About Last Night: Yanks Win 5-4

by Paul Semendinger

September 3, 2023

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About Last Night:

The suddenly exciting Yankees played an exciting game. Here's the short re-cap:

• Top of the Second: Yanks went up 2-0

• Bottom of the Second: Astros tied it at 2-2

• Top of the Third: Yanks go up 3-2

• Bottom of the Fourth: Astros go up 4-3

• Top of the Fifth: Yankees go up 5-4

And that's the way it stood through the end of the game.

The Yankees won. They won their second consecutive series. Amazing.

The Yankees are now just two games under .500 for the 2023 season.

Quick Stats:

• Luis Severino: 4 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits

• Luis Severino's 2023 ERA - 6.75

• Aaron Judge: 1-for-4, BB, 2 runs, HR, 3 strikeouts

• DJ LeMahieu, Austin Wells, and Oswaldo Cabrera were the only Yankees without a hit

• Jhony Brito: 3.2 innings, 2 hits, no runs

• Clay Holmes got the save

The Big Story:

The big story is that the Yankees are playing a much more energetic and fun brand of baseball. (That's what happens when you commit to youth.)

Player of the Game:

Jhony Brito kept the Astros from scoring in the middle innings and secured the win. He stopped the back-and-forth. His pitching was the difference.

My Take:

Heading into last night, there was a lot of talk that Luis Severino is turning it around. He might be, although last night's showig wasn't good. People are asking, "If he has a big September, would you bring him back for 2024?" To that, my answer is an emphatic no. Sevy had a ton of potential. He had some big games. He showed a lot of promise. He also broke down a lot. Luis Severino might go to another team and shine. I'm willing to take that chance, because he also might break down at any moment. I'm happy for him for whatever success he finds. But, he should be another of the players the Yankees move on from after the 2023 season.

Aaron Judge homered again. He is the player who was the fastest to 250 career home runs (but that was on Friday night). Last night's homer was his 31st for the season. Judge has now exceeded 30 home runs for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in his career. To hit 30-plus homers after missing as much time as he did in 2023, is impressive. Very impressive.

If the Yankees have a good September, Brian Cashman will be able to claim that his "fall-back strategy" worked. "No we didn't win," I can see him saying, "but we knew we had the next core on deck and now we're poised for a great 2024." If this happens, I'm sure we'll also see articles about how Aaron Boone held the team together and how he should manage again in 2024.

Just as the Yankees moved on from Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader... and just how in year's past, they moved on from Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel and Joe Torre, it's time for them to move on from Aaron Boone. It's time for the Yankees to bring in the new leaders to take this team into its next era. It's time to move on from the leadership team, top to bottom, that has brought us these last many years. The lineup is full of new faces, the leadership team from GM to advisers, to the manager, should be a new team as well.

I am enjoying this iteration of the Yankees. They're fun. It's fun to see the hopeful next generation of players. BUT, this should not take away from the process that it took to get here. This was not, in any way, by design. At all.

Next Up:

The Yanks and the Astros wrap up the three games series tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.