See the moment an MLB superstar showed up to play backyard wiffle ball
Kansas City Royals catcher, Salvador Perez, stops to join a group of kids in a backyard game of wiffle ball in Kansas City, Kansas.
USA Today
NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole has a simple assignment Tuesday night in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series: Maintain his postseason track record against Cleveland – and try to bury the Guardians before the venue shifts west.
Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner now in his fourth postseason as a Yankee, will aim to extend his perfect playoff mark against Cleveland and lift the Yankees to a 2-0 ALCS lead.
Cole, 34, comes into Game 2 with a 4-0 record and 1.98 ERA in five starts against Cleveland, dating to 2018, when Cleveland had a different nickname and Cole was a Houston Astro. But several patterns favor the Yankees Tuesday night: New York has prevailed in five of its last six playoff series against Cleveland, dating to a 1998 ALCS conquest on the way to a World Series title.
The Guardians hope to stop the bleeding after a 5-2 Game 1 loss with right-hander Tanner Bibee, their No. 1 starter on a bullpen-reliant club. But Bibee needs to at least get past five innings to allow the Guardians’ high-leverage arms to align; the lone bright spot of their Game 1 loss was a night off for relief stars like rookie Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games of the Division Series.
Cleveland did add an arm to its stable Tuesday: Right-hander Ben Lively was added to the roster as an injury replacement for Game 1 starter Alex Cobb, who suffered a lower back strain before he exited in the third inning. Cobb, though, is now out for the year as he’s ineligible for the World Series roster after getting subbed out in the middle of this series.
Follow along for updates from Tuesday’s game:
NEW YORK — The Cleveland Guardians are in a 3-0 hole two innings into Game 2. They’ve already burned their best reliever to avoid total disaster. And they are facing notorious Cleveland-killer Gerrit Cole.
See you in The Land?
It’s starting to feel that way after the Yankees kept the pressure on Cleveland with a two-run second inning, sparked by three consecutive hits off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. Bibee got the inning’s first out but then issued an intentional walk to Juan Soto to load the bases for …. Aaron Judge?
Yeah, the Guardians said bring on the presumed AL MVP, as they countered with their relief ace, rookie Cade Smith, who only gave up a sacrifice fly to Judge and escaped further damage.
But perhaps enough has been done to send this American League Championship Series back to Ohio with the Yankees leading 2-0.
NEW YORK — After one game, it was clear the Cleveland Guardians needed to play clean baseball and allow their starting pitchers a chance to flourish if they were to hang with the New York Yankees in this ALCS.
Three batters into Game 2, they’d already failed.
A popup that Aaron Judge hit nearly straight up into the air kept drifting on Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio, until he drifted across the middle of the diamond tracking it. Then, he got a little too casual and botched the catch.
And gifted the Yankees an unearned run.
Leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres doubled, moved to second on Juan Soto’s single and then scored when Rocchio’s hatchet job squirted away for an error.
It proved costlier when starter Tanner Bibee retired Giancarlo Stanton on a foul out and struck out Anthony Volpe, making the run unearned.
Bibee, the Guardians’ nominal ace, has not completed five innings in either of his postseason starts. And Rocchio’s gaffe in part forced him to burn 27 pitches in the first inning Tuesday.
Not what they wanted.
- Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
- Juan Soto (L) RF
- Aaron Judge (R) CF
- Austin Wells (L) C
- Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
- Anthony Volpe (R) SS
- Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
- Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Starter: Gerrit Cole
- Steven Kwan (L) LF
- Kyle Manzardo (L) DH
- José Ramírez (S) 3B
- Josh Naylor (L) 1B
- Lane Thomas (R) CF
- Will Brennan (L) RF
- Andrés Giménez (L) 2B
- Bo Naylor (L) C
- Brayan Rocchio (S) SS
Starter: Tanner Bibee
- Location: Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York
- Date: Tuesday, Oct. 15
NEW YORK – Before the biggest start of his life, Carlos Rodón utilized the resources that come with being a New York Yankee.
And then he justified the significant investment New York has placed in his burly left arm.
Monday night at Yankee Stadium, Rodón lived up to the expectations the Yankees levied upon him when he signed a six-year, $162 million contract before the 2023 season. Two seasons of injury-plagued, erratic, 4.74-ERA teeth-gnashing were all but forgotten with every swing and miss by a Cleveland Guardian, every zero hung on the scoreboard.
And in Game 1 of this American League Championship Series, Rodón not only joined this postseason party burgeoning in the Bronx, but showed he may be a significant reason why the Yankees just might hang World Series banner No. 28.
NEW YORK – Anthony Volpe has one playoff series worth of experience, but he spoke like an old hand about the Yankees’ October reality.
Entering the ALCS at Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Guardians, Volpe said the Yankees are “in a really good spot.”
“But at the same time, I don’t think we have played our best baseball yet.’’
Having grown up a Yankees fan in New Jersey and Manhattan, Volpe isn’t that far removed from being a kid in the stands for playoff games in the Bronx.
Those October games “were the highlights of the whole season,’’ said the Yankees’ sophomore shortstop.
“What makes it a lot better for me now is, as a fan, you always circle October and maybe wait to go to a big game or something like that,’’ said Volpe. “But I don’t think you really appreciate all the stuff it takes to get there.” – Pete Caldera, NorthJersey.com
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