The MLB Postseason started yesterday, and it couldn’t have gone much worse for people who want the Yankees to lose. But who would want the Yankees to lose? Player haters, that’s who. Just miserable people who are jealous of the franchise’s 27 world titles and impeccable pinstriped uniforms. They should stop hating the players and start hating the game.
Well, right now I hate baseball because the Yankees blew out the Cleveland Indians 12-3 in Game 1 of their American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday night. Not only did presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber allow seven runs in 4.2 innings, but his counterpart and the guy Yankees fans wanted to win the Cy Young, Gerrit Cole, dominated with 13 strikeouts, zero walks, and two runs allowed in 7.0 innings.
Yikes. What a nasty curveball. Maybe that guy is worth all the money the Yankees paid him. The Mets are still getting much better value with Jacob deGrom, though, so I don’t care even though the rest of the Mets rotation is superbad. If only Steve Cohen was a year early.
When the dust cleared on Tuesday, the Yankees, Astros, White Sox, and Rays were all one win away from the ALDS. Chicago’s Lucas Giolito was even better than Cole, as he took a perfect game into the seventh inning, where Tommy La Stella greeted him with a ground ball up the middle to give the Athletics their first baserunner of the game. Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, and Adam Engel all had multiple hits for the White Sox.
The cheating Astros trailed in most of their game in Minnesota as Zack Greinke and Kenta Maeda dueled for 4.0 and 5.0 innings, respectively. The Twins broke through with a Nelson Cruz RBI double in the third before Houston equalized with a three straight two-out singles in the seventh. A great relief effort by Framber Valdez kept the Twins silent until Jose Altuve drew a bases-loaded walk off of Sergio Romo to force in the winning run in the ninth. Michael Brantley followed with a two-RBI single and Houston won 4-1.
I didn’t get to see much of the Blue Jays vs. Rays game, but Blake Snell was dominant with nine strikeouts, two walks, one hit, and no runs allowed in 5.2 innings. Matt Shoemaker and Robbie Ray nearly matched him during the first six innings, but Tampa Bay scored in the fourth when Randy Arozarena tripled and scored on Ray’s wild pitch. Speaking of Ray, we need more team name vs. player last name match-ups. Someone look up if the Twins have a player named Jonathan Astro.
Anyway, Manuel Margot hit a two-run home run in the seventh for Tampa Bay and it cruised to a 3-1 victory. Today, the National League teams open their Wild Card Series while Tuesday’s AL losers try to avoid early elimination.
The postseason action is heating up in baseball, but hockey is all sadness as the Rangers are buying out the remainder of Henrik Lundqvist’s contract.
This guy has been starting between the pipes for the Rangers since 2005. In 2012 he led them to the top record in the Eastern Conference and in 2014 to the Stanley Cup Final. With Hank in goal, the Rangers always had a chance to do something special, but they never put the right combination of scorers together to bring home the Cup during Lundqvist’s tenure, and that’s something all Rangers fans won’t soon forget. Especially for those too young to remember 1994 and for whom Lundqvist is the only starting goalie they’ve ever known, that fact is going to sting.
Thanks for everything, Hank. You’re way too devastatingly good-looking for wear a mask for your whole life, anyway.
Inside Yolk 