CC with a season-saver, Yanks back in the ALCS
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 15, 2017
- 4 min read
For all the success CC Sabathia has enjoyed in a career that, ultimately, will have him knocking on the door at Cooperstown, he’d never done what he accomplished Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
For the first time in his 21 postseason starts spanning stints with the Indians, Brewers and Yankees, Sabathia had never held the opposition scoreless. To do it against the Astros, who are as dynamic on offense as any team in Major League Baseball, was somewhat surprising. Factor in the Yankees were down two games to none in the American League Championship Series, and their own offense had been in a coma the first two games, Sabathia’s performance was sublime.
“It's weird. Me being 37, smoke and mirrors, getting a shutout,” he said after tossing six innings of scoreless ball. “But, yeah, I mean, like I said, just keep riding it, trying to throw strikes and being aggressive.”
Now, to be fair, it certainly wasn’t vintage CC. He surrendered only three hits, but he also walked four batters, and in the third inning, he had Joe Girardi contorting in the dugout and very close to ringing down to the bullpen.
After getting two quick outs, the dangerous top of the Houston order came around for its second look at Sabathia. George Springer drew a walk, Alex Bregman hooked a single into left field, and now Sabathia was faced with the two most potent bats in the lineup – surefire AL MVP Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.
Altuve worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases, and then Sabathia went right after Correa. He threw a 91 mph fastball inside for a called strike, then threw the same pitch again, and Correa popped it up to shortstop Didi Gregorious to end the threat.
It was the biggest at bat of the game for the Astros, and this time they fell short.
Three up …
1. Todd Frazier hit a three-run homer that defied logic. Astros starter Charlie Morton dotted the outer black with a 95 mph heater and Frazier’s ass was going one way and his bat the other. It looked like he was just trying to spoil the pitch, but somehow got enough wood on it to get it over the short porch. Huge hit that got the Yankees going.
With one swing, Frazier outscored the entire team production from the first two games. “I knew I hit it hard, but the wind was going a little crazy so I didn't really know,” Frazier said. “I knew it was over his head for sure. But luckily it just got me home.”
2. Chase Headley entered the game 0-for-15 in the postseason and looking absolutely lost, not to mention heartbroken. He was a good solider this year, moving to first to make room for Frazier when he came in the deadline trade, and I thought he did a good job over there. Plus, he had a decent season at the plate.
But as soon as Greg Bird went back into the lineup, there was no room for Headley. He was basically kicked to the curb, and I think that has been tough to deal with. You could just tell in his mannerisms that he was kind of checked out, but Monday, his bleeder up the middle to score the fourth run was huge. If the Astros get out of that inning down only 3-0, it’s still a game. Instead, a few minutes later, it was 8-0.
3. Adam Warren’s two innings were impressive. The game was decided by then, but Warren did his job in helping to keep the big guys in the bullpen out of the game. He walked the first man he faced, but then got the next six. Too bad the next guy out of the ‘pen didn’t do his job.
Three down …
1. Dellin Betances should be done for this season. No more chances. If Girardi can’t count on him to pitch the final inning with an 8-0 lead, it’s over. That said, while Betances was horrible again, throwing eight balls and two strikes to walk the only two men he faced, it drives me a little nuts that Girardi panicked, like he so often does. Why did he need to bring in Tommy Kahnle with an eight-run lead, plus get Chapman throwing? They’re playing three nights in a row, save the arms. So what if Betances threw 50 pitches and walked three runs home, then the final would have been 8-3.
“He's out of whack,” Girardi said. “He's went through it a couple of times this year, and we've seemingly been able to get him on track a number of different times. And we're still trying to do that. Because I still think he's really important to us and we need him.”
2. I don’t usually come away from a game unimpressed by Didi Gregorius, but it was not to a good night for him. After beating a bunt for a single in the first, he got picked off by Morton, and it wasn’t even close. In the third he hit a ball that Altuve made a great play on up the middle, but somehow didn’t beat the throw. I didn’t thin Altuve had a chance to throw him out. Finally, in the sixth, he air-mailed a throw to first that almost cost the Yankees a run. Weird night for him.
3. Cameron Maybin got the start in left field for the Astros, and he made a curious play that in hindsight was pivotal to the big five-run fourth for New York. If you remember, Bird got the whole thing started with a blooper that looked catchable, but for some reason, Maybin stopped running as the ball got closer to foul trouble. He also didn’t dive, or make any attempt to catch it and when it fell, it promptly bounced into the seats for a ground rule double.
Morton retired Starlin Castro and Aaron Hicks and should have been out of the inning. Instead, the next three Yankees reached, ending his night. Will Harris then came in and wild-pitched the fifth run home, and Aaron Judge followed with a clinching three-run bomb.
“It looked like he was on track to catch it,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “And then he pulled up to keep the ball in front. Obviously, he's not expecting it to bounce high and hard and into the stands. But it would have been a great play to make it, based on the angle that I had.”
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