2020 MLB postseason thread

Yup. This is different feeling squad, for sure.

 

If this comes down to Yankees, Astros, Dodgers and Braves, so help me Tebow, I'm going to go down in the basement and bring up the styrofoam tomahawks.

 

The White Sox are feeling worse than they were a week ago. The Oakland Z’s are going to lose to the Astros.

 

Boy the A's bats are cold. Never say never (Giants v. Dusty in 2012).

 

Their lineup is terrible. I know he hit a home run today, but I can't say I like a team's chances with Chad Pinder batting third.

 

Gotta tell ya: I had never heard of Chad Pinder until today. He did hit one to Pasadena today, though.

 

I'm curious what everyone thinks of the Yankees using Deivi Garcia as an opener in Game 2 and yielding to Happ in the second inning.

On one hand, I think it was kind of brilliant. The Rays literally sent out nine left-handed batters against the Red Sox earlier this season, so by starting Garcia and then bringing in Happ, the Yankees didn't allow the Rays to even think about that.

On the other hand, with a 1-0 series lead, I hate pitching Happ (with a 5.00 postseason ERA) ahead of Tanaka, who had never allowed more than three runs in a series until last week's blowup at Cleveland and still sports a 2.70 postseason ERA.

I guess Tanaka only gets one game either way and they figure by doing it this way maybe Garcia starts Game 4?

 

Oh, and that second Stanton home run was absolutely destroyed.

 

'You were right to be concerned about Happ, who gave up four runs in less than three innings tonight.

 

I'm guessing we've seen the last of Mike Clevinger for a while. He was pulled from tonight's start in the second inning because there was a big drop in his velocity. Given that he had missed time with an elbow strain, that can't be good.

Padres' Mike Clevinger exits NLDS start vs. Dodgers with injury after just 24 pitches

 

I still remember when Kerry Wood missed all that time down the stretch of his rookie year then pitched against the Braves in the playoffs. He pitched OK but nothing like how he looked earlier in the rear.

Then right at the beginning of 1999 spring training — pop!

Seems like that might be in Mr. Clevinger’s future.

 

I did post this question here after Happ spit the bit, so it wasn't any great prognostication, but I did call my dad in the second inning to ask WTF they were doing.

I didn't care for it from the start, but I was curious about others' reactions to it and I was trying to talk through the rationale. A bad result doesn't necessarily mean a bad strategy.

I think they wanted to lead a Happ game with Garcia to prevent the lefty stacking by the Rays. I think they figured if they were going to go that route, it was better to do it early to maximize Garcia's availability later in the series.

All of that said, I'd rather give Tanaka a chance to give them a 2-0 lead without much pressure in Game 2, and let games 3 and 4 play out however they do, knowing that I have Cole for Game 5 in my back pocket. If the Yankees don't come back tonight, Tanaka faces a near must-win situation as they will likely have to bullpen Game 4.