CLEVELAND — Lake Erie in the fall: the Indians’ 10th man. The Yankees found themselves outnumbered Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
Nevertheless, they persisted, and they prevailed in an epic contest. Survived and revived, the Yankees will march onward into October on the heels of a dramatic (if drawn-out), 10-9 victory over Cleveland that gave them a 2-0 sweep in this American League wild-card series. Now they’ll get to enjoy the perfect conditions of San Diego as they try to topple their new chief rival, the Rays, in the AL Division Series starting Monday.
“What a game,” said Gary Sanchez, who drove home three runs. “Even better because we were able to get the victory tonight.”
With more than a few Lake Erie midges on site — those clever suckers invited themselves into a suite occupied by a crew of New York media members and pestered us to no end — a series of unfortunate meteorological events victimized the Yankees to the extent where, for more than a moment, it appeared Masahiro Tanaka’s pinstriped career might conclude in the most bizarre manner possible.
Yet whereas those midges disrupted Joe Torre’s 2007 Yankees to the brink of ALDS elimination (which occurred a few days later), Aaron Boone’s 2020 Yankees, having endured so much already, overcame the elements as well as a resilient Indians club. When DJ LeMahieu (of course) grounded a ninth-inning single up the middle off Cleveland closer Brad Hand to score Gio Urshela, it gave the Yankees their third lead of the night, and this one finally stuck after four hours and 50 minutes, a record for a nine-inning game, as well as another hour and 16 minutes of rain delays.
“That game was a lot of fun to be a part of,” Boone said. “I don’t know how you top that.”
The memorable ending covered up for a most forgettable beginning. Poor Tanaka, the Yankees’ starting pitcher, saw the start of the game delayed by 43 minutes due to an expected shower that failed to show up, leaving all of us twiddling our thumbs. Then, with two outs in the top of the first inning, a completely different storm system, forecast to be light, arrived in full force.
By the time Tanaka took the mound, the wind-driven rain was pelting the field and its occupants. Just three Indians batted, the last two Cesar Hernandez and Jose Ramirez ripping back-to-back doubles for a run, before the umpires hurried everyone back into safety. Only 15 minutes of baseball had transpired. After a 33-minute delay, Tanaka continued to get hit hard, the four runs marking his worst inning in nine postseason starts.
“That was a little frustrating, obviously,” Boone said. “I felt for Masa to have to go out in those conditions. … It’s one of those I wish we were able to avoid.”
“You get the ball from the umpire and it’s already soaking wet,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “You’re not really able to throw in that situation, I would say. At that moment you’re just kind of trying to not let your concentration go away, trying to focus on the game.” Asked if he thought he lost some concentration, Tanaka acknowledged, “I would say so, yeah, a little bit.”
Attribute the chaos to mistakes at the lake. Apparently it’s awfully difficult to predict how the weather systems will come off Erie. Major League Baseball officials, in consultation with the Yankees and Indians and local and national weather authorities, overestimated the first system and underestimated the second.
Once the Yankees leapt that formidable obstacle, things got really crazy, with the Yankees twice blowing leads until the Indians blew the last one. It rarely comes easy against these Indians, against whom the Yankees have now won three postseason series and lost two.
Boone’s guys reached port safely, though, having outlasted the elements and the enemies. They traveled a long distance in two games’ time. Plenty of distance remains, yet let’s face it: You weren’t sure they’d make it even this far, right? Especially when round one brought them both a quality team and a resourceful river, both now safely in the Yankees’ rearview mirror.
The Link LonkOctober 01, 2020 at 03:19PM
https://nypost.com/2020/10/01/yankees-rediscover-resiliency-in-hard-fought-sweep-of-indians/
Yankees rediscover resiliency in hard-fought sweep of Indians - New York Post
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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