JUDGE DELIVERS DECISIVE VERDICT
Yankees slugger hits three-run homer to power 8-1 victory, writes Rob Longley.
You didn’t really think the verdict in the ALCS would be that easy, did you?
You didn’t think the Houston Astros would sweep their way past the New York Yankees and into the World Series without some serious deliberation from the Bronx Bombers.
And you didn’t really believe that Aaron Judge wouldn’t have some say in the proceedings.
Well, all rise, because Judge and the Yankees are back in the thick of it after romping to an 8-1 win over the Astros Monday night at Yankee Stadium. The victory cut Houston’s lead in the best-of-seven ALCS to 2-1 with Game 4 on deck Tuesday afternoon.
The Yankees’ young slugger broke it open in the fourth inning with a three-run homer, just his second of the playoffs after belting 52 during the regular season. Judge’s big blast was a line drive over the left-field wall, a fine complement to the threerun blast by Todd Frazier in the second.
Suddenly, a Yankees offence that had scored just two runs total in the first two games in Houston returned to its prolific form and cast aside the doubts of recent days.
Judge still struck out twice, but gave some evidence that his swing is coming around. And equally important, the six-footseven gentle giant made three superb defensive plays out in right field, including one in which the wall literally shook as he robbed the Astros’ Yuli Gurriel of an extra-base hit.
It certainly was a night in which the Yankees did more than just break out offensively in front of a partisan crowd unique in North American sports.
They also delivered a loud message as to why they enjoy one of the best home-field advantages in baseball, one that captured an AL-best 51 wins in the regular season and is now 4-0 here in the playoffs.
It started with a Yankee Stadium special, the Frazier homer that exited swiftly over the notoriously shallow wall in right field. The Yankees seemed quick to seize upon the relief of not having to face Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander who were so good in the Astros’ games 1 and 2 wins back at Minute Maid Park. Obviously falling into an 0-3 hole would have been a disaster, but now the Yankees can even it up with a win in Game 4 Tuesday.
Besides not wavering in his belief that Judge would be heard from before the series was done, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was hopeful a change of scenery — and especially sound — would alter the flow of the series.
The sellout crowd was at its Bronx best and the players seemed to respond.
“I think our fans have a lot to do with that,” Girardi said when asked prior to the game about the team’s regular-season success at home. “I think the way some of our right-handed hitters are built for this ballpark have a lot to do with that. And I think sometimes during the regular season you can use your bullpen different at home than you can on the road.
“So I think that those three things change what we do at home and on the road. And our guys are comfortable. And we know the nooks and crannies of our field.”
There’s also the autumn magic that the Yankees have shown in post-season play over the years.
Case in point in the fourth when Astros left-fielder Cameron Maybin was in clear range of a Greg Bird fly ball down the line, but pulled up a few feet before making the catch.
While the crowds in Houston were terrific, they don’t have the edge that they do in the Bronx, as right-fielder Josh Reddick discovered when he was razzed repeatedly.
The Yankees starting pitching has been stellar in the series and CC Sabathia kept it going on Monday with four strikeouts in the first two innings. Staked to the big lead, Sabathia went six complete allowing just three hits, just the effort his team needed for the no-sweat win.
While Astros starter Charlie Morton had a solid regular season, he wasn’t about to be mistaken for Keuchel or Verlander, who each greeted the Yankees with double-digit strikeouts in their starts.
Morton didn’t make it out of the fourth inning on a night where he allowed six hits and seven earned runs, the perfect vehicle to rouse the Yankees out of their slumber.
The results in Houston aside, this never had the makings of a short series for too many reasons, starting with the fact that the Yankees have already come back from an 0-2 deficit for one series win these playoffs.