Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. NLDS Game 2:
While the ALDS had its second game of the series yesterday, the NL had a day off yesterday. The NLDS will resume today with games in Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The Phillies will be looking to avoid dropping a second consecutive home game to the Dodgers after Teoscar Hernandez’s three-run homer gave Los Angeles a 5-3 lead they would not relinquish. At 6:08pm local time this evening, a duel between opposing lefties will begin as two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell steps up for the Dodgers to face off against Phillies southpaw Jesus Luzardo. Three hours later (8:08pm local time), the Brewers will take the field and try to put the Cubs on the brink of elimination while Chicago will try to put Saturday’s 9-3 drubbing in the past and send a tied series to Wrigley Field. Lefty Shota Imanaga will be on the mound for the Cubs today. The Brewers will use fellow southpaw Aaron Ashby as an opener with right-hander Quinn Priester likely to handle bulk innings.
2. Yankees on the brink:
The Yankees managed to win back-to-back elimination games against the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series last week, but now they’ll need to win three consecutive elimination games if they hope to stay alive and advance to the ALCS after they were no-hit by Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage through 5 1/3 innings while the Jays’ offense piled on 13 runs by the end of the sixth inning. While New York rallied a bit against the Toronto bullpen, it wasn’t enough to stop the Bombers from entering today’s off-day staring down the possibility of getting swept in front of their home crowd on Tuesday.
3. Managerial searches continue:
While the playoffs continue, a number of teams eliminated from the postseason are on the hunt for a new manager. Skip Schumaker has already been hired in Texas to replace Bruce Bochy, but that still leaves vacancies in Colorado, Baltimore, San Francisco, Minnesota, Atlanta, Anaheim, and Washington D.C. New candidates emerged for the Giants and Angels yesterday, but other potential candidates like Mets executive Andy Green have passed on the opportunity to be considered for a managerial gig. With so many vacancies yet to be filled, plenty of intriguing candidates will emerge over the next few weeks as teams conduct interviews and ask rival organizations for permission to speak with their employees.
Might be adding the Yankees to that managerial search list.
The ghost of George hiring the ghost of Billy Martin again?
One thing we can all agree on, actually.
@old
Nah boone is safe they just bone this years possible short coming on the equipment guy or the the special ast. To offensive strategies coordinator
bone eh?
Boone got Hal three additional home games this postseason to increase profits, so his mission was accomplished.
@jdgoat
But… but… he got him a bunch of postseason games last year and increased profit but this year might only be 3. That’s a net loss.
It’s not happening. Boone is doing the job exactly how Cashman wants it. The issues people have with his coaching are core to how the Yankees want the team managed. If the Yankees wanted a manager that didn’t treat Excel sheets like gospel for coaching decisions and wanted a manager that didn’t do everything the front office wanted micromanaging, Rob Thompson would’ve been their manager. If they fire Boone it will be a new name doing the same things.
Things will only improve when Crashman is gone.
Agreed totally….Rob Thompson should have been the choice instead of Boone……
Ace – The ESPN guys were reiterating that last week, saying Boone’s strategic decisions are made by the analytics folks in the front office.
That would explain why he got the job despite no experience. It doesn’t take experience to be a mouthpiece.
Shota in game 2? Really? 8 million a year for this? I’m pretty sure even Homey the Clown would think that’s a bad idea. Homey don’t play dat.
Really surprised the Cubs aren’t going with Rea in this one. Hell, I was surprised he wasn’t their Game 1 pitcher. Like, I get that it’s the post-season and you go with your TOR pitchers, but both Boyd and Imanaga seemed lately like they would benefit from an extra day off, and Rea has been pitching lights-out lately. I can see the counterargument that Rea may be the kind of pitcher that looks great in the regular season but then gets exposed as the rotation back-end pitcher he was originally viewed as. But still, two pitchers need rest and another pitcher is killing it… why not go with the latter?
As a Brewer fan, I’m happy with Counsell’s decision. I was also surprised that Rea didn’t pitch game 1 (or now game 2) since he is very familiar with AmFam Field from his time as an effective starter for the Crew. If you look at Imanaga’s second half — especially his last 7 games — the trend isn’t good. Fingers crossed!
Odds are that Hal will not fire Cashman, and its 50/50 on Boone.
While we heap criticism on Boone for his decision making, Cashman should be held accountable for handing Boone a horrible bullpen starting with Williams to not only to start the year, but his July acquisitions, other than the defense of McMahon, has been terrible (Bird and the horrible SF kid).
Hal desperately needs a seasoned baseball guy between he and Cashman as a baseball advisor to the owner which would allow for a baseball opinion on the moves that Cashman wants to make as Hal knows nothing about Baseball other than its makes his family money…..
There are a number of former managers (Melvin comes to mind) who could fill this role.
You mention the, “horrible bullpen starting with Williams” to start the year. I’m curious as to how the acquisition of Devin Williams was viewed by Yankee fans at the time. I thought it was positive, but I could be wrong.
He was one of the best closers in baseball. Every Yankees fan applauded the move. I’m not sure what @Rocky7 (has me muted) is trying to say while acknowledging Cashman handed him in a lemon in Williams. Both former GMs Brian Sabean and Omar Minaya are senior advisors to Cashman. The only reason the Yankees are even in the playoffs is due to the trade deadline acquisitions which occurred before Luke Weaver went into his own tailspin.
These stupid off days. No reason to have an off day yesterday.
It’s about TV eyeballs. MLB doesn’t want to compete against the NFL.