It is hard to write poetry about competence and doing enough to win.
But here are the Yankees — five games into the postseason — forcing us to appreciate a proficient B-plus. They have advanced out of the Division Series and taken a lead now in the ALCS with stellar run prevention while too often making the least out of the most on offense.
Perhaps this is a formula that stands up well when the competition is the AL Central, which is all that separates the Yankees from their first pennant since 2009.
The Yankees did not pick their competition and are doing what they should as the overdog. Beating who is in front of them.
“We’re in a really good spot, but I think at the same time, I don’t think we have played our best baseball yet,” Anthony Volpe said on Sunday.
On Monday, nothing changed. The Yankees beat the Guardians 5-2 behind particularly strong work from Carlos Rodon, Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver. They received Juan Soto’s first Yankees postseason homer to open the scoring and yet another blast from Giancarlo Stanton to close it.
But mainly on offense they did more squandering, keeping them from a comfort zone in a game. They were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position and are now 6-for-41 (.146 this postseason).
For the fourth time in five October games, Aaron Judge was handed a chance to deliver a blow to send an AL Central foe into thinking they were messing with the wrong team at the wrong time. He had two on and no outs in each of the first two games against the Royals and struck out. The Yankees had one in and one on in Game 4 and Judge hit into a double play.
Against Cleveland, Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the first with a 107.5 mph single and Soto followed with one at 110 mph. Both against Alex Cobb, who was making just his fifth start of an injury-wrecked season. He is part of the Guardians weakness — their rotation. The Yankees must do damage against it to avoid Cleveland’s late-inning bullpen strength.
So Judge had a chance to do damage. Instead, he struck out. Judge is now 6-for-44 in the first inning in his playoff career — and 0-for-his-last-21 with 11 strikeouts. The Yanks did not score. That did not come until Soto opened the third with a homer to make him 9-for-13 in his career against Cobb with three homers.
What followed was a nine-batter sequence bridging the third and fourth innings in which Cobb and Joey Cantillo combined to walk six and throw four wild pitches (all by Cantillo), including two that scored runs. It did make the score 4-0. But aside from the Soto homer there was no other hit, when one would have broken the game open. They were 2-for-12 with men on base and are now 16-for-84 (.190) in the playoffs. The only hit the Yanks registered after the Soto homer was one by Stanton with two outs in the seventh — his 13th homer in 32 Yankee playoff games.
It stood up because the lone sign that Rodon was running hot this start was that he was the only player in short sleeves for a game that began with it 50 degrees. Rodon had spent himself emotionally in Division Series Game 2 against Kansas City — the Yankees’ lone postseason loss so far.
In talking about it on Sunday, Rodon admitted it was a mistake to be so overhyped. And he kept himself and the Guardians in check this time. He fell behind all four batters in a 22-pitch first inning, but allowed no runs. He then threw Strike 1 to 13 of the final 17 batters he faced and went to just one three-ball count.
He was efficient and excellent, walking none, striking out nine and only being touched by a Brayan Rocchio homer leading off the sixth.
Holmes pitched a perfect eighth and is up to 14 career postseason innings without allowing a run. And after an Anthony Rizzo flub of a grounder and Tim Hill issues brought the Guardians a second run, Weaver recorded the final five outs to give him a save in all four Yankee wins this postseason.
Those wins are all against AL Central foes. Dating to 2017, the Yankees are 16-5 against that division in the postseason and have won six series — and are now 1-0 in series No. 7. They are 28-8 against AL Central opponents this year.
So perhaps, for now, B-plus will do. Wins are wins at this time of year. Competence does not bring poetry. It did bring the Yankees one win closer to a pennant, though.