Schadenfreude 336 (A Continuing Series)

YED is here!

Astros  - 004 000 200 - 6  9  0
Yankees - 210 101 000 - 5  9  1

The fun started well before the first pitch.

Aaron Boone (who has been getting fucking torched by Yankee fans on Twitter for days) passed on the remarkable news that Chad Bohling, the team's director of mental conditioning, sent out video clips of the Red Sox's comeback in the 2004 ALCS to the Yankees players and coaches. And Boone Facetimed with David Ortiz! "I said hey to him. He had some advice." Boone did not reveal what the Large Father said, but Dan Martin of the Post assumed "it didn't include not bringing up a brutal moment in franchise history to spark your own comeback".

Jordan Moore (The Athletic) tweeted: "this is likely the most embarrassing thing in Yankees history. Quite possibly the best flex in Red Sox history."

New York sportswriters still ask "What would George think of this?" when something bad happens in Yankeeland. It's pretty stupid at this point; Steinbrenner has been dead for 12 years.

But you gotta wonder: What would George think of this? You think he'd be sending out video clips of the fucking 2004 Red Sox? Sharing the franchise's most humiliating moment with his current players as inspiration -- would he consider that a good idea? Are you fucking insane?

Maybe he'd pass out some newspapers, too.

2004 is the gift that will never stop giving!

Hey, look who it is! . . . Hello, Pedro! . . . What's up?

pic.twitter.com/m8qpgw0nhW

— Slimboi phat (@PhatSlimboi) October 24, 2022

enjoy the show!

The Yankees have played in ONE World Series in the last 19 seasons (2004-22).

That ties the worst stretch in franchise history, matching their first 19 years as a team (1903-21).

Dan Martin, Post:

In the end, the Yankees didn't slay the dragon.

Instead, the Astros chewed them up and spit them out, completing a four-game sweep in the ALCS with a 6-5 win on Sunday night in The Bronx, as the Yankees saw another season end without a World Series appearance.

And for the third time in six years, the Astros ended the Yankees' season in the ALCS.

On a chilly night at the Stadium, which wasn't sold out, the Yankees wasted an early three-run lead, saw Nestor Cortes leave in the third inning with a groin injury and Gleyber Torres make a key error in the seventh that led to a pair of runs, as the Astros took the lead for good on Alex Bregman's one-out, run-scoring single off Clay Holmes in the seventh.

It ended with Aaron Judge, in perhaps his final at-bat as a Yankee, ending his miserable postseason with a grounder back to Ryan Pressly for the final out.

The Yankees didn't get a hit after Harrison Bader's sixth-inning homer gave them a short-lived lead. . . .

Now, the Yankees must face an offseason in which the future of Judge is unclear, with the right fielder potentially headed to free agency for the first time, as well as general manager Brian Cashman having his contract expire. . . .

After Cortes pitched a scoreless first, the Yankees took a rare lead in the bottom of the inning. . . . [T]he Yankees snapped a 14-inning scoreless streak [dating back to the fourth inning of Game 2]. . . .

With Cortes' velocity down in the third and Jose Altuve at the plate following a leadoff walk to Martin Maldonado, Boone went to the mound with trainer Tim Lentych.

Cortes remained in the game and walked Altuve.

Jeremy Peña then hammered a three-run shot to left to tie the game at 3-3.

Boone went back to the mound with Lentych and Cortes was replaced by Wandy Peralta.

Peralta immediately gave up a double to Yordan Alvarez. Yuli Gurriel's chopper through the right side of the infield left vacant by the shift went for an RBI single to give the Astros a 4-3 lead. . . .

Bader gave the Yankees another lead in the sixth with a two-out solo homer off Hector Neris. . . .

Altuve reached on an infield hit with one out in the seventh. Altuve moved to second after Peña grounded to second and Torres rushed his toss to Kiner-Falefa at second. With runners on first and second, Alvarez singled to right to knock in Altuve and tie the game . . .

Holmes entered and gave up a flare single to Bregman to put Houston ahead, 6-5.

