Yesterday was one of those days. There was (and, as of this writing, there remains) a problem with my computer. As a result, I have to do this on my phone, which is always a pain in several body parts.
And I got a loss from Rutgers football, and I got a very bad loss from Arsenal. The night before, the football team at my Alma Mater, East Brunswick High School school, got clobbered.
In other words, yesterday, it would have taken something as big as the Yankees winning the Pennant for me to think of it as a good day.
Well, they did.
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First, the American League Division Series, where the Yankees faced a name from Playoffs past, the Kansas City Royals. They had dispatched the Baltimore Orioles, who had given the Yankees trouble in the regular season.
The winner of Yankees vs. Royals would face the winner of Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers. The Tigers went in as the hottest team in baseball, having eliminated the Houston Astros, who had given the Yankees so much cheat-aided trouble since 2015. And the Boston Red Sox, who had given the Yankees so much cheat-aided trouble since 2003, weren't even in the Playoffs. So there was reason for optimism.
But the Royals got a split at Yankee Stadium: After the Yankees won Game 1, 6-5, the Royals win Game 2, 4-2. Things were looking down as we went to Kauffman Stadium for Game 3.
But a Giancarlo Stanton home run was key to winning Game 3, 3-2. And Gerrit Cole pitched like an ace in Game 4, which the Yankees won, 3-1. The Guardians beat the Tigers, so it was on to the AL Championship Series.
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I was worried about Carlos Rodón, but in Game 1, he pitched the way I figured Cole would. With Stanton and Juan Soto hitting home runs, the Yankees won, 5-2.
But in Game 2, Cole pitched the way I feared Rodón would. And still, the Yankees won, 6-3, thanks to a strong bullpen and Aaron Judge finally homering out of his postseason funk.
The series shifted to Progressive Field in Cleveland. Game 3 was a classic. The Yankees trailed 3-1 in the top of the 8th, but back-to-back homers by Judge and Stanton, off the Guardians' dominant closer, Emmanuel Clase, made that 4-3 New York.
A sacrifice fly by Gleyber Torres made it 5-3 in the 9th. Torres is one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen, but he has really come up big in September and October.
But the Yankee bullpen couldn't hold it. In the bottom of the 9th, Luke Weaver, who succeeded Clay Holmes as the closer, gave up a double to Lane Thomas and a game-tying home run to Jhonkensy Noel, who has a great nickname, based on his surname: Big Christmas.
Thankfully, there's no "ghost runner" in the postseason, but in the 10th, Aaron Boone brought Holmes in, and he gave up a 2-run homer to David Fry. Guardians 7, Yankees 5.
The consensus in the media and in baseball fans online was that this was the start of another Yankee choke, that there was no way they could come back from a "gut punch" like that.
Well, Game 3 may have been a great game with a lousy result, but Game 4 was a sloppy game with a great result. Luis Gil pitched well for 4 innings, and then Boone took him out. Huh? Another Stanton home run -- the Yankees are now calling him "our other captain," and Judge doesn't seem to mind -- made it 6-2 going to the bottom of the 6th.
Again, the bullpen blew it, and the Guardians tied it in the bottom of the 8th. But in the 9th, an error by Cleveland shortstop Bryan Rocchio made it 7-6, and a Torres single made it 8-6. Again, the usually untouchable Clase was the victim. This time, Boone trusted Tommy Kahnle to finish it, and he did. One win away.
Rodón pitched well in Game 5, but the Yankees had trouble breaking through. It was 2-0 Guardians in the top of the 6th, when Stanton struck again, with a 2-run finger. Weaver shook off his Game 3 mistakes by pitching a 1-2-3 9th, and it was off to extra innings again.
Austin Wells drew a walk with 1 out in the top of the 10th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you -- or save you. Alex Verdugo grounded up the middle. Guardian 2nd baseman Andrés Giménez flipped to Rocchio to start a double play, which would have been the 4th turned on the Yankees on the night. But, for the 2nd night in a row, Rocchio made a key error, and both runners were safe.
That's when Soto stepped to the plate against Hunter Gaddis. This was exactly the kind of situation for which he was acquired. As Reggie Jackson said of himself when he signed with the Yankees, Soto didn't come to New York to be a star, he brought his star with him.
There was a ball, a called strike, and 4 straight foul-offs, before Soto hit a drive to straightaway center field. I thought it would be caught. But this ball just kept carrying, until it was out. A Pennant-winning home run. A home run that will probably force Hal Steinbrenner to pay through the nose, maybe several noses, to re-sign him. 5-2 Yankees.
Weaver finished the Guardians off, with the last put, fitting lyrics, caught by Soto. The New York Yankees had won the series, 4 games to 1, and won their 41st American League Pemnant.
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It's the 1st Pennant in 15 years, since general manager Brian Cashman broke up the 2009 World Champions. It's the 1st Pennant since 1981 with no players acquired by the late Gene Michael, the 1st built entirely by Cashman. Finally.
And while Soto won a World Series in 2019 with the Washington Nationals, defeating an Astro team with Cole on it, this is the 1st Pennant for most of the players, including Judge, Stanton and Torres. "Gutless Wonders" no more: This was a hard season, and they showed a lot of guts.
Tonight, Game 6 of the National League Championship Series will be played. The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to close out the New York Mets, who still have dreams of a Subway Series against the Yankees. As if that worked out well for them in 2000.
The Yankees will wait.
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