Cam Schlittler (#31, 24, RHP, 4-3, 2.96) vs. Connelly Early (#71, 23, LHP, 1-2, 2.33)
RED SOX
LF Jarren Duran L
SS Trevor Story R
3B Alex Bregman R
DH M. Yoshida L
CF C. Rafaela R
1B N. Lowe L
C C. Narvaez R
RF Wilyer Abreu L
2B R. Gonzalez R
YANKEES
CF T. Grisham L
RF Aaron Judge R
LF C. Bellinger L
DH G. Stanton R
1B Ben Rice L
3B Amed Rosario R
2B J. Chisholm L
SS A. Volpe R
C Austin Wells L
Obviously, I assumed that the Yankees would lose this series, but that estimation was based on the Yankees losing the first two games. Now that they’ve made it to Game 3, I still assume they’ll blow it (especially since their bullpen is pretty tired, meaning that we will likely see Luke Weaver and Camilo Doval in this game, plus a very tired Fernando Cruz, Devin Williams, and David Bednar), but it’s definitely a weird situation now, as both teams are using untested rookies, and, well, when the fuck have you seen THAT happen before?! It’s a 24 year old against a 23 year in a fucking elimination game! Crazy times. I still have to assume the Red Sox will kick Schlittler’s ass, and that Early will dominate the Yankees, but who the fuck knows?
One thing I DO know is that I put up a lineup I would use, and Boone is using it exactly, so I guess I’m just a moron. Too bad for me.
How late will it be until the Yankees get Early?
Brian, they say God doesn’t test us in ways we can’t overcome. We’re with you, brother!
And on the same metaphysical note, it has just occurred to me that the most obvious giveaway that the world is an artificial artistic construct is that somewhere in a registry Dock Ellis is listed as: “Ellis, D.”
Lot of Red Sox money has come in. BOS only +135 now.
I don’t like that at all.
Cubs just hit two batters in the top of the ninth inning in a 3-1 game.
Two outs now, the two hit batsmen are now at second and third as the possible tying runs.
However, the Padres have their #9 hitter at the plate (if they were playing the Yankees, they’d be walking him).
After allowing a home run, two outs, but runners on 2nd and 3rd – so tying runs in scoring position.
Crazy 9th!
Cubs hold on to win the series.
Tough play on the slow ground ball.
Overthrowing a bit?
A little bit.
Do NOT like this 2-0 pitch coming.
EDITED TO ADD: Can’t believe Story took that pitch.
Stop missing by so goddamn much!
Please pick up Rice, Cam.
And he did. Hell of a first inning, and only two extra pitches after the error.
Dot on the corner. Was that the 5th pitch to hit triple digits that inning?
I still wish that the balls weren’t so ridiculously far out of the strike zone.
But good so far, yes.
You have to hope that that was just first inning nerves, and he’ll be closer the rest of the game.
You have to HOPE because it won’t actually happen. 😉
How do you take that pitch, Grisham?! Why does he keep taking strike three?!
Not a promising start.
And the ump even gave Grisham a gift ball call.
By the way, why can’t Rice bat third, and Belli fifth?
Well, that was about as bad of a start as you could have. Hopefully Cora plans to pull him no matter what after a few innings, so his miniscule pitch count won’t be as much of a factor.
I think you’re used to thinking of managers as morons, which would be understandable. Cora may suffer from a Houstonian lack of integrity, but he is no moron.
Eight pitches? The new Rowson philosophy.
8 pitches. Way to make him work.
Also, wouldn’t you take pitches to get a look at what he has?
Reminder Grisham hit 182 against LHPs this season. I might’ve put Cabby in the OF.
Boone is stuck in his usual rut.
Yankees in a hurry to make outs. You never faced the guy, why not take some pitches?
I guess the book on him is to be aggressive early. They might want to re-read that book.
You’re presuming the Yankee staff knows how to read.
Back to throwing balls to the guy who is one of the hardest hitters in baseball to walk. Awesome.
Just throw strikes, please, I’m begging you, dude.
Amen.
Swung at ball four. Phew.
Lowe is under team control through next season! The Nationals just gave him away for nothing!! It still infuriates me.
Well schlittled.
Narvaez never caught Schlittler, right?
STOP THROWING BALLS!
First was close, second was a blown call on a strike.
I fear this 2-0 pitch so much.
Phew.
Remember, Cam, the more pitches you throw, the more likely it is that Mark fucking Leiter is going to get into this fucking game.
Fried gave up NOTHING; the minute he was out of the game, the win was wrenched from him.
Schlittler should remember that. Stay in the game.
He’s got to get some very quick innings to make up for this stuff.
LUG!
Something.
Good.
Nice to see Stanton show up! However, they’re going to need two hits to score him from second.
