Guts Found, So Let's Keep It Going

Last night, it was easy to believe that the Yankees' 2020 season was going to come to an end. There were down 2 games to 1 to the Tampa Bay Rays in their American League Division Series at Petco Park in San Diego, and had barely put up a fight in Games 2 and 3.

Jordan Montgomery was slated to start. Given his struggles with injury -- only 44 innings pitched this season, and only 75 1/3rd in the last 3 seasons -- and the Yankees' insufficient hitting in Games 2 and 3, things were not looking up.

But Montgomery got through the 1st 2 innings with little trouble. Luke Voit led off the top of the 2nd with a home run. Rays starter Ryan Thompson then walked Brett Gardner, Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. Thompson struck Kyle Higashioka out, but DJ LeMahieu's fly ball to right got Gardner home to make it 2-0 Yankees

Montgomery walked the leadoff man in the 3rd, then got 2 outs, then walked another batter, and allowed a run on a groundout, before getting out of it. He allowed a single and a walk in the 4th, but got out of it. He had thrown 62 pitches, and had allowed just 1 run. The sensible thing for manager Aaron Boone to do was to leave him in.

He didn't: He brought Chad Green in. Chad Green. "Oy vey," I thought, "here we go again." But no: Green also got the job done, sending the Rays down 1-2-3 in the 5th, and again in the 6th. A Gardner single and a Torres home run made it 4-1 Yankees.

Zack Britton sent the Rays down in order in the 7th, and struck out the side despite a walk in the 8th. The Yankees then tagged on a run, and Aroldis Chapman provided no drama, going 1-2-3 in the 9th, and ending it with a strikeout of Mike Brosseau.

Yankees 5, Rays 1. Because Montgomery didn't pitch 5 innings, he did not qualify as the winning pitcher, so the win was credited to Green. But, because the pitchers and the hitters both seemed to find the guts that has so frequently been lacking the last few years, this series is tied.

And so, on the anniversary of such events as the birth of Joe Pepitone (he turned 80 today), the Yankees' last World Series win with a Republican as President (1958), the night Billy Martin held Reggie Jackson back as a pinch-hitter and it won us a Pennant (1977), and the Jeffrey Maier Game (1996), and on the day we say goodbye to Whitey Ford, we play Game 5. Win or go home. Our ace, Gerrit Cole, against Tyler Glasnow.

 

Since the Rays had the better record, tonight, at the neutral site, the Rays will act as the home team, take the field first, and bat second.

I hope Cole can channel the spirit of the Chairman of the Board, and the Yankees can hit like his teammates Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Roger Maris. Let's keep it going, and beat this bush-league organization, and then go on and do the same to the Houston Asterisks in the AL Championship Series. Come on you Bombers!