Ah, well. Nevertheless. The Yankees got a phenomenal pitching performance tonight and it wasn’t enough. At one point the Rays had no hits in their last 30 plate appearances against the Yanks. The staff held the Rays to 2 runs in an elimination game but they got beat by Tampa. I have been loathe to admit this all season, but it’s pretty clear now that the Yankees were the inferior team.
The Yanks fell 2-1 to the Rays in Game 5 of the ALDS tonight, and it was a fitting end for a season that felt utterly joyless at times. Even still, I am very sad to see it end. I wanted to watch more Yankee baseball. We got preciously little of it this year. Alas, it was not to be.
Let’s get right to the takeaways, if you want to bear with me still.
Game 5 is here. This is what we’ve been waiting for all day. I am oddly very confident heading into a do-or-die elimination game. It hasn’t oscillated at all. I have been confident all day and that’s that. That’s because the Yankees are starting Gerrit Cole this time. Let’s hope that he can give a performance that would have made Whitey Ford (RIP) proud. He could also follow in the tradition of the last Yankee ace to start Game 5 of the ALDS:
That will do, thanks. Anyway, here are the lineups as the Yankees look to vanquish the Rays and move on to the ALCS against Houston:
New York Yankees (2-2) 1. DJ LeMahieu, 2B 2. Aaron Judge, RF 3. Aaron Hicks, CF 4. Giancarlo Stanton, DH 5. Luke Voit, 1B 6. Gio Urshela, 3B 7. Gleyber Torres, SS 8. Brett Gardner, LF 9. Kyle Higashioka, C Gerrit Cole, RHP
Tampa Bay Rays (2-2) 1. Austin Meadows, RF 2. Brandon Lowe, 2B 3. Randy Arozerena, LF 4. Ji-Man Choi, 1B 5. Yandy Díaz, DH 6. Joey Wendle, 3B 7. Willy Adames, SS 8. Kevin Keirmaier, CF 9. Mike Zunino, C Tyler Glasnow, RHP
Nothing surprising here. Giancarlo should be cleanup. Gardner should be playing. And Higashioka was obviously going to catch Cole. This is a good lineup, folks. We have to like our chances with this one, no matter who the Rays throw out there.
There will be no pitch count for Gerrit Cole tonight, so the Yankees will ride him until he is no longer effective. That’s how it should be. (Bryan Hoch)
They can do that because he is an “animal“, as Aaron Boone described him earlier today. It tracks! (Bryan Hoch)
Zack Britton says the weirdest part of the ALDS is switching jerseys but not traveling. I’ll tell you: it is also weird for me to watch. (Lindsey Adler)
Luke Voit guaranteed a win in Game 5 last night. I love the confidence and I also share it.
First pitch of this elimination game will be at 7:10 pm ET in San Diego, with TBS carrying the broadcast nationally. Check out WFAN, as usual, to listen to Sterling and Waldman. It should be a good one. Let’s go Yankees, and I’ll see you after the game.
Do the Yankees have a [win] in their bones? We’ll find out tonight. Game 4 of the Division Series at Petco Park is the Yankees’ first elimination game of 2020. Personally, I would like to see a Game 5. Who’s with me?
We’ve seen a lot of managin’ in this series, particularly from the Yankees’ side of things. But tonight, Aaron Boone and Kevin Cash will be front and center moreso than the previous three games. The Rays are going with an opener/bullpen game whereas the Yankees will undoubtedly have a short leash on Jordan Montgomery with the team’s back against the wall. So, get ready to see a lot of Cash and Boone walking out to the mound. Here are the lineups the skippers set for this one:
Tampa Bay Rays (2-1)
Yandy Díaz, DH
Brandon Lowe, 2B
Randy Arozarena, LF
Ji-Man Choi, 1B
Manuel Margot, RF
Joey Wendle, 3B
Willy Adames, SS
Kevin Kiermaier, CF
Mike Zunino, C
RHP Ryan Thompson
New York Yankees (1-2)
DJ LeMahieu, 2B
Aaron Judge, RF
Aaron Hicks, CF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Luke Voit, 1B
Brett Gardner, LF
Gleyber Torres, SS
Gio Urshela, 3B
Kyle Higashioka, C
LHP Jordan Montgomery
News & Notes
Boone has swapped Stanton and Voit in the order. He’s also bumped up Gardner to sixth. I wonder if that’s intended to force Thompson out early for Ryan Yarbrough? I don’t know, it seems like a stretch.
Pretty clear that Kyle Higashioka is the Yankees starting catcher at this point. Boone says he’s earned it.
It’s a brand new day and it’s time for the Yankees to play like the Yankees, not like the Rays. The strategy we saw deployed in last night’s loss may work for Tampa Bay, but the Yankees aren’t built for that kind of game plan. It’s frustrating to be at 1-1 in the series now, but like Randy wrote this morning, I also feel pretty good about the Yankees outlook the rest of this series.
Tonight, Masahiro Tanaka gets a chance to be his usual playoff self after not looking so sharp against Cleveland in the Wild Card series. In fairness, the bungled handling of the weather likely screwed him over a bit. That shouldn’t be an issue in San Diego for this one. The Rays counter with Charlie Morton, who was a shell of his old self this season.
Final thing: the Yankees are the home team for this game and the next one. Gonna be weird to see them wearing pinstripes in San Diego, but nothing is not weird this year. Anyway, here are the lineups:
Tampa Bay Rays (1-1)
Austin Meadows, RF
Brandon Lowe, 2B
Randy Arozarena, LF
Ji-Man Choi, 1B
Yoshi Tsutsugo, DH
Joey Wendle, 3B
Willy Adames, SS
Kevin Kiermaier, CF
Michael Pérez, C
RHP Charlie Morton
New York Yankees (1-1)
DJ LeMahieu, 2B
Aaron Judge, RF
Aaron Hicks, CF
Luke Voit, 1B
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Gio Urshela, 3B
Gleyber Torres, SS
Brett Gardner, LF
Kyle Higashioka, C
RHP Masahiro Tanaka
News & Notes
In case you didn’t notice, Kyle Higashioka is starting over Gary Sánchez. Gary had a big homer against Cleveland last series, but otherwise has been really bad basically all year. I can’t help but wonder if last night’s 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts and a passed ball had a say in tonight’s decision.
Brett Gardner is in the lineup over Clint Frazier. I don’t think this is a surprise. Lefties have big numbers against Morton and so does Gardner, who has a lifetime .364 batting average and 3 homers against Tampa Bay’s starter.
I’m very glad that this game starts an hour earlier than last night’s. We all could use an extra hour of sleep. This starts at 7:10 p.m. eastern on TBS, WFAN, and WADO. Enjoy the game everyone.
Game 1 was great, but there’s more work to do. The Yankees can grab a commanding 2-0 series lead in this best-of-five with a win over Tampa Bay this evening.
Tonight is the first playoff game that neither Gerrit Cole nor Masahiro Tanaka start for the Yankees. Instead, rookie Deivi García gets the ball in a move sure to be scrutinized or praised heavily depending on the outcome. I have little doubt that García is up to the task given his demeanor throughout the regular season. Clearly, the Yankees feel similarly. Don’t forget to read Bobby’s thoughts on this decision (and other Yankees matters), by the way.
