Bleeding Yankee Blue: OCTOBER BASEBALL 2021, NOT 1978

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

OCTOBER BASEBALL 2021, NOT 1978

Source: Associated Press

The drama was set the moment the Yankees dropped two against Tampa, setting up the one day playoff, the modern day Wild Card, in Fenway Park on an early October night in Boston. The Massachusetts Lottery numbers on Tuesday were 1978. Bucky Dent was in the ballpark. Gerrit Cole was on the mound. The stage was set. All the Yankees needed was stability and control. They got just the opposite.

Hanging fastballs, and walks set the tone of the game on Tuesday night. Cole seemed to have lost his command following his recent hamstring strain and it showed. The Yankees Ace was knocked out of the game in the third inning after giving up three earned runs. Things quieted down with the bullpen battery that followed, but the game was getting late and the innings clicked by, putting more and more dramatic twists into an already heightened game.

Chad Green came into the game in the 7th and gave up a double to Alex Verdugo putting the Red Sox up by five, with a lead of 6-1. This performance has been the Yankees Modus Operandi (MO) for 2021: Sloppy pitching and no offense. In 1978, it was just the opposite. Ron Guidry gave the team stability. Reggie Jackson gave the Yankees home runs. And the Yankee lineup produced runs, consistently. Not this team.

The Yankees were not patient at the plate. They did not take pitches and as Alex Rodriguez repeatedly reminded us, when the Yankees draw walks, they win. Instead they came out swinging and overanxious and it did not help them. No walks. No baserunners. No runs.

2021 was a season of twists and turns, failures and victories, and highs and lows. In a word, the Yankees were streaky and it hurt them more than it helped them. The season for this team has come to close with a 6-2 final in Fenway. The drama is now gone. We can say that next season is another opportunity. And that would be true, except...that if the Yankees come in with the same mediocrity, approach, coaching and yes, Gary Sanchez, then it will be the same outcome. Changes need to happen. Many tell me they won't happen. And if that is the case, we are reliving the Don Mattingly years again, a hamster wheel of repeated activity with no forward progress. I for one hope the hamster wheel breaks and we see a different team in 2022. But for now, you can join me at the Hallmark Channel for the rest of the fall. Good night, baseball.