Rob Issa, FISM News
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Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and the New York Yankees put the Cleveland Guardians’ season to sleep on Tuesday as the Yankees stormed back from a 2-1 series deficit to punch their ticket to the AL Championship Series.
Stanton hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Judge added a solo shot and the Yankees eliminated the Guardians with a 5-1 victory in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
The Yankees advanced to face the Houston Astros in the ALCS, starting Wednesday.
Fans and players mocked Cleveland’s Josh Naylor, who made the rocking the baby motion repeatedly while rounding the bases after homering off Gerrit Cole in Game 4.
After catching the ball for the final out, Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres swung his arms back and forth and glared at Naylor and the Guardians dugout.
ALCS 🔜#RepBX pic.twitter.com/xIa4DbOKhX
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 18, 2022
“We got our revenge. We’re happy to beat those guys. Now they can watch on TV the next series for us,” Torres said. “It’s nothing personal. Just a little thing about revenge.”
Jameson Taillon will start for the Yankees in Game 1 on Wednesday night at Houston. Justin Verlander goes for the Astros. The AL matchup features the league’s top two regular-season teams. Houston won 106 games and the Yankees won 99.
“They’re just really good and they find ways to win even if they’re not performing at their best,” Cole said of the Astros. “I don’t know how many hits Jose [Altuve] got in that three-game series but all of sudden he showed up with the glove and he was making nasty defensive plays … it’s funny, when they’re all clicking they’re great. When they’re not all clicking, they’re great.”
Phillies take NLCS Game 1
The National League Championship Series is already underway with the Philadelphia Phillies beating the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Zack Wheeler tossed seven innings of one-hit ball for the Phillies, who got solo homers from Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
The NLCS features two wild-card teams who finished with the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.
Harper got the Phillies going with an opposite-field homer, his fourth in seven postseason games. Schwarber made 2-0 a few innings later when he blasted a drive 488 feet into the second deck in right field. The smash was the longest Phillies home run tracked in the Statcast era.
488 feet! 120 mph! Kyle Schwarber, oh my goodness. 😱 pic.twitter.com/Mh4VGR4E2B
— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2022
“I thought it got pretty small pretty fast,” Harper said of Schwarber’s shot. “I’ve never seen a ball go up in that section in Petco Park. Just very impressive.”
Harper’s face was agape with amazement at Schwarber’s prodigious homer.
Yu Darvis pitched well for the Padres except for the two homers he surrendered.
“For Schwarber that is on me, that is my mistake,” Darvish said through an interpreter. “I knew he was waiting on something off-speed. The ball kind of went into the middle area and he got the most of it.”
The Phillies send Aaron Nola to the mound on Wednesday afternoon for Game 2. Nola will face his brother, Austin, a catcher for the Padres.
Blake Snell goes for the Padres.
Harper hits off Snell for the first time since the left-hander hit him with a pitch, breaking his thumb.
“Anytime you go up 1-0, you kind of take home-field advantage away from them, it is always big for you,” Harper said. “That’s what we kind of talk about, just coming in, no matter where we were at playing, just trying to win games, no matter what, at all costs.
I thought that was a big win going up 1-0 against a really good San Diego team. We’re looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a good game. Nola is going and Snell, as well. We’re excited to get going, excited for the opportunity again, and take it one out at a time, play 27 of them and see where we’re at.”