Jazz Chisholm, inexplicably, danced a little too far from second base. That may be averted in mid-May in Miami for the second of a four-game series against the Rockies in front of a crowd of 4,705 at Lawndepot Park.
That's not something you should dare to do in mid-October in the Bronx, in front of a crowd of 47,054 at Yankee Stadium, in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Guardians.
The Yankees took the lead, but there was palpable tension in the frosty air. Cleveland saw the Yankees take a 3-0 lead after Brayan Rocchio hit Luis Castillo with an ill-timed pop fly and Alex Verdugo continued his fall resurgence.
But the Guardians were up 3-2, chasing Gerrit Cole in the fifth inning, and the Yankees were lucky that Cole didn't allow more basepath traffic. Cleveland was determined to keep the Yankees within three points. The Good Jazz took the lead in the first inning with a double before Anthony Volpe walked. Bad Jazz got fooled.
Now, here comes Anthony Rizzo.
On Monday, the Yankees played Game 1 of the ALCS with Juan Soto (2019 Nationals), one of two players on the roster with a World Series ring, drilling the ball into a strong swirling wind. He scored one goal early on and took control of the first game of the ALCS. -0 lead. Now, stepping up, Rizzo is the only Bomber with the bauble, acquired by the Cubs in 2016.
At the time, Rizzo was a top-tier Chicago stalwart and the clean-up man for a team that was snapping out of a 108-year slump. He currently bats No. 8 and is part of a trio at the bottom of the lineup, flanked by No. 7 Anthony Volpe and No. 9 Verdugo.
“We know our role at the bottom,” Rizzo would say. “Leave it to the next guy, that's the mentality. It could easily be the top of the order, but our top is very strong.”
Seven-Eight-Nine made 5 of 10 shots on Tuesday. They were all in the middle of the Yankees' bottom-of-the-second-inning rally when Rizzo hit a home run off Guardians starter Tanner Bibby, scoring two runs thanks in part to a double by Verdugo and putting the Yankees ahead at the corner. Say goodbye to Tanner).
But as Chisholm trotted back to the bench with his head bowed, momentum shifted to the other dugout. In fact, there was a buzz of tension in the stadium.
And in the blink of an eye, that restlessness turned into a roar.
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Rizzo hit a line drive off Cleveland left-hander Eric Sablowski that initially flicked off Josh Naylor's glove and spun behind him. When right fielder Will Brennan couldn't hit the ball cleanly, Volpe reversed from third base and scored the Yankees' fourth run.
A sense of order has been restored. The Yankees went on to win 6-3, and the power was finally pulled back from the mothball in the seventh inning when Aaron Judge hit an all-is-well shot over the right-center field wall. By then, the buzz had died down. The swagger returned to both the dugout and the bleachers.
The Yankees fly to Cleveland with full control of the series and need only two of the three there to get back to the World Series — against all five members of the AL Central Division. It came while I was sleeping for years — 15 years ago.
“We're coming in prepared,” Rizzo said. “We are not satisfied. We know the Guardians are a good club. Two games difference means nothing to us.”
But for Rizzo, now 35 years old, playing in these games means everything, and he knows he has far more yesterday in his rearview mirror than tomorrow in front of him. He fought hard to return just 16 days after breaking a finger on his right hand and lobbied hard to be added to the Yankees' 26-man roster.
He convinced Aaron Boone. Boone had him No. 8 in the standings, but all that pedigree was lurking just before flipping the lineup. So far, nothing could have gone better.
“Liz was amazing,” Boone said. “He hit the same bullet he hit last night to start the game and then had a really good at-bat off his left-handed pitcher to get us another score.”
For the second night in a row, Lizzo felt alternately relieved and elated.
“This is what training is for,” Rizzo said. “This is what you play for. Being on the bench is more stressful than playing. It's really hard to control your emotions on the bench than when you're playing.”
He'll play, okay. In fact, Boone may be toying with the idea of flipping Rizzo and Austin Wells and promoting them to their old No. 4 slot. Lizzo could do that. He did it at the most historic moment. However, he remains in the bottom third compared to other grinders and seems fine with staying where he is.
“If you do too much, your hands will fall off,” he said.
Even if that happens, he'll find a way back into the lineup. After all, this is what you play for.