Andy McCullough, The Athletic:

In capturing a 6-5 victory over the Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, Houston earned a fourth World Series berth in the past six seasons, completed a sweep of their foremost rivals in recent years and demonstrated the relentless opportunism of their approach. This version of the Astros does not let mistakes go unpunished. Their pitchers hammer the holes of opposing hitters. Their hitters spoil good pitches and feast on errant ones.

And on Sunday evening, facing a desperate foil and a dyspeptic Yankee Stadium crowd, the group pounced on a seventh-inning opening when trailing by a run. A mistake in the field by Yankees middle infielder Gleyber Torres and Isiahi Kiner-Falefa handed the Astros an extra out. The team turned it into two runs, enough to secure a lead they would not relinquish.

On seven occasions this postseason, the Astros have taken the field with another club. On all seven occasions, the Astros were the best team on the field. On all seven occasions, the Astros won. . . . Game 1 [of the World Series] will be Friday at Minute Maid Park. . . .

When McCullers hung a slider [with two on in the first inning], Giancarlo Stanton made a small bit of history. His RBI single gave the Yankees a lead at the end of an inning for the first time in this series. . . .

[New York's 3-0] lead did not survive the top of the third. The radar gun registered a problem with Cortes's fastball. The pitch typically hummed just shy of 92 mph. His offerings to start the inning arrived in the upper 80s. Cortes walked No. 9 hitter Martin Maldonado. As Cortes flung lukewarm heat at second baseman Jose Altuve, Boone visited the mound with a trainer. Cortes waved the duo off. Altuve still walked.

The tying run came to the plate, in the form of rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña. Cortes fell behind in the count. He flipped a 3-1 changeup over the plate. Peña hit a towering drive beyond the left-field fence. . . . Just like that, Houston had evened the score. . . .

Bader made his loudest noise [with a solo homer in the sixth, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead]. . . .

The atmosphere curdled minutes later. Altuve legged out an infield single off reliever Jonathan Loaisiga with one out in the seventh. Loaisiga rebounded to induce a grounder from Peña — only to witness a crushing disconnection between Torres and Kiner-Falefa. Torres scooped the baseball and fed Kiner-Falefa, who was crashing toward second base for a double play. But Torres made an errant throw. Kiner-Falefa was not in position to nab it. He tripped near the bag and Altuve reached second.

Altuve did not stay there for long. Alvarez tied the game with a single. Boone pulled Loasiga and inserted closer Clay Holmes. Searching for a groundball, hoping for the double play that had just been botched, Holmes surrendered a go-ahead single to third baseman Alex Bregman. Once more the see-saw swung back toward Houston.

There it remained. The Yankees could not mount another rally. . . . These Astros are not inevitable. But they come as close as it gets. The Yankees gave them an inch. The Astros took a pennant.

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

This was exactly as it should be. The Yankees were down to their last out of the game, their last gasp of the AL Championship Series, their last breath of baseball season. In what had been a relentlessly depressing weekend, a ceaselessly discouraging week, there was this one last hope.

One last time, here came Aaron Judge.

All across the summer this had been the fuel that propelled the Yankees, the most fearsome presence in the sport. . . . He would rescue the Yankees. He would electrify Yankee Stadium . . .

But that was summer . . .

This was October. And as he stepped to the plate Judge was 1-for-15 in the ALCS, 5-for-35 in the playoffs. This was an imposter wearing a No. 99 jersey. There would be no rescuing the Yankees this time. There would be no redemption for Judge. He swung at a 1-and-2 pitch, grounded it feebly back to the box.

And the sweep was complete. It was 6-5, Astros, for the game. It was 4-0, Astros, for the series. And it is 4-0, Astros, in four postseason encounters going back to 2015. . . .

Backdropped against that at-bat was a difficult reality: This could well have been Judge's final swing in pinstripes. It is still hard to believe that Judge will leave the Yankees, that the Yankees won't unearth every necessary nickel to make Judge a Yankee For Life . . .

Hard to believe. But not impossible. . . .

"I've never been a free agent," Judge said. "We'll see what happens." . . .

