Bill Madden: Yankees stumble past Guardians to set up another ALCS showdown vs. mighty Astros
Andrew Marchand is a reporter for MLB.com.
After a slow first half, New York and New York City are back to being in control of all six games of the series tonight. It is just not a game New York wants to lose.
The Yankees have been all about this.
“As much as anything or any other, I’ve just been trying to stay positive,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve played the first three games, which have been tough, and we’ve had good at-bats and good defense and things like that, but it’s like you don’t want to let your head drop and it’ll all go the wrong way. I don’t want to let our heads fall, and so far we haven’t. We’ve been really good and we’ve really played really well.”
The Yankees have been as good as they have probably been in the last decade, at least as great, and so far this year. Girardi didn’t seem to know what to make of how far the Bronx Bombers have come, and there was an obvious question to be asked.
Is this the team that can beat the Red Sox? The team that can beat up on the Red Sox? The team that will win a ring?
The Yankees have no answers for all of those questions. They just play the game the best they can.
“We’ve faced that scenario before and we haven’t,” Girardi said. “We’ve always found a way to win and we’ve always had good at-bats and good defense and stuff like that. Right now there’s no reason whatsoever to think we’re not going to win the series and we’ll get there and stay there.”
Of course, the Red Sox have been in this situation before. They were a half-game behind the Yankees at the All-Star break in 2009, but ended up winning all six games to claim the AL East title. The Sox will be tested like they never have been, but as long as Girardi’s bunch can hit and play defense like they have been, then a win in Game Six might be out of