YANKEES AND DIDI GET GREEDY!!!
Written by: Colin Bruce Munro Wood - 12:20AM EST - 10/12/2017
In Yankee land it's well known that a drought isn't the same as a drought for any other team in Major League Baseball. The Yankees last won a World Series in 2009, the Core Four are gone, and it was time to build. Even our playoff winnings days were behind us with a 5 year deficit, with our last series win against the Baltimore Orioles in the Division Series.
Yankee fans are well aware how much that makes baseball fans hate most Yankee fans...Yankee fans are spoiled, and history is no fool to that. 27 World Championships envelop Yankee lore and Yankee Stadium.
It's been 5 miserable, long, numbing years as we watched our team seem to fall apart year by year, and when spring of 2017 came, it was time for rebuilding.
Hal Steinbrenner was quoted by Alex Rodriguez as saying at the beginning of this season that they could be re-builders and winners at the same time.
I'll mention here that I wrote an article at the beginning of April on my former blog, predicting that I felt these new Yankees could be the next 1996 surprise World Series Champs.
Do You remember them? Picked last to win the World Series that year in betting pools I believe, and yet forged and fought through like a young team, with perfectly placed veterans sprinkled in to give you the perfect package that took 11 out of 15 postseason games, and beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2 to take the trophy. See my article here:
https://heartandsoulcommentary.blogspot.com/2017/04/yankees-look-ripe-for-28th-championship.html
So, here were last night in Cleveland, Ohio. Just climbing back into a series that everyone wrote them off in in the first place, and then just about everyone I heard had them completely ousted after the first two series losses.
Everyone, except me (see previous article), and oddly enough, an enormously supportive Alex Rodriguez. Alex picked the Yanks to win the one game playoff against Minnesota, and was the only one of 5 professional players turned sportscasters to pick the Yankees in 5 games against Cleveland. Prior to Wednesday night's game, Alex held true to his prediction that the Yanks would close it out, and the the rest of the show talked about how the Yankees would lose, and that it was still a building year, and a surprise they had clawed this far into postseason.
C.C. Sabathia, a veteran, who ended up struggling in game 2 of the series arrived in a zone. Once he took the mound it was twilight time for the first three innings, as he mesmerized the Indians line up with 9 straight outs. C.C. pitched strong into the 5th inning, giving up just 2 runs, and left with a 3-2 lead for his replacement David Robinson.
Didi Grogorius proved to be the MPV of the past 6 games, with his 3 run monster blast in the wild card game, and then opening game 5 in Cleveland with a solo homer, and a 2 run blast later in the game to give the Yankees their first 3 runs. In the 9th, the Yankees stretched out at-bats, including a tie by Bret Gardner for the longest at-bat in the playoffs this season, which ended with a two run scoring double, and left the game wide open for the power house Alroldis Chapman to close it out with his 100+ MPH fastballs.
David Robinson deserves honorable mention for holding Clevland to 2 runs from the 5th to the 8th inning with precision pitching, keeping the Indians at bay and adding to the Cleveland/Yankee record breaking series total strikeouts.
Gardner ended a drought, with just his second hit of the series with the insurance RBI's.
Houston is the Yankees next stop on Friday night, and the Astros may want to get to know these young Yanks a little better than they might. The Bronx Bombers are coming to town, and they are feeling good about a 28th World Championship!
On a bad note: American League Home Run Champ Aaron Judge, set a strike out record for a playoff series with 14.
Photo one courtesy of:
www.assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.3554953.1507699394!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/858453330.jpg
Second photo courtesy of:
www.ha.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2017%2F1011%2Fr272671_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&w=570
Third photo courtesy of:
www.republicjewelry.com/worldseries09/wstrophy09.jpg
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