Tonight's lineup I like. Let's go Yankees!

Evening, Team.

Here we go...

(Sevy's got this.)

New-look line-up. Rookies! Let's go!

Hi, Team!

Astros delenda est.

hitting the ball hard but nothing to show yet...

Man. It’s weird to see Judge hit a ball that well and not see it go out of the park.

Inside

Crud

"Man, people act like I can't even run!"

That is funny.

one ball called a strike. Maybe keep a tally. I swear yesterday's ump scorecard missed some... If I don't lose focus

[5] (delendae sunt--please forgive the pedantry! :)

Also all 3 balls this inning hit over 100 mph. Sucks that none found holes.

[13] Good harbinger, though.

Way to play, kid!!!

PERAZA!

I’m quite pleased with the lineup today!

Wow. That's what I'm talking about.

Perty play.

Man, look at that arm!

Cano-like.

Sevy!

Strike one! This dude is so imposing in the box

Like our SS, and nice start for Sevi with 2 ks

[12] thanks. I haven’t studied Latin since Jimmy Carter was president.

SEVY! Looking good

BTW Alex, I have a brisket warming!!!

[24] That was a minute ago, to be sure.

All right, sticks, let's kick these fuckers' ass.

(Wtf is this roof bullshit?)

Machete has such a late setup after he give the pitch com

Good take, Ratso.

Gley's still looking to open up.

Look outside and go with it, Gley!

They are hitting them hard

damn it. close.

Now get Josh in

Well, shit. I’ll take an oppo field double from JD

Nice hit Donnie

Well hell's bells.

ok nice going JD!

Smoked!

Nice hit, JD!

That's the way to do it!

People happy with the lineup but, isn’t this constant changing a sign of weakness??
Oh, and Good Morning Banter, from central Tokyo! (At the office for my twice weekly visit)

Donaldson? Donaldson?
You can't predict baseball, Suzyn

[40] No. Stick and move, stick and move!

That's a great pitch.

Fuck.

So Donaldson finally gets a hit, a double no-less and we've got Higgy hitting behind him.
[sigh]

[40] Kay sure thought so (and I agree). He quipped that the Yankees don't know who their leadoff hitter is, who their shortstop is, or who their closer is and thus it's a miracle they've gotten this far.

What? Can't buy a key 2 out hit? No way.

Love my man ‘East Hill’ (東丘) Higashioka but having him get key ABs in the playoffs? ‘It’s not what you want’..

[44] It would appear we need more depth in the lineup. :)

Which again, points to the fact that it's amazing we've gotten as far as we have.

Changing the lineup is a sign (dare I say it here) of good management. Wonder if it was Boonie or the guys upstairs?

(Remember that time the weakest guys in our lineup were Shane Spencer and Ricky Ledee? Good times, those were.)

Just setting up the DP

Thank God he fouled that off.

That was some fucking jump.

He’s not close to the zone when he misses

Fucking racist piece of shit

[54] I read about that. Quite awful but he did apologize.

They're on everything.

Sevi needs to throw strikes

Pitchers are athletes (whew)

Evening all, had work to finish first.

Not terrible to get through a high pressure inning without giving up a run

Now it's time for the O boys ... I hope Peraza has a great game so I never need to see Falafel again.

[59] Work, schmirk, I say! Work, schmirk!

Good eye, kid!

Even the kid hit it hard.

Damn positioning

[54] Ever heard of Tim Kawakami? He's a columnist in the Bay Area, either the Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury News, don't remember. Anyway, as far as I know he's the only person to have blocked me on Twitter. Why? Because when Guriel showed his racist colors, he wrote something saying that the suspension -- which was for the following season and NOT the playoffs that were going on -- was sufficient. I had the temerity to question him -- respectfully! -- and he blocked me.

Show a replay. Didn’t look like he went

not a swing.

Hank - that’s ridiculous. Fuck that guy, too!

