Francona plans for a little less Miller time
CLEVELAND — Remember the pain Yankees fans endured last October as they watched Andrew Miller, just months removed from the famed pinstripes, dominate the Indians’ opponents en route to a near-championship?
Have you noticed the Yankees, if they can survive a likely American League wild-card game, are on track to face Miller, just activated from the disabled list Thursday, and the Indians in the AL Division Series?
Now, what if The Post was to tell you that Miller won’t go as hard or as long this postseason as he memorably did in 2016?
No promises. However, at Progressive Field on Thursday, where the Indians won their 22nd consecutive game in a thrilling 3-2 10-inning victory — the longest winning streak and second-longest unbeaten streak since 1900 — Cleveland manager Terry Francona expressed regret over Miller’s heavy usage last year and a desire to avoid that this year.
“He threw a lot of pitches last year. I don’t even know if I’d do that again,” Francona said, before Miller returned with a scoreless seventh inning against the Royals. “That bothered me at times. It wasn’t the goal to have him actually throw that much.”
Francona called upon Miller 10 times out of the Indians’ 15 postseason games in 2016. The lanky lefty recorded a total of 19 ¹/3 innings, nearly two innings per appearance, with his longest a 2 2/3 -innings shift against the Blue Jays in the pennantclinching Game 5 of the AL Championship Series. He threw a total of 305 pitches. As a point of comparison, the Cubs used Aroldis Chapman in 13 of their 17 playoff games, and the current Yankee totaled 15 2/3 innings and 273 pitches.
Miller, who served two DL stints to treat patella tendinitis in his right knee — he went down on Aug. 2 and pitched on Aug. 18 and Aug. 21, only to still experience the problem — insisted, “I felt pretty strong in the playoffs last year.” And resting his arm for this period to take care of his knee, he added, could be a blessing, too.