This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes

Rebecca's Blog has moved!

2009-10-31T12:28:00.002-04:00

Rebecca's blog has moved from blogger to Wordpress and may now be accessed at:

http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com

Most of you won't have to change your bookmarks, but some of you may.

Intense Debate comments did not survive the import, so for any post made between 04/09 and 10/09, the comments can be found here.

It's a bit rough, I know, but in the long run it will be worth it.

Yankees win, Theeee Yankees win! On video!

2009-10-30T13:28:00.002-04:00

Via Amanda Rykoff:

View her game 2 photo gallery here

Argument for Instant Replay gets stronger

2009-10-30T13:21:00.003-04:00

1) Watch this video.

2) Tell me what you see.

If you saw the same thing I saw, you saw a) a short hop to Ryan Howard, b) no stepping on first base, and c) a throw wide of second base.

In theory, the Yankees should have bases loaded, one out, with Mark Teixeira at bat.

Instead, the play was ruled a double play--that Howard caught the ball and tagged the runner--and instead of being able to expand their lead and perhaps momentarily avoid using Mariano Rivera, the Yankees had to call on their 39 year-old closer for a 39 pitch save.

I was seated in the right field grandstand last night (check the photos from the post below), and, with Howard's back to me, I knew it was a blown call.

How did I know? If it really was a double play, Howard had utterly no reason to throw to second base.

It seems, that with every round there' yet another botched call, and each one increasing in severity after the last.

It has now gotten to the point where every play, even ones that should be utterly routine, have become the subject of much dissection.

Umpiring along with journalism has one single, cardinal rule: never become the story.

Alas, in the 2009 postseason, the umpires have.

"The Funnest I've Ever Had"

2009-10-30T00:49:00.003-04:00

So this is what the World Series, the real World Series, feels like, huh?

What with the pitching and the timely hitting and the Mariano-ing and the Hoosierdaddy-ing and the mid-game-change-your-luck-Tweetups with Amanda Rykoff and Brent Nycz and the OHMIG-D YOU DID NOT REALIZE PAUL O'NEILL WAS THROWING OUT THE FIRST PITCH!

This is what it feels like.

It feels pretty darn good.

This isn't just baseball.

This is love.

***
Unlike last night's cold, rainy and windy drudge, tonight felt like October baseball.

There was, first of all, getting off the subway and walking, in the pale, dying sunlight, across the street to the Stadium. There, you find yourself transported to another world, one in which nothing matters except baseball. Nothing.

There was, in the pregame, the Jay Z/Alicia Keys mini-concert.

I'm not even a Jay Z fan, but the show the two put on seemed to set something off: the Stadium came alive, as if, finally, finally, we realized what it is our team has accomplished.

We're here, in the World Series.

We've reached the last round, we will play in the last Major League baseball game on the 2009 calendar; we will play into November.

The National Anthem is sung by John Legend and there's a flyover which goes right over my head, all of which is utterly awesome and makes it hit me again: HEY THIS IS THE WORLD SERIES, but it pales in comparison to the reaction when Paul O'Neill comes out to throw out the first pitch.

We are ready for this game to start.

AJ Burnett takes his warm up tosses not to the 300 soundtrack as normal, but instead to Marilyn Manson.

I don't know if today will be Good AJ or Bad AJ, not yet, but the music choice soothes me: almost every other time I've seen Burnett pitch this season with his normal warm up music, he's been bombed. Maybe the change will do him good.

After a few innings, after the Phillies take a 1-0 lead and Pedro Martinez refuses to let the Yankees do anything besides chant "Who's Your Dad-dy?", Amanda Rykoff and I start texting. She's scored a last second ticket to the game and we're talking about a mid-game tweet-up, along with Brent Nycz, to change the Yankees' luck. We decide: Top of the fourth inning, by section 413.

So, we meet and we walk over to one of the concession stands so I can buy myself some Twizzlers.

We watch the game on the screens, which are about 10 seconds behind the actual play on the field.

We watch AJ Burnett pitch a 1-2-3 inning, and then we watch Mark Teixeira hit a game-tying home run into the Yankees' bullpen, and we decree the tweet-up a success: our luck has been changed.

After we part, Burnett pitches as though he has taken it to another level. Slowly, we stop holding our breath with every pitch AJ throws, and instead begin to long for the next one. It may not be Lee's dominance, but you could have fooled us.

In the seventh inning, the crowd senses that this is something spectacular. So we chant: "AJ! AJ! AJ!"

He dazzles.

Later on, while speaking to reporters, he'll say it's "the funnest I've ever had".

In the bottom of the seventh, with a one run lead, the Yankees threaten for more. With first and third and no one out, a Melky Cabrera singles makes the score 3-1 and knocks Pedro Martinez from the game. Hoosierdaddy!

After a pinch-hitting Jorge Posada reaches, Derek Jeter bunts foul ("I was stupid", he is rumored to have said) and Johnny Damon comes to the plate.

I'll examine this in more detail tomorrow, but from our seats, what we saw was him ground to Ryan Howard, who, without touching first, threw the ball wide of second base. It should have left the Yankees with the bases loaded and no one out, but it was instead ruled a double play.

Somehow, you get the feeling, that it's impossible to conduct a 2009 postseason game without some sort of major umpiring scandal.

Still, the umpires' awful call notwithstanding, the Yankees took no chances, and went straight to Enter Sandman.

With the top of the Phillies' lineup due up in the eighth inning, going to Mariano Rivera is, in terms of, leverage-baby-leverage, a no-brainer. With the off day tomorrow, the Yankees could afford to do it, and so they did.

Rivera did make things a little exciting, but, being the great Mariano, he found a way.

Ball game over, Yankees win, theeeee Yankees win!

****

I found and purchased a "Got Pie" t-shirt. It's a much better souvenir than the program, which cost $5 more than normal and is mostly a reprint of the LCS program.

I still can't get over the umpires' call in the bottom of the 7th. I will address tomorrow, likely in the afternoon.

Any photo taken after the fourth inning is credit Brent Nycz. The video of the final out (will be uploaded in morning) is credit Amanda Rykoff.

All Hangs on AJ

2009-10-29T14:45:00.003-04:00

For the first time this postseason, the Yankees find themselves behind, down in a series and in much need of a win.

While comparisons to 1996 invoke a certain romanticism, it is not a position in which any Yankee fan wants to find his team--as fun as a come-from-behind series win would be, a series tied at one game a piece is still a much better option than being down 0-2 and having to go on the road.

So it falls to AJ Burnett to shut the door.

AJ Burnett, who has been so predictable--the same pitcher that surrendered six runs to Baltimore in one inning is also the one who one-hit the Red Sox through eight.

Burnett's unpredictability is nothing new--in fact, it's probably the most consistent thing about him.

Tonight, the Yankees need the "good AJ" to show up and shut Philadelphia down, and, well, not repeat his outing the last time he faced the Phillies.

AJ wants to be a big game pitcher; this is his shot.

He still needs a little pie, after all.

Damaso so good?

2009-10-29T10:46:00.003-04:00

If there's one thing that's surprising about the Yankee postseason thus far, it's this: the bullpen has struggled more than we expected.

Mariano is still Mariano, but nearly everyone else has struggled at some point--even Robertson had a less than stellar appearance last night.

Despite the fact that the malaise seems to be so widespread, there's just one Yankee pitcher that seems to bear the brunt of everyone's emotions: Damaso Marte.

The thing is, although Yankee fans are generally astute (I hope, anyway), Marte might not actually deserve all the blame that is being heaped on him.

While it's true that Marte struggled in Game 2 of the ALDS, allowing two hits with no outs in extra innings, he has not allowed anything in the two innings (spread out over four games) he has pitched since then--no hits, no walks, no nothing.

While you might be thinking that spreading two innings over four games may not say much, keep in mind that, as a LOOGY, this is exactly how Marte is supposed to be used: to nab the left handed bats and no more.

In other words, then, what Marte has been doing is simple: his job.

It doesn't sound like much, but when you consider how much the other, normally reliable, relievers are struggling, it does matter.

Would I advocate, like I did with Robertson, for Marte to be used more? No, not really--being used as he is is the best way to use him, and the track record of using him too much isn't pretty--but what I would suggest is that perhaps he does not necessarily need to bear the brunt of our ire.

At any rate, tonight the Yankees need AJ Burnett to be solid. As important as Damaso Marte may or may not be, he will still not be important as the starting pitching the Yankees receive.

This is New York

2009-10-29T01:41:00.004-04:00

(A response to this)

You exit my apartment.

Walk south to the end of this block and the next, hang a right, walk two more short blocks and find yourself in the heart of the Bronx's own Little Italy.

You could get yourself a thick crust slice at Full Moon, to stay or to go, or you can sit down for a full meal at Zero Otto Nove.

You can sample fresh seafood at the outdoor clam bar next to Umberto's or buy a fresh baked loaf of olive bread at Madonia brothers.

This is New York.

You hop the D train up by Fordham Road.

While you're riding it past 161st and River, a Mariachi band--complete with accordion--boards and somehow, even though you really hate accordions and you want to resist, you still find yourself drumming along to the music.

You get out at Columbus Circle.

You contemplate going to the Park. Sure, it's splendid in the sun, and brilliant in the winter snow, but it's this proposal in the rain that'll get you every time.

You contemplate turning west, towards Lincoln Center, but it's not quite Nutcracker season just yet. You contemplate walking just a little bit further, to where you could get cheap Chinese food at Ollie's, and you smile. Ollie's Noodle Bar, this is where you came this summer, after every afternoon win, a tradition between you and one of your best friends. He always gets the fried rice, you the steamed fish. The food comes so fast that you have time to eat and digest your meal and not miss a single firework on the Fourth of July.

Your stomach, however, is full from that slice at Full Moon, so instead you turn east along Central Park South, and you walk until you reach the Plaza hotel.

Across from the hotel where you once stayed as a kid the same night the Toronto Raptors were in town--you were in the elevator with Tracy McGrady, only you didn't realize it at the time, not till you read the name on the gym bag later--there's the Apple Store, which exists all underground, where you got your brand-spanking new computer four months ago, and there's FAO Schwartz, where you duck in just because they've got candy and you've got one hell of a sweet tooth.

This is New York.

You continue to walk along Fifth Avenue. You pass St. Patrick's Cathedral, where you step inside and light a taper for a Catholic friend who is in a really bad spot, and you pass by stores ranging from the ultra upscale Bergdorf Goodman to the NBA Store where you remind yourself that your brother's birthday is in two months and you haven't gotten him a gift yet.

You were here, you remember, on St. Patrick's Day, when all the world seemed to be one giant college party and you found yourself longing for your undergraduate days. You can still hear the sound of the bagpipes, a reminder of the city's Irish heritage even as you contemplate getting sushi in SoHo for dinner.

You walk past 42nd street--Times Square is to the west, and you remember spending your New Year's there, just that once, just to be able to say that, yes, you were there, that you braved the nearly 0 F temperatures and did so without gloves and somehow did not get frostbitten.

You continue, you walk past the back side of the Empire State building, so tall that you can crane your neck and still not see all of it, and you reach 34th street--Penn Station, from where you've taken trains to your parents in Jersey, to your family in Long Island, to Shea in its last year and Citifield in it's first, and the Amtrak to Boston last Christmas.

This is the same place as Madison Square Garden--and though the Jersey fan in you can't stand the Rangers and remains indifferent to the Knicks, the annual Big East tournament is a source of pride. You're not sure which you enjoyed more: winning it all in 2006, the wins against Cincinnati, hated UConn and Georgetown all coming on last second shots or that game in 2009, six overtimes against that same UConn, that game that wouldn't end, that seemed destined to continue for all eternity, and you smile.

Foley's isn't too far from here, either--this is where you met with other bloggers, most of whom you read religiously or follow on Twitter--and this is where you had lunch with the folks who are still trying to save Gate 2 from the old Yankee Stadium, and where Nick Swisher has made an appearance a few times this season, too.

This is New York.

You walk down some more, and at 23rd street you think about walking west a few blocks--here is where your other brother lives, with his wife and your sixth month old nephew. He's getting so big now, your nephew, that he can no longer fit into the Yankee baby clothes you bought for him the day he was born, if only because you were at the Stadium that day, and the opportunity presented itself.

Your brother and sister-in-law are still at work, however, so you instead continue, following Fifth Ave, until it ends abruptly at Washington Square Park and the NYU campus. You remember the last time you walked through Washington Square Park with your boyfriend, where he bumped into an acquaintance of his, nothing more at work here than two people in the right place at the right time.

From here, you know you could walk through Greenwich Village, and past that venue where you and a friend once saw the Daily Show's John Oliver in a stand up performance. You could continue down to Soho, walking past Houston and along Sullivan till you wind up at Purl, your favorite yarn store, where you think that they have to be sick of you by now.

You could continue much further south and you'll find yourself in the Financial District, and near the 9/11 memorial site, where you wish they'd hurry up already and build something there, where every year those lights still go up, and you still remember.

Instead, though, you get back on the D train and take it all the way to the end, all the way to Coney Island in Brooklyn. You get off the subway, walk past the site of the famous Nathan's Hot Dog contest (it's always the skinny guy, the Chestnut or the Kobyashi) and towards the pier. You stop short of the pier, however, as you pass by where the Cyclones play, and the field next to it, where you remember that on one August night, here is where you hurt your shoulder because you thought that there could not possibly be any harm in throwing too many pitches to your friend, the only ones to reach his mitt being knuckle-ball types. You remember how after you decided you absolutely had to test out the fast pitch, and registered at 30 miles an hour.

As bad as the thirty was, you laugh, it was still better than the 22 mph you threw when you went to Trenton, although that had consequences of its own.

From the pier you can see the amusement park, and just for a moment you wish you were a little bit less wimpy, hated roller coasters just a little bit less...

Against the sunset, you decide it's time to head back, so you get on the subway again (and damn, you think, that unlimited card comes in handy), and you ride all the way up.

You pass by 145th street, where you'd get off and switch to the A to visit that same friend on 173rd, the one that urged you to throw those knuckleballs, who lives in the way-too-much maligned neighborhood of Washington Heights, that same place where Manny grew up. You can literally see the George Washington Bridge from his apartment, and it glitters in the moonlight. You keep thinking about all the baseball games you went to this year--the game the day your nephew was born, that loss against the Nationals back in June, the walk-off on July fourth, the game that didn't start till 9.30 on July 23rd because of rain, that same game that saw the kids from Camp Sundown, that game the day after Derek Jeter broke that record, the very first game of the postseason, and now one more--the second game of the World Series. Not to mention the Staten Island, Brooklyn, Trenton and Scranton games you went to, improvising transportation and going just because you love baseball, and no other reason.

You think about the nights you spent in that apartment--once without even working electricity--because it was too late to go all the way back. You think about how when there was no roommate you could sleep on the spare bed, but now that there is one you sleep on the futon that's never really been pulled out, and how badly your back hurts in the morning, and how much you just don't care.

As you pass by the Stadium, you think about this.

You think about how you were there that first exhibition game against the Cubs, the night before you had to be at a conference at 8.30 AM but you still wouldn't have missed it for the world, about the ALCS game three viewing, where you sat in the expensive seats for free and about how you were totally fooled by the Johnny Damon lookalike sitting two rows behind you.

You realize you've been to so many games this year that you've lost count. Sure, you were lucky enough to sit in the expensive seats a few times, but your favorite memories are when you got the tickets the day before, sitting in the 400s or the bleachers, and that sense of pride...you are a Yankee fan. That itself is enough.

It takes a while, but the subway reaches Fordham Road again.

You exit along E 188th, and walk downhill, past the markets, the Indian or Pakistani woman on the street selling children's books, the community health center, the pediatrician and the weight loss clinic. You walk past the stairway to nowhere (well, that's what you call it, anyway), the Chinese take out, Dominican barber shop, brand new bar and the fried chicken joint on Webster. Along the way a tall, strong, imposing man stops you--asks you, because of your hat, if you're a Yankee fan. He asks how the Yankees will do, and without even thinking about it, you tell him,

"They're going all the way."

You bump fists.

You continue, past the playground and the basketball courts--oh, how you wish a recruiter would stop by, discover the next LeBron--and play with fate herself as you cross 3rd Ave.

You walk those last few blocks, past Arthur Ave again, and end up right back where you started.

You are exhausted, but you don't care. The City teems with life and you love every bit of it.

The kicker, though, is that you know, you know more than anyone because you've lived here, that you still ain't seen nothing yet.

Gone Astray

2009-10-28T23:10:00.003-04:00

Sometimes things don't go the way you want.

It has happened before, and it will happen again.

It wasn't as though CC Sabathia collapsed or had some sort of awful performance--the two runs surrendered were the same as in his ALDS game one performance--it was that Cliff Lee pitched the game of his life.

To have beaten Cliff Lee tonight, the Yankees would have had to pitch perfectly.

Until the ninth inning, the Yankees had just one batter reach second base, and none reach third.

There's not much else to day--it wasn't a bad managerial move that cost the Yankees the game; the other team simply pitched better.

Okay, so perhaps Brian Bruney should not be anywhere near a postseason roster, but this isn't really the point here.

You can debate how you would have pitched the top of the eighth--my faith in Robertson didn't work out the way I'd hope, but it happens--but it wasn't a bullpen that blew the game.

With the way that Lee pitched, even if the score had remained 2-0, the Yankees' chances were still slim--he was that good.

The first six innings, at least--before the Yankees went to the bullpen--were everything that a neutral fan would want to see in a World Series game: good pitching, good fielding, and played in a crisp manner.

Alas for us, we have a rooting interest that was on the wrong end of that game.

So what now, then?

For the first time this postseason, the Yankees find themselves trailing in a series, faced with their first real must-win of the month. Lose tomorrow, and it's 0-2 going to Philly--although, as we all remember previous occasions, it's not as though the Yankees haven't overcome that obstacle before.

The Yankees don't have to face Cliff Lee tomorrow; they have to face Pedro Martinez which is an entirely different story for reasons probably already familiar to you.

