Jordan Montgomery will take the mound tonight at Petco Park with the weight of the world on his shoulders after the Yankees dropped Game 3 to the Tampa Rays 8-4 on a night where Masahiro Tanaka just did not have his best stuff.
The Yankees are beginning to understand what a tough opponent they have in the Rays. Aaron Judge said,”You simply can not give them extra outs or any extra mistakes.” And this Yankee team keeps making mistakes whether on the field or in the field manager decisions as Kevin Cash has taken Aaron Boone to school in this series.
Tonight it would appear both teams will be executing a bullpen game and let’s remember this is the type of game the Rays feel very comfortable in because they lived inside this games much more often than the Yankees have lived in them. Add in the fact that the Rays bullpen is deeper and better than the Yankees and you could understand why this will be a real tough hill to climb.
The attention for the long ball has been on Giancarlo Stanton but to me Randy Arozarena continues to be the offensive story of this series as his ALDS OPS stands at an amazing 2.109. He has been the toughest hitter to get out in this series.
It is totally amazing that the Yankees with a $250 million payroll have to rely on Jordan Montgomery to extend their season to a Game 5 with Gerrit Cole on the mound pitching on 3 days rest. Meanwhile, the Rays sport a far less payroll but have a manager who gets 100% buy in from every player.
In order to get to that Game 5 the Yankees must clean up the plethora of mistakes they have made in this series both on the field and in the manager’s chair.