These Houston fans are so stupid. Someone actually created a poster mocking Chapman, accusing him of hiding from the Astros. I suppose he did give up a pretty big hit to them, but when you consider that Altuve probably knew what pitch was coming, maybe it wasn't so big.

Hank, I’ll block you too if it makes you feel better! It’s a badge of honor isn’t it?

[71] Please don't! I like the jazz tweets!

I think the only person blocking me on Twitter is an old Banter friend of ours who now has his own blog! Let’s just say we ‘don’t agree politically/socially/ethically’ on any possible topic :)

Shit.

Hang in there, Sevy.

[73] Ha!

Can't please all the people all the time, can you?

[73] Do tell...

Oh wow - I forgot William was all red. Or, maybe I didn’t know. Can’t remember. Either way: EW!!!

Siddown, little fucker!

Always good to get the Terror Tot out.

Sit down, Al-fucking-tuve, ya bitch!

Booth mentions questionable strike 2 call to Altube. Bader? Not so much.

Bravo, Sevy. Big pitch. Nicely done.

We’re about to be losing 3-0

This is SCAREEEEE!!!

How is it that Alvarez gets seven at bats a game?

we're getting some gifts here...

[84] that 18 inning game I assume?

Has Alvarez slowly approached Big Papi type fear for Yankee fans??

Ok. One more, Sevy

One more, Sevy.

[87] Nothing will ever approach my fear of Manny Ramírez and David Ortíz back to back all those years.

Phew.

Nicely done, Rizz.

I was scared that might all go sidewise.

[73] Lemme know in a DM, dude.

I’ll take it. Nice framing, Higgy!

[66] Bob Lonsberry. Rochester's local racist d-bag is the only person who has ever blocked me on twitter. He's the only one even responded to on Twitter. Go figure.
Stealing pitches says Darling.

[90] I'd put Edgar into that group. He scared the living shit out of me too.

Fuckity fuck fuck

There goes that.

Told you it was gonna be 3-0…

Crapola

Glad the Sabres are on late tonight.

If there's a theme this postseason, it's two-strike damage. Even two-out, two-strike damage. Fuck.

[83] DAMMIT NOSTRA!

Fuck. Regroup. Get the final out and get some runs.

I’m pretty positive Jazz is talking about williamnyy23 or whatever his handle was. He had the Captain’s Blog

So that just happened.

Sorry, Cult : (

I feel like a glutton for punishment in these games sometimes...

Gotta get bats going now, or else their bullpen will kill us

I think I messed with the ju-ju. I've been looking for my glasses all morning and finally found them right before that HR.
Grrrrr.

[104] ok I remember them. hmm.

Gonna have start drinkin’ early again tonight…

[104] OK. Some memories there....interesting.

We’re losing this series. Can only hope we see at least a few more totally indefensible Booney Blunders that leave the team no choice but to can him..

Now I feel ill.

Three runs feels like three hundred.

I don't know how we're ever going to beat this team.

[111] had one already. a Kalamazoo stout.

[113] That'd be a win of sorts.

I feel like Russel Hammond in Almost Famous, pleading with the heavens: "Is it *that* hard to make us look cool?"

Well, I like this turn of events...

A break, take advantage.

Bravo, Judge.

All right, Team, this is it! Here we go!

ok that works!

Gotta score a couple now!

jaynek - sláinte!

Ok, that's great!

We fucking HAVE to score four runs here. These two gimmes plus two more.

Get up on your hind legs, Yankees!

[123] sláinte!

ball but we've been getting those calls too

Yes, we are definitely losing. Will be lucky to win a single game. Possibly two…

I’ll be rooting hard for whichever NL has to face Houston…

We'll take it.

Ok, that’s 1

Do it again. Just fucking score Stanton.

A line drive in the gap would've been nice, but I'll take that sensible run. Just imagine if Donaldson could've done something like that last night?

There’s one

All right, after all those K's, I'll take that.