[T]his just doesn't seem right as an epilogue. . . . Judge's final picture in pinstripes should be something more than a 1-3 in your scorecard. Maybe it won't be. But it sure might be.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

After carrying the Yankees all season, it came down to Aaron Judge. The slugger . . . had one last chance to keep what could be his last season with the Yankees alive. The outfielder grounded out to the pitcher and walked off slowly. He watched as the Astros celebrated their 6-5 win and sweep of the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

Houston left the field to head into the World Series where they will face the Phillies. Judge and the Bombers walked off the field Sunday night with a very uncertain future.

Judge, the soon-to-be free agent, has been the face of the franchise . . . after the 2017, 2019 and 2022 ALCS losses to the Astros. GM Brian Cashman's contract is also up after the World Series. There are questions about the Bombers' approach to analytics, roster construction and managing. . . .

A 99-win team in the regular season, Sunday night's game had a little of everything from the past six months: a home run, a rally, an injury and a reliever giving up the lead. . . .

Jared Schwartz, Post:

The Astros celebrated their ALCS sweep over the Yankees accordingly. . . .

Amid champagne festivities inside the visiting clubhouse, Astros players broke out brooms and pretended to sweep the floor before hoisting them up in the air and dancing with them.

Houston will likely take greater caution celebrating this time around, after pitcher Lance McCullers had his start pushed back after injuring his arm on a champagne bottle follwing the team's sweep the Mariners in the ALDS. Another player inadvertently hit the bottle on McCullers' elbow, causing a laceration and swelling.

The spectacle has now become commonplace between the Astros and Yankees. Despite a new manager, general manager and largely different roster, the Astros have eliminated the Yankees from the ALCS in 2017, 2019, and again this year.

Abbey Mastracco, Daily News:

Aaron Boone was "thrilled" to have right-hander Nestor Cortes on the mound . . . But Cortes' night didn't last long as he was removed in the third inning with a left groin injury right after giving up a game-tying three-run homer to Jeremy Peña.

Cortes' fastball velocity dropped to 88-89 in the second inning but he had only faced two above the minimum, giving up a single to Peña in the first and walking Kyle Tucker in the second. He started the third inning with a 3-0 lead. . . .

He walked Martin Maldonado to lead off the third. The trainers came out to visit him before the second batter, Jose Altuve, who also drew a walk. It was the first time Cortes had walked back-to-back hitters all season. He then hung a slider up to Peña, who launched it into the left field seats to tie the game.

Wandy Peralta then came out of the bullpen to replace him and the Astros took a run off of him to go up 4-3. Cortes was charged with three earned runs on two hits, walked three and struck out two in a little more than two innings.

Joel Sherman, Post:

Hal Steinbrenner can't just offer familiar blather about not meeting the ultimate goal and being disappointed to fail the fans and promise to redouble efforts in the quest for a 28th championship. Then after a cooling-off period, have essentially all the same people back to do all the same things. 

You can kid yourself when you take the Astros to seven games in an ALCS or six games, but after being swept by the Astros, is this really going to be the plan again? Is Steinbrenner really going to be fine with a pattern in which the Yankees are good enough to beat up an AL Central patsy in the playoffs and then go all fetal position when the October degree of difficulty rises? 

Or does Steinbrenner have to reassess how he allows his money to be spent and whether his demands to curtail spending in certain times led to worse spending in a Plan B — hello, Josh Donaldson as an example? 

Does he have to ask if Brian Cashman, with his contract expiring at the end of this month, has to either be replaced or shake up his baseball operations group. The Astros beat the Yankees in 2017 to win the AL pennant with a different GM, manager and largely different roster. They moved from league champion to league champion over the Yankees in 2017, 2019 and now 2022. They evolved. The Yankees devolved. 

Does Steinbrenner have to reassess whether Aaron Boone, an offseason after receiving a three-year extension, is a dexterous enough strategist who can win real-time battle after real-time battle in the postseason? Getting ejected over borderline ball-strike calls is not enough. 

And Steinbrenner will have to decide just how deep he wants to reach into the family coffers to retain Aaron Judge . . . 

The Yankees are good enough to get here. . . . That said, this is not good enough. It is not a sample size of a year or two now. Postseason after postseason they melt when another real heavyweight shows up in the playoffs. 

