OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE
Boston beat Yanks to punch ... just like regular season
THEY always had October. They always had that thought about twisting home field to their advantage come October, and reducing the meaning of April through September.
This is what sustained the Yankees after that early August fourgame sweep at Fenway pretty much assured Boston the AL East crown. Sure, the Red Sox were going to win the battle, but the baseball war would be more vital and determined in the playoffs. The Yankees had convinced themselves that the eight-game deficit in the regular season was not indicative of how close the rivals were in 2018.
Except it was. That was no mirage. The Red Sox are better. They dominated the Division Series as they had the 162 games, out-hitting, out-pitching, out-defending, outmanaging and out-executiving the Yankees (if for nothing else getting J.D. Martinez compared to Giancarlo Stanton). They even outdid the Yankees where they felt invincible — The Bronx.
Just as they dreamed, the Yanks gained the home-field advantage by homering their way to a Game 2 win at Fenway. But the raucous party at the Stadium was muted by poor starting pitching from Luis Severino and CC Sabathia, Aaron Boone’s flabbergasting decision on consecutive nights to stick beyond an acceptable point with those ineffective starters and Boston’s unplugging of an offense that usually rises at home.
“When push came to shove, they just executed better that us,” Neil Walker said.
The Red Sox won both games on the road, holding on in the end Tuesday night for a 4-3 triumph. That gave Boston this Division Series three-games-to-one and moved it on to play the Astros for the AL pennant.
The Yankees loaded the bases in the ninth and scored on a hit by pitch and sacrifice fly, but the big hit stayed elusive.
Gary Sanchez’s three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 2 felt like it was a series changer, and it kind of was. Yes, it assured the Yankees would win at Fenway. But from that point forward their offense fell into a coma. They were just 10for-68 (.147) afterward with no hom- ers and four runs — all of which scored on outs or hit by pitches.
Sanchez just missed what would have been a walk-off three-run homer, a towering drive to the warning track that Andrew Benintendi caught. “On the road [at Fenway] it is a homer, if it is hit to right field here it is a homer,” Walker said. “It is a game of inches. It sucks.”
It was a game of inches — the final out was Gleyber Torres barely being thrown out at first by third baseman Eduardo Nunez on a play so close replay was needed to make a final determination. Boston’s celebration was briefly delayed, but just like Sept. 20 when the Red Sox clinched the AL East, they partied in the second-best place after Fenway — on Yankee terrain. Yep, for the Yankees, it sucked.
“Credit to them for being able to hold us down and shut us down, but in the end, you don’t move on usually when you can’t get enough big hits in a series, and they just outplayed us a little bit.” Boone said.
The Yanks were 4-for-26 (.154) with runners in scoring position in this series and go home having failed to advance as far as last season’s club, which surprisingly trekked to ALCS Game 7. This version, with far grander aspirations after that success and the addition of Stanton, now faces an offseason in which, among other items, it must decide:
Who to keep among such free agents as Zach Britton, J.A. Happ, David Robertson and CC Sabathia and whether to pick up Brett Gardner’s $12.5 million option.
Whether Greg Bird and San- chez are still cornerstones after dismaying downturns this season, and whether they can believe in the outof-nowhere emergence of Luke Voit.
Whether they trust Miguel Andujar at third.
Just how much starting pitching they need to import, with free agent Patrick Corbin a likely target — but who else?
Whether Stanton had first-year issues in the large transition from the Marlins to the Yankees that brought long stretches of ineffectiveness and home booing, or is this him, and the Yanks are going to have to work around his large contract and tons of flailing inadequacy.
They have a longer offseason than hoped to mull those and more over, because the days of The Curse are long gone. Some mystique and aura showed up in the ninth inning, but not enough. Thus, the Yanks finished with 102 wins between the regular season and playoffs, but the Red Sox are at 111 — and counting.
Boston hit .400 with runners in scoring position in this series, its starters, defense and base running were superior. October proved no different than April through September.
The Red Sox were better.