We got lucky! Got to take advantage..my radio feed is behind the Banter thread though, annoying..

[131] Exactly.

A sensible run.

C'est le mot juste.

Did he really ask if hitters can tell that the infield is back?

Go ahead and strike out, Gleyber. Be a hero.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, GLEYBER!!!

Just look outside and go to right!

YES!

BOO-yah!

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!?!!??!

infield hit works!

Noice!

Ok glayber. That’s 2

That works for another

[124] and now for a two run Jack.

Yaaayyyyyy!!!!!!

Thank God!

Thank you, Gley.

Double play coming. I've got all my chips in the middle of the table, and I'm standing up. Double play coming.

Two more now...

[145] Yes.

C’mon Douchelson…

Think blue missed that strike

[73] color me blue

Donaldson bats like he's all coked up.

He seems to watch sooooo many strikes whilst swinging at FUCKING GARBAGE!

The strikeout is actually a good result for Donaldson. Much better than a double play. (I apologize for my rampant pessimism regarding Donaldson, but you know.)

Come on, Higgy. Give us a lead, dude!

Well, 2 is a start.

Nice AB, JD.

Way to help the ball club.

Can’t win having these empty ABs in the middle of the ducking lineup!

Evil - YES!!!

weeping - he probably is

Hmmmmm. Look at that meatball. I'll bet he'll throw another one. Nope. I'll look stupid on a hook.

Not as good as it should have been but not crap.

There I predicted Higgy would do nothing.

[154] I know. He kicks his leg way up to his chin ready to hit a ball at his shoulders and then he stands motionless as the next pitch sails right over the dish, middle-middle.

Higgy so obviously sitting curve really blew that at bat. I hate when they guess like that. I know it looks good when they guess right but its infuriating otherwise.

Can we construct a team that doesn't do this for next year?

It's just so hard to watch the futility.

Weeping, can’t ignore that our opposition is really good

[165] I really wish they'd just go up there looking to fight rather than guess. Make the pitcher work, foul off as many balls as you can until you see a mistake. Stay balanced at all costs.

Evil - are you familiar with the outdoor venue in downtown Trussville?

[168] 100%

[167] To be sure. That they are.

Oh wow, so happy to hear from Verlander! Was missing him tonight! (Switched to tv feed now, already regretting it)

Oh, goodie. It's verlander.

Rizzo had a nice leadoff 10-pitch at-bat to lead off the second. Bad result, but made Framber throw more pitches than he did in the entire first frame. And, that was lefty-on-lefty

Yeah, fuck Fucklander

Nice inning, Sevy!

One mistake from Severino, otherwise he's been lights out.

Nice job, Sevy.

Maybe this dude is rattled a bit. LET's go YANKEES!

Ara, guess he’s not rattled

Good hustle, kid.

Atta boy, Bader!

Master Bader!

Table setting for His Honor!

Nice hit, Bader.

Give ‘em the gavel, Judge!

Mother fucker!

Crap again

Bader should have tried to steal

One of the stories of this postseason has been how the Guardians and Astros have handled Judge. Not mad at him, but these teams have done a good job with him.

Damn.

Come on, big guy, we can't do this without you.

[189] I was going to remark that it's troubling how unafraid of him they are.

[189] his at bats are looking better and better though. So I'm hopeful...

He's not been the same since he hit #60. I think that's when he really started missing tons of pitches he used to not miss.

[192] Yes, that's true.

We need a BlackPink inning.

crap. need a double play. top of the lineup...

[193] yup.

Goddamn bloop.

Every time Altuve comes up all I can think about is Joan Cone.

Need a DP

Smoke this little bitch, Sevy.

Good hitting. He waited on that ball just enough and then muscled it out.

Shoot, terrorists bedtime walk didn’t work yet again.

This little fucker is going to break out sooner than later.

get pena here. i don't want sevy to be pulled for alvarez

Phew. It doesn't get easier, but phew.