There is no reason to think that the Yankees will not fight. We've seen this team play too long this year with their swagger. They always seem to find a way.

As Douglas Adams would have said, DON'T PANIC.

There is still a lot of baseball left to play.

****

I will be at tomorrow's game. If you are going and would like to say hello, send an email or tweet my way.

What do you Remember?

2009-10-28T12:01:00.003-04:00

Where were you the last time the Yankees won a World Series?

What were you doing? How did you celebrate? What feeling are you most anxious to feel again?

I remember getting so nervous as Mike Piazza hit a deep fly to center, thinking it might never come down...and then Bernie was there, and the Subway Series complete.

I remember being a freshman in a high school that leaned strongly towards the Mets, and I remember the naivete: the fourteen-year-old feeling that, yes, we were invincible.

So what about you? What do you remember from last time? What do you want to remember from this time?

Stadium to Open for Fans for Game 4

2009-10-28T01:20:00.003-04:00

Via LoHud, Yankee Stadium will open to fans on Sunday so that they may view the road game four.

With luck, this game could be especially significant (although my gut tells me this is unlikely).

Having gone to the viewing party for Game 3 of the ALCS, I must say that if you have the chance to go on Sunday, I highly recommend it.

There's really nothing like watching the game with a few thousand fans of the same team. It is, after all, the same reason you congregate in bars and friends homes to watch the postseason, especially the latter rounds in any sport.

The event is free (save for concessions), so you needn't worry about cost. Just get there early--if you're there early enough, you can even try out some of the Legends Seats!

PBP #6: HELLO THE NAME IS SWAGGER (Live Chat)

2009-10-27T18:58:00.001-04:00

PBP #6 HELLO THY NAME IS SWAGGER

Who's Your Game 2 Starter?

2009-10-27T11:45:00.004-04:00

By now you've likely heard the news: Pedro Martinez will start Game 2 of the World Series for the Phillies.

Game two.

In New York.

This, of course, would be the same Pedro who once uttered, "just call the Yankees my daddy", spawning non-stop "who's-your-daddy?" chants at the Stadium.

Pedro was once dominant against the Yankees--holding them to one hit in the 1999 ALCS--but has struggled lately, with an ERA close to six in his past five starts.

While he did pitch well against the Dodgers, the Yankees could easily be another story.

Charlie Manuel is taking a huge gamble--Pedro has been better than Hamels this postseason, sure, but Pedro's home/road splits are worrying at best and somewhere the law-of-averages is waiting to rear its ugly head.

***

Live chat at 7.30. Be there

Baseball as it Should Be

2009-10-27T10:31:00.004-04:00

The World Series is supposed to be about the two best teams in each league duking it out for supreme bragging rights.

Often, this fails in favor of two teams that simply get hot at the right time, but this year, it is, in fact, the league's two best teams going at it.

In one corner, you have the team from Philadelphia. A group of "gamers" as some have described them, defending World Champions, a National League team with a lineup that mashes on an American League score.

In the other corner, the Bronx Bombers. Despite the motley of expensive free agents, this team also boasts one of the highest percentage home-grown rosters in the league. The team that took off in May has flat-out dominated since then, cruising to its best record since the record-breaking 1998 season.

Both teams have lost just two games in the postseason, both have survived playing in utterly frigid conditions in New York and Colorado, and both have their own lofty expectations.

While it may have been easy to pick the Yankees over the Twins or the Phillies over the Dodgers, predicting a World Series winner is another thing entirely. I am a die-hard Yankees fan, but I would be shocked if the series went less than six games. These teams are, simply put, too good.

This, though, is how it should be.

A World Series, by definition, should go to seven games. It should have a bit of everything (except blown calls, of course), and it should make you love the game all that more.

The Phillies-Yankees series holds that promise: baseball as it should be.

****

More later, including a live chat at 7.30 pm, so make sure you're there!

(Something Profound About 1999 Goes Here)

2009-10-26T21:44:00.004-04:00

When we talk of the Yankees' dynasty at the end of last century, three teams consistently enter our mind:

The 1996 squad, a combination of pure grit and utter youth, of the waning days of the likes of Cecil Fielder, Doc Gooden and Jimmy Key, and of the coming out of the likes of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera (Jorge Posada would debut later).

The 1998 team, sheer and utter domination. Wells and Cone, Duque and Pettitte, and an offense that always found a way to win. A team that won 125 games over all, lost only fifty and is considered by many to be one of the best teams in any sport of all time.

The 2000 team, Subway Series champions that survived more on luck--winning the World Series with just 87 wins--than anything else. This was a team that got their game winning hits from Jose Vizcaino and Luis Sojo, and the team whose pitching staff was anchored by the Rocket Roger Clemens.

The one team, it seems, that we never pay any mind, is the 1999 squad.

Why is it? The 1998 team may have been more dominant in the regular season, but the 1999 team lost just one game in the postseason--a one-hitter against the Red Sox and a Pedro Martinez in his prime.

Maybe it has to do with the regular season being, well, regular. There was the death of Joe DiMaggio in Spring Training, and David Cone's perfect game in July--neither of these events insignificant, but in 1999 that the Yankees would go on to win the World Series seemed simply a given, that there was no one there who could rightfully challenge them.

Much of the 1999 team boasted the same roster, just a year older than the 1998 team, and so perhaps we saw that team as a continuation of 1998, a comfortable plateau of hey-we're-the-best-and-no-one-is-even-close.

You see, that's what happens when a dynasty reaches its zenith: nothing is there to challenge it, and so, for the moment its successes seem inevitable and unremarkable.

It is only after the dynasty has fallen that we realize just how impressive the dynasty has been.

By the end of 2001, there were teams to challenge the Yankees: a 116-win team in Seattle and the eventual World Champions in Arizona, and the dynasty would come to an end.

Followed by years of disappointment, first round exits, and The Great Evil of Which We Do Not Speak, the Dynasty Years quickly accrued a glory usually reserved only for the greatest of our moments.

In 2009, the Yankees have a chance to give rebirth to that pride that makes us Yankees fans in the first place.

All that remains to be seen is which team the similarities are most drawn: is it the gritty 96ers? The dominant Team of the Century? The dynasty's least-written about 99ers, or the 00 squad?

The answer is probably a little of all four.

Leverage, baby, Leverage

2009-10-26T10:55:00.002-04:00

When Mariano Rivera began to warm in the seventh inning last night, there were a variety of reactions. Some liked the move, some did not, and I admit that, at first, I was a little worried--what if something happened, Rivera pitched two innings, the Yankees lost the game and then Rivera wasn't able to pitch a Game Seven?

Fortunately, I soon came to my senses, and remembered that I do believe in the concept of use-the-best-reliever-in-highest-leverage, as this is exactly what Girardi did last night.

In the top of the eighth inning, in a game that was still a two-run score, Girardi went with his best reliever to get the top--and then the meat--of the Angels' batting order: Figgins-Abreu-Hunter-Guerrerro-Morales.

Just as recently as Game 5, Phil Hughes struggled against that same part of the lineup, unable to get the one out he needed, and as big a Robertson fan as I am--and I'm a big one--when you have the option to go to Rivera, you take it.

Now, according to Fangraphs, the fourth inning in which the Yankees scored their first three runs was the highest-leveraged situation of the game, but at that time the starter was still pitching, and, well, ideally you don't remove a starter in the fourth inning.

Still, as the graph indicates, the leverage situation in the eighth inning was still much higher than that in the ninth.

The Yankees, last night, employed Mariano Rivera in the most effective way that they could. How is the mood repaying them?

The team's off to their fortieth World Series.

****

Stay tuned for more World Series/Turnpike Series goodies. I've got somehwere to be this afternoon, but plan on a Live Chat Tuesday evening, round 7.30. I will post a reminder tomorrow.

Anything is Possible

2009-10-26T00:04:00.004-04:00

(photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

I had forgotten what it felt like.

Not the winning, but the euphoria.

This feeling, that nothing can touch us, that nothing can stop us, that for this moment, the baseball gods have smiled.

The Yankees, though, the Yankees were there to make sure I remembered.

***

No one said that beating the Angels would be easy, and it wasn't.

Six games, six games in which every emotion as a fan was tested: there was anxiety, nervousness, pleasure, pain, face-palming and, at long last, euphoria.

To be the champions of your league, you have to beat the best along the way.

The Angels were the only team in the league that played the Yankees well consistently all season, and so it was fitting that the road to the World Series would have to go through Anaheim.

When it came down to it, it wasn't just that the Yankees had ALCS MVP CC Sabathia and the Angels didn't, or that the Yankees had Alex Rodriguez and the Angels didn't, it was that the Yankees never forgot how to play fundamental baseball.

Fundamental errors cost the Angels games two and six; even just costing them one of those games would have been too much.

****

It is only fitting that Andy Pettitte was on the mound tonight.

He was there in 1996, he should be there again this season, when comparisons to the late nineties Yankees have been so apparent.

It was fitting, and Pettitte was vintage.

He only pitched into the seventh inning, but he kept the Angels to just one run, and you get the feeling that once the Yankees scored, the Angels never really had much of a chance.

There was Pettitte, and then there was Joba, where we held our breath, and then there was Rivera.

****

I've gone back and forth on Rivera in the eighth, but ultimately it was the right decision. As a proponent of the leverage argument, tonight's use of Rivera is exactly what should have been done, with him facing Figgins, Abreu, Hunter, Guerrerro and Morales in the the eighth inning, in a two run game.

You knew Rivera would be on the mound for the final out, regardless of the score.

It just wouldn't be right without it.

****

The work isn't done.

Philadelphia's not just a good team, they're the defending World Champions and with good reason.

Yet, you get the feeling, if anyone can beat the Phillies, these Yankees can.

We have watched this team, all season, dazzle us, surprise us, enthrall us and, most of all, make us believe.

And so we do believe.

The quest for 27 remains, and it closer than ever.

This team is showing us that they are of the Substance, that they are Yankees.

The euphoria is back.

Anything is possible.

Finally, Some Baseball on tap

2009-10-25T10:57:00.003-04:00

For some reason, off days during the post season feel longer and more drawn out than those in the actual off-season.

Aside from the off-days which provide for cross-country travel, the other off-days seem an absurdity, especially when one considers that baseball is a sport that is predicated on the ability to play every day.

Really, even with the delay caused by the WBC, there's no good reason we should not have at least already started the next round by now.

Ah, well, at long last the Yankees can try again for a trip to the World Series tonight.

It is only a game six, but I don't think there's a single fan out there that would suggest the mood is anything less than a game seven atmosphere. There are too many reasons to not go to a game seven that might actually make this game the biggest must-win game of the season.

Now, just in case you're worrying, that's no reason to get negative.

After all, the Yankees are back in New York, they have their most experienced postseason pitcher on the mound, a rested bullpen, and CC Sabathia in their back pocket.

This is 2009, not any other year that might be entering your memory.

The Yankees have every conceivable advantage tonight; it's up to them to make it matter.

At long last, we have baseball.

Hawking a Friend's Wares

2009-10-24T21:23:00.002-04:00

Check it out

The author is a physics graduate student who ha agreed to help out during the off-season with a couple get-all-physic-y posts about the physics of pitching and baseball.

The geek in you can't wait, and you know it.

Raindrops are not among my Favorite Things

2009-10-24T18:29:00.003-04:00

...but since baseball tonight has been postponed, here's something to mull over:

MLB knew for days that a) the Philadelphia Phillies would not need to play a game six, and b) that the forecast called for massive rain in New York on Saturday evening.

Even so, they did nothing to change the start time of the game.

An announcement could have been made at any point Thursday or Yesterday about starting or attempting to start the game at, say, 4.30, or even 4.00, and they did not.

Then again, with a guaranteed game now being televised on a Sunday--and not a Saturday night...

At any rate, here is hoping you find a nice way to occupy your now-free Saturday evening.

Me? I baked a loaf of bread. Yeah. I'm a sword-wielding, baseball-blogging, Bronx-living, domestic. Awesome.

PBP Caption Contest Vote Extended

2009-10-24T12:23:00.002-04:00

Since we have so many entries I've decided to extend the vote--voting will now end next Friday, at midnight.

No more entries will be accepted.

The entries can be found here.

To vote, send me an email at rebecca@puristbleedspinstripes.com with the name of the entrant.

You may vote for yourself.

Optimist Prime Strikes Again

2009-10-23T18:03:00.004-04:00

With some fans still seething after yesterday's game, I figure what's a better time for a healthy dose of Optimism?

The Yankees still lead the series, and only need to win one more game. It won't be easy, but it's still less of a task than that which faces the Angels in having to win two games in New York.

The Yankees are a good team. They aren't soft. You don't win all those walk off games if your team is soft; you win them because your pitching is good enough to hold your opponent and your hitters refuse to die.

This team has surprised, amazed and surpassed many expectations--almost no one thought this team was going to win 103 games, and it did.

You can win one or two games by virtue of luck; you cannot with 103 this way.

The Yankees played .500 against the Angels during the season, and thus it should be no surprise that this series has turned into a long one. All the Yankees really needed to do was win one game in Anaheim--one game in a place where they have not historically played well--and they did just that.

At any rate, given everything that's happened this year, you almost have to agree that there is something idyllic about clinching at home, in the rain.

Baseball, after all, might be built on failure, but it is sustained by optimism. Every Yankee fan knows this.

Where* art thou Robertson?

2009-10-23T14:37:00.006-04:00

In his book Birth of a Dynasty, Joel Sherman opens with the 1995 postseason.

He makes mention that Buck Showalter had a young Mariano Rivera in the bullpen--ostensibly along for the ride--but did not use him correctly, to close out, in that fatal game five when it would have mattered most.

I won't bore you with the details of that game, we remember well enough what happened.

Now think about this:

As I have stated previously, the best reliever not named Mariano Rivera on the Yankee staff right now is David Robertson.

More than once this postseason, Robertson, who debuted last season, has been single-handedly responsible for keeping the Yankees' game hopes alive.

It's easiest for me to remember his game 2 ALDS performance since I saw it in person, and to be honest, the performance was nearly Mariano-like.

This really shouldn't surprise any of us.

Robertson's strikeout per nine this season is twelve. That's an astounding rate--Mariano, in his historical campaign last season was at nearly thirteen (for contrast, this year he's at a pedestrian six).

Yet, despite Roberson's success, Girardi seems, at times, to be reluctant to use him.

Sure, Robertson had a masterful performance in the ALDS, but at the time the only pitchers Girardi had to use were Robertson and Gaudin--so the choice was more or less made for him.

As far as Game 3 is concerned, most, if not all of us agree that Girardi should have left Robertson in to pitch to Kendrick in the 11th inning, and I needn't go into Girardi's explanation for removing the young right hander.

So, what gives? Why does Girardi seem so reluctant to use the one non-Mariano pitcher that has consitently come up big this postseason?

I can think of two possible explanations, neither one of which I particularly enjoy:

1) Girardi is attempting to mask some sort of injury. This sounds far fetched--and it's nothing more than a hunch on my part--but given Robertson's Andrews visit in September, I can't brush it off entirely.

2) Like Showalter and Rivera, Girardi doesn't know what he has in Robertson. While on the surface this seems to be the much more plausible explanation of the two, it actually makes less sense to me.

Robertson has been up with the Yankees for the majority of the season, and has progressed from low leverage situations to playoff situations where one bad pitch ends the game--and you don't get much more high leverage like that.

There is an argument to be made for experience, but the only other reliever with any significant postseason experience is Mariano himself.

I can understand not using Robertson in favor of the lefties when the situation warrants (although you can debate which lefty should be used), but I'm not so sure, at this point, that Chamberlain or Aceves should be used ahead of our very own D-Rob.

Bullpens are notoriously fickle things--at the start of 2009, let's not forget, it was Mariano Rivera and the Arson Squad of Doom.

That said, that's all the more reason that when one reliever is proving himself to be a hot hand, he should be the manager's first choice, not his last.

The Yankees have a bullpen advantage over Anaheim; Girardi has to make it work.

*wherefore, the common Shakespearean term, means not where, but why. Thus, 'wherefore' is not the appropriate title for the blog post. Head explode yet?

It's all about the leverage (or why Mariano should have pitched the 7th)

2009-10-23T07:02:00.000-04:00

Leverage is a funny word. A loaded word, if you will.

For one thing, it's more or less responsible for the financial collapse of America.

In baseball parlance, leverage refers to an on-field situation--the inning, number of outs, score, pitch count, etc--and how likely the result of that on-field situation is to have an effect on the game.

Example: Bases loaded, no one out, top of the eleventh inning as it was in game 2 of the ALDS is a high leverage situation, because the result of the next pitch (or, if you prefer, at bat) is likely to have a significant impact on the game's final outcome.

Other example: Top of the ninth inning, two outs, runner on second, your team is up 10-1. This is a low leverage situation. At this point in the game, because of the score, whatever happens with the batter at the plate is unlikely to have a significant impact on the game's final outcome.

***

With this understanding of leverage, one can put forth a very simple concept:

Teams should use their very best relievers in the highest leveraged situations.

Simple, direct, easy to understand, right?

Here's where we have a problem: there is a pervading belief among many, especially those that read only main stream media (MSM), that the highest leverage situations are automatically the ninth innings in close games. In other words, situations that would warrant a "save".

This is not necessarily the case.

The ninth inning can become a high leverage situation, but many, if not most, games are decided before the ninth inning.

In the seventh and eighth innings, for example, you are likely to encounter a situation in which the starter has been removed from the game but where most (okay, right now, all) teams will consider it too early to go to their "closer"--who is often the team's best reliever.

Take tonight's game, for example.

In the top of the seventh inning, John Lackey was (wrongly) removed for Darren Oliver with the bases loaded and two outs.

With the score only a four run differential, this was an incredibly high leverage spot, especially with Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez--two power hitters--due up. Now, one can argue whether or not Brian Fuentes should be a closer, but what is clear is that Oliver is not the Angels' best reliever. Jepsen, Fuentes and Bulger are all arguably or factually better than Oliver.

