Why Blue Jays’ John Schneider isn’t sweating that game-changing Aaron Judge home run: ‘Give him credit, man’
In the world of sports, even the best competitors are sometimes beaten. Sometimes there are reasonable explanations for things that could have been done differently in the situation. For others, one player did everything asked of them and someone else simply did their job better. When this happens, it’s usually best to recognize that sometimes you get beat and that it’s part of the sport.
Credit to Blue Jays manager John Schneider on this front, who did just that to Aaron Judge. A game-changing three-run home run against reliever Louie Varland in Game 3 of the ALDS on Tuesday. That homer tied the game 6-6, and the Yankees ultimately won 9-6 (box score), extending the best-of-five series to Game 4 on Wednesday.
This pitch is high and out of the strike zone inside the plate to Judge at 100 mph and he still returned it and kept it fair. It’s just crazy.
“I don’t know, man,” Scheider said after the game when asked if they could have pitched Judge differently. “He puts the fastball next to him, and you can do it two ways. You can try to go up and in like he did. You can try to bury a breaking ball. Again, give him credit. You have to make pitches, sometimes you have to make really good pitches. It’s not like you’re waiting for it to happen, but you understand the talent that he has.
“He’s someone that you’re always aware of. We always know where he is, and I think they’ve done a good job putting good players in front of him and behind him in the lineup as well. So there are times where you just don’t want him to swing. There are times where you say, OK, let’s go. I’ll take 100, 101 with a few nasty breaking things executed any day of the week, and it hasn’t just didn’t work today.
I hope he has a bad night’s sleep and bad food tonight or something. Give him credit, man, that was a ridiculous move.”
Aaron Judge Finally Gets His Iconic Yankees Postseason Moment With Game-Tying Home Run in ALDS Game 3
Mike Axisa
Yes, it was.
Again, kudos to Schneider for just saying, basically, the judge gets the credit instead of looking for somewhere to assign blame. He also said Judge was “one of the best players, if not the best player in Major League Baseball.”
That’s true too. And Judge stepped up when his team needed him most in Game 3 of the ALDS, facing elimination. Judge went 3 for 4 with a double, a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored. He did what superstars are supposed to do. So Schneider did what self-aware adults do: he gave credit to the opposition and acknowledged that sometimes you get beat.