Someone needs to teach JD (et. al.) how to take emergency hacks like that.

[203] You tried, though.

71 pitches and the bullpen is going crazy?

[209] i know. i'm worried. keep sevy in here

Thought that was gone

Jesus.

bader is sooo cool with the lady liberty glove!!!

[203] You should try letting them out the front door so they can walk themselves. ; )

one more, sevy!

Boat, my daughter loves Black Pink. See you at their next Tokyo gig?

Keep the effing bullpen is n the bullpen

Sevy!

SEVY!!!

Badass Sevy!

Beautiful.

High cheese. Sevi deserves some run support.

got him! Nice Sexy!

Well done, Sevy!

Phew!

I just read this on twitter.
Last night's home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski has been behind the plate for 14 Yankee games this season.

The Yankees have won only 1 of those games, the lowest percentage of any umpire in the league.

[216] Dude. I've got to be there. If you have a line on tickets, a little help, please. Although, they haven't announced Tokyo dates yet.
Not sure if my 20-year-old daughter wants to go with me, but somehow we'll make it work.

[225] holy crap! that needs to be investigated.

i was surprised the umpire scorecard didn't have worse percentages. i didn't look at the ump auditor site today...

Boat, my daughter would think yours is super cool! Let them hang, you and I can go the arena bar, I’ll buy you an oolong cha and myself a beer

sevy's gonna stay in for the 6th!

[225] That's criminal. Even if there's nothing hinky going on, baseball should be aware and never let stuff like that happen. It's just a really, really, really bad look.

[227] what site is that?

Jazz, at this point in my life, I've seen every artist I want to see many a few times from BB King to the Rolling Stones to Linda Ronstadt to Ron Carter. BlackPink would be the icing on the cake.

[214] condo situation, with others walking their dogs. The terrorists would love to be out and hunting.

I need a house with a secure fence to do that.

[228] Deal. But I'll take strong coffee.

[225] on an early MLB SiriusXM show the broadcasters were complaining about his strike zone being inconsistent.

If y'all really need to re-live the misery.
https://twitter.com/YankeeSavant/status/1583186334361219072?s=20&t=7NGEUKJybhW9ICOqE6TuiQ

Fuck! Was Gleyber not hustling???

Fucking Astros.

Frigging unlucky

[228] Awwwww! This is making me happy.

I grow sad.

[237] Nah. That was boom-boom.

Really love the ‘Baseball Zen’ clips we get here between innings on MLB.tv, super cool

[231] on twitter, there's a cool page called Umpire Scorecards. it's computer generated and run by college students. it shows percentages of ball/strike accuracy and overall accuracy/consistency. it also shows missed calls and lists the impactful ones.

it's pretty cool. the overall favor was +0.43 runs for HOU and i thought there'd be more missed calls and lower percentages.

Umpire Auditor just shows the worst calls of the day. there were 16 incorrect yesterday. the low strike on Big G was the largest miss of the playoffs at nearly 5 inches!

Shoulda done that a few inning ago.

that's it for Sevy. johnny lasagna comin' in.

Nooooooooo. Boonie blowing it again.

Really good out from Sevy. One pitch away from a great outing.

[244] Thanks. 5 inches is yikes!

Dunno if I like this. Maybe he's tired.

why remove Sevy? Confusing. Unnecessary bullpen use.

I want to put together a fundamentally sound team, from top to bottom.

And we build from there.

82 pitches? Just don't understand with the dubious bullpen.

Heading out to get food for the family, so I'll be listening to Ma and Pa Kettle for an inning or so. Hopefully that will bring some good mojo...

Luis has to be ready for Spring Training I guess.

the fucking racist again. fuck him straight to hell.

DPnow a necessity

I loathe the Astros so damn much.

YES

Double play bullpen strikes again!

Johnny Lasagna!!

Fuck yeah!

phew. Baker found the double play spot.

