Joe Girardi Goes With Austin Romine At Catcher For Game 4, DH's Gary Sanchez

I absolutely love this move for several reasons. The main one for me is Romine’s success with Sonny Gray. It’s eye popping.

Sonny Gray with Gary Sanchez: 8 starts | 46.2 IP | 4.63 ERA | 10 HRs | Opp BA .237 | Opp OPS .767 |

Sonny Gray with Austin Romine: 3 starts | 18.2 IP | 1.45 ERA | 1 HR | Opp BA .183 | Opp OPS .543 |

It’s not the largest of sample sizes for Romine, but the numbers are more than enough to convince me this is worth a shot. Romine is far superior defensively and is a solid contact hitter. You’re getting next to nothing out of the DH role this postseason so why not give it a whirl. Sonny Gray getting me six to seven solid innings today is the most important part of today’s game. He needs to pitch well or the Yankees won’t win this game plain and simple.

The big hesitation with this is what if Romine gets hurt God forbid. Imagine Girardi is forced to use Gary as the catcher and forfeit the DH spot? That would be utter DISASTER because it would result in the pitcher coming to hit. Let’s pray to God that doesn’t happen. The other hesitation is that Gary has the stronger arm of the two and who knows if Springer or Altuve get on if they’ll get let loose on Romine. It’ll be on Sonny to limit base runners of course and be quick to the plate to give Romine a chance there.

I really like this move and how it benefits Sonny. He’s the key to today. Give him some early run support and let him cruise. Then it’s the combo of Robertson, Chad Green, Kahnle, Chapman say good night.

Watch Party

Hope to see you guys at The Ainsworth (26th street between 6th and 7th ave) at 5:00 today for the Game Four watch party. Same deal as usual with $3 domestic drafts, $4 wine, and $5 well drinks. Come right from work and let’s even this series up.