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NEW YORK — The ball went higher and higher, the wall of the left field in view, and the 49,641 Yankee Stadium witnesses reacted as if it was a time of October for all ages.
The man who hit him, however, was not so sure. Gary Sanchez knew that he had received a fraction of an inch from the Red Sox's meatballs offer, Craig Kimbrel. He knew that fly ball had had the opportunity to make history and send that ALDS back to Fenway Park with a grand slam walk.
"But I was not sure," he says.
He was right. The ball ended up in the glove of Andrew Benitendi, Boston's defensive player, for the most unsatisfactory volley of sacrifice of all time. A hitter later, Yankees rookie Gleyber Torres was third to end a 4-3 victory in Boston in Game 4, and the Red Sox were celebrating for the second time in three weeks on the field. Battle of the Bronx.
This match – this ninth in fact – was a microcosm of the entire Yankees season. The Yankees have been chasing the Red Sox since the beginning, trying to come back in this match with a spectacular exchange in the last leg.
But just like their 162-game journey that ended far behind a second place despite these 100 wins, they proved defeated. The Red Sox are better. This is the hard truth, and they will be favored to win the first title of their city in (cough, gag, cough) 20 long months.
That's the only question that matters for 2019: how will these Yankees fill this gap?
"I'm sure the Yankees and Red Sox will play a lot of significant games next year," veteran Yankee veteran Brett Gardner said. "We just have to find a way to improve ourselves a bit, and I think we'll do it."
They also said the same thing last fall, after Boston beat them for the east-east crown. They changed their manager, added the most valuable player in the National League title to form the happiest formation in the history of baseball, made all kinds of moves on time and injected some young talented players. in their club.
The Yankees had nine games better in the standings. The Red Sox, meanwhile, improved by 15 games. All these movements and the Yankees were still listening to the sound of the ripping tapes of cartons as the Red Sox heard the champagne corks again.
Giancarlo Stanton returns small in the ALDS
Oh, they had a lot of fun with the Yankees. Aaron Judge had paraded in front of his club in Fenway with a boom box playing "New York, New York" after the victory of the Yankees match 2. So you can bet that the Red Sox were screaming a little Sinatra while they were spraying the sparkling wine.
"Wow, good song," said with a smile, Boston Public Services Specialist Brock Holt, who participated in Cycle 3 in Cycle 3. "I as this song."
The Red Sox had the best composition in the ALDS – a small sample, of course, but that is baseball. Boston's most valuable player, J. D. Martinez, completely outclassed his counterpart in the Yankees' squad with success in all four games and six RBIs.
Giancarlo Stanton had four meager singles to show for his first playoff series in the Bronx. He came to the plate in this ninth thrilling run, with the runners on first and second places and missing Kimbrel with everything, and hit weakly on a curve ball from the plate.
But the greatest inadequacy could have been in the canoes. Aaron Boone took a passive approach to the two biggest games of the season, leaving his debutants twice too long with devastating results, while Alex Cora was aggressive from start to finish.
What happens if the Yankees have clearly had the best regular season if Cora brings Chris Sale, their best starter, into the match in the eighth inning to serve as a bridge to Kimbrel? Boone was an excellent manager for the regular season, but remember, the man he replaced, Joe Girardi, won a world series and reached the ALCS last year. , thanks in part to his expert management of pen situations.
Boone looked like a recruit. He will learn from this difficult week and hope that this time next October, the Yankees will be able to counter the strength of the Red Sox with more stability in their starting rotation.
"Obviously, we have decisions to make, many things will happen next year," Boone said. "But I think we're about to become a championship club right now, we just need to continue to improve the margins in every way."
It will be the general manager Brian Cashman, who begins his ninth consecutive season without a championship. The two teams that beat the Yankees in the last two months will be playing for the pennant, and being the third best team in the AHL will not satisfy anyone.
This team is like Gary Sanchez in ball in the ninth inning – so close to something special that this city would have remembered forever.
But not quite. Again.
You can contact Steve Politi at the following address: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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