December 21, 2024

49 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Freeman wins Game 1 with 1st walk-off slam in WS history”

    1. Well, yes, but they did that in the first 2 postseason series as well. They specifically lost game 1 because, in addition to bad defense and poor clutch hitting, Boone brought in Cortes instead of Hill and pinch ran for Torres. His horrible decisions have continued into the World Series but are likely going to be more consequential given the stronger opponent.

    2. They also lost because the Yankees pen is not deep enough to pull Cole after 8 pitches and Waldo could not make a play that Gleyber would’ve and Cortes who was a blunder so bad that even the whole YES crew killed Boone over it.

    3. I don’t think anyone makes that Edman play.

      The Nestor move was insane, but really, the biggest problem was that Cousins sucked. You could bring the best pitcher on the team in in that role, and they’re still only a single away from a tie game because Cousins was bad.

      But yes, bringing in Nestor was ludicrous.

    4. Very true. Replacing Cole with Holmes was basically as dumb as the other moves, it just luckily didn’t cost him that inning.

      And I don’t know, I think Gleyber would have gotten to it and gotten the force. Cabrera overshot it with his dive. Regardless, it was a pointless use of Dominguez in that situation and actively reduced his flexibility in the game.
      I find it humorous that their best hitter off the bench this postseason hasn’t actually gotten to hit. Classic Boone!

    5. I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hated the pinch running also because, like, Gleyber is a dumb baserunner and all, but the dude isn’t really SLOW. I mean, what the FUCK? It would be like pinch-running for, like, Verdugo or some shit.

    6. Gleyber *is* pretty slow; he was 30th percentile in sprint speed this year (so was Verdugo, as it happens). But yeah, still hated the PR decision.
      – Marginal speed improvement (Jasson is +1 ft/s vs Gleyber, for 64th percentile).
      – Already 2 outs, so realistically only one AB where you could benefit from the small speed boost, at the cost of one of your good hitters, who’s been great in the postseason so far.
      – That one AB is Judge (or Stanton, if Judge walks/gets HBP), where the odds of a hit being for extra bases is much higher, making the PR irrelevant.
      – Burn *two* bench players because Oswaldo needs to come in to play 2B, so an even more expensive opportunity cost if you need to PR for someone slower later.

    2. They also had some really good plays – the Verdugo over-the-wall catch, 2 sharp plays by Volpe, that catch by Judge.

  4. Team chemistry didn’t do it for the Mets.
    Boone is a heavy burden to carry, we know that.
    They did some great stuff today – Cole, Jazz, Stanton.
    They were hurt this game more than the other team with insane bad calls, in my view.
    BUT:
    *Bringing in Holmes late and with a lead is EXACTLY what we thought even BOONE had
    *Pinch hitting for an infield with reasonable speed with an outfield who not only doesn’t have top-shelf speed, but who you don’t plan to actually play, was nuts.
    *At least two unforgiveable walks, some terrible fielding, walk that brought Ohtani to the plate in the first place was insane.
    *Wildly inconsistent fielding, from Verdugo early (granted, he made a great play later, but still) to Soto.
    *(I won’t mention taking out Cole – clearly most of you guys thought he was weakening, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give him AT LEAST that inning.)

    1. AND YET… if Judge had simply started hitting at least normally, none of that would have mattered today.
      They had multiple chances to break this open.
      (Hell, if Wells had come out of his ridiculous funk… !!)

  5. When Yankee hitters slump, they slump like I’ve never seen. They don’t hit badly – they simply stop hitting, period – for months. And it’s all of them.
    It’s not normal. There’s got to be a reason for it.

  6. The announcers are so bad, they’re almost – almost! – as bad as the umpires. And the umpires are so bad, they’re almost – almost! – as bad as Boone’s in-game managing.
    Almost.

  8. LAD -136/NYY +129 tonight. Uphill fuckin’ climb.

    Now a 70% chance LAD wins the series. 40% chance in 5 or 6. About a 14% chance Yanks pull it out in 7.

  9. Eric Hosmer This is to high level of a game for Carlos Torres to be working the plate, let alone working. He’s an awful umpire, he’s terrible to work with and hasn’t earned anything ❗️

    Can’t keep missing these pitches. 0-1 versus 1-0 huge difference let alone with a guy like Juan Soto at the plate. It’s to long of a road for these teams to get here, to much on the line and we can’t have it❗️

  10. If we had the Dodger’s pen or Cleveland’s pen I would’ve pulled Cole, but with our pen and 3 starters to follow who won’t go more than 5, I’d want to milk our ace. He threw98 to the last batter he faced. I might leave it up to him. It could’ve been worse, Holmes was all over the
    place and that bunt bailed him out. 88 pitches for Cole is nothing.

    1. Whether or not you keep Cole in (I wasn’t ready to pull him yet by any means), bringing in Holmes in a blown-save situation was… the one thing even Boone should have learned from this year not to do.

    2. The Yankees pen is solid though, it’s not used optimally, but it’s not a weakness.

      In a game full of massively impactful mismanagement, IDK how you get stuck on pulling a non-dominant Cole at ~90 pitches.

    3. Agree, not making a big deal of pulling Cole. Who they pulled him for, though, was problematic.

    4. It’s not a weakness but it’s not great and it’s not deep (Leiter, Mayza, Stroman, Cousins) and it will see plenty of action in the next 3 or 4 games.

    1. I thought about that in the moment. I think you can go either way, pushing him removes him from availability today, but does make a win more likely.

  14. Is it me, or was Rizzo supposed to be closer to the action on the Ohtani double ? An errant throw or a bobble and he could have been in position to back up. Instead, what I saw was him come into the picture way late after the base was lost.

    Is there any reason he should be standing by the 1B bag just watching ?

    Still Soto’s fault, x3 (I think he might have had a play on the ball at the wall, he clearly muffed it in his glove, then a suboptimal throw)

    2. But Gleyber could have done ANYTHING besides lazily swiping at the ball. Even if he just hadn’t even attempted to catch the ball, it would have gone to one of the people back the throw up.

    3. Clay, that’s true, but it’s not a “But…” it’s an “Also, …”
      Gleyber ALSO screwed up on that play. Doesn’t affect the potential criticism of Rizzo.

  15. From the ‘Dodgers are so awesome file’, Yankees version. First Judge in issue #1, now Rizzo in issue #2. Can’t wait for issue #3.

    Saw Anthony Rizzo’s comments.

    Can you imagine Derek Jeter talking about a “great opening act” after a loss?

    And that was the locker room discussion?

    I am already envisioning them talking about the awesome experience if they lose the series.

    https://x.com/mryclept/status/1850197927483900357

  17. From Craig Calcaterra:

    I suppose the biggest difference is that in 1988 Tony La Russa used his absolute best pitcher against Kirk Gibson while Aaron Boone used a non-reliever who hadn’t pitched in a month to face Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman with the game on the line. Whoops.

    Hilarious.

    1. Maybe have Soto play some first base.

      But I can see the negotiations with Boras. Hey, my guy was a Gold Glove finalist (maybe he even wins). He wants to stay in the OF. What’re the Yankees gonna say? Boras comes back, up the offer by $7 million per year and he’ll consider it, in a few years.

  22. Kirschner A day later, Aaron Boone said he felt going to Nestor Cortes was the right call. He did wrestle with leaving Luke Weaver in. He also said Gerrit Cole was done when he pulled him. Wouldn’t say why he was done but he’s healthy.

    1. Really? He felt like he move he made was the right move?
      Stop the presses. Great interview that must have been.

    2. The only important question here, of course, is: what do we do so that NEXT time he DOESN’T think that the worst possible move is the right move?

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