The Yankees should be favored again tonight as they had to be favored before both games 1 and game 2. In game 1 Crochet had the edge, but not by much. Tried pitched a scoreless 6.1 innings. And the Yankees had by far the better lineup/hitting. Cora kept Crochet in for 117 pitches and 7.2 innings, during which he gave up 1 run, and Chapman got the final 4 outs, not without heart palpitations here on talksox. The first 3 Yankee hitters in the 9th hit singles--bases loaded no outs.
Last night Bello was awful, lasting 2.1 IP with 2 ER's--again against the best lineup in MLB and with a very good Yankees starter, Rodon. But the Sox almost won thanks to the bullpen and some clutch hitting and despite Duran dropping a line drive he had on but not in his glove--as we saw him do earlier this season.
The Yankees have scored just 5 runs in 2 games at Yankee Stadium, but it's still possible they will erupt tonight. Plus their starter Schlittler was terrific in September.
Were I Cora I would start righty bat Eaton in RF and not lefty bat Abreu because he simply has not found his stroke.
Definitely Rafaela in CF, Duran in LF, Bregman at 3B, Story at SS, Lowe at 1b, Narvaez catching, and Yoshida at DH.
That leaves 2b and three choices--Gonzalez the semi-regular who was hitless in games 1 and 2, Hamilton the defensive hawk, and Sogard whose OPS in games 1 and 2 was/is .833. I'm fine with whoever Cora goes with.