Game 2 Move Backfires on Boone
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Andrew Rosario
It is the age old adage in the history of Major League Baseball: Good pitching always beats good hitting. The New York Yankees became the latest victim of that saying after they forced a deciding a game 5 ALDS against the Tampa Bay Ray’s last Friday night.
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
Geritt Cole, the $324 million dollar man took the mound on short rest. Although he won game 1, he wasn’t the sharpest. Cole pitched into the 6th inning, getting one out before being removed by manager Aaron Boone. Boone was still getting heat for his decision to start 21-year old rookie Deivi Garcia only to take him out after the first inning as the Yankees would lose the next two games. New York bounced back in the game four win hoping momentum would carry over. It didn’t.
The Rays marched out game two starter Tyler Glasgow but he was pulled after 2.1 innings. It was bullpen by committee from there as Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks and Diego Castillo pitched the last 8 innings giving up a combined 3 hits.
The New York Yankees blasted 16 home runs in the 6 playoff games going into
game 5. The only in the last game courtesy of an Aaron Judge solo shot. DJ LaMahieu (AL Batting Champ), Giancarlo Stanton, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit and Brett Gardner were a combined 0 for 16. Said Voit, who led the major leagues with 22 home runs in the shortened season, “l feel like l let my team down. I had a terrible five games against those guys. It’s frustrating. Just fuel for next year.” Judge chimed in, “l felt like we got to their pitching a little bit but they were just able to make key pitches in key situations.”
For the second year in a row, closer Aroldis Chapman would give up the game deciding home run. Ironically, to a player that had never hit a post season home run. It was revenge for Rays Mike Brosseau who almost came to blows with Chapman in late September when Chapman threw a 100mph fastball behind his head. “No revenge,” Brosseau said. “We put that in the past.”
Aaron Boone will be looking back all of season about his game two decision that backfired. “It’s awful,” Boone would say afterward. 2009 is the last time the New York Yankees were they last team standing. The adage says it all. Good pitching always beats good hitting. It is what history is all about.
Earlier that day came the news that the greatest pitcher in New York Yankee history, Whitey Ford passed away at the age of 91 at his home on Lake Success, Long
Island. The man they called “The Chairman of the Board” pitched his entire career with the Bronx Bombers. When he retired, Whitey won 236 games, more than any other Yankee pitcher. His winning percentage was .690 the highest of any pitcher in the 20th century. Whitey pitched in 10 World games, striking out 94. At one point, threw 33 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series. No other Yankee pitcher amassed more strikeouts (1,956), innings (3,173), starts (438), and shutouts (45). Edward “Whitey” Ford was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Ford went 25-4 in 1955 and 1961 and was 24-7 in 1963.
“Today all of Major League Baseball mourns the loss of Whitey Ford, a New York City native who became a legend for his hometown team,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Whitey earned his status as the ace of some of the most memorable teams in our sport’s rich history. He was a distinguished ambassador for our National Pastime throughout his life.”
Said Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner, “Whitey’s name and accomplishments are forever stitched into the fabric of baseball’s rich history. He was a treasure, and one of the greatest of Yankees to ever wear the pinstripes. Beyond the accolades that earned him his rightful spot within the walls of the Hall of Fame, in so many ways he encapsulated the spirit of the Yankees teams he played for and represented for nearly two decades.”
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