Sunday, October 4, 2020

Five games in five days is death to the bullpen. Do the Yankees have an October Surprise?

The weirdest part of this week's series against Tampa, by far, is that both teams will occupy Wall Street the same hotel. This is for safety? Who came up with this plan, Vince McMahon? These teams are one errant fastball away from the benches clearing, and they're going to share elevators? Cooperstown Cashman needs to sign a last-minute slugger. I suggest Ronda Rousey. 

The second weirdest part is the lack of an off-day. (Note: The teams play Monday night then late Tuesday afternoon.) No travel day and, in San Diego, no wash-outs. (It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya, it pours, man, it pours...) Barring a super-spreader breakout - is Amy Conid Barrett coming to the games? -  the teams will play five games in five days - a Bataan death march for the bullpens. Some cocktail napkin implications:

1. One horrible, rotten start in Game One could kill a team. It's Cole v Snell: Both should go six or seven. From there, both managers will use their best bullpen arms - no middle-inning lug nuts. 

2. That puts the pivotal strain onto Game Two: Tanaka v Glasnow. If either goes out early, that team's bullpen will experience a tactical nuclear bomb. 

3. In the 7th-thru-9th, we have Mean Chad Green, Zack Britton and the Water Cannon. Of the three, Britton seems closest to peak fall foliage. (Aroldis will always terrify us; deal with it.) But getting to the 7th... come Ben Heller or High Water - that's a problem. 

4. The key Yankee could be Jordan Montgomery, fifth starter in a normal stretch. If one of our front four - (Dare we subject Deivi Garcia to the task? I guesso...) - gets bounced, Monty needs to give us four or five innings, to save the cavalry.  

5. At some point, Aaron Boone must use Adam Ottavino, the Gary Sanchez of pitchers. It's been a rotten year for Otto. Right now, the sight of him warming up is akin to a Red Flag alert in Sacramento. He didn't pitch against Cleveland. His regular season ERA was a tad below 6.00. On the depth chart, he's one notch above Eric Kratz. But he's savvied and smart, a Brooklyn guy. Barring a quick, three-game exit, Boone will likely try Ottavino - like that experimental drug they're giving Trump - and see what happens? If he's solid, Ottavino would be a huge addition. If he's bad, well, it's just one game.

6. Anybody out there wanna roll the dice on Miguel Yajure? If you check the stats, he's atop the Yankee list, just below Tommy Kahnle's momentary fling with 2020. Miguel is 22, a righty, and in three games this year, most recently against Miami, he's pitched 7 innings and given up only one run. Could he be our October Surprise? (One caveat: The Rays have seen him. On Aug. 31, he threw three scoreless innings against them.)

Of all the above options, I'm sure you'll agree: The best one is Ronda Rousey.

13 comments:

ranger_lp said...

Maybe Ronda can use that arm bar to fix the Yankee arms back into place?

E R E said...

Steve Barnes of Cellino and Barnes was killed in a plane crash!

Rufus T. Firefly said...

"Steve Barnes of Cellino and Barnes was killed in a plane crash!"

Think the next of kin will sue?

JM said...

The bullpen has been a real issue this year. The offense has been a real issue this year. The question we face now is, can the bullpen flip the switch like the offense seems to have done?

The bullpen doesn't have the benefit of regaining regulars who were knocked out by injury. So the comparison might be inaccurate from the get-go. But basically, that's what the Tampa series boils down to.

If the bullpen cannot flip the switch, our season ends up in the ditch.

13bit said...

to the tune of the old Roto-Rooter commercial:

Call Cuban Faucet, that's the name.
And away goes the win, down the drain...

Anonymous said...

Game 1 pivotal for Cole to go 7 (and win). This bullpen can’t hold a 1 run lead for shit. Series is over if we don’t have a 1 game series lead. Everyone has caught up to Green’s fast all. Otto is a hanging slider waiting to happen. Britton has been pitching too much to contact and puts men on at an alarming rate. And Chapman is an automatic run, needs a 2 run lead so he can stare someone down. And Boone LOVES to play mid inning Russian roulet having everyone take a turn coming in with multiple men on base. What a recipe for success! I feel bad for Cole. He is like Good Will Hunting who knows everything and has to watch everyone else fuck it all up.

Anonymous said...

Bullpen rallying cry: It’s a nice day for a...bed wettiiiing. It’s a nice day to...BLOW A SAAAAAVEE!!!!

Anonymous said...

Our bullpen blew two saves and one tie in the same game just a few days ago against the Indians. What will they do against the Tampons? Hope for the best but don't get too excited. Because most probably the Tampons will sweep us in three.

The Hammer of God

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yeah, the senseless "no days off" rule gives TB a huge advantage, something it was probably meant to do. Ludicrous, really—we can't even bring our Game 1 starter back on full rest.

I'd say it makes the Krill-eaters a big favorite in the series, though better we play them best-of-five than best-of-seven.

ranger_lp said...

Only way the Yanks win is to have all the stars lineup. Everything needs to go right. I know most of the board is on board for some, if not all, things to go not right...except for Alphonso...:-)

Anonymous said...

Tampa sweeps. Sorry--but it's a far superior organization, and it will show in this matchup.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon Agreed, the gulf in the level of play b/w us and them is like the diff b/w a minor league team and a major league team. Pray for a miracle.

The Hammer of God

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