Any extended absence for him certainly would have been devastating to an Indians team with hopes of a second consecutive trip to the World Series.

The accomplishments of the '17 Yankees have been incredible, with Girardi at the helm. Back in spring training, no baseball pundit had the Yankees ticketed for October in their predictions. This was an absolute gem of a baseball game, well-pitched, well-played, tense and nerve-jangling throughout.

"I took a lot of heat when I came in here as a player". Green struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam. He did allow a two-run homer to Carlos Santana in the fourth inning that made it 5-2 and a solo blast to Roberto Perez in the fifth that made it 5-3.

At first glance, the ball appeared to clip Chisenhall in the hand.

The Yankees catcher looked toward the dugout, indicating he felt strongly that his manager should challenge. If the call had been overturned, the pitch would have been a third strike and the final out of the inning, depriving Lindor of his bases-loaded at-bat. The bench coach Rob Thomson answers and relays what Weber says to Girardi, who will signal to umpires whether he wants to challenge a call.

On Sunday, it was Tanaka, who threw the most important seven scoreless innings of his major league career. But two straight wins at Yankee Stadium have given them a chance for redemption, returning to the scene of the crime in a winner-take-all Game 5. Absolutely not. Of course, Girardi is taking all the responsibility for his team's heartbreaking Game 2 loss in Cleveland. It came out flat in Game 4, and the Yankees clobbered it. Todd Frazier, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Judge swatted consecutive two-out hits, and Judge's double into the left field corner gave him his first hit of the series and the Yankees a 4-0 lead. The Indians need that to change in Game 5.

Girardi said the first he learned of the online ruckus was when he spoke to Chapman on Saturday, an off day in the series.

Yankees fans are criticizing Girardi all the same, and it may not be just them. They will have to play like themselves, a simple task at which they failed utterly Monday night. This is a team that relies on key rookies (Rookie of the Year shoo-in Judge has whiffed 12 times already, but he's managed to make a few big plays anyway), second-year players, and several midseason pickups. And then either hit a mistake or lay off the ones that are down and out of the zone. Speaking of five-run leads, the Yankees haven't blown one at home in 2017.

Girardi isn't concerned about losing the clubhouse ahead of Game 3. At first, he made himself devoid of blame.

"I couldn't feel my forearm for a couple of minutes", Frazier said. "I enjoy pitching on short (rest)", Bauer said. "But [I've] got to move forward and we'll be ready to go [on Sunday]".

Step one of the recovery process: Admit your wrongdoing. Late Friday, the Instagram account belonging to closer Aroldis Chapman "liked" a fan's comment calling the manager an "imbecile". "He's a complete imbecile".

Girardi didn't discount the possibility that he could be let go. Sabathia was pulled after 77 pitches with an 8-3 lead Friday.