Hanging sinker, and he takes it. Sweeper in the dirt, he swings at. Not a great at-bat, Ben!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful at-bat by Rice. Just disguistingly bad.
Jusg GD, but – what they hell was he swinging at?
Unlike him. Weird.
Rosario is here to hit lefties, and so far, he can’t hit lefties. Not good.
Guys are just overpowering Rosario.
They sure do hate RISPs, huh?
Like usual, Jazz is just lost at the plate. Early only has to get CLOSE and Jazz will swing.
Ah, the classic batter timeout that does nothing.
It might not do nothing. Generally, it seems to herald a strikeout.
How are they STILL taking that sinker?!
At least that was 23 pitches thrown in that inning.
Good pitcher vs Yankees. Predictable.
And yes, terrible play by Stanton to not hustle out of the box. He was lucky not to be thrown at second.
You have to stop starting guys off with balls, Schlittler. All of your stuff plays best when you’re ahead in the count. It’s infuriating.
Just when it seemed the balls were looking less uselessly far from the zone
So many fucking balls. You’re annihilating your pitch count, dude!
Will Warren first one up?
Bizarre. Boone better not pull Schlittler until he is d-u-n done.
Duran is the guy you HAVE to start with a strike. So it’s good that he did.
As you saw, Duran is the type of guy that you can overpower if you get ahead of him in the count. You can’t do that with Story or Bregman (or Yoshida when he is hot, which he annoyingly is right now).
5 K’s in 9 outs.
Pretty, pretty good.
I’m not sure why PGold didn’t start. They are not pitching a bullpen game.
This way you can use Goldy late, and also as a possible defensive replacement.
Ah, more prime time RISP Fail upcoming.
Wow, look at Mr. Optimistic thinking that they’re going to get a runner into scoring position again!
STOP TAKING STRIKES!!
Omigod, that Wells at-bat was insane. What are they fucking doing taking all of these fucking strikes?!!?
Another shut out or lose game
Come on, Judge, this is your fucking moment.
I guess I should have specified “to do something good,” and not “to come up small like you always do in the playoffs.”
Judge a career 215 post season batter
If you’re a halfway decent pitcher, this team can’t do ANYthing against you.
That’s why they really need to sign Tucker.
Huge, huge inning for Schlittler with the heart of the Red Sox order up.
What the hell is it with Judge not even taking a few pitches?
Get comfortable, see some pitches, make him throw. Who is supposed to be scared of whom in your at bats, guy?
They’ve definitely been told to be aggressive with Early. It has been pretty bad advice so far.
Stop throwing balls so far out of the zone they serve zero purpose!
Just stop it.
Stop it.
Don’t do it anymore.
Do the other thing, not that.
Like there, Bregman is a smart hitter. I can’t knock him for being aggressive. It just worked out for the Yankees.
I hope that the Tigers drive up Bregman’s price a lot to the Red Sox.
Man, locked in Yoshida is fucking annoying. I much prefer “Can barely get him into the lineup because he’s so lost” Yoshida.
I prefer “can’t get him into the line-up because his team is home watching the Yankees play the next round” Yoshida.
And that at-bat showed what I was mentioning earlier. When Yoshida is hot, you can’t overpower him with two strikes like you can a lesser hitter.
10 pitch inning. I’ll take it.
PGold could’ve had 2 ABs already
Grisham got a hit last inning.
“Maybe he’ll stop throwing the sinker over the plate this at-bat.”
How about the idea of Bellinger coming OUT of his slump sometime soon?
Never happening.
Even here, it was just a terrible Rafaela play, not Belli actually coming through.
Ugh. Why would you ever swing at a pitch that low?
Another leadoff double. So RISP. That’s good for the Yankees, right?
Stanton being late on middle fastballs is CONCERNING.
After he dominated Rice last time, I can’t complain too much about that walk there.
Remember, Rice also LOVES to ground into double plays.
Hit em in their gloves
Yep, eventually he’ll stop throwing that same pitch for a strike. Definitely keep taking them dumbasses!
Second straight embarrassment of Rice. I don’t think you could have reasonably predicted that, though, so I think it’s hard to give Boone too much shit over starting Rice over Goldy.
Showed you, no double play there!
He seldom looks as terrible as he’s looked against this kid today.
They actually went out and got a guy like Rosario, which was such a novel thing for Cashman to do, and it paid off on that single.
Unluckily for the Yankees, they have Jazz up here now.
They’ll need two more hits to get Stanton in from third.
Cora is too smart to pull Early. Grrr.
The Yankees MUST absolutely DOMINATE the record books in the category of “base hits with two men on that don’t score anyone.”
And you can’t pinch run for Stanton. So this is annoying.
Phenom!
I STILL wouldn’t pull Early if I was Cora. And he smartly doesn’t.
Cora really is good at this shit.
