BALL GAME OVER
ALDS .. OVER
***** ON .. TARGET *****
(At Target Field)
CLOSE-OUT SERIES ON ROAD
#NYY 5 /MINN 1
GREAT GLOVE WORK
SOLID PITCHING
TIMELY HITTING
PUNCH THEIR TICKET TO THE ALCS !!!!!!!!!!!!
12:46 AM · Oct 8, 2019Twitter Web App
The Yankees swept the ALDS 3 straight games over the Minnesota Twins.
They showed they don’t have to homer-their-way to victory. The Yanks went
on the road to Target Field after winning both games at home, and won
game 3 by a final score of 5-1 with pitching and defense leading the way before
some late-inning tack-on runs.
Yankee Mgr. Aaron Boone summed it up perfectly :
“I thought they played such a clean game. They made so many big plays in big spots because I really thought the Twins brought it tonight,” Boone said. “They made it difficult. They had traffic it seemed like all night. Our guys just kept making big pitches when they needed to and big defensive plays.”
Luis Severino started the game, provided 4 scoreless innings, but it wasn’t easy, high-lighted by a Houdini-act to get out of a bases loaded and no-out jam.
Chad Green went 1 1/3 innings in relief to get the W. In the postgame he said :
“I thought we played really good defense today,” Green said. “Sevy getting out of huge jams early in the game was big for us, and that set the tone for the whole game, and every pitcher fed off what he was doing out there. The guys stepped up at the right time and made plays when they had to, and that’s really what this game came down to.”
I talked about the right postseason “Formula” after Game 1 .. Pitching, Defense, & Timely Hitting. The Starting Pitching got the job done in the series :
Paxton : 4 2/3 IP , 3ER
Tanaka : 5.0 IP , 1ER
Severino : 4.0 IP , 0ER
They didn’t go deep into games, but they were not needed to. The plan was to go to the teams big strength … the Bullpen, early. They did just that. The Yankee Pen allowed only 3 ER in 13.1 IP. Conversely the Twins Bullpen surrendered 14 ER in 14 IP.
The Yankee staff held the HR-leading Twins to 7 total Runs and a .218 team B.A.
Judge, Stanton, Encarnacion, and Sanchez, the 4 biggest HR threats, combined for zero Homers, but all contributed one way or another. Whether it be timely base hits with RISP, or Walks, or solid defense.
DJ LeMahieu (4 RBI) , Torres .417 BA , 4 RBI & Didi .400BA, 6RBI, lead the way but it was a real team effort as they slashed as a team .. .293/.403/.525 (see below)
| Sortable Batting | |||||||||||||||
| RK | TEAM | GP | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | TB | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
| 1 | NY Yankees | 3 | 99 | 23 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 52 | 21 | .293 | .403 | .525 | .929 | |
| 2 | St. Louis | 5 | 175 | 26 | 44 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 74 | 25 | .251 | .314 | .423 | .737 | |
| 3 | Oakland | 1 | 33 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | .242 | .297 | .242 | .540 | |
| 4 | Houston | 5 | 165 | 19 | 40 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 67 | 17 | .242 | .294 | .406 | .700 | |
| 5 | Tampa Bay | 6 | 195 | 23 | 45 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 84 | 23 | .231 | .298 | .431 | .728 | |
| 6 | Atlanta | 5 | 169 | 17 | 38 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 65 | 16 | .225 | .302 | .385 | .686 | |
| 7 | Washington | 6 | 190 | 25 | 42 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 68 | 23 | .221 | .307 | .358 | .665 | |
| 8 | LA Dodgers | 5 | 173 | 22 | 38 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 74 | 21 | .220 | .303 | .428 | .730 | |
| 9 | Milwaukee | 1 | 32 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 3 | .219 | .286 | .469 | .754 | |
| 10 | Minnesota | 3 | 101 | 7 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 40 | 7 | .218 | .301 | .396 | .697 | |
I picked the Yanks to Win the Series because although the Twins can mash the baseball, so can the Bombers, and the Yanks had a decisive edge in pitching and defense.That is exactly how the series turned out.
Now it’s on to the ALCS, where task becomes more daunting, but the “Formula” for success stays the same.
As always,
GO NYY !!