So the Angels and the Yankees were left with a situation where the Yankees were batting against the "soft underbelly" of the Angels' bullpen in a close game, and a team as good as the Yankees doesn't usually miss.

It's not much of a surprise, then, that at the end of that half inning, the Yankees lead 6-4.

At that point in time, Mark Teixeira's at bat shapes up to be the single most important at bat of the game. Never mind what followed afterwards, but at that very moment, it seemed likely that Teixeira's at bat could very well dictate the final outcome of the game.

Think of it this way: if you're the Angels' skip, are you sure you pitch Oliver there? Or would you be better off, if you're determined to take Lackey out, by bringing in Bulger or Fuentes?

***

So now we come to the Yankees and the bottom of the seventh inning.

Let's start here with a couple of knowns or supposeds:

A) Mariano Rivera is the best reliever the Yankees have on staff.

A1) Right now, this is likely followed by David Robertson, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Coke, Damaso Marte, Alfredo Aceves and Chad Gaudin, with Gaudin not being used except to mop up a blow out or to pitch extended work in extra innings.

B) Pitching the ninth inning of any game is not an easy thing to do, even if it's not necessarily the highest leveraged situation of a game. Just watch this interview after Phil Coke's first Major League save:

Thus, while one tries to address leverage, one cannot ignore a ninth inning where the leading team leads by no more than three or four runs as being a non-factor.

After tonight's loss, there was much conversation about the seventh inning and what should or should not have been done.

There is no arguing that the inning was the most critical part of the game--just look at the WPA graph:

(image credit: Fangraphs)

The bars on the bottom indicate the leverage of a situation--the ninth inning ended up turning into quite the critical situation, but it doesn't matter if not for the seventh.

As it was, a simple refresher:

With a two run lead, AJ Burnett went back to the mound with 80 pitches, and the first two Angel batters quickly reached base. At this point Girardi pulled Burnett for Damaso Marte, who retired two batters while allowing one run. Marte was then pulled for Phil Hughes, and, well, we know what happened from there.

Here's the leverage argument:

Because of the importance of the situation, with the tying runs on base and the Angels' best hitters (Hunter-Guerrerro-Morales) due up, Girardi should have gone to Mariano Rivera.

It's a claim that much of the MSM and their readers/viewers will brush off as being too reactionary, but it's based on the single, simple premise discussed above:

Teams should use their very best relievers in the highest leveraged situations.

At the time, there is utterly no way to predict that the ninth inning will matter or how much it will matter.

What you know, however, is that at the time, the two potential tying runs on base are the two most important runs you want to prevent from scoring if you are the Yankees.

A tie game will automatically favor the home team, since they always have the final at bat and one less half inning to pitch, so it is imperative to keep that from occurring.

Most (okay, all) teams will use these situations for their set-up men, and this is where those like Mike Francesa start oggling over the eighth inning guys. The fallacy here is the the eighth inning guy, almost by definition of the term, is not a team's best reliever, but the team's second best reliever, the one that teams most trust to get to their best reliever.

Has your head exploded yet?

At any rate, after tonight's game, I had a conversation with Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues.

I had previously asked via Twitter how many would have pitched Mariano in the 7th, and a large number of respondents said either that they would or that they would at least think about it.

I then brought up the issue that if you pitch Mariano for the seventh and maybe the eighth, and the Yankees don't score again, you are still left with a high-leverage ninth inning in which you cannot use Mo (the Hammer of G-d is, after all, 39) and have to choose from the remaining pitching staff.

Ben proposed this solution--and I swear your head IS going to explode--

You have Andy Pettitte pitch the ninth.

It's not abnormal for a starter to pitch in relief in the playoffs.

Starters are, by definition, better than relievers, and many teams, even playoff teams, lack a solid relief corps outside their closer and maybe one other guy.

We saw Jered Weaver pitch in relief tonight; in the past we've seen Mike Mussina do it in an ALCS game 7 against the Red Sox. There are other historical examples, as well.

You don't, as Ben suggests, pitch David Robertson in the ninth in a save situation, because there is an intangible aspect to a save that can't be ignored--see the Coke video above.

You go, instead, with the experienced hand.

In this scenario you don't even need to worry about Pettitte's start on Saturday--because you've effectively used Mariano, perhaps piggybacked with Robertson in the eighth, so you still have the lead in the ninth. Pettitte grabs three outs and the ALCS is over.

I am not the first person to suggest that a reliever's most important role is the ninth inning and I doubt I'll be the last.

Some day, a manager will come to the same conclusion and pitch their closer in the seventh to get through another team's 3-4-5. If that manager succeeds, he'll be branded a hero, visionary and genius, and if he fails, he'll be branded whatever his city's equivalent of "Clueless Joe".

The beauty of baseball is that it is a game that evolves, and that someone, somewhere, will try.

When you assume...

2009-10-22T23:33:00.004-04:00

We assumed.

We assumed and we started to plan, as though all that was left was tying up some gift ribbons and signing the greeting card.

We forgot, in the process, that the Yankees still had to win the game.

They had to win the game, in Anaheim, against the best Angels pitcher. Even on paper it was no easy thing.

We assumed, and we were wrong.

You can attach blame wherever you'd like, though only assigning blame does not do much. As my father has told me, some are in love with assigning blame and others prefer to fix problems.

So, here we go:

Some will blame AJ Burnett, some Joe Girardi, and some Phil Hughes.

I am no baseball manager and I've never played in an organized baseball game, but this is what I would have done:

In the seventh inning, I let Burnett come out to start the inning. He's at 80 pitches and has more or less been doing all right since that let's-not-talk-about-it first inning.

Once Mathis reaches, that's when I replace Burnett, instead of giving him the chance to put the tying run on base.

The reliever I bring in is not Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, but David Robertson. I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but both Hughes and Chamberlain have been hit this postseason and Robertson has more or less worked some miracles.

At this rate, Robertson right now is the most valuable reliever not named Mariano Rivera.

This isn't to detract from what Hughes or Chamberlain have done this season--and without Hughes, especially, the Yankees aren't even playing tonight--but both have had issues this postseason.

If I leave AJ in to face the first two batters and they both reach, I consider bringing in Mariano Rivera. It's undoubtedly the highest leverage situation at that point, but my issue arises if the Yankees don't add any more insurance runs and the game goes to the ninth still a two run game and your team on the road.

***

Unlike most of you, I suspect, I'm not all that bothered by Girardi's decision to pinch run for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth.

With two outs, and down by one, you do anything you can to tie the score, and while Rodriguez isn't a Molina, Guzman is much more likely to score from first. Again, your team is down two outs, so you don't have any more outs with which to work.

Nick Swisher, of course, killed us all with the 3-2 pop up. I don't know if he was swinging at ball four or not, but the Yankees lost the game in the seventh, after coming so close to winning.

***

So we go back to New York.

The forecast on Saturday calls for rain and thunder.

After everything that's happened this season, the possibility of being able to clinch at home, in the rain--possibly even, well, you know how--has a certain romanticism to it.

October baseball lives on.

Make the Turnpike Dream a Reality

2009-10-22T11:03:00.004-04:00

Okay, not that "turnpike" and "dream" should ever really be used in the same sentence, but here we go.

End the ALCS tonight.

Don't let it linger, don't let it go back to New York.

There will be at least two more games at Yankee Stadium this season, but I don't want those two games to be played this round.

Close this out, and once and for all excise 2004. Excise it from our conscience, excise it from our memory. Get rid of it, and everything it symbolizes.

We want to remember what it is to feel that glory.

We want to vicariously join you in that dog pile, to know euphoria.

We've been waiting since Tuesday, since April, since, well, you know.

We don't want to wait any longer.

Jersey beckons.

Just in case you weren't pumped up enough

2009-10-22T01:14:00.001-04:00

***

The Jersey girl in me is positively squeeing at the possibility of a Turnpike Series, and a chance for some North Jersey domination.

[Congratulations to the Phillies on their NLCS win. The best NL team is going to the World Series and you can't ask for more than that.]

I hate off days

2009-10-21T15:30:00.003-04:00

I hate off days.

I hate them in the winter when all is cold and gray, and I hate them in the summer when they mean I can't just plop down on the sofa and watch some baseball while eating my dinner.

I hate them, most of all, in October.

I know why they're there, so the TV networks can get their audiences, and I know their hidden benefit: without them, the Yankees can't start Sabathia three times in a seven game series.

I still hate them.

I hate the way they drag on, delaying time when all you want is to play now, to finish it, to get to the next step, to be able to say what, out of sheer superstition, we will not yet say.

Perhaps this is wrong; perhaps I should love the off day.

The off days, after all, let the baseball season linger just that little bit longer, and make that off-season just a little bit shorter. When you live, breathe and die by baseball, anything that makes an off-season shorter should be welcome. Theoretically.

Really, though, who am I kidding?

I hate off days.

Caption Contest needs your Votes!

2009-10-21T13:24:00.002-04:00

Vote for the winner in the first ever PBP Caption Contest!

You may vote in a comment or via email. I'd ask that you only vote once, but since commenting is open it'll have to be an honor system here.

You are, of course, allowed to vote for yourself.

Voting ends Friday, at midnight, winner theoretically announced Saturday.

Yes, there will be a prize.

La vie en bleu

2009-10-21T10:43:00.002-04:00

If no one says anything, you know the umpires are doing their job.

As with any officiating, the most successful are those that go unnoticed, unheeded and forgotten as though they've never been there in the first place.

Alas, if this is the case, the MLB umpires responsible for officiating this postseason have done a pretty awful job.

It's so bad, received so much notice, that in last Sunday's New York Times, former commissioner Fay Vincent penned a column outlining the biggest problems with the current umpiring system, among them:

Umpires are not trained by MLB but by a separate union entirely so MLB does not have control over what umpires do and do not call.

Postseason appointments are not done on the basis of regular season performance as they are in football.

The outrage here isn't just that the umpires are blowing calls--blown calls are going to happen as they are part of the game--but that the blown calls haven't been particularly close. They have been relatively easy calls to make. If we, fans sitting on our couches or bar stools, can make the correct call with our own naked eyes, than shouldn't the umpires be able to do the same?

Replay on the bases would help, sure, but the calls being blown are calls that shouldn't need the aid of replay in the first place.

The teams still playing right now are the four best teams in the league, no question. They've made it this far in the postseason on the basis of solid play (for the most part, anyway); the reality that a season could be prematurely ended by a blown call is, alas, becoming a realistic possibility.

Triple the pleasure, triple the fun

2009-10-20T23:32:00.005-04:00

[I will do a separate post detailing the umpiring or lack thereof in the morning. For the moment, let the Yankees' win in spite of the umpires speak for itself.]

For mere humans, starting a Major League baseball game on three days' rest is asking for disaster.

For one Carsten Charles Sabathia, starting on three days' rest is just another way to earn his paycheck.

We, lesser men and women, can only marvel as Sabathia is pictured in the dugout, yawning during the Yankees' at-bats.

This, of course, would be the best spot to mention how Scott Kazmir took forever between pitches, never looked quite comfortable and flirted with disaster the entire night. We'll get to the Yankee offense in a moment.

For now, Sabathia.

The Yankees' ace--and if he has not yet earned that moniker, he never will--was so good that he was still throwing mid nineties when his pitch count was roughly equal to that.

Sabathia was so good that his line is deceptive. He struck out five, but this has more to do with the fact that Sabathia was consistently getting outs early in the count--he walked just two through eight innings.

The last time the Yankees asked a starter to go on three days' rest in the postseason was Chien Ming Wang in 2007 and it didn't work out so well--the Yankees were eliminated that game.

That, in my mind, is all you need to know. In 2007, pre-foot-that-led-to-shoulder injury, Wang was a very good pitcher.

Sabathia, however, is an ace.

Aces do heroic things.

In the grand scheme of things, pitching a baseball game is hardly worthy of comment, but for us Yankee fans, tonight was heroism. Pure and simple.

Of course, if one starts talking heroes, one will have to bring Alex Rodriguez into the discussion.

Rodriguez hasn't just shattered the notion of postseason demons; he's gone way past obliterating them into ridiculous, other-worldly, and now...well, profound.

Rodriguez keeps asserting that nothing profound has happened, and that he's just in a good place, but, really, what he's done this October is, itself, profound.

There's no other way to describe it than that. Profound.

If the ALCS was over today, and you had a vote for the MVP, do you give it to Sabathia or Rodriguez, who has not only exceeded this round, but is perhaps the reason the Yankees made it this far in the first place?

It's a tough call.

While you're busy oggling Sabathia's and Rodriguez's performances (and oggle you should), don't forget the production the Yankees received tonight from one Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera had two RBI early that put the Yankees up 3-0, and then two more late, after the game had reached the 'pouring-it-on' stage.

Many have remarked that the Yankees' bottom of the order is not producing, but Cabrera is batting .353 in the postseason.

If we expect an all star, Cabrera will disappoint, but if we expect a number nine hitter who stands a reasonable shot of getting on base as anyone, we ought to be well satisfied.

There are rumors that Cabrera repeated a certain phrase that he uttered after hitting for the cycle, but these are thus far unsubstantiated and I do not have DVR.

The Yankees now have a 3-1 series lead and will have their chance to close it out on Thursday. They needed to take at least one game in Anaheim and they've done that; now they're out for Angel blood.

The Legend of Mariano Rivera

2009-10-20T14:05:00.003-04:00

The kid, no more than six or seven, sees the pitcher warming up in the bullpen.

"Is that Mariano?" He asks, his eyes wide with excitement.

"No," says the man sitting next to him. No, it's not Mo warming up in the bullpen, it's Damaso Marte.

****

One is 42, one is 43, and yet there are such different emotions attached to the two numbers.

What's the difference between 42 and 43?

What's the difference between the sun and the moon, night and day, water and land?

One enters the game and there is an air of inevitability, even when he does his job: the Yankees will lose this game, it's just a matter of when.

One enters the game and there is an air of inevitability, because he does his job: we are witnessing the Hammer of G-d.

****

In his sci-fi series, Douglas Adams humorously proposed that the number 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything.

For the Yankees, 42 is the answer, the solution to any ailment, any ill, any misstepping reliever.

Number two might be an icon, the number most readily associated with the team, but 42 is something else entirely.

Forty-two is legend. Myth. Forty-two cannot be mortal. It cannot.

****

Forty-two has had his failures, just as the Greek gods had theirs, but the failures are noticeable only because the successes are so great.

Of the eight teams to enter the 2009 postseason, midway through the LCS, only one has not blown a save opportunity. Only one.

You have three guesses.

You'll need one.

****

There is one reason that the legend grows: he does not lose himself in it.

He does not promote himself as the Greatest of All Time; he lets others do it for him.

****

When did we know?

Have we always known?

It's grown over the years, grown to the point that we cannot imagine life without Forty Two.

Sometimes they say that the most important ballplayers are the ones that you don't think about until after they are gone, but he has transcended this.

We know he can't pitch forever, but we hope, and he teases us.

He has the greatest season of his career at an age when most athletes have already begun to break down, with an injured shoulder to boot, and he follows it with 2009, with his 500th save, first career RBI, and a flat-out magic act last night.

****

Forty-two doesn't need any Chuck Norris facts, any internet memes or doctored videos. He doesn't need the promotion.

He just does his job. No more and no less.

****

He misplays the bunt.

Going to third is the right decision on the play, the out is right there for him to take, but he slips on the grass and we groan.

We hold our breath. Any other pitcher on the mound and surely some of us would have left, but we can't leave here. All he needs is a chance. A strike out and then a double play, maybe. A broken bat grounder. If anyone can do it, he can.

Chone Figgins grounds out to first. Mark Teixeira makes the put out.

Bobby Abreu is intentionally walked to set up a force, and then Torii Hunter grounds to Teixeira who gets the out at home.

We exhale, a little. An out can't score a run. Vladimir Guerrerro grounds out.

The Stadium explodes.

In this moment, anything is possible.

The legend grows.

Mariano Rivera and the....Spitball of Doom?

2009-10-20T11:12:00.003-04:00

SERIOUSLY?

I know thinks are whack in California, but SERIOUSLY?

The Greatest Closer of All Time, and not-quite-mortal, and you think the Panamanian is throwing a spitball?

Sheesh, dude, if you forgot, you won the game yesterday.

Yeah, I know, you won in spite of Rivera's 1st-and-3rd, no out heroics, but, dude...

I mean, this is Mariano freakin' Rivera. He could probably beat you ~~throwing one handed.~~ blind and throwing with his left hand. 'Scuse me, I should have been clear about that.

He don't need no spitball.

More later.

A Taste of Their Own as Angels Walk Off on Yanks

2009-10-19T21:40:00.003-04:00

Generalizations never achieve much, but in this occasion, one generalization can explain a lot.

The Yankees lost game three of the 2009 ALCS because Joe Girardi managed a road game as if he were still home.

You can call it over-managing if you'd like--and indeed, it probably was--but managing the game the way Girardi does at home is not nearly as much of an issue as it is on the road, especially in extra innings.

1) At home, one run by your team in extras and the game is over. You don't have to worry about scoring, and then pitching again in the bottom of the inning as you do on the road.

2) On the road, one run from the other team and the game is over. Your offense doesn't get another shot.

So here's the breakdown.

1) The Yankees' biggest issue in this game--and, it's looking like their biggest issue this series--is a lack of hitting with runners on base. Every Yankee run today was via a solo home run, and while the Yankees have had decent enough pitching to win when they score four runs much of the time, much is not all. The Yankees had golden opportunities to add to their lead, and they did not. Andy Pettitte made one bad pitch, and well, boom. A 3-1 cushion is not a big cushion, at all.

2) I don't have an issue with leaving Pettitte in to face Guerrerro although I admit that, since I did not have a computer handy, I don't know what his pitch count was at the time. My issue is with the pitch Pettitte threw: there was no reason, in that situation, to give Guerrerro anything to hit. Guerrerro swings at, well, everything. Sabathia and Burnett can blow it by the former Expo; Pettitte cannot.

3) Chamberlain looked awful. Girardi was quick with his hook, but, alas, not quick enough. Someone--and I can't remember where I read this, so apologies to whomever I should be citing--said that this postseason, Joba's fastball has been there but his slider has not, which may explain why he's been hooked quickly.

The great thing about going to games with well-informed fans is that you get excellent analysis as well, and I thus agree with the commenter known as TSJC: Joba tends to overthrow, as though he is too amped and trying to do too much. It's been an issue with him as long as he's been with the Yankees.

4) I did not agree with Girardi's decision to leave Hughes in to start a third inning. Hughes hasn't pitched more than two since what, June? May? And against the heart of the Angels' order, as well, it just didn't make sense to me. Girardi thus made the right call to bring in Rivera, and, well, Mo is simply not mortal.

First and third, no one out, and Rivera got out of the jam. At the time, the Stadium exploded and we thought it was perhaps destiny that we'd win.

5) The biggest issue I had with Girardi's overmanaging was bringing in Aceves to face Kendrick. Robertson had already had two outs, had little history vs Kendrick (if any at all) and is a strike out pitcher. Aceves, on the other hand, has a propensity for giving up fly balls, and as we all saw, the ball certainly carried today. At home, if the other team hits a home run, you still get a chance to get the run back the next day, but on the road, you do not.

As it were, Kendrick singled and Mathis drove him in with a long fly off the wall, but it is my belief that Robertson could have gotten the third out.

6) TSJC had an issue with Girardi replacing Damon with Hairston, not that he did it but when he did it. With the bases loaded and less than two outs, anything hit to left field is likely going to score the winning run, anyway. It makes little sense.

7) If Gardner is inserted into the game to pinch run, he has to run. He has to go on the first pitch--where there's pretty much no chance of a pitch out. Gardner's not in there to hit home runs, and the only reason to remove Matsui's bat is because you are going for the win right then, and need the RISP. If Gardner steals successfully, Posada's home run is a game winning, and not game tying (fallacy of the predetermined and all).

8) GOOD: Jeter's third pitch home run, holy crap what is A-Rod smoking and where can I get some, that Melky-Jeter-Teixeira play in the 8th to nab Abreu (where the heck was Canó on that? We were trying to figure it out!) Mariano is not mortal, and Teixeira is (again) worth it for his defense alone.

Okay. I think I touched on most of the important things. You can argue whether or not Sabathia should have pinch hit for Rivera instead of Cervelli, but there is no way Rivera was going to go out and pitch a second inning.

If Andy Pettitte pitches to Guerrerro a little differently, the Yankees are probably looking at clinching the American League pennant tomorrow and Girardi's overmanaging is a non-issue.

Such as it is, the Yankees will send CC Sabathia out on three days' rest, and a stop-loss here would be crucial.

We said going in that this series would be a dogfight, and with two extra inning games already in the books, it has thus far lived up to its billing.

Watching a Road Game at Yankee Stadium

2009-10-19T21:14:00.003-04:00

[Because there is so much about today's game to digest, I will do so in two posts, one talking about watching the game at Yankee Stadium, and the other about the game itself.]

As you likely know, Yankee Stadium opened its gates to the general public to watch today's game, free of charge.

Being otherwise unoccupied, I decided to go. The idea is one of which I am a fan--it gives fans a place to enjoy the game together without feeling obligated to purchase drinks or having to worry about being the only one interested in the game.

There were a large number of people that had the same mind set as me--many with young kids who arrived straight from school.

At the start, only the field level sections along the right field line were opened, but so many showed up that they eventually opened up the field level sections behind home plate, too.

They played the game on the large screen, and instead of commercials, we got DiamondVision shots of the crowd.

Out of all the fans there, the most striking man was a Johnny Damon lookalike, whose resemblance was so strong other fans were asking him for pictures. When Damon made a great catch late in the game, the section started chanting Johnny's name. The poor fan took it all in stride.

In the interest of his privacy, I won't post his picture, but, damn, he had me fooled.

At any rate, for your enjoyment, some pictures from this afternoon-turned-evening

No long lines, just the Stadium against an azure sky.

The Great Hall, in a late autumn light.

They also played the game on the TV in the great hall, but with the cushioned field and even Legends seats open, most opted to watch the game from the Stadium proper.

Our view of the screen. We--that would be Brent, RAB legend TSJC and I--sat in the section furthest right. 109, row 14. The seats filled up fast and we were lucky to get the ones we did.

You can sort of see how all of the seats were filled. I don't think they anticipated this many, although for an evening game they would have likely had to open all field and main seats, at least.

Some watch in the Great Hall. I went to the team store to get one of the gray sweatshirts the team's been sporting, but they only had them in sizes extra large. Maybe it's G-d telling me not to by a sweatshirt just yet.

The one criticism of the experience I could find, besides, you know, the game itself, was that there were not enough open concessions, and thus lines for beer and food tended to be extremely long.

It's a very minor caveat; the experience itself outweighs that one negative.

Anyway, getting a few thousand people to chant "Lets go Yank-ees" and "Mar-i-a-no" is a pretty cool thing.

Stay tuned for a post about the game itself, and what, exactly, went wrong.

Cool Thing about being a Yankee Fan #1892738

2009-10-19T15:07:00.002-04:00

Via @YankeesWFAN [Sweeny Murti] on Twitter, the Angels' fans will be employing thunder sticks in full force this afternoon.

Reason number 1892738 it's better to be a Yankee fan:

We don't need thunder sticks, or terrible towels, or any gimmicks to support our team. We're there. We're loud (and sometimes obnoxious). We know our team, we know the game.

We can get the entire Stadium to chant the name of just one player--like CC or Derek or A-Rod--and we can do it without any prompting from a screen.

We're in a long term relationship with Aura and Mystique.

There is no place in October that's better than the Bronx.

This ain't '98, and that's all right

2009-10-19T10:41:00.004-04:00

In today's Record, columnist Bob Klapisch makes the '98/'09 comparison.

It's a comparison we've seen before and we will see again.

After all, this year's squad has won more games than any team since 1998, and seems poised for great things.

Yet, I wonder, must we compare the 2009 Yankees to the 1998 squad?

Does not the 2009 squad have an identity and a legitimacy in its own right?

I know we're Yankee fans. I know we don't think of any team as legitimate unless it wins the World Series, or else KO's Boston in the postseason. This is our hubris, will forever be our hubris, and it is also the number one identifying factor of being a Yankee fan: We expect to win every year, and no other baseball team can lay claim to that.

That said, we will remember the 2009 team.

We will remember this season, and we won't need to remember 1998 for 2009 to mean something.

We remember the way the 1998 team dominated; we will remember the way the 2009 fought--17 walk off wins, the ties season series against Boston after starting 0-8, the way the team just never, ever gives up.

In 1998 we remember perfection, in 2009 we will remember pies.

In 1998, the rotation dominated so completely that we did not give much thought to the bullpen and certain overused arm (I'm looking at you, Ramiro Mendoza); in 2009 the bullpen is the unsung hero of so many come-from-behind and walk off wins.

When it comes down to it, here's the answer you're looking for:

Can the 2009 Yankees beat the 1998 Yankees?

This is a really, really, really good Yankees team we have been able to watch this season.

While we're off comparing this year's team to a team that played in what was, at the time, a weaker division, let's not forget that.

The 1998 Yankees, on paper, are a better team. Better in the outfield and more pitching depth.

Knowing what we know about the 2009 Yankees, however, one must assume that on any given day, in any given conditions, this year's team could be the 1998 Yankees. Most likely in a walk off.

*****

I plan to head to the Stadium to catch at least some of this afternoon's game. If you're going and would like to say hello, drop me an email.

Stadium to Open for Fans for Game 3

2009-10-18T13:27:00.002-04:00

From MLB.com:

The Yankees announced on Sunday that they will open the Stadium Field Level and Great Hall to the public to watch the Yankees face the Angels in Anaheim as New York tries to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the ALCS.

"We wanted to provide a place for our fans to come together to cheer for our team, even if the game itself is taking place across the country," Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a news release. "This is a way of saying 'Thank you' for their continued support."

Turnstiles between Gates 4 and 6 will open at 3:30 p.m. ET for the 4:13 p.m. game -- broadcast on FOX -- and fans can watch it in the Great Hall or in the open sections of the Field Level. Food and concession stands, as well as NYY Steak and Hard Rock Café, will be open and available to fans.

Don't know about you, but I plan on going. I don't know if I'll stay for the whole thing, but for a 4.30 game, I will certainly stay for most of it. The weather, at least, should be slightly nicer.

At the very least, this is (and we presume it's free entrance since no prices have been announced) an awesome opportunity to watch the game with other fans without being in a crowded bar.

There's something special brewing this year, and the Yankees are letting us take part.

Singing the praises of the unsung

2009-10-18T09:52:00.002-04:00

There are many heroes to choose from in last night's game.

The most obvious of these is easily Alex Rodriguez, who has gone from having a "Yankee moment" in game 2 of the ALDS to having a "Yankee postseason", pure and simple, but others should not be overlooked.

Like, for example, David Robertson.

Before this season started, we knew a few things about Robertson: he was rumored unhittable when he threw strikes, did not always throw strikes enough, and tended to have issues in high leverage situations.

Well, I must say, the ability to watch a pitcher mature throughout a season is a favorite pastime of many.

Phil Hughes would be the most glaring example--and no, I don't think he's slated for the bullpen permanently, but watching him turn from a question mark to a secret weapon to a not-so-secret weapon has been awesome.

One should not, however, forget Robertson.

In April, there is perhaps no way you trust Robertson in such a high-leveraged spot; in October he's now save the Yankees' collective behinds twice.

The ALDS game 2 performance is certainly flashier--bases loaded, no one out, and not giving up a run--while the ALCS performance involved pouring rain and pitching into Sunday morning.

It does say something about how important a pitcher is perceived by the fans when, as Girardi went to bring in Marte, Twitter was afloat with comments mostly akin to the tune of "we want D-Rob!"

As the Yankees postseason run continues--they are, at the very least, guaranteed at least four more games--more heroes will emerge.

The remaining games the Yankees have to play, however, would have a remarkably different tune without the contribution from the young right hander.

Fundamentals 2, Angels 0

2009-10-18T01:09:00.003-04:00

Fundamentals. Fun-duh-MEN-tuls. Noun. 1) Something that is part of the foundation of another thing. 2) In sports, the key concepts that must be mastered before attempting advanced work.

Example: A fundamental concept of baseball is the ability to correctly catch and throw a baseball.

Example 2: Another fundamental concept of baseball is that when one's team takes the lead, that team is supposed to keep the other team from scoring.

Were the New York Yankees fundamentally sound tonight? No, not really--they had three errors in the game.

The difference, however, is that while the Yankees worked around their fundamental mishaps, the Angels did not.

Sure, AJ Burnett's wild pitch that led to the Angels tying the game at 2 could be considered an error if you'd like, but that was more typical bad-inning-AJ than it was poor fundamental play on the part of the Yankees.

On the other hand, the Angels' second error of the game directly caused the Yankees to score the winning run, a ground ball that should have gone for the sure out that went instead sailing past the target and allowing Jerry Hairston Jr. to score.

It won't be cast as an error, but attention should also be paid to the game tying home run Alex Rodriguez had in the eleventh inning.

From the Yankees' point of view, their third baseman has been the unequivocal MVP of the postseason thus far (though there is obviously a lot of way left to go). Rodriguez has hit three home runs this postseason, and every single one of those home runs has been a late-inning, game-tying shot; the two at Yankee Stadium coming in what, to that point, would have been the Yankees' last at bat.

From the Angels' point of view, it was a failure of their closer, Brian Fuentes, as the Angels now join the ranks of the teams that have blown a save or late-inning lead this postseason--Red Sox, Twins, Rockies, Phillies and Cardinals are all guilty here.

The Yankees?

Well, the legend of Mariano Rivera still grows.

He pitched two innings tonight, did not reach 30 pitches, and was simply outstanding.

According to the folks at Baseball Prospectus, teams that win championships need good defense, strike out pitchers and lock-down closers.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Yankees are the only team in 2009 to have not lost a postseason game?

****

There will be many comments about Joe Girardi overmanaging the bullpen. Indeed, this is my gut reaction as well.

The more I think about it, however, the more I'm not that bothered by it. Who expects a postseason game to go 13 innings, after all?

With the off-day tomorrow, all of the relievers will get their day of rest, so by the time they play again on Monday, it will be a non-issue.

The first ever PBP caption contest

2009-10-17T12:00:00.004-04:00

(image credit AP)

Have at it. NinjaCanó captions are especially appreciated.

Winner gets a small prize.

Rules:

1) Try to keep the captions clean, okay?
2) Don't copy anyone else.

Go for it. NinjaCanó can use the loving.

"This New Guy We Got"

2009-10-16T23:18:00.003-04:00

When you can get 45,000+ fans all chanting your name in a LCS in your first year in New York, you're obviously doing something right.

CC's something?

8 innings,
4 hits
1 run
1 walk
7 strikeouts.

Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'd say that new guy did pretty well for himself.

Sabathia and the Yankees were also helped by some pretty poor fundamental play by the Angels--the one play we'll remember years from now was a Luis Castillo-esque dropped pop up (well, not so much dropped as no one bothered to try to catch it) by Eric Aybar that directly led to the Yankees 2nd run in the first.

The two runs were all that the Yankees--and Sabathia--would need.

Sabathia was helped by solid fundamental play and good defense on the part of his team, and the Yankees simply outplayed the Angels.

The Yankees did not get a ton of offense, but they had enough to take advantage of the Angels' misplay. Tonight was only the second time ever there had been a game at the new Yankee Stadium without a home run, but the Yankees were able to tack on the two insurance runs to provide the extra cushion everyone likes so much.

Maybe it has something to do with the cold...New York is a cold weather city, after all...then again, when one considers the way Robinson Canó looked more like a ninja than a baseball player, maybe not.

The best moment of levity came late in the game, when FOX aired a conversation between Joe Girardi and Tim McClelland, the home plate umpire, as Girardi went to bring in Mariano Rivera. Rivera, who has more postseason saves than anyone else in history. You may have heard of him. It went something like this:

Girardi: We're bringing Rivera.
McClelland: Who?
Girardi: This new guy we got.
McClelland: Up from AAA?

Well, for what it's worth, that real new guy, CC, was worth every single cent tonight.

Correspondence

2009-10-16T19:02:00.001-04:00

To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

Please for the love of all things holy, I gave you seven shut out innings. I made like it was 1999. Please don't blow this!

To: Pedro Martinez
From: Philadelphia Bullpen

Erm. We tried.

To: Philadelphia Bullpen
From: Pedro Martinez

...

I thought I left the Mets?

Erm. Ronan, Jewish jokes in NY are probably not the best idea

2009-10-16T11:40:00.002-04:00

Was Watching has the scoop from The Daily News

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sings a first-rate “God Bless America,” at Yankee Stadium, but his attempt at telling a joke offended a Jewish doctor who found it to be anti-Semitic.

Tynan apologized, telling WNBC, “I would never want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It was stupid of me to be so callous.”

But the Yankees still canceled his appearance at the stadium Friday night.

The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center.

The agent told Tynan, “Don’t worry, they are not Red Sox fans,” according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson.

“I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish,” was Tynan’s reply.

Um.

I'm Jewish, and I'm not easily offended. Without actually being there or hearing how it was said, it'd be foolish of me to embark on any sort of crusade.

That said, for a public figure in New York--and Mr. Tynan, now, certainly is--to make any sort of comment that could even be just even just a little bit anti-Semitic or construed by one as anti-Semitic is a really, really bad idea.

Again, I'm not offended. My gut tells me that it was simply a joke gone awry. However, there are some--such as this doctor fellow--that will be. And, well, when that happens things tend not to end so well.

A Letter to Dodger Fans

2009-10-15T23:57:00.002-04:00

Dear fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

Your team is in the NLCS, one step from the World Series. One of the four remaining teams in all of baseball.

It's the ninth inning of the first game and your team is only down by two runs, and the Phillies have notoriously not-very-good-in-2009 Brad Lidge coming in, which is a golden opportunity for your team to make its move.

So why, exactly, are you leaving early?

I don't know what it's like in LA, but in New York even the cheapest seats are going for high prices--they've come down recently because there's a freaking nor'easter that has it snowing in New York in October--but the point remains, if tickets are that expensive you don't leave a playoff game early.

There shouldn't be any empty seats in Dodger Stadium.

Surely you realize this?

Please, do your team proud. If you show up for the game, and you don't have a major emergency or the apocalypse isn't just around the corner, stay till the end.

You never know what you might miss.

Cheers.

Rebecca

Meanwhile, the other Jeter gets a heart transplant

2009-10-15T11:02:00.004-04:00

This from today's Daily News:

Named after his dad's favorite player, 16-month-old Jeter Villacis is recovering from a delicate, lifesaving heart transplant at Montefiore Medical Center last week.

...

Little Jeter underwent the nine-hour surgery Friday afternoon, just a few miles away from Yankee Stadium

...

While Weinstein was operating, the Bronx Bombers took Game 2 of their playoff series against the Minnesota Twins in a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.

(Bold my emphasis, Click the above link for the full article)

The Yankees, of course, are no strangers to mixing kids, miracles and baseball.

The most famous might be when Babe Ruth visited a sick kid, promised to hit a home run, and then does so, but there have been others.

There have been some more recent karma-boosting examples, however.

Like when Matsui was a representative of a program aimed at"fostering international exchange between American and Japanese children. " The kids asked Matsui to hit one home run; he hit two the next day.

Then, just this season, Brett Gardner visited a girl waiting for a heart transplant, didn't promise any home runs (he's Brett Gardner) and then proceeded to hit an inside-the-park home run, anyway.