5-4-3!
Easy as you please.

Nice job Lasagna

Wow.

That was clutch.

Beautiful, all around, boys.

Really nicely done.

There he goes again, kicking his leg up to his chin on a ball that's ten feet outside and in the dirt.

foregone conclusion

That's the Josh we all know and love.

Jebus Josh ... is making contact that difficult?

I predict a sing and miss curveball k.

This line-up sucks.

Gotta cut Donaldson loose after this year.

Higgy has no clue

Fuck you, Franber

My 13 year old team made the state final in baseball. We played somewhere outside of NYC. The pitcher made my team look stupid all game due to his curveball. I HATE THE FUCKING ASTROS!

Peraza just couldn't hit the curve.

Grumble

[271] you can't do that, suzyn. it's simply not possible. also, you know i hate stats. they're so dumb. they don't tell you anything. it's all in the past.

Can't touch verlander's fastball. Can't touch this dude's curveball. Does Saturday's starter have an earth changing change-up?

Hey thelarmis - I've heard about that venue in Trussville but haven't been there. We live in the Southside neighborhood of Glen Iris.

nice play, kid!!!

nice play!

Holy fuck!!

Goddamn!

Omg, what a play!

Those hands!

That arm!

Peraza really had the tv guys praising him. Easy to recognize his skills.

We have our new starting shortstop.

[281] i never even heard of Trussville, but the outdoor venue looks nice and it's all very professionally done. they reached out to us and wanna book the band for next summer. if the monies are there, we'll do it.

i fed your avondale info to the bandleader and he's going to contact them.

a dear friend of mine recently moved back to b'ham and is starting to play some solo acoustic shows. he has the BEST voice!!! i'll find out where/when he's playing and send you a private message on FB about it.

WOWIE ZOWIE!!!!

Lasanga throws too many pitches that are nowhere near the zone.

JFC, that was sensational.

HOLY FUCK!

Perhaps the bestDP I’ve ever seen

Great. Now score a few runs.

Omfg.

Damn! They need to capitalize on all these clutch defensive plays now m

Gleyber Day!

I was doing stretches but WHAT A PLAY!

Now let's cash in this stellar defense we've been getting and win the game! It's still only a one run game! That should mean it's ours to win, right?

Let's fucking step up and take it!

Pretend you are in fact a championship caliber team, guys! Because they win the games where the other team gives you two runs and you make great plays to hold the other team to one big score on one mistake pitch.

You've fought hard to keep this a baseball game.

Now fucking win!

2-1...

Scratch your way on, kid...

Nice job, kid.

Hang in there.

Battle...

Sigh

Decent wood, at least.

One useless at-bat after another. Losing again to this god-forsaken team with no contribution from that little fucker altuve is salt in the wound.

Lean into one, Stein.

Make them pay, Big Man!!!

game of brutal fucking inches

dang

Gouda shouda

brutal. so close.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you f'ing kidding me?

Excellent AB from Bader.

All right, here we go.

Omg!

FUck fuck fuck. fuck fuck fuck.

Excellent heads up running, Bader!

really liking bader. bring him home, Big G!

Aw shit, just missed

Hit the track, Stanton.

Green light!

that was clearly ball 4, blue.

Yup

This is tense..

This team cannot cash in when it matters. 13 years in the making.

MOTHERFUCKER!

Borderline?

that's just good pitching

Ball 5.

FUCK!

[321] Nah, it was ball 4 all the way.

These fucking umps…
And these freaking hitters.

Cool, thelarmis. My wife and I live around the corner from Alys Stephens Center. We saw the Baseball Project a few years ago there and they were great

The wind had to knock Judge's ball down. Expected BA on that was .910.

The umps have been unreal behind the plate in this series.

John Sterling, man. He got me. I was in the car driving back home when Judge hit that ball. He went right into his "It is high! It is far!" routine. Damn him.

