October 29, 2025

39 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Judge seizes moment, delivers electrifying HR as Yanks rally for stunning Game 3 win”

  2. I found a Russian stream for the first two games, in the comments they all on about how useless Judge was in the playoffs.
    I kept explaining to them things like sample size and referring them to cases like A-Rod’s.
    Just wait, I kept telling them.
    I wasn’t on that stream last night, but just imagining what they were saying.

    1. I saw a Red Sox fan jokingly trying to argue that the home run made all the singles look even worse.

      He was just joking, of course but that does sound like something someone might actually say.

    2. But of course.
      Funny thing is, had it been Rod Carew or Tony Gwynn, they’d have been gushing over those same singles.

  3. Do people really still believe momentum is a thing in baseball? Flash does. Especially from one game to the next? Sure maybe in the last 5 minutes of a basketball game, but not in baseball.

    1. It’s hard to test. I guess you’d look at dramatic wins and see how often the winners outperform statistical projections (not necessarily by a lot) in the following game or three, but only subsequent games in the same series?
      I can imagine momentum being a genuine psychological thing, just one often overwhelmed by another factor – whoever the pitchers are in the subsequent game(s).

    2. Momentum may not be a thing but I gotta think for the team getting their necks stepped on, there’s some psychological lift players get from clawing back into things. There’s less pressure in the moment for the players who may have been feeling pressure.

    3. Right, as they say, momentum is as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Hopefully, since the Blue Jays are starting Varland, that will mean a good thing.

    2. POOMA is the only one I’ve ever used, besides Jorge is more appropriate here than TOOTBLAN.

    3. Seriously, the tools probably exist to quantify these mishaps and their run value and WPA. I don’t know why the Yankees don’t think fundamentals contribute to winning ballgames, but if someone ran the numbers for them I would hope they could be persuaded. I don’t think they’re aiming for mediocrity, I think the organization is just full of incompetent middle managers and/or nepo babies.

    2. Crazy.
      It’s more that it was way inside – if he had hooked it way foul, it wouldn’t have been that stunning. He had to turn that quickly, bring his arms round that quickly, but keep the bat angled away from himself, I think. Just nuts.

    3. The 2nd pitch was middle high at 100mph with 12 in of drop and 6 inches of arm side run. Judge missed that. The third pitch was high at 100mph with 14 in of drop and 11 inches of arm side run.

      I think that if there wasn’t two strikes, Judge doesn’t swing at that. As it is, he ran even further than the previous one and Judge managed to pull his bat in enough to still square it up. His LA was 35*, that was 8* higher than the next highest base hit.

  6. “The 2nd pitch was middle high at 100mph with 12 in of drop and 6 inches of arm side run. Judge missed that. The third pitch was high at 100mph with 14 in of drop and 11 inches of arm side run.

    I think that if there wasn’t two strikes, Judge doesn’t swing at that. As it is, he ran even further than the previous one and Judge managed to pull his bat in enough to still square it up. His LA was 35*, that was 8* higher than the next highest base hit.”

    Judge mentioned that Stanton had specifically told him to look for that sort of pitch once he had you 0-2, so that was nice of Stanton to actually be useful.

    2. To be fair, Stanton just said up and in fastball. I don’t think anyone expected him to swing at a pitch a foot off the plate.

      Judge, by the way, had a lot of fun in his interview about how everyone tells him to stop expanding the zone, and he wonders if they’re still thinking that now. 😉

    3. Emmm, if by “expanding the zone” he means pitches he’d have to take three steps forward to even reach, then – yes, we’re still thinking that now.

  7. Two thoughts about last night:

    1) When Judge was thrown out between third and home in the third I thought that was it. Typical Yankee BS, really that was a bad play and he had no business being thrown out. Glad I was wrong.

    2) Why in the fuck didn’t Grisham throw home on the Vlad play in the third? the whole play was in front of him and He was already going! He would have been out by quite a bit I think. on replay, it looked like even if Chisholm turned and threw quickly it still would have been close. That’s the kinda shit they do all the time though. Is there a less optimized team in baseball?

  8. From the previous thread via Bryan Hoch.

    Some Statcast on Aaron Judge’s HR: It was off a 99.7 mph pitch that was 1.2 feet inside (vs. the center of the zone). It’s the first time in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), regular season or postseason combined, that a hitter has homered off a 99-plus mph pitch that also was that far inside.

  9. PGold starting. Rice sitting. If you’re going to do that why not Rosario over McMahon? Whatever.

    T Grisham (L) CF
    A Judge (R) RF
    C Bellinger (L) LF
    G Stanton (R) DH
    J Chisholm Jr. (L) 2B
    P Goldschmidt (R) 1B
    A Wells (L) C
    A Volpe (R) SS
    R McMahon (L) 3B

    1. I’m more concerned with Volpe. Righty/lefty matchups means nothing when the guy is striking out literally every time he comes to bat, irrespective of the handedness of the pitcher. I want to somehow root for Volpe somehow actually finally improving, but this is the playoffs.

    3. Dude was playing with a torn shoulder, though. He’s looked a lot better since the cortisone shot. He still sucks, of course, but I don’t think he’s a 657 OPS player. And he’s not as bad of a defender as he looked while playing through the shoulder pain.

  12. Kevin Matheson News: Trey Yesavage will be in the #BlueJays’ bullpen tonight.

    Kevin Gausman will throw a “modified bullpen” today and it would have to be a “very unique” spot for him to pitch in relief, but Yesavage is likelier.

    1. I can’t even begin to imagine which Yankee batter would be at the plate in that “very unique” spot. No clue whatsoever.

  13. Per sources: Bill Belichick has discussed buyout options with North Carolina’s hierarchy. Belichick has signaled a willingness to trigger his own $1 million buyout if he can find a soft landing with another team or in media

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