Not sure if conservative baserunning is bad coaching or fuckup prevention.
Good take
Nice.
Flip that, Mr. Narvaez.
Wait, what happened?
Said it wasn’t inteference.
That’s so fucking weird.
I STILL leave him in for Grisham.
Oh, is that NOT interference?
Lowe trying to make Brian few better.
LOL!
Was that a pity strike?
Like I said, I love that the Nationals gave the Red Sox Lowe.
I’ll take it.
Yeah, NOW is when I would pull Early.
Although I wouldn’t use Slaten, who Judge has hit well over the years.
Now would be a good time for Judge to be MVP.
Was that shit on purpose?!
Was it?
Oh my god, Belli, on the FIRST FUCKING PITCH?!!?
Seriously Clay
Kick his ass, Jidge
Cora made the right call to stick with Early. It just didn’t work out because of the error.
I feel like we have the codies.
Is there a cody shot?
How many of those runs will they give back this inning?
They’ll be lucky to get to the sixth tied.
Let’s see if Schlittler can be unlike every other Yankee starter and actually handle being given a lead.
Of course he has to give up a leadoff hit right way. OF COURSE he does.
1986??
Omigod, throw strikes throw strikes throw strikes.
STOP throwing balls NOWHERE NEAR the zone.
Not cool.
Uncool.
Not cool therein.
Don’t do it.
Stop doing it.
If you think of doing it, throw that thought away.
And do something that is not that.
Stop with the foul balls.
Wow, Narvaez was such a pain in the ass in that at-bat. Glad they got the K.
And the Yankees let them have him for (thus far) nothing!
Okay.
I can’t even imagine who Boone’s gonna use other than Devin and Bednar.
Bop, I envy you your lack of imagination.
This is Boone we’re talking about. He has Denny Neagle on a plane right now.
Ugh, that is so annoying.
You NEED to not have Story up as the tying run, Cam.
Ok
Attaboy, Cam!
Also, what the fuck is a swing?! I STILL don’t know.
Okay, Cam for the sixth, and if the score holds, I guess you use Weaver for the seventh? I don’t like it, but what are the alternatives? Cruz for a third game in a row?
The ONLY alternative is to put a lot of runs on the board.
Let’s see what the next inning is like. Schlittler could conceivably get through 2 innings still.
“The ONLY alternative is to put a lot of runs on the board.”
Yeah, fair point.
Schlittler isn’t even going to get enough time to go to the john. Why wouldn’t you take some fucking pitches, guy?!
What is this philosophy, three straight hitters swinging first pitch. Don’t you want to give Schlittler a break?
I think Boone is going to smartly keep Rosario out there in case they need him to bat against a lefty late. I approve.
Rosario gave him a SLIGHT breather, at least.
Yankees making Boston’s middle inning relievers into Mo.
Slaten has some legit talent. No excuse for them making Justin Wilson, Zack Kelly, and others look good.
I see I gave Boone too much credit. McHahon in NOW and not to hit off of the righthanded reliever?! Boone is still a moron.
I think he might come to regret that move.
How is it only the end of the 5th?
Thank god Story didn’t get to hit with the bases loaded.
Shiite.
I’ll take the trade of Story for Bregman at first base (plus the out, of course).
Volpe’s saved a couple of bad throws.
He did an amazing job on the Devin Williams throw last night.
Yoshida has been on fire, so this is a TOUGH at-bat.
0-2 doesn’t seem to matter against a locked in Yoshida.
But Cam was locked-inner! What a big K.
Don’t waste pitches so far out of the strike zone Cam!
Oh?
Why do they keep throwing balls to Rafaela?!!?
If he can get the third out soon, no reason he can’t go another inning
WOW, what a big boy fucking K that was.
Yeah, at this point, what you do is have Schlittler at least START the seventh, and have Hill ready to come in if a lefty is up.
This is one time I’m happy to say todja! 😉
What an inning.
You know what would be nice here? Tons o’ runs.
You’re up four now, Jazz, so you can have your low leverage home run.
And the geniuses in Tampa thought Winans was the guy.
*T*Y*M* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Schlittler shouldn’t come out of this game at fucking gunpoint.
Cam motherfucking Schlittler.
Yeah, I think you have to let him at least START the eighth,
More runs would be nice, too.
That’s it. Give the pen a clean eighth. You can’t ask for anything more from the guy.
What a performance.
But I’m not sure. His velo seemed to be coming down a bit towards the end, no?
Probably shouldn’t tell my wife how much I am enjoying the Cam show.
Just fucking score
In a normal situation, of COURSE you pull him here to give Williams a clean inning. But this will be Williams’ third game in a row, so it’s a less obvious call.
At least Judge hit it hard.
HOLY SHIT, BELLI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!?
If you keep making one pitch outs, why wouldn’t you STOP swinging first pitch?!