Houston eliminated the Yankees for the third time in six seasons in the ALCS. . . .

These teams played 11 times this year and 10 of them were decided by three or fewer runs. Close. 

Except that the Astros won nine of the 11 games. The teams played 99 innings against each other in 2022. The Yankees led after just five, including three in Game 4. But the Astros just kept erasing the leads Sunday. They did everything little and small better. They are just better. 

They are better at drafting and developing players such as Jeremy Pena, the kind of shortstop who could seamlessly replace Carlos Correa. The Yankees . . . ignored Correa and other free-agent shortstops and made a trade that worsened as the season progressed . . . And Donaldson is still owed $29 million between 2023 salary and a 2024 buyout. 

The Astros are better at international signings . . .

They are better at game planning and audibling within the game plans and rebounding from postseason punches. . . .

[S]omething feels stale about [this team] now — as if it can go so far, but not far enough. 

Ian O'Connor, Post:

It has long been a crying shame in sports that team owners get to do all the firing, and never face termination themselves. Owners love to say accountability starts at the top of an organization, at least until things go south and it is time to assign the blame. 

Last year, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner publicly ripped his players for lack of performance. . . . [He] said he was aggravated, frustrated, and angry at the athletes assembled by GM Brian Cashman, and guided by manager Aaron Boone, for doing a lousy imitation of a cohesive and motivated team. 

"The majority of the responsibility, whether it's inconsistent offense or bad baserunning, that responsibility lies with the players," Steinbrenner said then. "They're the ones on the field. They need to fix this problem … because everyone, including our fan base, rightfully so, has had enough quite frankly. It's enough." 

More than 15 months later, the fan base has still had enough. The same paying customers . . . are sick and tired of the Yankees saying they willingly signed up to be judged in October, only to repeatedly fail in October. Those fans are sick and tired of an organization that has spent as much time embracing excuses as it does seeking solutions. 

They are sick and tired of Hal Steinbrenner's leadership. 

Truth is, after the Astros finished off their ALCS sweep . . . making it 13 straight years that the Yankees have failed to reach the World Series, Steinbrenner deserves to be fired. He is lucky that there isn't anyone in position to call him into the office and deliver the grim news.

So the talk this week will be about Boone's status, and Cashman's status, and whether it's time to bid farewell to both. . . .

Can anyone at this point picture Boone holding high a World Series trophy and riding a float under a ticker-tape rain in the Canyon of Heroes? Does the manager inspire any kind of faith after his Game 3 bullpen decisions against the Guardians and Astros, and after he blamed the Game 2 loss at Minute Maid Park on an open roof? . . .

Does Hal Steinbrenner want to win? Sure, everyone wants to win. 

But he doesn't live to win like his old man did. He wants to play the game within the boundaries of financial restraint. . . . "That's my job every year, to make sure we're financially responsible." . . . 

Born on third base, and taking a conservative lead off the bag, Hal Steinbrenner doesn't have the same hunger, the same stomach for the fight. . . .

Hal Steinbrenner's program is broken, and it's too bad someone isn't available to fire him for that.

Allie Griffin, Post:

Yankees fans gave a Bronx welcome to Sen. Ted Cruz during the team's loss against the Houston Astros Sunday night.

Several spectators flipped the bird at the Texas senator as he waved to a sea of fans in the bleachers of the Bronx stadium, according to a photo of the interaction posted to Twitter.

Three fans raised their middle fingers in the direction of a waving Cruz and a fourth gave him a big thumbs down, the photo shows.

Cruz . . . posted a grinning selfie of himself in seats behind home plate earlier in the night. . . .

Cruz's photo post garnered less than 3,000 likes, while the crude salute pic raked in more than 30,000 likes . . .

"Us Astros fans and Yankees fans don't see eye to eye much, but I appreciate the hell out of this and agree wholeheartedly. Respect," a Twitter user named MJ replied.

Note: I went to dozens of games in the Bronx over nearly 20 years and I can safely say that they may give Cruz the finger, but many Yankee fans support all the same garbage that Cruz supports.

The Daily News has been shitting on Cruz since the start of 2016: