Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/21/22

NY Post | Joel Sherman: The Yankees dropped Game 2 of the ALCS and are now two losses away from elimination. Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes are in line for the first two games in the Bronx on full rest this weekend. Cole knows New York cannot afford to fall into a 3-0 deficit, but he’s keeping his composure. “Regardless, if it’s 2-0 or if it’s 1-1 or it’s 0-2, it just, it can’t affect the way I go about my business,” Cole said. “We all have a job to do. We play each and every game in and of itself, play each and every pitch within each and every game until there’s no more pitches to play, win or lose.”

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Strikeouts have been happening all too often within the Yankees’ lineup against the Astros. “We’ve just got to find a way to do a little bit more offensively,” Boone said. “We feel like we can go out there and limit them enough, a very good offense, and give us a chance. Certainly feel no one better than Gerrit to hand the ball to get us right back in this.” The last team to come back down 2-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series? The 2020 Dodgers, who shook off a 3-1 NLCS deficit to win the World Series. Can the Yanks pull it off?

Sports Illustrated | Gary Phillips: The Yankees have gone to their bullpen plenty during this postseason, but there’s one name in particular that hasn’t been called yet: Domingo Germán. The righty owned a 3.61 ERA through 72.1 innings during the regular season. Why hasn’t he been used in October? Boone says it’s because their starters are going deep enough into games that they don’t need long relief from German.

MLB Trade Rumors | Nick Deeds: Former Yankee Eduardo Núñez has announced his retirement from baseball. Signed as a teenage international free agent in 2004, the infielder played four seasons with the Yanks from 2010-13 before making an All-Star team with the Twins in 2016 and winning a World Series with the Red Sox in 2018. Although Núñez’s bat showed potential, he never quite hit his stride in the Bronx the way he did elsewhere, as he hit .267/.313/.379 with an OPS of .692 while in New York. The Yankees ultimately looked elsewhere to find the man to succeed Derek Jeter at shortstop.