TORONTO — Luke Weaver said after the Yankees’ 10-1 ALDS Game 1 loss on Saturday that he has been trying to clean up tells in his delivery, and that the effort to do so has caused him to overthink.
Now, after two consecutive postseason outings in which he has faced three batters without recording an out, Weaver wants to stop worrying about tipping and return to his old form.
That old form, of course, has proven elusive for Weaver all season. Aaron Boone managed him nimbly through the season, quietly moving Weaver to softer lanes against the bottom of opposing orders in order to restore his results and confidence.
When a pitcher openly muses about tipping, his confidence is clearly not at its peak. The Yankees brought this to Weaver’s attention about a month ago.
The question now is how many opportunities the team will give Weaver to get his mind right. A running internal debate/discussion in the organization has been whether Boone should prioritize Weaver over Fernando Cruz in his pecking order, or vice versa.
On Saturday, Weaver and Cruz both struggled, while Camilo Doval pitched two perfect innings. Doval is a former All-Star closer for the San Francisco Giants.
After the Yankees’ pen struggled in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Boston, I asked a high-up person in the organization what they could do to improve and adjust their pen on the fly. This is the aspect of their roster that stands most clearly between the Yanks and a championship. That person suggested using Doval in higher-leverage situations.
Boone said that he hoped Doval would be available in Game 2 despite pitching the two frames.
“That's kind of how he finished the season,” the manager added. “His last few were really good. I feel like he cleaned up some things within his setup and his delivery. Yeah, that was really efficient, really good, attacking the strike zone with, obviously, that stuff. Another encouraging one for Camilo."
What is Warren’s role?
The Yankees like Will Warren despite choosing Luis Gil over him to start Game 1. But what is Warren’s role in this postseason?
When Gil struggled in the second inning, Boone got the lefty Tim Hill up in the bullpen along with righty long man Paul Blackburn. Why not Warren behind Gil?
“If I was going to go early to the pen, I wanted to get a situation where I had Hill where he was going to get most of the lefties without pinch-hitting early in the game,” Boone explained. “And then at some point, depending on leverage of the game, Will comes into play.”
My understanding is that the Yankees would use Warren for high-leverage outs but more likely length — just not in a spot like the one in which Boone called for Hill, where several lefties were due up.
Because of off days, Max Fried will be able to start Game 2 and a potential Game 5 on full rest.
On that Judge at-bat
Any time Aaron Judge bats in a big spot in the postseason, the referendum begins on what the result will mean for his October reputation and legacy. Given his numbers, those talking points are mostly fair.
But a closer look at Judge’s bases-loaded, no outs strikeout against Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning shows how that at-bat would have challenged just about anyone.
Asked if he was “overanxious,” Judge said, “I wouldn’t say overanxious, if you saw the whole at-bat. But in the end, I didn't get the job done.”
Here’s what he meant by seeing the whole at-bat: Gausman’s first pitch was a 97 mph fastball low and away for a strike. A pitcher’s pitch. Judge went on to take a few close ones and foul off a few tough ones.
The eighth pitch of the at-bat was a 3-2 splitter that appeared headed to the same area as the first-pitch fastball. That Pitching Ninja guy on Twitter shows this kind of tunneling. I’m trying to do it verbally here, which is not as illustrative. But stay with me.
After the ball left Gausman’s hand, Judge had the usual millisecond to decide if it was going to be in the zone, like the fastball. He considered the spin and path of the ball, then fired. But it was a nasty splitter, diving away for what would have been ball four.
Basically, when Gausman executes that pitch, as he did here, the batter has very little chance. If it looks like a strike to Aaron “Best Hitter on Earth” Judge, imagine how the rest of the league would have flailed at it.
Why Boone didn’t pinch-hit for Rice
Ben Rice struggled in Game 3 of the Wild Card series against lefty Connelly Early’s breaking ball, and did the same in his first two at-bats Saturday against Gausman’s splitter. Gausman is a righty, but that pitch kills lefties.
During the Yankees’ sixth-inning rally, Bellinger followed Judge’s strikeout with a bases-loaded walk, making it a 2-1 game. Then Rice stepped to the plate. Some in the industry wondered why Boone didn’t pinch-hit Paul Goldschmidt, who hits soft stuff well and is 10-for-22 lifetime versus Gausman.
The answer is simple and reasonable: righty reliever Louis Varland was ready in the bullpen. Swapping in Goldschmidt would have simply given Toronto manager John Schneider a matchup he wanted. Varland came in to strike out Giancarlo Stanton.
It’s fair to wonder why the Yankees did not start Goldschmidt, given that history.
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