That missed ball 4 call looms large.

btw every at bat tonight Judge has hit over 100 mph. He is close.

[330] doh!

[327] nice, evil. i have a text out to my buddy to find out when and where he's playing next

The Yankees love letting a pitcher face one batter and then taking them out. I'm not sure I get it.

They aren't winning this one. Made it exciting, though.

We can't beat this team.

It's as simple as that. We've known this all year.

Still, it sucks to actually have to sit through it and watch it happen in real time.

It never feels good to lose, even when you expect to.

The astros fans look at the yankees like we look at the twins.

[330] You should sue him for that shit.

Fucking Sterling.

ugh. please get an inning ending dp right here

rizzo confident he's out. i can't tell. think he might be safe. why would he be leaning?! ooh, maybe he's out...

He's out.

OUT!!! sweet

Nice.

Again, a big break.

Our defense has been fucking tight.

But we can't make it matter because unfortunately the defense can't score runs.

Three outs to get two runs.

Yanks with a sub .200 BA this entire off-season.

We really miss DJ/Beni.

that was rizzo's ball. time for him to tie the game

phew

[345] or even just one run...

Well, here we go. 1 last chance.

pinch hit for Higgy. Anyone else? Donaldson?

I can't remember the last time I saw a rally.

Yargh. And I have to have Bandit at the vet be 8:30 am for a follow up to his $1300+ dental visit.

And I recognize we do't have great pinch hitters.

we have FOUR fucking hits. 4.

and only ONE fucking walk. 1.

carpenter should definitely pinch hit for douchelson

Look on the bright side, we could be down by 3.

This is sad to watch.

But I'm going to try to believe.

Ratso's going to come through.

I believe, I believe...it's silly but I believe...

(Natalie Wood at the end of Miracle on 34th Street.)

fuck

Hmmmmm....another strike out.

Fuck.

no carpenter : (

OMG Donaldson is hitting?

Same old story. This line-up sucks. Sevi makes one mistake and it's too much to bear for the all or nothing kings.

carp is on deck for higgy...

Donaldson is not going to run into one by Presley, not even by accident.

Don't worry. Carpenter is on deck.

Shut your eyes and take.

I mean, we don't have the talent to beat this team.

We just don't.

Well, ok, I do have to take Bandit to the vet at 8:30 am for a follow up to his $1300 dental surgery.

And yes, he is worth it.

Game plan for heading to NY.
Tell Donaldson plane leaves at midnight. Plane leaves at 11pm.

yesterday was a 2-run game. today is a 1-run game.

[366] That's about the size of it.

Doesn't matter when the umps fuck you every which way.

carpenter for the go-ahead homer?!

ok nice at bat!

T-Lo on the basepaths

Credit where it's due. Nice work, JD.

not running and taking a pitch down the middle. real smart approach

No comment from the booth on strike 2 I guess. Carpenter is rusty and will whiff in any event.

crap, carp

They may as well send up Susyn Waldman.

Tough night so far.

Just wanted to say I am blown away to find this site still up. I believe I was last on and posting regularly in 2008. Blown away Alex and company. Blown away.

I don't even remember my username or have the same email, but I do recognize some names here and am super impressed.

Let's go Yankees!

should have run there

[385] welcome back!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

That's such bullshit. That didn't look like a swing.

bullshit. fuck these checked swings. games should NOT end on that. and, it didn't look like he went. of course, they won't show a replay...

STFU, asshole.

sooo stoopid. this sucks

Whoo-hoo. Good job, offense. If their pitcher didn't fall on his ass they would have been shut out.

Is 30Ks in 2 games some sort of record for an ALCS?
Has to be.

Bullshit!

No TV replay on that checked swing to end it? The announcers would prefer to go straight to crowing the astros.

The replay looked like he went unfortunately. He should have swung at the first pitch.

[385] welcome back!

One pitch not in enough. That's all it was. Let's get em Saturday!

Well, I guess that was a swing. Still stupid.