Yankees fans boo manager Joe Girardi before ALDS Game 3

Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

While both the Astros and the Indians had the home-field advantage, the data suggests this doesn’t make much difference compared to the “first-win advantage”.

Surely, King George is roiling in his grave at what his hometown Indians did to his Yankees on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

The #new york yankees manager, Joe Girardi is now feeling the brunt of criticism after the Bronx Bombers suffered a heartbreaking loss to the #Cleveland Indians in Game 2 of the American League Division Series (ALDS).

It was certainly wrong on Friday night. Whenever a starter is doing well enough to stay in the game, it’s not rocket science, you keep him in. The Yankees are sending Masahiro Tanaka to the mound and the Tribe will go with Carlos Carrasco. However, opponents were 8 for 11 in steal attempts against the 6-foot-8 right-hander in the regular season after going a ideal 21-for-21 against him a year ago.

Cleveland got back in the game in the sixth inning when a pitch that hit Lonnie Chisenhall’s bat – which would have been an inning-ending strikeout on a caught foul tip – was erroneously ruled a hit by pitch.

Catcher Gary Sanchez immediately asked Girardi to challenge, and slow-motion replays showed that the ball hit the knob of Chisenhall’s bat. He has also performed better on the road (11-2, 2.65 ERA) than at home (7-4, 3.99) this year. Last year, he had a 1-0 record in two starts versus the Indians with a 3.38 ERA.

The five-hour, eight-minute marathon ended when Yan Gomes hit a single down the line to score Austin Jackson from second. Instead, the bases were loaded and shortstop Francisco Lindor launched a Grand Slam. If he’d stalled for mere seconds, the Yankees would’ve escaped the inning with a five run lead, and coasted to victory. Carlos Santana lined a 1-and-1 fastball to left, the two-run single tying it at 2. Josh Tomlin picked up the win with two innings of scoreless relief. Girardi, in his 10th season at the helm but his eighth without a World Series title, was booed heavily by the home crowd on Sunday when the series moved back to NY for the third game. Aaron Judge walked three times and scored a run. Miller came on and retired Starlin Castro on a popup to Lindor in shallow center field. It wasn’t long ago we were all praising the Yankees skipper for the way he used his bullpen in that one game Wild Card against the Twins.

One year after almost costing the Indians a trip to the World Series, Bauer helped them take the first step back.

Carrasco is coming off his best season as a pro. When the Yankees were introduced prior to Game 3 of the ALDS in the Bronx, the manager was roundly booed.

But the Indians fought back – fought back from what looked like a devastating injury sustained when Edwin Encarnacion sprained his right ankle trying to get back to second base to avoid a double play and fought back from Corey Kluber’s shortest outing since May 2.