The New York Yankees fell to the Houston Astros Sunday night in heartwrenching fashion. Eleven innings of pure dominance from the Yankees pitching wasn’t enough to secure the win as J.A. Happ allowed a home run in the bottom of the innings to Carlos Correa, the Yankee killer from two years ago in game two of the ALCS.
Despite the quality of pitching for Aaron Boone and his team, the offense was the primary issue, and he might be forced into a difficult decision if the struggles continue for two players in the hitting order.
Boone and the Yankees have established a home run philosophy that generally ignores the strikeout totals and focuses solely on long ball production and the psychological toll it has on the opposing team. A homerun represents power, intimidation, and the change in momentum.
Aaron Judge’s two-run blast in the fourth inning against Justin Verlander was a massive blow to the Houston confidence, but considering the home-game factor, they were able to rally and secure the victory in a must-win game. The decision Boone will have to make is — does he considering switching out Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Gardner for two other options?
Encarnacion finished Sunday 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and Gardner 2-for-5 with two strikeouts. The latter had an impressive at-bat towards the end of the sixth inning to rack up the pitch count on Verlander, and his hard ground ball to second-base that bounced off Jose Altuve’s glove would have scored DJ LeMahieu from second base if it wasn’t for Correa’s impressive throw to home.
Encarnacion is the real question mark, though, as he’s 0-for-9 with six strikeouts over two games, even failing to contribute in any fashion during the New York Yankees 7-0 trouncing over the Astros in game-one.
Who could the New York Yankees replace Encarnacion with?
Sometimes, choosing to make a change in the hitting order is the right move, and switching Edwin out is in the interest of the team. Moving Gary Sanchez up in the four-spot could make sense since the probability of success increases based on Encarnacion’s struggles and the unlikelihood of him turning it around against Gerrit Cole.
Sanchez is a must-start on the team regardless, so moving him up couldn’t hurt. Boone would then, theoretically, insert Aaron Hicks into the lineup at No. 7, giving the Yanks a reliable switch-hitting option later on in the batting order. They could also elect to utilize Cameron Maybin more frequently, considering his consistency as of late and ability to run the bases well.
There are a lot of difficult decisions Boone will have to make during the postseason, but taking Encarnacion out of the lineup must be one of them.
EXTRA:
Encarnacion’s struggles makes the decision to drop Luke Voit that much more questionable. After Voit was dropped, Boone stated:
“He was disappointed,†Boone said. “Understandably, you know? My biggest message to him now is just is as tough a time as it’s been for him of late last coming back from this (sports hernia and he’s) doing all he can to stay as mentally engaged as possible because it can flip on a dime and you’re right in the middle of things tomorrow based on a number of things that could happen, or you’re still very much in play if we’re able to get past this and enter the World Series.â€
With Giancarlo Stanton suffering a quad injury, the Yanks could be in trouble, but they have quality support to supplement injuries.