Also this season, the Yankees had their "HOPE Week", where the most memorable event may have been when the team hosted a group of kids with a rare disorder, XP, that makes them allergic to the sun. As you probably remember, the kids stayed all night, as did various Yankees, such as AJ Burnett, having a carnival on the field.

What you might also remember is that the Yankees did not lose a single game during the entirety of HOPE Week.

Karma or coincidence, take your pick.

Now, all young master Villacis needs is a visit from his namesake, and, well...

Oh, and watch this video. It's full of awesome.

For your viewing pleasure

2009-10-14T23:25:00.008-04:00

MLB.com has some pretty amazing video archives. They go quite a ways back, and, well, I've been hooked, looking up all of the moments I've enjoyed, this season and previous.

So I figured, why not share some of them?

Here are some of my favorites. I'll put a link to this post on the sidebar, so you can always come back and find it without needing to bookmark it.

I'll add more as I find them--still need A-Rod's bottom 15th inning HR, and all of the other walk offs, but I figure it's a start.

If there's something you'd like me to try to find, just leave it in a comment.

MLB.com doesn't provide an embedding option (yet), so for the moment, they are just links.

Yankee Moments, 1996-2003

Chris Chambliss 1976 ALCS walk off home run

Jim Leyritz home run ties Game 4 of 1996 World Series

Joe Buck with the call.

Final out, 1996 World Series

Final out, 5/17/98, David Wells' perfect game. Jim Kaat calls.

Final out, David Cone perfect game. Tim McCarver calls.

Tino Martinez grand slam, 1998 WS game 1. Joe Buck calls.

Tino Martinez bottom 9 two out game tying home run and Jeter's game winning HR, 2001 WS. Joe Buck calls.

Scott Brosius bottom 9 two out game tying home run, 2001, Joe Buck calls.

Aaron Boone game winning home run, 2003 ALCS. Joe Buck calls.

2009 Yankee moments

Melky Cabrera, walk off home run vs Oakland, April, Micheal Kay

Jorge Posada, walk off single vs Anaheim/LA, May, Michael Kay

Walk Off Weekend, May, various calls.

Swisher, Canó and Cabrera go back-to-back-to-back, May, Michael Kay.

Melky Cabrera, walk off single vs Phillies, May, Joe Buck

Luis Castillo drops pop up, June, TV and Radio calls

Mariano Rivera's RBI, June, ESPN, John Millar, Joe Morgan, Steve Phillips

Jorge Posada, walk off single vs Toronto, July 4th, Michael Kay

Hideki Matsui, walk off HR vs Baltimore, July, Michael Kay

Melky Cabrera hits for the cycle, August, CWS broadcast

Alex Rodriguez bottom of the 15th HR vs Red Sox, August, John Sterling

Damon and Teixeira hit back-to-back home runs to sweep Red Sox, August, ESPN and radio calls

Robinson Canó walk off hit, vs Toronto, August, Michael Kay

Robinson Canó walk off home run, vs Chicago White Sox, August, Michael Kay

Nick Swisher walk off home run, vs Tampa Bay, September, Michael Kay

Francisco Cervelli walk off single, vs Toronto, September, Michael Kay

Juan Miranda walk off single, vs Kansas City, September, Michael Kay

Alex Rodriguez game tying HR ALDS game 2, October, TV and radio calls

A-Rod ties it and Teixeira wins int, game 2 ALDS, October, TBS, Chip Caray

A-Rod ties it in the eleventh, game 2 ALCS, October, Fox, Buck and McCarver

Hairston scores winning run on error in 13th, game 2 ALCS, October, Fox, Buck and McCarver

TV/Radio calls of the ALCS game 2 winning play

TV/Radio calls of Alex Rodriguez game-tying HR

Final out, 2009 ALCS, Fox, Buck and McCarver

TV/radio calls of final out 2009 ALCS

Thanks to Replacement Level Yankees Weblog for the list of the 2009 walk offs!

PBP #5: We are the (League) Champions(hip Series)

2009-10-14T19:24:00.000-04:00

PBP #5 We are the (League) Champions(hip Series)

Live chat reminder

2009-10-14T11:29:00.001-04:00

Given the baseball-less-ness of tonight, why not have a live chat? Talk ALCS, NLCS, anything October and baseball related.

7.30 PM, and we'll go as long as there's interest.

Hope to see you there!

Sterling's right, you know...

2009-10-13T20:40:00.004-04:00

So I was talking to one of you wonderful blog readers this evening, when one of you repeated a favorite Sterling-ism: "Well, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball!"

Although Mike Blowers might disagree, on this front, Sterling is kind of right.

I got to thinking about all the games I've seen in person this season, and then thought about how improbably some of the results have been:

I saw Chien Ming Wang, the 2009 Chien Ming Wang, outpitch Roy Halladay on July 4th. Halladay didn't get the loss, even though the Yankees won the game, but until Wang's shoulder blew up on him, he was easily the better pitcher that day.

I saw three walk off wins, two of which included walk offs against Joe Nathan--Nathan, who is considered one of the best closers in the league--and those two walk offs involved coming from behind in the ninth inning.

I saw Brett Gardner hit a home run. Okay, so it was an inside-the-park home run--which, depending on your view might make it more or less unexpected.

I saw Alex Rodriguez hit a bottom of the ninth game tying home run in the postseason (!) (tongue in cheek here, folks)

I also saw AJ Burnett get shelled twice and,

I saw the Yankees lose to the Nationals, the Orioles and the Royals--the three worst teams in all of baseball, pretty much, unless one counts Pittsburgh, but I don't even know if the Pirates qualify any more.

These were just the games I saw in person, and out of a 162 game schedule, 10 games (and 2 postseason games) is not a whole lot, and yet, I still got to bear witness to some pretty incredible things.

This isn't any sort of predictor as to what's going to happen in the ALCS, but rather, just an observation.

This is baseball, after all, where crazy things happen in a way they don't--and they can't--in almost any other sport.

ALCS game start times announced

2009-10-13T16:52:00.003-04:00

From various sources:

ALCS games times, all eastern:

Game 1, in New York-7:57;
Game 2, in New York-7:57;
Game 3, in Anaheim-4:13;
Game 4, in Anaheim-7:57;
Game 5, in Anaheim- 7:57;*
Game 6, in New York-4:13;*
Game 7, in New York 7-8:20*

* = If necessary.

All games on FOX.

I don't really get the 4.13 start times, though I guess the idea for Game 3 is to avoid a conflict with Monday Night Football.

Still, a 1.13 PM start time for those in California can't be too appealing, especially a game six which could likely be decisive.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one's there to hear it...

Jeter hits, Hard Rock Donates

2009-10-13T12:14:00.003-04:00

Via Hard Rock:

In celebration and recognition of Derek Jeter's 2,722 career hit to break Lou Gehrig's team record, representatives from Hard Rock International present a charitable contribution to Derek's Turn 2 Foundation in the amount of $52,722. This donation marks the beginning of a new philanthropic relationship between the Turn 2 Foundation and Hard Rock International.

(Pictured from left to right: Jim Allen, David Miller and John Pasquale of Hard Rock International; Sharlee Jeter and Derek Jeter)

Photo credit: Brad Barket/Hard Rock

Constructing the ALCS Roster

2009-10-12T15:25:00.002-04:00

The cool thing about the postseason is that teams that advance to the next round can adjust their roster, for whatever reason--maybe someone gets hurt, maybe someone is better against one team than another.

With the ALDS over, the Yankees can now construct their ALCS roster.

This roster will largely remain the same--the differences come down to basically whether or not, against the Angels, you want an extra pinch runner or an extra arm out of the bullpen.

For the ALDS, the Yankees went for the extra bullpen arm and stuck with just Brett Gardner and Jerry Hairston as pinch runners.

Here is the way I'd construct the roster for the ALCS, bold selections are explained below:

1) Derek Jeter
2) Johnny Damon
3) Mark Teixeira
4) Alex Rodriguez
5) Hideki Matsui
6) Jorge Posada
7) Robinson Canó
8) Nick Swisher
9) Melky Cabrera

10) CC Sabathia
11) AJ Burnett
12) Andy Pettitte
13) Chad Gaudin

14) Brett Gardner
15) Jerry Hairston, Jr.
16) Freddy Guzman
17) Jose Molina
18) Francisco Cervelli
19) Eric Hinske

20) Joba Chamberlain
21) Phil Hughes
22) Mariano Rivera
23) David Robertson
24) Alfredo Aceves
25) Phil Coke

Chad Gaudin/Joba Chamberlain: I put Gaudin in fourth starter's spot because, at the moment, I have more confidence in his ability than I do in Joba's. There are a couple of points here: Joba has not started since his final start of the season, which I was, uh, fortunate enough to attend in person. He was, more or less, awful.

While Gaudin, through the course of the season, was a roll of a dice once one hit the sixth inning, the five innings he did get through were much cleaner than those Joba pitched.

It's entirely possible, come Game 4, depending on what the scenario is, that Joe Girardi asks CC Sabathia to go on three days' rest and thus the Gaudin/Joba debate becomes moot. Still, Girardi has shown a tendency to play-by-the-book and it's hard for me to imagine him, in the ALCS, asking Sabathia to go on such short rest unless the Yankees were down 3-0 in the series.

There's no question about keeping Joba on the roster, merely a question of where he would best be used. If you think Joba, and not Gaudin, should be the game four starter, please feel free to say so in the comments.

Freddy Guzman: My major move here is that I take Damaso Marte off the roster and put Freddy Guzman on it. It's not just that Marte was completley ineffective in his one appearance, but that if Johnny Damon continues to struggle as he is, Girardi might give a thought to starting Gardner--the considerable loss of potential power may, in fact, be negated by the improvement in outfield defense--and having Guzman on the bench means that doing so would not leave Girardi without a pinch runner for Posada or Matsui.

I still remain of the opinion that if you're going to have someone not named Jorge Posada catch--which I don't agree with, but can live with--that your better option is Cervelli, who is a more than adequate defender and not an automatic out in the line up.

Since there's utterly no chance of Girardi removing Molina for Cervelli, however, I will have to let the three catchers stand as is. If the Yankees are going to start Molina, they almost have to carry Cervelli--as, in game 2, if Posada pinch-hits for Molina and then someone pinch runs, you still need another catcher.

It's extraordinarily tempting to want to add another pitcher. Six doesn't seem like enough, and while I still stay far, far away from Brian Bruney, there's a part of me that doesn't have any issues with putting Mark Melancon on said roster, even if he's just along for the ride in the sense that Jeter and Rivera were in 1995.

If you keep Guzman on the roster, and you don't remove either Molina or Cervelli, the tempting thing to do would be to remove Eric Hinske--Hairston is probably better defensively in the outfield, and certainly the faster runner--but the extremely superstitious person in me balks. Hinske's got some seriously good World Series luck that you don't want to touch.

It's pretty amazing how intricate the arguments can be when choosing between just one or two players that, all told, are not expected to have an impact on the series the way that Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez might, but then, it's not too hard to remember how Luis Sojo and Jose Vizcaino basically won the 2000 World Series for us, and then we know the importance of every spot on the roster.

On Bullpens and Nostalgia

2009-10-12T10:21:00.002-04:00

Although the Yankees have played just three games in the postseason thus far, a clear pattern seems to be emerging in Joe Girardi's managerial style.

Girardi, as many Yankee fans will remember, was a member of the 1996 Yankee team and had, perhaps, one of the biggest hits in the series--a triple, hit by the most unlikely guy on the team to hit it.

So perhaps it's not much of a surprise, then, that Girardi is managing the Yankees as though the year still was 1996, some 13 (!) years ago. In all three games, Girardi went to the bullpen no later than the seventh inning, and while CC Sabathia's pitch count may have warranted the move, Andy Pettitte's, at a meager 81, did not.

In 1996, the starters left after six for the shut-down duo of Mariano Rivera and John Wetteland.

In 2009, the starters are being removed for the trio of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. At least, theoretically, this is what's supposed to be happening.

More than once, however, Chamberlain was pulled before getting the final out of the inning. The example I am thinking of here is Friday night's game, where Chamberlain was pulled for Phil Coke. At the time the move worked, Coke got the strikeout that the Yankees needed, but it hurt the team later on when Damaso Marte was the only, and not very good, lefty in the bullpen in the eleventh inning.

The idea to use a shutdown bullpen a la 1996 is one I understand in theory, but not necessary execution.

It's one thing when you have a game where the starter is clearly gassed by the seventh inning, and thus there is no dilemma, but quite another where your playoff-experienced starter is pitching extremely well and you remove him for a relatively inexperienced (postseason, here) set-up crew.

What happens, then, is that when a game goes into extra innings, Girardi is soon left with a depleted bullpen that may have been avoided.

Again, the idea to shorten the game and get to Mariano as quickly as possible has a lot of merit, both historical and theoretical, but sometimes you will have a situation such as last night, where letting the starter go one more inning or even just one more out is just as prudent as going to the bullpen.

The Twins are easily a weaker opponent than the Angels, and any questionable bullpen decision could be obscured by the Yankees' brute strength that allowed them to overcome deficits in every game. With the Angels, the Yankees are unlikely to have this luxury, so Girardi's use of the bullpen has the potential to become true tabloid fodder.

The major difference I see between the 2009 and 1996 Yankees is that in 1996 the Yankees went to Rivera so quickly not just because Rivera was that good (and he was), but also because the caliber of the starters were not what they are in 2009.

The Yankees shortened the game in 1996 because they had to in order to succeed. The 2009 Yankees are lucky enough that this is not necessarily the case.

*****

So I realize this is kinda a downer post from me, so to cheer you up, have a look at the TV and radio calls of the final 2009 ALDS out

Yankees Sweep Twins, Move to ALCS

2009-10-11T22:37:00.007-04:00

For the first time since October 2004, the Yankees won a postseason series.

Not only did they win the series, but they swept the way they were supposed to sweep, not like underachieving squads of not too long ago.

The game was similar to most of the Yankee-Twins games played this season: a close affair in which the Twins had a lead, lost it, and had one too many miscues to be able to recover.

Baserunning miscues may have coast the Twins two games this series, and the Yankees' ability to step on the Twins' neck, with two more runs in the ninth inning to turn a 2-1 nail-biter into a 4-1 game almost assured of being a sure thing with Mariano Rivera on the mound, Minnesota never had much of a chance.

No one will forget that the losing pitcher in this game was Carl Pavano, because it simply fits too well.

Pavano, in a sense, is THE symbol of the underachieving Yankee squads of recent note--$40 million to ride the disabled list, pitching just enough in 2008 to prove he can and get signed by another team in the offseason.

When motivated, Pavano is a decent pitcher--and he showed it tonight, matching Pettitte nearly pitch for pitch into the seventh inning.

Still, even the great Carl Pavano (note the biting sarcasm) could contain the Yankees forever. They were simply a better team than the Twins.

There are no MVPs awarded for the ALDS, but if there was such an award, there is no question that its recipient would be Alex Rodriguez.

How many of you thought you would be reading that sentence back in February?

Long the brunt of many a "but-he's-not-a-true-Yankee" criticism, Rodriguez was simply stellar throughout the series and tonight, again, played a hero, tying the game at one with a no-doubt home run into the stowed away football seats.

Andy Pettitte's pitching was also stellar--only one run through six and a third and only throwing 81 pitches in doing so.

There's a considerable question mark as to whether or not Pettitte should have been removed from the game at that point--and I would argue that Girardi simply remembers 1996 too well: going to a lock-down bullpen in the seventh inning to shorten the game, won championship #23.

It remains to be seen whether or not it will bring about #27, but for the moment Yankee fans can content themselves with the knowledge that no matter what, there will be at least four more games of Yankee baseball in 2009.

*****

Check back throughout the week for ALCS previews and analysis. Game one is Friday, 10/16.

TBS: Total Broadcasting Stinkatude

2009-10-11T11:05:00.003-04:00

This from The Biz of Baseball

You know what the worst part? We're stuck with these guys through 2013, and unless I've missed something in the past three years, the broadcasting hasn't improved much, if at all.

Say what you want about Joe Buck's smugness or Tim McCarver, whose made an appearance on my brand new "365 Stupidest Things Ever Said 2010 Calendar", but compared to TBS they're downright palatable, and we all know that says something.

Reflections

2009-10-10T17:42:00.002-04:00

By the time you read this post, it will have been 24 hours since the first pitch of last night's ball game and last night's win that was everything that 2006 and 2007 were not.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that last night's game was a microcosm of everything this season, a microcosm of the team, of its flaws and its strengths, of its poise and of its fight.

We've been following this team all year. We know about the walk off wins, about the pies, about the pitching staff that at times is unhittable and at other times can't find anything that looks remotely like a strike zone. We know about all the breaks that just seem to go the Yankees' way, about the A-Rod story that is over and done, and we know about the life injected by Sabathia, Burnett, Swisher and Teixeira.

So last night played out like any important game this season did: a close game with just enough breaks going the Yankees' way and a pie a la AJ.

It can't be a coincidence that Rodriguez has the two biggest home runs (thus far) of the 2009 Yankees: the bottom-of-the-fifteenth inning blast to win a scoreless marathon against Boston, and last night's game-tying ninth inning blast. Rodriguez has hit many other home runs--like the first pitch he saw of the 2009 season and a three run home run and grand slam in the final regular season game, and it seems odd to say but he may very well have been the most underrated Yankee this year.

It can't be a coincidence that, not since the middle of October 2003, did such a thing seem possible.

Yet, this is, historically, who the Yankees are: they reign in October. They find heroes in the likely, in the unlikely, in those in need of redemption and in those further cementing a legendary glory.

Just look at Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and David Robertson.

All three of them have had an impact on 2009--two of them with salaries more than the GDPs of some small nations, and one of them whose role last night might, some years from now, be forgotten by all except his teammates and the most die-hard among his team's fans.

Rodriguez had helped his case with his Game One performance, but he still needed that ultimate redemption, that signature moment in the postseason in which fans could forever ask, "remember when A-Rod hit that home run?".

