asked to give the Yanks four dominant innings and he did just that. He bridged the way to the pen beautifully. His opening inning almost collapsed the stadium it was so electric. In the blink of an eye, after an Andrew McCutchen lead off walk, Aaron Judge stepped to the plate and absolutely brought the house down with his blast.
I am almost positive my heart stopped and I blacked out on contact. What a fucking moment to be in that stadium for. That is how you set the tone and tell Oakland this was not going to be fun whatsoever. They had to score first and take control. Judge did just that.
From there Severino was great, striking out seven while allowing just two hits. He did walk four and that got his pitch count up, but he did exactly what he needed to do. Severino exited in the fifth after allowing t2o base runners to start the inning. Boone pulled a head scratcher by bringing in Dellin this early with men on base while many called for Chad Green in the spot. After two harmful fly outs not advancing the base runners, he struck out Khris Davis to end the inning and let out a giant roar. Boone tapped him to go back out there for a second inning which was a situation Dellin has really never done well with. After a weak Olson ground out to first, Dellin strike out Piscotty and Laureano to end the inning. Six up six down for Dellin in what were probably the biggest outs he’s gotten in his entire career. That’s not an exaggeration.
85 year old Fernando Rodney entered the game and immediately gave up a leadoff double to Judge to start the bottom of the 6th. Aaron Hicks immediately drove him in with a single to give the Yanks a huge 3rd run. Giancarlo drew a walk ending Rodney’s quick night and brought upon the fearsome Blake Treinan and his sparking sub zero ERA to get some major outs. He met Louis Linwood Voit III. After working the count full and battling for eight pitches, Voit pounced on a hanging slider and nearly sent it over the wall for a homer. It bounced off the wall and allowed both runners to score, leaving Louis at third with a two run triple. The place lost its collective mind.
I fucking love Louis Voit.
From there it was smooth sailing. The A’s were dead. Their prized bullpen everyone was terrified of had failed them. Dallas Braden was silent. It was all too perfect. For good measure Giancarlo decided to join in on the fun and sent a ball to outer space.
What a win. Shout out to Boone for dubbing Severino the starter and it working out perfectly. His bullpen changes were great. His defense subs were perfectly timed (Hech’s catch at third was ridiculous). Gary Sanchez caught a great game and had no issues at all defensively, even blocking a few tough pitches. The offense was rock solid, the pen was amazing (minus Britton but that’s ok the lead was 6 at the time). Dellin hung his nuts. Sevy shoved. Judge made it clear his wrist was just fine. You could not have scripted a better game. What an atmosphere. Now it’s onto Boston. Jared and I have built this up for quite some time. These two fanbases have been starving for a postseason head to head series. Well, now we go it. It’s go time. See you in Boston on Friday, let’s go to fucking war.
Sorry to cut this short, it’s 1am and we had to record the show and I have to catch a bus home before the last one leaves at 3am. I’ll revisit the blog and add shit when I get a second on the ride home, but for now let’s go Yankees. Fuck Boston. Let’s have ourselves a series.