Dissecting Cole in the 5th

As a sports psychiatrist, I am wondering what froze Garrett Cole when Mookie Betts hit a slow dribbler down the first baseline. Was he shaken because he had lost his no-hitter earlier in the inning, that his teammates had committed mental errors behind him, and that even with striking out the next two batters, here was this ridiculous roller, this wheel of fortune, spinning down the line?

Charlie Manuel, the old Phillies manager, used to say that hitting was contagious. Witness the back-to-back home runs we saw in the series. But errors are contagious, too. Perhaps Cole felt that he was mostly in the clear after the two strikeouts. He had regained his dominance over the Dodgers. A dominant mindset is crucial for a pitcher, particularly Cole. Now, to face a dribbler called for more than just pitching; it was decision-making time—always precarious for the elite athlete in high-pressure situations.

He had righted the ship after the two errors behind him; why couldn’t he right the ship again after his own? My theory is that his aura of invincibility had been broken, as had the Yankees’ aura of invincibility, which permeates Yankee Stadium when they play an opponent in the postseason. An opposing team is not only playing the Yankees but also all of those great players before them.

Now that aura is gone. The Yankees and Cole are indeed vulnerable and human. How else can we explain allowing the next two batters to knock in two runs each and tie the score?

To his tremendous credit, however, Cole was able to regroup and pitch a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, keeping his team in the game. I can’t get to see a replay of the inning right now, but I wonder: did Aaron Boone come out to steady the ship after the Mookie play? Dave Roberts did just that with Blake Treinen three innings later and turned the game around. If Boone didn’t, that’s the fourth error in the inning.

Update: As I have had a chance to review the inning, I now see that Aaron Boone did not come out, that only Anthony Rizzo, who had  been part of Cole‘s nightmare, came over to try to steady him.

The Yankees will remember how comical they looked in the fifth inning for a long time. Perhaps one bit of solace is this: it was a great teaching moment for little leaguers. Whenever one of them makes an error that costs the team the game, they can take comfort in knowing that the New York Yankees, in the biggest moment on the biggest stage, did the same thing, and they are among the greatest baseball players alive.