Mark Teixeira had found himself welcomed this season in the Bronx with open arms--his defense alone, perhaps, being worth the honor--but he was on the verge of an 0-for-two-games and there was not a single Yankee fan that wanted to stomach, no matter how briefly, that as being a possibility.

Then there was Robertson, a bullpen pitcher who has largely remained unnoticed because he has been so effective. The closer and eighth inning spots already taken, Robertson often appeared either earlier, or later, in extra innings, when the most climactic moments of the game seem to have passed by. Robertson, who has none of the experience of Mariano Rivera, found a way to exhibit the same poise.

Three different players, at three very different points in their careers, three different personalities and three different projections and postulations by the media, and yet all three crucial to the win.

That's the thing about the Yankees that resonates so well: sure, there are the heroics from Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodrigues, but then there are also the heroics from those like Bucky Dent and Chad Curtis, Luis Sojo and Jose Vizcaino.

We don't know what tomorrow's game will bring; the only guarantee is that since the Yankees are not the home team, they can't have a walk off win.

That doesn't seem likely to matter, however, as this team, like the great ones not so long ago, has found a way to win in nearly every situation.

Will the game story be the starter, Andy Pettitte? Will it be another hitter? A baserunning play that saves the Yankees' the game or costs them it? We don't know, and that, perhaps, might be why we love this team so much.

Anything is possible.

Demonize This

2009-10-10T00:32:00.005-04:00

"I can't believe this," Jason says. "I can't believe we're going to lose to this team."

"I can," I say, sighing. "My luck isn't that good."

We're sitting in luxury suite 32, tickets that were a gift from my father. We've got a view that looks a bit like this:

Only, now it's night time and everyone's in a bit of a state of disbelief. It's not that the Yankees are losing this game that has us baffled, it's that the Yankee offense has only managed one run and that two of Minnesota's three runs were gotten off of Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera.

Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. The back end of the Yankees' bullpen. The reason the team won 103 games. They are going to cost the team the game.

****

Earlier:

The story heading into the game was whether or not Joe Giradi (#27 below) and his decision to start Jose Molina over Jorge Posada would be cause for concern.

As it would turn out, the decision would be a non-issue. Molina, as we suspected, did not get a hit, but he never came to the plate in a crucial situation, either.

When AJ Burnett was done pitching after the sixth inning, Jose Molina was done catching. And so it went.

The Yankees didn't score a run until late in the game, when Alex Rodriguez drove in Derek Jeter after Jeter hit a double to right field.

We celebrated A-Rod's RBI hit, his third RBI in two postseason games, further strengthening the notion that A-Rod's demons are stuff of myth and slow-news-day media constructs. We didn't know what would happen later.

After Burnett came out of the game, Joba Chamberlain came in to pitch the seventh.

Chamberlain was sharp, getting the first two hitters he faced out before failing to get the third and Girardi, with a quick hook, pulling him from the game.

We were treated mid-seventh inning to Ronan Tynan's stirring rendition of God Bless America.

The entire Stadium sang with him, maybe because it was him, maybe because it was the postseason, but whatever reason, we sang.

****

In the eighth inning, Phil Hughes fails. The game is a 1-1 tie, and Hughes gets two quick outs, but can't get the third. Minnesota scores one run and Girardi goes to Mariano Rivera, who is more or less the Hammer of God, as multiple sources call him. If Mo can just hold it here, we think, we'll have a chance.

Thing is, Mo does not. The Twins score another run and it's a 3-1 game with only two at bats left for the Yankees.

It gets worse in the bottom of the eighth, when the Yankees go down 1-2-3, not even making an effort of it.

Jason is inconsolable, but the man sitting to my right is stoic.

"They're going to win," he says.

****

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Mark Teixeira is first up.

"He really needs a hit here," Jason says, "he can't take an oh-fer for the first two games." Jason is right. Teixeira doesn't have a postseason hit yet, and if he doesn't get one here, he'll fast become a goat.

Maybe Teixeira hears us; he lines the pitch into right field for a single. The Stadium begins to sense something and gets a little excited.

After all, Alex Rodriguez comes to the plate.

My thoughts are simple: I just want Alex Rodriguez to get on base without making an out. I even pray: please, G-d, please let the Yankees do this. Please let them win.

Jason's are more elaborate: "This place is going to go ape-shit if Alex hits one out."

We watch as Joe Nathan deals ball one to Alex. Then ball two. And ball three. Nathan gets Rodriguez to a 3-1 count and then...

...A long, high, grand drive. It's going to be pretty darned deep. It's going to be at least a double. It's going to hit off the wall. It's going to be GONE.

One swing, and all of the past Rodriguez playoff demons are forgotten as though they had never existed in the first place.

The Stadium crowd is so loud, so excited that it's literally shaking. A home run. A game tying home run. A game tying home run by Alex Rodriguez. A game tying home run by Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning.

Whatever happens from here on out, we've all beared witness to this. We'll all remember this. Everything about it. Everything that went into it, and everything that came out of it.

We make Rodriguez take a curtain call.

****

The Yankees don't win the game in the ninth, and they don't win the game in the 10th although they should have: Brett Gardner, running for Jorge Posada makes it to third base on a bad throw to second while trying to steal, and Derek Jeter is on first base with only one out.

All Johnny Damon needs to do is hit a fly ball deep enough to score Gardner and the Yankees will win.

Damon, however, does not. He lines out, and because Gardner is halfway to home--having gone on contact--it becomes an easy double play.

The Stadium deflates. Minnesota has another chance and the Yankees are running out of pitchers.

****

Damaso Marte enters the game because Joe Girardi has already used Phil Coke.

Marte hasn't had a good season and none of us have much faith in Marte's ability to get three outs. We'll take just one, and Marte can't even do that tonight.

Girardi has three choices: leave Marte in, go to Chad Gaudin or go to David Robertson. Gaudin is a generally effective long reliever, but Robertson, who has occasionally struggled in high-leverage situations, has the better stuff.

Girardi goes to Robertson.

At first, the choice is disheartening as Robertson allows a single that loads the bases with no one out.

"There is no possible way this can end well," I say, not because I'm Optimist Prime, but because I want to temper my own expectations.

Yet, Robertson gets the next batter to line out to Teixeira, so hard that no one has a chance to tag and score.

After one out, there's a soft grounder that Teixeira throws home for out number two, and all of a sudden, there is a palpable relief of tension. It doesn't matter how the third out is gotten, just as long as there's the out.

There's a fly ball to Brett Gardner, who sets under it, catches it, and runs off the field.

***

It's fitting that in the bottom of the eleventh, Teixeira is first at bat.

He had the two stellar defensive plays last half inning, and had he not had that single in the ninth inning, Rodriguez's home run would have meant little.

Here, we'd just like Teixeira to get on base. We want the game to end this inning.

So Jose Mijares, a rookie reliever who's not actually that shabby, pitches to a $180 million first baseman.

There's a drive to left field.

We know it's hit hard enough, but we don't know if it's fair or foul.

It stays fair, but we don't know if it's high enough.

It has the height. Just. Barely. It grazes the top of the wall, and if you watch the replay, you can hear a hush as the crowd tries to process what has just happened. Then we realize:

"It went over! It's over! We win!"

We stay for the pie, because you have to. These are the New York Yankees, this is 2009. You stay for the pie.

****

I had never before been to a game and thought, afterwards, "I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

Never, that is, until tonight.

*****

I was able to meet up with a fair few: fellow bloggers Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues, Amanda Rykoff (@amandarykoff), fellow blog reader Justin Y. and beat writer Marc Carig (@ledger_yankees).

I went to meet Justin while the Twins were taking BP. Justin was sitting in the bleachers, but we'd never met before, so while I was looking for him I wasn't entirely paying attention to what was going on on the field.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a bad idea. My head was nearly lopped off by a home run ball, saved only by my very innate and well developed instinct to duct.

I attended the game with Jason Rosenberg from It's about the money, Stupid. He has a much, much better camera than I do so please hit him up for some truly amazing shots.

TBS LDS Coverage Lacking

2009-10-08T12:41:00.000-04:00

It's become an almost perennial right: to complain and mope about the TV or radio crew broadcasting a current baseball game. We complain about John Sterling, about Michael Kay, about Joe Buck and Tim McCarver and about Joe Morgan and John Miller.

In fact, the only currently working broadcaster of whom I have not heard a bad word spoken is one Vin Scully.

Still, despite our lofty expectations--that the play-by-play announcer receive timely eye exams so that faulty depth perception may be corrected with *gasp* glasses, that the HD feed remain steady without freezing or jumping, that the camera angle be set to the greatest advantage for the fans--the TBS broadcasts of the 2009 League Division Series have got to be at or at least very very near the bottom of the barrel.

My biggest issue right now is that TBS still employs Chip Caray to do play-by-play broadcasting.

Check out this post from It's About the Money Stupid. One line sums it up: "Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there."

We all saw this when we were watching the Twins/Tigers game--perhaps one of the greatest baseball games ever played. Well, almost all of us. I had by then switched to the Spanish language broadcast--something I'd taken to doing last year to avoid listening to announcers I couldn't stand. (Hey, as a way to get some language practice, it actually works pretty well, but I digress).

The astute fans out there took that immortal Dewey-defeats-Truman photo and replaced Truman's face with Caray's, and the paper's headline morphed to "line drive, base hits!".

The pity here is that Caray has been paired with Ron Darling, who by many counts, is one of the best that national-level broadcasting has to offer. Darling deserves better.

Next, we have the issue of Off-center vs dead center cameras. Click on the link to RAB and watch the video clip--it's enlightening.

TBS can't be held accountable for using off-center cameras when there are no dead-center cameras available, but as the video states, the network is using only off center cameras even though dead center options exist in Boston and St. Louis--two cities with playoff teams.

This is perhaps an issue that should be addressed at greater length in the off-season. I'm not sure that every stadium can fit in a dead-center camera, but I would imagine that it's a possibility for most.

We're so concerned about getting the best viewing experience possible, it'd be nice if we could actually see pitches the way that they really are, and not at a tilted angle that can obscure whether they are inside or outside of the strike zone.

Speaking of an enjoyable viewing experience, TBS has got to do something about their 'technical difficulties' with the feed.

On numerous occasions--and this isn't just me--the feed has frozen, both audio and visual, and sometimes for long enough periods of time that game action is missed--such as last night when catcher's interference was called in the Boston/LA Angels game, and none of us got to see it. Instead the broadcast went blank, to commercials, back to blank and only then picked up the action at the top of the next inning.

TBS here isn't some regional start-up network; it's a major national station which is
broadcasting playoff baseball--you know, games that actually really matter.

I'm not looking for Hall of Fame broadcasting quality here, I'm looking for basic competency, and so far TBS has not impressed.

I don't know when TBS' broadcast rights are up, but at this moment it's hard to imagine another station would be that much worse.

Ghosts? What ghosts?

2009-10-07T23:15:00.005-04:00

The common refrain going around the Yankee fan base right now is that while nothing is guaranteed, and that the Yankees are not guaranteed to win their series against the Twins, there is a different feel around this year's squad than there has been in many years. This team is likable, fun to root for and really, really damned good.

So nevermind CC Sabathia's less than stellar postseason ERA or Alex Rodriguez's absence of a decent postseason since the ALCS of 2004.

This is a team where expectations are not just high for the free agents signees who make more in a year than some entire countries, but for those who have played only for the Yankees and those who came to the Yankees in unheralded trades. The team won 103 games in the regular season, and one or two players can't win 103 games all on their own. Though, God knows Albert Pujols tried.

As with any beginning, there are opening ceremonies of a sort. With the ALDS it's nothing too spectacular--full line ups and guys in uniform, but it's somewhat muted. It's good to be here, but there's still a while to go before the grand prize.

When the players are introduced, some receive particularly loud accolades--like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter--while others receive, well, lots of non-accolades. Like Carl Pavano.

Because of the odd start time, the Stadium was still fairly empty as the lineups were being announced.

By the time the first pitch was thrown, however, almost every seat was filled.

The National Anthem always seems to add a sense of "this is it, this is what we live for."

As the Yankees take the field, there is a rush of excitement. As stated earlier, if you're a fan at that Stadium at that time, you're either way amped up, or you're dead.

With no other game going on at the present moment, the scoreboard instead displays the line up of both teams, highlighting the next batter to come to bat.

The blazing lights against the sunset make for an auspicious early game atmosphere.

The Twins took an early 2-0 lead that could have never have been: had a close pitch been called a strike three, CC Sabathia would have gotten out of the inning. Instead, a couple hits and a passed ball, and the Twins had a 2-0 lead.

That lead was, however, short lived.

Reason A: Derek Jeter

Jeter has done a lot of great things in his career and is something of an immortal among Yankee fans. Hitting a left field home run to tie a game? Awesome. And in the postseason? Well, there's only one Derek Jeter.

Hit a home run like that, then hear the entire Stadium erupt in chants of M-V-P! M-V-P! (Yes, we know it's going to Mauer. No, we don't care.)

Meanwhile, Sabathia must have been somewhat mindful of his rapidly escalating pitch count: he settled down and started to deal.

Despite having over 70 pitches after the fourth inning, Sabathia pitched into the seventh inning and did not walk a single batter.

The Twins were the first to go to their bullpen--by this time the Yankees had already taken the lead.

Who did the Twins call upon?

I swear I'm not making this up.

Not too long afterwards, Hideki Matsui hit a home run--the type that screams HEY YAY INSURANCE RUNS! My friend Brent summed up our reactions pretty well.

With two outs in the seventh inning and the Yankees with a four run lead, Joe Girardi did the prudent thing and went to the bullpen before Sabathia's pitch count approached abusive levels. He left to a raucous ovation.

In came Young Master Hughes.

There was a massive Orlando Cabrera at bat just to end the seventh inning, but Hughes got the job done, and instead of having to face Joe Mauer with the bases loaded, Joe Mauer came up in the 8th with no one on.

This is the only game I've ever been to where I've actually heard people sing "God Bless America".

It was a stirring rendition courtesy of the NY Pops

This is just a really awesome late-game shot:

Out went Phil Hughes, and in came Joba Chamberlain. Phil Coke also made an appearance and had the best possible appearance for a reliever: one pitch, one out. It was nearly a double play, but Mauer was just a shade too nimble for Teixeira.

With a five run lead--and here it should be noted that two of these runs, yes two are the direct responsibility of Alex Rodriguez, something you haven't seen in an October write up for a while--it perhaps seems strange that the Yankees bring in their closer, but this is October. You don't take chances.

Enter Sandman. Exit Twins.

Magic number, that real magic number that all Yankee fans really care about, is now down to ten.

And we'll see you Friday night!

You Yankee fan, you're either amped up or dead

2009-10-07T09:42:00.002-04:00

You wait all season for this: October baseball. It is the promised land.

Today, as one tweeter put so well, is like Christmas except you don't have to buy anyone presents or go to Church (unless you count Yankee Stadium as Church, in which case you want to go).

This is where the Yankees belong on game one of the 2009 postseason: In front of a raucous crowd of 45,000(+) fans, on a cool October night, with CC Sabathia on the mound and every single person living and breathing baseball.

Some will call us spoiled, we only had to wait one year, but even one year without baseball in the Bronx in October is one year too many. So tonight, we celebrate the return, however shortly-awaited it may have been.

You might be cheering from the stands, from the bleachers, from a bar or from your living room, but you will be cheering, because this is what it means to be a Yankee fan.

You'll be cheering every Sabathia strike, yelling epithets after every first pitch swing by a Yankee batter and still confused that Jose Molina will be starting playoff games in a five game series.

You've actually looked at plane tickets from JFK to Minnesota, even if they cost more than all you currently have in your bank account.

You're ducking out of work or class early because you just can't fathom missing the first pitch.

You can't think about anything but baseball.

You're a Yankee fan, and you're either amped up, or you're dead.

****

Some deity out there has smiled unnaturally on me, and I'll be at games one and two. If you're going and would like to say hi, send me a tweet or an email and I'll do my best. I can't provide live coverage of the games, but I will come back bearing photos, I promise!

Yankees to start Molina in the Postseason a mistake?

2009-10-06T11:15:00.004-04:00

Via numerous sources, it has been established that Jose Molina will catch AJ Burnett in the ALDS.

I have no personal issue with Molina, but I am of the opinion--and I know I'm not alone in this--that this is a mistake.

I'd forgive Girardi, for it being his first postseason and all, but the stakes are too high. In a five game series, a team can't really afford to lose even one game at home, and if Burnett starts game two, as seems likely, then the Yankees will have seriously weakened their offense by starting a back up catcher who did not even hit .250 for the season.

If Girardi doesn't want to start Posada, if Burnett has a problem with Posada, at the very least Girardi could consider starting Cervelli. I know Cervelli is a rookie with limited experience, but as he's shown during the season, he's not as slow as fill-in-the-metaphor like Molina, but a legitimate threat to beat out an infield hit.

Neither Cervelli nor Molina, however, can replace Posada's bat.

If the Yankees lose game one tomorrow night and Burnett is indeed the game two starter, the pressure will be on Burnett to deliver.

Still, the Yankees have an offense that will, even without Posada's bat, be more potent than either that of Detroit or Minnesota, and Girardi was a weak-hitting catcher himself, but that didn't stop him from winning rings in 96, 98 and 99.

Maybe he knows something we don't.

Let's hope this is the case.

The Top 10 Moments of the Yankees' 2009 regular season

2009-10-05T09:20:00.002-04:00

Some of these will not be among your traditional choices. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

10) Nick Swisher's surprise pitching appearance

This won't be a traditional choice, since it's not something that anyone is necessarily proud of, but Swisher's relief appearance in April provided a brief moment of levity in a bad loss and also gave Yankee fans an idea as to how valuable Swisher could be for the Yankees--a trade that many were wary of in the first place. One season and 30, mostly road home runs later, Swisher is easily a fan favorite. While he is not solely responsible for the 2009 Yankees shedding the image of a buttoned-up business club and adopting that of, well, a baseball team, it'd be foolish to ignore the large part he played.

