It's not over yet. The fat lady ain't singing yet. We still have a faint pulse.....and we can still tie this series up after all. It's been rough but we pulled it off and WE ARE STILL ALIVE!
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Last night was tough to watch. Going until the bottom of the seventh with no score is just an invitation for a great team like Cleveland to come in and sucker punch you. I was biting my nails and pacing the floors in our home. Thank the baseball gods for the dominating pitching performance from
Masahiro Tanaka last night! We needed that three hit, one walk show from Tanaka. It was a saving grace when Yankee offense looked like it was checking out for the winter already.
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Then
Greg Bird finally gave the Yankees the lift we really needed with that solo home run against
Andrew Miller. Tanaka was doing his part, and Bird finally gave him some support. Bird has taken a lot of heat this year thanks to all of the time on the disabled list. Tonight I was reminded of what we saw back in 2015. Bird showed off in a big way. THAT is the Birdman Yankee brass and fans expect to see.
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Thank goodness all we needed is that ONE RUN because usually that's not enough when you are dealing with Cleveland. I was a nervous wreck when we had to run out for a last minute errand and we were listening to it all go down in the ninth inning on XM Radio. I was sitting in the passenger seat sweating with my eyes closed, head bowed down as if I were praying and I had my fingers and toes crossed.....if
Carlos Santana got a hit against
Aroldis Chapman I was going to absolutely lose my mind in our car.
Thank goodness it didn't and we WILL have a Game 4. But a lot still has to go right if we want to force a game 5.
First things first, mother nature needs to cooperate. The weather for Monday does not look good at all. The bulk of the rain looks to be likely during the morning and early afternoon hours but by game time there is still a 50% chance of rain right now.
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Assuming there is a game and no rain out Luis Severino needs to dominate.
We need our ace tonight, not the guy that pitched one-third of an inning against the Twins in the Wild Card. This time he is on regular rest and I am sure he wants to redeem himself. Tanaka does well on longer rest and that worked well for us but that didn't work well for Severino. We need length from Severino and if he pitches well our offense also needs to show up unlike last night. The odds of Cleveland having a repeat lackluster offense again tonight are basically zero.
No brainer here, but the bats need to come alive again
The Yankee offense has stalled and we got lucky winning a 1-0 game against Cleveland. That was too close for comfort. The bats need to be out and working on overtime tonight.
Aaron Judge and his 0-10 slump needs to end.
Didi Gregorius is only 1-for-11 and
Brett Gardner is 1-for-12. The top of the lineup is especially going to be key for this Yankees offense. They need to set the table and the heart of the order needs to clean house, simple as that because we won't have another 1-0 win against these Indians.
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| Photo: Getty Images |
I wish we weren't behind in this series and I wish
Joe Girardi would've freakin' challenged that hit by pitch on Friday. I know it is foolish to look back but replays suggest that would have been a potentially game-saving strikeout. Who knows if we would've come back and won anyway considering how we really choked that lead away but still....it could've been a difference.
Tonight decides if we go back to Ohio and fight in game five or if we all go home for a long winter's nap. I'm not ready for a nap yet so let's protect the house and win!
--Jeana Bellezza
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