They loom, they lurk, they await.
They sit more than 400 feet from home plate most of the game, are guaranteed not to appear in the first half of any contest, and yet Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman are part of every pitch.
The trio hung over Saturday’s game as sure as the façade at Yankee Stadium. Manager Joe Girardi had an itchy finger wanting to start the most electrifying kinetic chain in the sport as quickly after the national anthem as possible. The White Sox — like any opponent — wanted to do everything they could to seize a lead and nullify the Nastier Boys.
Because of Chapman’s month-long suspension and the inability to line up the game just so, Girardi had yet to be able to deploy all three in succession with a lead.
In Game 35, the Yankees finally got to debut Fast and Furious 3. They showed the world their late game in full. But is it already too late to matter?
Betances, Miller and Chapman combined to hold Chicago to one hit in 11 at-bats with eight strikeouts. As end lines go, it was as dramatic as Humphrey Bogart saying, “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
The trio was protecting just a one-run lead, and yet it felt more likely the White Sox would burst into an on-field rendition of “Hamilton” than get that run. Miller called this “a recipe for victory,” and it finalized a 2-1 triumph.
However, it improved the Yankees to just 15-20 and did not change the question besetting this club: How often will they make this recipe? Will the other 22 Yankees prove useful enough to make meaningful what Brian McCann called “clearly the strength of our team.”
The offense was not much again, managing two or fewer runs for a major league-high 17th time. In the previous 16, the Yankees were winless. They won Saturday because Ivan Nova’s sinker held the White Sox to one run in 5 ²/₃ innings before handing off to Murderers Throw (hat tip to @ggooglyboogly following me on Twitter for that nickname).
“These guys are tough and all closers really,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.
His club has familiarity with an overwhelming end game, sharing the AL Central with Kansas City. But the Yanks may have something more regal even than the Royals. Just consider: Regarding strikeouts per nine innings, among those with 150 relief appearances, the Yanks have the guys ranked first (Chapman 15.40), third (Betances 14.14) and fifth (Miller 13.32). Each had his career mark rise Saturday.
Girardi, recognizing the desperation in this season already, had Betances warming to open the sixth and brought in the big righty after Todd Frazier walked with two outs. Betances’ ability to provide more than an inning of brilliance is a significant weapon. He fanned all four batters he faced, and when Miller struck out Austin Jackson to open the eighth, the normally too-quiet Yankee Stadium perked up.
Only once in major league history have the final 10 outs of a game all come via strikeout — in Tom Seaver’s 19-whiff tour de force Aug. 22, 1970. Betances was doing his normal post-outing shoulder work in the trainer’s room and it struck him watching on TV that history was possible. But then Adam Eaton followed with a single.
“Hopefully, it will happen at some point this year,” Betances said.
Miller escaped, culminating in back-to-back sliders that made White Sox No. 3 hitter Jose Abreu seem like the feeblest of Little League swingers.
That is part of the formula for this threesome. They look like an AAU frontcourt with their size, and they have lightning in their arms. But the curve of Betances and the sliders of Miller and Chapman are among the sport’s most devastating pitches. Of course, no one comes to watch Chapman throw sliders.
He threw 17 fastballs that averaged 100.5 mph. His top was 102.5. That is 6 mph faster than Miller’s best — and Miller has a great fastball. As Darren Willman, the director of research at MLB.com, noted: Since 2008, there have been 136 pitches thrown that hard in the majors — 121 by Chapman.
“Chapman is like a video game,” Betances said.
In real life, though, the Yanks remain a last-place club. They don’t want the Nastier Boys to be their version of Kobe Bryant scoring 60 in his final game — a joyous distraction from the realities of a bad team. To avoid Chapman and maybe Miller, perhaps even Betances, from becoming July trade bait, the other 22 Yankees are going to have to find that recipe to make the end game meaningful over and over and over.
“We all know who they got,” Frazier said of the Yanks’ closing trio.
The Yankees have an awesome closing statement, but is it already too late to matter?