9) The Francisco Cervelli Miracle

In May, both Jorge Posada and Jose Molina went down with leg injuries, almost within days of each other. The Yankees' only real option at that point became calling up Francisco Cervelli and Kevin Cash--one who was hitting .190 in AA Trenton, and the other whom was the Yanks' fourth-string catcher.

No one expected anything from Cervelli other than someone that could squat behind the plate and catch pitches.

What they got was someone hitting to a .270 clip. He didn't hit for power (then again, your number nine hitters seldom do), but he made the jump from AA to the Major Leagues without being an automatic out. What's more, like a microcosm of the 2009 team, Cervelli performed best in high leverage situations.

8) Alex Rodriguez bookends the season

When Alex Rodriguez hit the very first pitch he saw of the 2009 season for a home run at Camden Yards, many hailed it as the turning point in the Yankees' season, and it was. How many, however, thought he would hit a grand slam on the last pitch he saw of the 2009 regular season?

The thing about A-Rod's 2009 season is that it seemed, for the most part, to fly under the radar. He had his 30 home runs, his 100 RBI, and his best moment hitting a 15th inning walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox, but what he didn't have was the New York media hounding his every move.

The steroid story broke in February, but like his teammate Andy Pettitte, Rodriguez admitted he used, and then moved on. When Selena Roberts' tell-all book came out, it fell flat and for once, surrounded by new teammates named CC, AJ and Teixeira, Rodriguez could simply be "one of the guys".

Just how valuable was A-Rod to the 2009 season? Thirty home runs over five months means 36 had he played a whole year, and 100 RBI in that time becomes 120. Thirty-six home runs and 120 RBI in any circumstance buys you some MVP votes.

7) Brian Cashman visits Atlanta

The Yankees had just won a series against the Mets on sheer luck, and then dropped series to the Nationals and Marlins. They were in danger of doing so yet again to the Braves, before Brian Cashman showed up on the road.

If anyone knows what Cashman said, they've done a good job keeping it quiet, but whatever he said seems to have worked. After that date--June 24--the Yankees went 65-27--a .706 winning percentage.

A-Rod's return helped the Yankees go from a third place team to a contender; after Cashman's visit the Yankees went from a contender to the odds-on favorite to win it all.

6)Luis Castillo walks off for the Yankees

Of all the moments of either team's respective season, perhaps nothing more exemplifies the way the seasons were for either team than this moment.

It is a testament to the number of times the Yankees won on nothing more than sheer luck in the 2009 season, but any team winning over 100 games is going to have their fair share of calls going their way or errors in their favor.

The thing about this game, though, is that when Castillo dropped the ball, there are a large number of baserunners that would have simply advanced one base and then passed the baton to Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees, though, had Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira on the basepath, and the two of the hustled around the bases--Teixeira from first--scoring and winning that game. Everyone will remember Castillo dropping that ball, but how many will remember Teixeira's hustle?

5) Phil Hughes goes to the bullpen

No, I'm not arguing that Hughes should forever more be a reliever, but in the 2009 season, putting Hughes in the bullpen at once solved the Yankees' bullpen problems (okay, helped solve would be more accurate) and may, in the end be the best thing for the development of young master Hughes.

At once the Yankees had an eighth inning guy that was simply stellar--like Joba Chamberlain in 2007, but more efficient. Not a 100 mph guy like Joel Zumaya, but a guy that came in, got three outs, and handed the ball to the great Mariano. The Hughes-Rivera tandem sparked more than a few comments about reminiscing to the dynasty years of the late 1990s.

What's more, however, is that unlike Chamberlain, Hughes had the majority of the season in the bullpen--time to get used to the everyday-ness of major league life for one, and plenty of talking time with Mariano, for another. There are quite a few who will argue that breaking a pitcher in the bullpen first, before transitioning him to the rotation in the next season, is the way to go. We'll see if it works with Hughes, but for the moment, the Yankees have gotten themselves, quite probably, the best back end of a bullpen in the 2009 playoffs.

4) Mariano Rivera nabs his 500th save and first RBI in the same game

One feat will get Rivera to the hall of fame and the other will not, but guess which one the beat reporters all said Rivera wanted to talk about more?

There's something to be said for the save statistic itself as being overrated--saves are only possible when your team has already done most of the work--but even if we were to look at save percentage, a better measurement for how successful a closer is, Rivera is still the top of the pack.

While Rivera may not have been as decent, in terms of peripherals, as he was in 2008, this is rather a statement as to how absurdly good his 2008 was than anything else--in 2009 he was still easily one of, if not the, best closer(s) in all of baseball.

He had his longest in his career streak of converted saves, still managing a K/9 ration of over nine and a WHIP under one.

Thirty nine year old closers aren't supposed to do that...

3. Jeter breaks hit record

It was an ugly, rainy night and an uglier game that resumed at 12.40 AM after a lengthy rain delay, but no one will remember that.

What they will remember, however, is Jeter breaking the all-time hits record for a Yankee. It's still sort of marvelous that Jeter did not have to get a 3,000th hit to do so (though he likely will sometime in 2011), but what Jeter did is still quite an accomplishment, especially when one considers how historically-minded the Yankee fan base can be.

Derek Jeter's 2009 was simply a renaissance; he wasn't just better with his bat, the switch to the lead off spot working wonders there, but he was also that much better in the field. Many attribute his better range to playing farther back on the infield, but whatever it was that he did, it worked.

Jeter's value has long been unquantifiable, but his breaking the hit record simply gave us another reason to celebrate it.

2. Yankees sweep Red Sox in four game series

This series seems to have been the defining moment for the 2009 season. Going into the series, the Yankees were just barely in first place and 0-8 against the Red Sox for the season. Needless to say, there was a lot riding on the results.

In front of a stadium crowd that had a relentless, playoff-like atmosphere, the Yankees thrived.

They won games every way possible--slugfests (Thursday), extra inning pitcher's duels (Friday), and close games that involved coming from behind in the late innings (Sunday).

The Yankees simply out-played the Red Sox in every facet of the game, and at the end of the series they were so far in first place that they cruised to a division title, their first since 2006.

That series, perhaps more than any other, was a testament to the character and resiliency of the 2009 Yankees, who started the season 0-8 against Boston and then went 9-1 the rest of the way.

1) Melky Cabrera gets pied

Okay, so this isn't so much about Melky Cabrera's getting pied--in May, against the Twins and Joe Nathan, as the Yankees came back from a 4-2 deficit in the ninth inning--as it is about the number of pies the entire team had. I think the final tally is something like:

Cabrera 3
Rodriguez 2
Damon 1
Posada 1
Swisher 1
Cervelli 1
Miranda 1
Matsui 1
Canó 2 (?)
Castillo (okay, no actual pie).

The walk off wins speak of a team that doesn't quit and a team that fans can always believe will win--a team where everyone stays through the ninth inning, even when losing because they always believe there is that chance, and the pies speak of a team that's, well, a team.

As friends and I have discussed quite often, what sets the 2009 Yankees apart from many of the recent teams is that this team is one you want to root for, a team that's good, that's fun, and that does as much good off the field--such as Hope Week--as they do on it.

In the course of the 2009 season, the Yankees only had one homestand in which they did not have a walk off win, which is quite the accomplishment. You do sort of get the feeling that the walk off magic might lead to some interesting things happening throughout the rest of this month...

An October Issue

2009-10-01T19:14:00.003-04:00

More than one person today has brought up with me an issue concerning the postseason.

It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not Joba should start in a postseason series (and after being treated to his antics in person last night I am less than willing in this regard) or who starts game two. Rather, this issue has to do with the playoff structure itself.

Now, playoffs in almost any sport are a crapshoot. These are why office pools exist, after all, and why the mantra so often is "just get in".

The problem is, baseball, unlike any other major sport accentuates the "crapshoot" nature of the playoffs.

It's sort of mind-boggling that both the NBA and the NHL have seven-game series in their first round (yes, I know the NBA is a recent adjustment) when their season is 82 games long, while the MLB, which has a season double in length has a first round of only five games.

Never mind the issues that can be brought up with who makes it to the playoffs in the first place--it is entirely possible for a team to have a better record than another division winner but still miss the playoffs because they are not as good as the Wild Card team--a five game series is not the right way for an MLB playoff series to go.

Keep in mind, the refrain of most managers is that "the season is a marathon, not a sprint." Marathon mentality runs rampant: getting players games off so they stay healthy, making a move later in the season as opposed to setting an early pace--these are all common motifs.

Now imagine telling someone like, say, Paula Radcliffe--winner of three NYC marathons--that three days after running her last marathon she has to go compete in the 400m dash.

Never mind that the mental preparations and physical requirements for marathoning and sprinting are as different as those, perhaps, of baseball and football (okay, I'm stretching this metaphor a little), but this is more or less what a baseball team is supposed to do: they are supposed to suddenly adjust from the marathon mentality of the regular season to the sprint mentality of the playoffs.

It's not a coincidence that Wild Card teams seem to have done so well in recent postseasons: '97, '02, '03, '04 World Series winners were all Wild Card teams, and while the '07 Rockies didn't win the Series, their September miracle might make them the most well-known of all the Wild Card teams. The Wild Card often comes down to the last week or even the last days of the season, and those teams have to adopt a sprint-like mentality just to make the playoffs.

While I'm all for equality, the nature of the playoffs would actually seem to give some sense of an advantage to a Wild Card team--I could explore this further, but let's get back to the issue at hand.

Baseball as a sport is well known for its oddities and unexpected occurrences. The season is 162 games long because even the best baseball team will have a losing streak--remember, even the Yankees had a five-game losing streak in May and dropped a series to the Nationals in June--and it can take that long to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

A five game series, then, is like flipping a coin in the air to decide who gets to move on to the ALDS.

Since I assume you have a mild interest in the Yankees if you're reading this, just think about 2007. Was Cleveland a better team than the Yankees that October? Maybe--but one game was decided not so much by the players as it was by, well, midges. Most of us will still argue that Torre's failure to take the team off the field cost the Yankees that game--and the difference between going to New York split or down 0-2. In a five game series, being down zero games to two is often--thought the 01 Yankees will attest, not always--a death knell.

Again, the thing about baseball is that the length of the regular season allows for oddities like midges, games whose results are determined more by fluke than actual talent.

If the NBA and NHL can manage not just seven game series, but manage to do so every round--which is four rounds as opposed to baseball's three--I have to wonder why a stronger push hasn't been made for the LDS to also be a seven game series.

Part of me wants to argue that they had it right when only the best record in the league played in the World Series and there were no playoffs, but then I'd also have to be willing to part with the '00 ring and other World Series appearances, so I'll draw the line at simply arguing for a longer first round series.

A team that plays every possible game, including a one-game playoff, will play a grand total of 182 games between April and October. So what's the issue with two more?

So Who Starts Game Two?

2009-09-30T11:05:00.003-04:00

The biggest question the Yankees have going into the postseason not named Joba Chamberlain is who will pitch game two?

The way the current rotation slots out, either AJ Burnett or Andy Pettitte could pitch game two of a postseason series.

The most cogent argument I've seen as to who the game 2 starter should be hinges on the fact that Burnett has clearly been a better pitcher at home and Pettitte better on the road. This argument also includes the notion that Pettitte, and not Burnett, has significant postseason experience, so in a must-win game on the road, Pettitte is probably the guy you want on the mound.

The argument to reverse the two is that Pettitte has been the better pitcher--more consistent--over the course of the entire season, but even so, I would rather Pettitte pitch where he has clearly performed better this year.

Take a look at these splits: Pettitte's home ERA is exactly an entire run higher than his road ERA, an OPS against that's over 100 points lower on the road and fourteen home runs surrendered at home against only five on the road.

Burnett's splits are similar to Pettitte's in terms of home-road difference, just reversed. It should, however, be noted that Burnett's road stats are likely inflated from his poor performances at Fenway Park (if the Yankees and Sox play each other in the LCS and it is possible to arrange it so, I can almost guarantee Burnett will be your game 2 starter...).

The Burnett should start game 2 argument has convinced me.

There are those that argue that Jose Molina should not have two postseason starts, but the likelihood of Molina starting just to soothe Burnett even though his bat is a serious liability--one that makes Francisco Cervelli look like a more reasonable choice--is extremely slim. I know Girardi has made some "buh" decisions, but he doesn't get to the best record in baseball by being bad at his job. Just sayin'.

And now the real work begins

2009-09-28T10:32:00.003-04:00

So, are you past your celebratory hangover yet?

Good.

Because now is when the real work begins.

Okay, so the Yankees can put out a lineup today of Hinske, Hairston, Peña, Duncan, Cervelli and all other manner of scrub, but even that has a purpose.

Now that the Yankees have more or less done everything in the regular season that they could possibly do, the task becomes doing everything possible to win in the postseason. This includes giving the regulars some time off--not too much so they lose their stroke, but enough that they are suitably rested.

The Yanks' first round opponent will almost certainly be either the Tigers or the Twins, but fans should be a little wary--the Yankees' success against these teams this season doesn't guarantee wins in October. As 2006 and 2007 can attest, regular season success means little. At any rate, despite the 5-1 record against the Tigers and 7-0 record against the Twins, many of those games were close--three against the Twins close enough to be won on walk-off hits--meaning that those games could have easily gone the other way.

The Yankees right now are in the best possible place that a baseball team can be on September 28, but their work is far from done.

Some will argue that it is only just beginning.

Bring on October

2009-09-27T17:17:00.002-04:00

The Yankees, and their fans, can only hope that today's champagne drenched locker room is only the first of many to come.

As Mariano Rivera soaked Kim Jones in the clubhouse, and Nick Swisher chugged Dom in the middle of his postgame interview, Yankee fans could simply sit back and enjoy the moment.

A season that started with steroids scandal, a starter's complete collapse and a right fielder making an emergency relief pitching appearance has culminated now in a season guaranteed at least 100 wins and a division title.

This group of Yankees has been mentioned, by more than one, as being the first Yankee team in a long time that's fun to watch for fans--a team full of life, personality and good works. It would thus seem all that more fitting that it is the team that reclaimed the eastern division and will now have every advantage it is possible to have in the postseason.

The hardest work is still ahead of the Yankees, but they're ready for it.

2009 has certainly been a season to remember.

Yanks 2-hit Sox and Reduce Magic Number to 1 (postgame notes 26 September 2009)

2009-09-26T19:31:00.001-04:00

As per my post on TYU:

Behind an absolute 7-inning, one-hit gem from CC Sabathia, the Yankees reduced their magic number for winning the AL East to one. One more Yankee win or Red Sox loss and the Yankees will be your 2009 AL East champions.

It should be noted here that the forecast tomorrow involves copious amounts of rain, so while we might all dream of the Yankees clinching while playing the Sox, they might not get the opportunity.

The pitching from Sabathia today should be the story, even more than the Yankees inability to hit with runners in scoring position, as this is the type of pitching the Yankees hope for--and even expect--from Sabathia in the postseason.

What's more, is that CC pitched most of the game while still scoreless. The Yankees simply refused to score with any runners on base (until the bottom of the eighth), getting their offense instead from a Robinson Canó lead off home run in the sixth.

The Yankees again ran against Boston, this time running against Victor Martinez instead of Jason Varitek. If defense--including catching--wins championships, then the Red Sox have some issues. The Yankees, with Damon in left, aren't perfect, but even Jorge Posada throws out more runners than the Varitek-Martinez tandem.

After a swing that saw the Yankees drop a series to the Mariners and lose the first of three to the Angels, the Yankees have now won four straight and are a virtual lock for the division.

Right now the Yankees' biggest concern is whether Andy Pettitte or AJ Burnett gets the ball in game two.

That's not a bad problem to have.

Joba pitches well, Melky takes out Lester, Yanks win (postgame notes 25 September 2009)

2009-09-25T23:14:00.003-04:00

As per my post on TYU:

While beating the Red Sox always makes for interesting storylines of its own, tonight's game produced two occurrences of note:

1) Joba Chamberlain pitched well. If anything, Chamberlain may have been hampered by the long innings the Yankees had at the plate, but he pitched six innings completely and used only 86 pitches to get there.

2) Melky Cabrera took Jon Lester out with a liner off of the plant leg. Officially, it's a contusion on the quadriceps, but every fan of the Red Sox has got to be concerned--Lester appeared to be in serious pain, and he is easily one of the two best Red Sox pitchers (though he didn't pitch like it tonight.)

The Yankee offense has Alex Rodriguez to thank tonight--his four RBI ended up as the difference in the final 9-5 score.

It should also be mentioned that the Yankees ran roughshod over Boston's defense, stealing bases at will and not even coming close to getting caught.

***

Much of the broadcast tonight was taken up by Michael Kay and Al Leiter arguing that the current postseason format does not penalize the Wild Card slot enough.

While I don't agree with everything the two brought up, there are two points with which I do agree:

1) a five game series is too short of a series. It benefits the team with a better 1-2 starting rotation; not a better team.

2) Give the top two teams in the league a first round bye. Then, the Wild Card team or teams will have to exert more energy and more strategy in that first round. Think of an NFL-like scenario, though ostensibly without six teams.

Yanks take series in Anaheim. No, hell did not freeze over.

2009-09-23T19:17:00.006-04:00

The Yankees won a well-played, tight 3-2 game in Anaheim, but that score alone will hide the larger victories:

AJ Burnett pitched well. He struck out eleven and threw too many pitches in doing so (strikeout pitchers will invariably throw a lot of pitches), but had it not been near 100 F in Anaheim, he may have stayed in longer than his just-over 100 pitches.

Ian Kennedy (remember him?) pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Sure, he loaded the bases, but the important thing here is that he pitched. After surgery for an aneurysm, Kennedy wasn't expected to pitch at all this season. He came back to pitch in the International League's playoffs (AAA) and now pitched for the Yankees. His last memory of 2009 then won't be the aneurysm, but getting that final out in the eighth in a 3-2 ballgame.

