Carlos Rodon chilled out and was star Yankees needed him to be

The lone sign that Carlos Rodon was running hot this start was that he was the only player on the field for ALCS Game 1 in short sleeves. The first pitch Monday was at 50 degrees and the temperature dropped as the innings went by.The flags that ring the top of Yankee Stadium smacked around loud enough that you could hear them at times, even with 47,264 at top volume. As an outdoorsman, Rodon said, he likes cold weather and thought it had been at least five years since he last pitched in long sleeves.

Regardless of the weather Monday night, Rodon was chill.That is what he promised and what the Yankees wanted and needed. “I thought he was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions,” Aaron Boone said after Rodon authored six overpowering one-run innings in a 5-2 Yankee triumph over the Guardians. Rodon’s temperament became a key issue in the Division Series.

Undermined by runaway emotions in his first Yankee season in 2023, Rodon was better in all ways in 2024.But then in the Yankees’ only loss so far this postseason — Game 2 against the Royals — Rodon came out on fire.

He struck out three in the first inning and celebrated each as if New Year’s had struck.By the fourth inning, he was spent and ultimately knocked out of a game.

He lost control of his equilibrium and the strike zone. It had the Yankees wondering if they really wanted to open a Championship Series with the lefty.But among Yankees, there is no one near as honestly self-analytical with reporters as Rodon.

And his session Sunday was more therapy than news conference.He admitted his inability to take a deep breath and regather himself.

And cited how in the Yankees’ clinching Game 4, Gerrit Cole had dispassionately and with a “poker face” rolled through inning after inning. Why it would take a 10-year major leaguer with postseason experience this long to learn that lesson is one of the mysteries that comes with the Rodon experience.But at least he learned it.

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