Nobody has better middle relief than Boston.
BELLINGER, DAMMIT!
I don’t like that Weissert will get the win when Devin Williams blows it in the eighth.
This so unlike Boone, but I’m here for it.
Jeterian
McGoddamnMahon!
Holy shit, what a play!
This is really gonna hurt.
Cam motherfucking Schlittler.
Holy Schlittler!
Can we bring back Mo for the next half inning?
Schlitter dominated the Red Sox like the democratically elected parliament in 1938 Vienna.
Better’n Rags and Red Ruffing? Good lord.
Bednar with a four run lead, just what he hates. Awesome.
Now that is some truly masterly complaining.
Of course he had to start with a ball.
How are these f*ing cheaters still in baseball and unpunished?
This is just going to be so brutal.
Aaaaaaaaaaand that was a strike and the umpire screwed it up.
Don’t go to 3-2 on the leadoff batter in the ninth inning with a four run lead.
You don’t have to convince me!
But that doesn’t mean it’s okay for the umpire to get it wrong.
Are you fucking KIDDING me, Bednar?!
If you’re a NY Post headline writer you have to be doing everything in your power to instigate a physical confrontation between Schlittler and someone in the stands.
You’re up four runs, a home run is effectively the same as a walk. DON’T WALK, DUDES.
Schlittler: 8 IP, 0 BB
Closer: walks the first guy he sees
Nice pitch!
Of course Bednar can recover.
Yeah, I wasn’t TOO concerned, it was more stupid that worrisome, ya know?
Out-fucking-standing.
I did say they had the advantage in the last 2 games.
But wow. I’ll see you’re Crochet and raise you a Schlittler!
That was fantastic.
Love these tense series, love fighting off Boston and sending them home!
Let’s fucking go
The other guy got fucked by his defense. We could still be 0-0.
He didn’t get fucked for 4 runs, maaaaybe 2.
Gotta say Boone wasn’t the anchor you generally expect him to be this series.
He was a massive, leaden anchor in game 1. At least 4 things the world was raking him over the coals for.
Game two didn’t really have anything for him to screw up, only little things.
I love the smell of blanking the Townies in the morning.
Schlittler was awesome!
Schlittler was, indeed, absolutely awesome.
I’m going to presume that’s his baseline level going forward.
Naturally.
I’m overseas and Just woke up. What did I miss? 🙂
I’m overseas and just didn’t sleep to watch this
FanDuel price for the series:
NYY -156
TOR +132
I think Stanton’s already drunk.
Props to Weissert for helping stabilize McMahon after he fell into the dugout.
That really was super cool of him. Not TOO helpful as to help him make the catch (so he wasn’t fucking over his own team), but JUST helpful enough to help McMahon. He did it perfectly.
The Standells
https://x.com/cam32schlittler/status/1973965198223683985?s=61&t=fhOaqwtc8q2TMSXUDRjPeg
Cam Schlittler said it was “personal for me” to beat the Red Sox after hearing chirping from Boston fans. “There was a line they crossed a little bit. I’m a competitor. I’m gonna go out there and make sure I shut them down.”
Gotta hand it to Boone for once. Like all you can eat taco night, he sent the Sox home with a full on case of the Schlitz
Yay win!
I was talking to my brother a month or so ago about how Cam Schlittler reminded me of Cole. When I heard he was getting the game 3 start over Gil it was more of “well, duh” to me than anything, but I STILL thought Boone would find a way to blow it. I guess all it takes is your starter going 8 shutout innings to Boone-proof a game.
Given the context, this was one of the most impressively-pitched games I’ve ever seen. (Well, I don’t actually watch the games anymore, just the condensed games, but you get the idea.) The 2026 rotation is looking pretty, pretty good.
I was just a little concerned with leaving him out there past 100 pitches if only for the potential injury risk, but hopefully there are no long-term consequences. Certainly winning a postseason series is worth the risk.
The game they referenced was the Clemens 2000 ALCS game, and, well, that was better than this. I’ve NEVER seen a better postseason game by a Yankee than that Clemens game. Dude almost threw a fucking perfect game in a playoff game!
But yes, that this is even CLOSE to that is amazing, as Clemens was, like, a five-time Cy Young winner by that time, ya know?
Clemens followed that up with 8 shutout innings in his next start…so here’s hoping Cam can do that too.
as noted above using Cam instead of Gil was in hindsight a brilliant decision. Gotta give Boone some credit? And leaving him in – maybe he learned from his idiotic decision in game 1?
“Learned” – more like the quote about Boone’s “reactionary” (hate that misuse of the word, but it’s now common parlance) managing in this series. After the world’s reaction to his NOT leaving in Fried.
In this case, we reacted him into the right move, so – good for us!
Next time, of course, he’ll react himself into something idiotic again, so don’t get used to it.