Me either, and the good part of that (if you’re an Astros fan) is that then we’ll win one in NY and the fourth in Houston so there can be a party. And some of those “journeymen pitchers” can surprise you.
So far the Red Sox have reportedly interviewed or will be interviewing Alex Cora, Brad Ausmus, and Ron Gardenhire.
Alex Cora would be fine, but if they fired John Farrell only to replace him with Ausmus or Gardenhire, they might as well not have bothered. Looking at Dombrowski’s list of past hires does not inspire confidence.
Brad Ausmus seems like an especially bad choice. I feel like he didn’t have control over his team this year. I think his teams actually under-performed prior to this year.
Gardenhire seems like a solid manager, I think you could do a lot worse.
As to Cora, does he have anything more than 2 seasons as a bench coach to recommend his for a manager’s job?
Gardenhire was part of the coaching crew in Minnesota that tried to develop David Ortiz as a slap hitter and then helpfully released him so people less stupid could pick him up for free. His playoff record is 6-21 and he was barely over .500 overall as a manager in a sample size over 2100 games. This doesn’t cut it. Farrell, with his 1 WS title and 3 division titles, was fired because they thought they could do better, and that is not doing better. You could probably do worse, but hopefully the bar is a bit higher than that.
Bobby Valentine is available.
Well, Judge finally got his redemption. (Not “Nuke LaLoosh” Betances, though.)
Baseball America put out an article about a potential realignment and a proposal for the structure of a 32-team league. I don’t love it, personally, particularly as it forces the issue on the DH, but it was an interesting read. Thoughts?
Not a fan. I like not having a DH in one league. I’ve often advocated for the rules to change in interleague games: I’d prefer to use AL-style rules for NL stadiums (but only for interleague games). Let AL fans see NL-style games for a change of pace.
Yankee pitching has been stellar so far. Limiting Houston to 5 runs in 3 games is no small feat. Now that the Yankee bats are starting to stir, I’m looking for the Yanks to head to Houston up 3 games to 2.
Agreed. I though the Astros had the edge in the starting rotation coming into the series, but I’m having to re-think that one. The Yankees pitched well enough to go back to New York up two games, but were just slightly out-pitched and out-gamed a little. New York scored the first decisive victory of the series. This is following a pattern similar to the Cleveland series in the first few games.
I think the collar is starting to get a little tight for the Astros. Their left fielder could have dove for the ball that bounced in the stands for a double, instead he pulled up short. They were the ones not making the key defensive plays, they were the ones not stringing hits together. In games 1 and 2, every ball seemed to bounce their way. Now the breaks are starting to even out.
Judge had a great night, big D and his homer of course. CC was great. A very good night
Losing the third game of a series you’re up 2-0 in, on the road, isn’t choking. I would caution everyone that Houston is still up 2-1 and the path to Yankee victory remains up a steep hill.
I agree, unless the Yanks do take all 3 home games, this is still likely to be Houston’s series to win. I hope the hitters can hit tonight and Grey can give us 5-6 innings.
Right, the Yanks will have to sweep at home to become the favorites. If Houston goes home up 3-2 needing only either Verlander or Keuchel to win again, there’s your bet.
I work nights, so the late start isn’t a big deal for me as I’ll hopefully be able to see part of the game at work tonight, but the 9 PM Eastern time start for the Cubs/Dodgers tonight just seems determined to drive away the next generation of baseball fans.
And the current generation living on the east coast.
Keuchel probably starts game 5, so it would be Verlander and TBA, but still.
Baserunning has not been great for Yanks in this round. Surprise pitching duel.
I keep waiting for McCullers to blow up. Since he came back from injury he’s looked great in each start until suddenly everything collapses.