New Yankee Harrison Bader proving he was worth the wait

The roster was released late Tuesday morning and suddenly the world knew what the Yankees internally learned over the weekend. Scott Effross was not active. The reliever, in fact, needed Tommy John surgery. Thus, Brian Cashman’s trade deadline had made another turn downward from troubling to Titanic.

Andrew Benintendi (broken hamate bone) had not healed in time for these playoffs and Frankie Montas already feels a part of Yankees history like Sonny Gray or Jeff Weaver. Now the absence of Effross would further devastate a shattered bullpen.

And then the third inning came along Tuesday night to exemplify why the Yankees traded for an injured player and endured the wrath for seven weeks as an inactive Harrison Bader first limped around in a walking boot and slowly returned to play. In a third inning that would change the tenor of Game 1, Bader helped save at least one run with his calling-card defense in the top of the inning and delivered the Yankees’ first run with a homer in the bottom half.

For a Bronxville kid who grew up a Yankees fan and sat in the stands at times during the last championship run in 2009, this was the dream, even though Bader said he fought to separate the fantasy and the reality. Bader had “triple digits” in family and friends in the crowd and by the end he had 47,000-plus all on his side for his role in what would be a 4-1 Yankee triumph in this Division Series opener.

He did not always have that support. The Yankees obtained Bader from the Cardinals when he had plantar fasciitis. It was understood that he would not be major league available until mid-September at the earliest (it was Sept. 20). That was always going to be quirky — obtaining an injured player. Adding to the angst was that Jordan Montgomery initially excelled for St. Louis while Bader did not play.

Harrison Bader belts a solo homer in the third inning and celebrates as he rounds the bases (inset) in the Yankees' 4-1 NLDS Game 1 victory.
Harrison Bader belts a solo homer in the third inning and celebrates as he rounds the bases (inset) in the Yankees’ 4-1 ALDS Game 1 victory.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg; AP

So, yes, he said, “the human element” made him “want to validate myself” when he was able to play. “I want to play hard and I want to show my teammates and I want to show — my parents are in the stands. I want to show them all why I earned that uniform, there’s no doubt.”

He said the flip side though was that he was not healthy and, “If I was going to force playing, if I was chasing that exact emotion, it wouldn’t have been a version of myself that would have been effective for myself and for my teammates. Coping with that reality allowed me to just continue to work.”

When Bader did get to play, pitching coach Matt Blake said, “he changed our dynamic.” He did so as the cherry on top to an already vastly improved defense.

And in the top of the third his combination of skills and understanding of the situation proved invaluable. The Yankees played edgy and poorly over the first two innings and then with one out in the third Steven Kwan took Gerrit Cole deep for the first run of the series. Because it was Cole’s bugaboo, a served-up homer, rising angst became a character at Yankee Stadium. That only was exacerbated when Cole followed by hitting Amed Rosario.

Jose Ramirez then lashed a ball into the left center-field gap. If either of the Aarons, Hicks or Judge, are in center, the ball gets to the wall. The fleet Rosario scores easily and, Blake believes, Ramirez makes third. At that point it would be 2-0, another run 90 feet away and Yankee Stadium deciding which vitriolic terms to use about Cole’s big-game abilities.

Harrison Bader rounds the bases after his third-inning solo homer during the Yankees' Game 1 win.
Harrison Bader rounds the bases after his third-inning solo homer during the Yankees’ Game 1 win.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

But Bader not only cut off the ball about 10 feet shy of the warning track, he also understood with one out if he could just deliver the ball quickly to relay man Isiah Kiner-Falefa, that with one out, the Guardians would probably not risk trying to score Rosario. That’s what happened, moving Blake to explain. “I think it changed the inning and the game.”

Cole held Rosario at third. He did not allow another run in 6 ¹/₃ innings and his next hit came to his final batter, a single by Myles Straw with one out in the seventh. By then the Yankees had their three-run lead.

Their first run had come via Bader. No one had ever produced their first Yankee homer in the postseason until Bader worked an 0-2 hole to a full count before lining a ball into the left-field seats. At that moment, it was easier to remember that the Yankee theory was that Montgomery would not make their postseason rotation — and that he actually did not make the Cardinals’ wild-card round rotation and St. Louis is now eliminated. And Bader isn’t limping around any longer. He is demonstrating why the Yanks obtained an injured player.

“He was aware and had some levity to the situation, understanding we traded a popular teammate and he shows up in a walking boot; he kind of made light of that,” Aaron Boone said. “But we also knew we were getting a really good player. Obviously, a big home run there to get it started, coupled with what he brings in the outfield.”

Bader’s skills helped the Yankees trade early anxiety for a Game 1 victory.

source: nypost.com