Leaving On That Midnight Train To Boston
WILD CARD
Athletics 2
Yankees 7
FINAL
New York Yankees: Money Ball Goes Belly-Up in the Bronx.
Every so often the Oakland A's write a nice story. But we've literally read their book before, and it always ends the same. Their inability to get over the top has everything to do with ownership's fiscal deprivation. Blame it on their ballpark situation if you must. I say they're bottom five in MLB attendance because they will it. If you're an A's fan, thank goodness Billy Beane has the cashless wherewithal to cyclically build contenders. Otherwise, there's a case for Oakland not deserving to win Wednesday's Wild card game. As Cyndi Lauper once said, "Money changes everything." Oakland's ownership knows this too well as they finish the 2018 season with the second lowest payroll in baseball.
I realize the game is changing. And, yes, in light of their respective stadium situations Tampa and Oakland have been models in achieving more with less. But this pig has lipstick all over it. Why not just give the Wild Card game away. Wednesday night proves positive Oakland's particular manner of operation is pure folly. Isn't it rather embarrassing that a club should resort to starting a relief pitcher in a playoff game due to nothing more than negligence disguised as strategy? I mean no disrespect towards Liam Hendriks, but when you place the post-season hopes of a city (being abandoned by its other sports teams) in the hands of someone who has been claimed off waivers three times, traded twice, and sports a career 4.72 ERA, well ... you reap what you "throw."
Just nine pitches into Liam Hendriks' effort, Aaron Judge renders his decision. Andrew McCutchen leads-off the Yankees first at-bat with a walk. On a 2-1 pitch, Judge rejects Liam's 96-mph fastball, outright, and deposits it into the left field stands. The game essentially ends there.
Oakland's plan to ensure no Yankee batter would face the same pitcher twice failed miserably.
Analytics be damned ...
"We Want Boston!" becomes the anthem of the night.
Yankees starter Luis Severino struggles with command, but does not allow a hit until the fifth. Down 6-0 in the eighth, Khris Davis's two run run homer off Zach Britton proves too little, and way too late. In the bottom half of the frame, Giancarlo Stanton answers right back with a jolt of his own - his first ever postseason home run in his first ever post-season game.
