What a relief!
Judge: Rays prepared Yanks for bullpen game
The A’s made official Tuesday what many had predicted nearly as soon as they had clinched a wildcard berth: They’re going to use an opener and go with a bullpen game in Wednesday’s do-or-die matchup against the Yankees.
As unusual as that is — especially in the playoffs — the Yankees are confident they are better equipped than most to deal with the possibility of seeing nothing but relievers.
“We’ve been doing it all year against Tampa,’’ Aaron Judge said of the pitching scenario made popular out of necessity by the Rays. “It’s nothing new [for us]. The experience does help us out a little bit. We play Tampa so many times, and if it’s not [Blake] Snell pitching, they’re usually coming with an opener and I’m seeing four or five pitchers a game. Just having that experience is gonna help us out.”
The Yankees saw it twice on their most recent visit to Tampa Bay, when Rays manager Kevin Cash went with four pitchers on Sept. 24 and six pitchers three days later.
Though the Yankees won both games, Judge admitted it impacted his approach at the plate.
“I think the whole pen is gonna pitch and it’s gonna be matchup after matchup after matchup,’’ Judge said. “You’ve just got to watch video on everybody and be prepared for everybody.”
The right fielder closed the regular season going just 9-for-41 with one homer, two doubles and 15 strikeouts after coming back from a chip fracture in his right wrist.
Again on Tuesday, Judge said his wrist was fine and he “wouldn’t have been playing the past couple of weeks if I wasn’t ready.”
Still, he and his teammates have another challenge to face against Oakland.
“The biggest thing is you can’t really have those at-bats to get comfortable,’’ Judge said. “When you’ve got a starter on the mound, if we’re facing the Red Sox, you know you’re facing [Rick] Porcello or [Chris] Sale and they’re gonna try to go five, six or seven innings. You know you’ll get a couple at-bats off them and that first at-bat, you can see what their fastball is doing, what pitches are working for them.”
That’s a luxury that won’t exist Wednesday against the A’s, who will start with right-handed reliever Liam Hendriks and go from there.
“When you’re facing a different guy every at-bat, he’s coming at you with his best stuff,’’ Judge said. “There’s no warm-up, there’s no ‘see a pitch.’ You’ve got to be locked in from the very first pitch. … The biggest thing is do your homework before the game starts.”
That’s a process that began before Tuesday. Manager Aaron Boone said he didn’t think the strategy would force him to alter his lineup, but Giancarlo Stanton said it might be something hitters have to grow accustomed to.
“It was successful [in Tampa Bay], so a couple other teams started picking it up,’’ Stanton said. “You don’t know where it’s going to go from here, but that’s kind of the new age we’re in right now.”