For the first time in five years, the Yankees won a series in Anaheim. Don't think it matters? It's a distinct possibility that the Yankees and Anaheim meet in the postseason. At this point it's unlikely that the Yankees would lose home field advantage, but even so the Yankees no longer have the monkey (bad pun intended) on their backs.

The magic number for the division is down to five, and while clinching against Boston is not a guarantee (though that would be awesome), the Yankees should be able to clinch it on their final homestand of the year.

Yankees Make Playoffs, First Time Since 2007

2009-09-23T01:01:00.003-04:00

Regardless of what the conclusion of the Yankees--Angels game may bring (and this may be a good thing), the Yankees are guaranteed a postseason spot on the basis of the Texas Rangers losing tonight.

The 2009 Yankees, however, won't be celebrating merely making the playoffs--the goal is the division and then the World Series.

Home field advantage will be crucial if the Yankees and Angels meet in the postseason--at one point in time the Yankees were leading this game 5-0 and now, in the bottom of the eighth inning, the game is tied.

Just another game in Anaheim.

At least this time there will be baseball in New York in October.

[edit]: The Yankees came back to win the game. Brett Gardner scored on an Alex Rodriguez sacrifice fly, Mariano Rivera got the save (with the help of a strike-them-out-throw-them-out double play), and the Yankees got the win.

Joba this, Joba that

2009-09-21T10:29:00.002-04:00

Joba Chamberlain is "only" the Yankees fourth starter come playoff time.

He won't start until the ALCS, and the Yankees have to make it there first, before they can worry about winning it.

The problem is, what happens when Game four ends up being a pivotal game? Game four, after all, is much more likely to be a pivotal game where one team has a chance to take a 3-1 series lead than it is a chance for the Yankees to sweep their opponent.

The problem with Chamberlain is that the issue doesn't end with him not pitching well--yesterday's performance in Seattle was especially ugly--but that Chamberlain doesn't even admit he's not pitching well.

Check out the audio from LoHud.

At this point in time, Chamberlain is the Yankees' fourth starter only because no other option has presented itself. Sergio Mitre has been so bad he's been banished the the bullpen, and Chad Gaudin falls apart like clockwork after the fifth inning.

River Ave Blues makes an interesting point that the Yankees have brought up Ian Kennedy, but after barely pitching all year due to his injury, he can't seriously be expected to pitch in the playoffs...right?

Right now, the Yankees just need to win one more game--or have Texas lose one more game--to make the playoffs. The division will be a bit harder to come by and the Yanks are doing a good job of making it interesting, but the Yankees should still get that, too.

Thus, the issues of discussion tend to revolve around what will be done in the playoffs. It's clear at this point that the biggest issue the Yankees have going into the playoffs is their starting pitching, and perhaps nothing looms larger than Chamberlain.

We tend to forget Chamberlain's still a young pitcher in his first full year in the rotation, who was hurt last year and is invariably going to struggle. Because he was so good so fast in 2007, we don't allow ourselves the possibility of him struggling. This is perhaps our fault; however, the refusal to admit he's pitching poorly is no one's fault but his own.

PBP Live Chat #4: In which Life Happens

2009-09-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

PBP #4 In which life happens

Should the Yankees bring Matsui back?

2009-09-17T11:51:00.002-04:00

Throughout this season, we've been hearing one mantra: of their aging outfielders, the Yankees should only bring Johnny Damon back, if, in fact, they choose to retain either. Damon can still play in the field and run a bit on the bases, and his swing is perfect for the new Yankee Stadium. Hideki Matsui couldn't even play the field during interleague play when the Yankees had no DH for nine straight games, and periodically needs time off to get his knees drained.

The problem, however, is that when Hideki Matsui has been in the line up, he has mashed.

Despite an abysmally slow start, Matsui has an OPS of nearly 1.000 against LHP, and it should not go without comment here that Matsui is a left-handed batter.

He's not too shabby against right-handed pitching, either.

Last night, Matsui's two run bomb tied the game for the Yankees in the eighth inning. It's nothing new for Godzilla--but rather the type of thing he's done all year for the Yankees: coming up with the big hit at the right time and the right place. Let's not forget that previous west coast swing where Matsui hit two home runs in the same game against the Mariners and then did the same again against the Red Sox.

It's easy to say that the Yankees should let Matsui go, that they need to get younger, but when you look at what Matsui has done for the team this season, one must ask whether or not questions of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

No one is arguing that the Yankees should offer a five year deal to Matsui, here, but can there be that much harm in a one-year deal?

Yes, it's true Posada will likely need more time at DH and that the Yankees will end up short a fielder in the outfield (unless you count Hairston or Peña who can play both IF and OF), but the benefit of Matsui's bat is tangible.

It's quite a quandry the Yankees will have--though they might find themselves aided by a thin free agent market and the knowledge that those that are available, like Bay and Holliday, won't come cheap.

At this point, I'm all for bringing back Matsui for a year.

He's done his job to convince me.

****

Reminder: Live chat on the blog at 8 PM! Be there!

The Position in which the Yankees now find themselves

2009-09-17T02:12:00.002-04:00

As of 2 AM on 9/17/2009, the Yankees' magic number to clinch a playoff spot--not the division, but just assurance of at least a wild card--is four.

Make no mistake, all eyes are on the division and anything less would be considered a collapse, but the Yankees now have a very real chance to go into Anaheim with a postseason berth already locked up.

Given the Yankees' struggles in Anaheim, this is not insignificant.

The series with the Seattle Mariners won't be easy; unlike last time the Yankees have to face Felix Hernandez, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Yankees would like to wrap up an October berth sooner rather than later.

****

live chat reminder

Given Thursday's off day, I figure it would be a good evening for a live chat. Let's go with an 8 PM start time.

Posada Suspended Four, Fined

2009-09-16T16:37:00.002-04:00

Jorge Posada has been suspended four games and find $3,000 for last night's brawl.

If he has any sense, he'll start it tonight--Marc Carig and Sweeny Murti are reporting he's got a stiff neck, anyway.

Read more here

Given what Youkilis got in his brawl with Rick Porcello, Posada's getting off fairly lightly here.

On Posada and Basebrawls (postgame notes 15 September 2009)

2009-09-16T01:20:00.004-04:00

I admit it.

Brawls, fights, whatever you call them, in the right time and place do not bother me.

Hockey is only second to baseball in terms of my love for the sport, and fights have long been part of the game. I like to see guys drop the gloves, play with a little intensity and bring some color to the game.

Don't blame me, I'm a Devils fan.

While baseball brawls, for the most part, play out like senior proms compared to hockey fights, I generally don't have too much of a problem with them. They can make a boring game a little more entertaining.

Then the fight happens to you or your team, and you realize there are very negative consequences.

The "fiery" Jorge Posada, as he's known, had every right to be peeved when Carlson threw behind him, but it should have ended there.

Be at the center of a baseball brawl, and two things happen: 1) you risk injury, and any injury in mid-September is likely to be season-ending, and 2) suspension.

Let's take these two in turn.

1) Injury.

This is by far the biggest issue. The Yankees are where they are right now because, for the most part, they've managed to stay healthy, or as healthy as you could expect a team with a LF, 3B, SS and other assorted on the wrong side of 30.

Even if it was just Posada that got hurt, it would still be a tremendous blow--I point you verily in the direction of 2008.

At the very least, those other teammates that rushed into to the fray put themselves at risk, too. While I understand that Shelley Duncan is unlikely to make the postseason roster, what the heck is Joba Chamberlain or any of the pitchers thinking when they are in the fray?

It'd be one thing if this was a last place team going nowhere, but the Yankees are legitimate contenders. They cannot, right now, risk anyone getting hurt. There's too much riding on it.

2) Suspension

In hockey, you fight and you get a five minute "major" and, barring extenuating circumstances, it ends there.

Baseball, alas, is not hockey. Fights come with suspensions.

If we look at Kevin Youkilis's six-game suspension for going after Rick Porcello, Jorge Posada might expect similar. The good news is that with September call ups, Jose Molina and Francisco Cervelli can split the catching duties as may be and neither will get too worn down. The bad news, however, is that all of a sudden the Yankees miss Posada's bat. The Yankees still have to go back to Seattle and Anaheim, which makes this an even less pleasing scenario.

There are two camps out there.

There's the camp that think the Yankees need to act with class and never retaliate, and then there's the camp that thinks the Yankees should retaliate, and the team should literally fight on occasion.

Normally I'm in the second camp, but this late in the season, with so much riding on it, Posada's actions hurt the team tonight and for the upcoming week.

Bunting is bad

2009-09-15T10:31:00.002-04:00

Last night, in the fifth inning of a tie game, Derek Jeter bunted runners on first and second over to second and third.

When you play small ball, it's expected that you can master the art of the bunt.

When you have hitters that struggle to hit for power or are otherwise weak--like pitchers and nine hitters--bunting can make some sense.

When you have a hitter that's headed to Cooperstown on the first ballot--like Derek Jeter--bunting makes almost no sense, at all. Sure, there's a risk that Jeter would hit into a double play, but the price of giving away an out in a close game is too much for a hitter of Jeter's caliber.

Bunting is what you do with your American League pitcher in interleague play or when Brett Gardner is batting and the infield is back looking for a double play.

It's not what you do with Derek Jeter. Or Nick Swisher (you remember that...).

I have very few complaints about the way that Joe Girardi has run the Yankees this year. Best record and all that. Still, if bunting costs the Yankees a postseason win against a team like those Angels (or Red Sox or whomever), it won't be pretty.

Dude. Just call the darned game.

2009-09-12T10:05:00.002-04:00

It's September 11, a cold, rainy, windy, icky night.

Derek Jeter has broken the hits record--which is what about 80% of the fans paid way, way over market value to see...then again, you can't place a value on it...yadda yadda...

Anyway.

The Yankees, barring an Angels 1995-like collapse (in which case their problems become many), are going to the postseason.

The Orioles are going golfing in October.

It's nearly midnight, and the two teams have to play again at 1 PM the next day.

They have already played not just five, but six innings. The Yankees lost their lead, but they also had their at bat.

It's a 10-6--not a tied or even a close, even by 09 Yankee standards, game.

Why, on earth, was the game not called?

I know New York is the city that never sleeps and all that, but seriously?

Also worth noting here: via various updates on Twitter tonight, even when the game restarted at 12.40, with about 900 fans still in attendance, ushers were still checking tickets.

Dude, I know you're bored, but really?

I know New York doesn't have a reputation for being the friendliest city in the world, but seriously?

If the few hundred people in attendance can't be allowed to move down to the lower level in an empty stadium, I'm not sure what to say. I'm not talking about moving down to the Legends seats; I'm just talking about moving down from the grandstand.

These things make me a very, very grumpy fan.

Your new record for all-time hits as a Yankee goes to...

2009-09-11T21:27:00.001-04:00

Derek Jeter.

2722.

Enough said.

[Scroll down for a more comprehensive post on Jeter].

One for the Bulletin Board

2009-09-11T16:36:00.005-04:00

Today on SIRIUS XM’s Mad Dog Radio channel, host Gary Williams spoke with actor Matt Damon, who was on to promote his new movie, “The Informant,” and the charitable foundation he supports, “One X One.”

This will be of interest to Yankees fans:

Williams: “Meanwhile, your Red Sox, they’re only about 19 games back of the Yankees. Do they have anything for them in October?”

Damon: “Yeah, of course, man. October comes and everybody is 0-0. All we need to do is back into the wild card and we’re fine. We’re fine. Listen, New York, they’re going to collapse. They’re still, I mean, nobody on that team has won a World Series in... I mean, Jeter has but the rest of them…”

Williams: “Posada has, Pettitte has…”

Damon: “Nine years ago these guys won the World Series. They got so smoked by the Red Sox in ’04, I mean, I’m telling you, man. They’ve got the yips. They’re going to fold like a cheap suit. You watch, man. You watch. If we make it into the playoffs, man, we’re taking them down.”

Look, I've never met Matt Damon (though I'm sitting here with Dogma on TV), but I'd be thinking here that the team that's, you know, 91-50 and 39-8 since the All Star break doesn't actually need the extra motivation...

Ah, well, I mean.

It's not like the Yankees haven't taken ~~seven of the last eight~~ six of the last seven against the Red Sox including a fifteen inning walk-off and an eighth inning comeback victory.

Or that their only pressing concern is their #4 starter.

Or that the Red Sox are nine games back.

Or that this team is putting up a team OPS+ number similar to that of the 1927 squad.

Or anything.

PBP #3: We Mash More (With Guest Mike Ashmore)

2009-09-10T19:41:00.001-04:00

PBP #3: We Mash More

We don't need red hats on 9/11. We remember.

2009-09-10T08:08:00.002-04:00

When talking to a friend last night about Derek Jeter and his record, he mentioned one thought to me: "I hope that Jeter doesn't have to break the hits record in a red cap."

While it's true that Jeter won't have to break the record in a red cap--he'll be wearing a batting helmet--it does bring another issue to light.

It is one thing to wear red caps on Memorial Day or July 4th--days that have equal meaning across the country. While I can't agree with their use on Memorial Day--I have issues with the commercialization of days designed for remembrance--I had no issue with their use on July 4th. July 4th, after all, is a happy holiday, a day of celebration, so why not commercialize the heck out of it?

September 11, though, really gets me riled.

Anyone who argues that September 11 holds the same meaning in say, Oklahoma, as it does in New York City must have not been in New York on that day.

It's no knock against the middle of our country, but 9/11 did claim the majority of its victims from New York.

We don't need red hats to symbolize that day; the date itself is enough for us to remember.

Should I describe to you my thoughts as a fifteen year-old student, watching my classmates, some of the toughest people I'd ever met, reduced to tears because they could not contact their parents who worked in lower Manhattan?

Should I describe to you my thoughts as I sat on the bus home, and how I saw the smoke rising from the New York City skyline?

If Major League Baseball wants to remember September 11, there are decent ways to do it.

Have a member of the FDNY play Taps before the game. Have a moment of silence. You don't need to sell hats that look a little ridiculous when matched with pinstripes.

If you really, really want to stick it to the terrorists, you know what you should do?

Play ball.

Derek Jeter and All That

2009-09-09T22:03:00.004-04:00

The first time I heard of Derek Jeter, he was not a star shortstop, but instead a politician.

In 1996, my fifth grade teacher, Ms. S, tried to teach a group of fidgety ten year olds about the presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.

To do that, she had the class divide in two, and each group had to dress up a life-size paper doll, come up with a name and come up with a platform for the candidate. Someone in my group decided that ours should be Derek Jeter. I didn't know who Derek Jeter was, and I didn't ask.

When I did start to follow the Yankees closely, I made a conscious decision that Derek Jeter could not be my favorite Yankee. Everyone loved Derek Jeter, and I needed to be different. I chose Mariano Rivera instead.

I don't regret my choice, but I've also come to realize that there's a reason everyone loves Jeter, and it's not entirely about his looks.

It's hard to explain Jeter to the uninitiated--he's not the most prolific home run hitter nor is he the greatest fielder--but there's only one Derek Jeter.

It's not just that Derek Jeter has a knack for doing the right thing at the right time, like that October night in Oakland in 2001, or that he won four World Series rings in his first five years (discounting 1995), or that he's now tied with Lou Gehrig as the Yankees all-time hits leader, but that he's done it all in a simple way: team first. Always, always, team first.

During Spring Training, Jeter was asked if he'd consider batting leadoff instead of batting second, to reduce the chances of him hitting into a double play. Jeter has the pull and the clout that he could have said no, and it would have gone unchallenged, but that's not who Jeter is. Jeter agreed, and now not only is 2009 a great year for him, but it's also been a great year for the guy with whom he switched places--Johnny Damon.

If ever the Yankee ghosts and the baseball gods have blessed someone, they've blessed Derek Jeter, and they've blessed all of us who have had the ability to watch him for these fourteen years.

It strikes me that Jeter should be tying a mark set by Lou Gehrig, because in many ways the two are similar: they play(ed) with grace and with class, role models in every sense of the word.

Gehrig and Jeter will likely have the two most well-known speeches in Yankees' history--Gehrig's already is, and Jeter's, given at the end of last season, will be made more with the passage of time. There aren't any other two Yankees you would want to give such speeches.

***

My nephew's much too young to understand all this--he's only four months--but when he's old enough, I'll take him to a Yankee game, and if his father hasn't already, I'll tell him to be like Jeter. To put one's team first. To play hard, even if you don't play well. To behave with dignity and class.

That's just the Jeter way.

Food for Thought (Again)

2009-09-09T01:37:00.003-04:00

The Yankees have been playing at a .750 clip since the All Star break--the best they've done in Franchise history--yes, even better than 1998.

If a team was to play at that clip over a full season, they would win 121 games.

The Yankees lost just seven games the entire month of August, and have improved every month since June.

It'd be one thing to call a .750 a small sample size, but it's been nearly two months. Small sample size, this is not.

Eventually we'll start talking that all of this matters not if the Yankees can't get that ring, so, right now, while you can, take it for what it is and enjoy it.

Nine times out of ten, you won't see a team play this well for this long.

Yanks have 13th Walk Off of Season (Postgame Notes 08 September 2009)

2009-09-08T22:38:00.001-04:00

For a complete recap please check out my post at The Yankee Universe

Nick Swisher hit two home runs, Phil Hughes blew a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, and Chad Gaudin pitched an utter gem for six innings.

Derek Jeter was again held hitless, and it’s beginning to look like he’s pressing–not for sake of a record, but because Jeter is now in his longest 0-fer for the season.
The Yankees have been playing .750 baseball since the All Star break.

Stopping to smell the roses

2009-09-07T23:15:00.003-04:00

Remember how much it rained at the start?

Remember that homestand where the Yankees endured a five-game losing streak? Remember how bleak it seemed?

Remember how neither bases-clearing doubles in the driving rain or 12 strike-out performances couldn't buy a win?

Remember how the starting catcher and his backup went down with injuries literally within days and the Yankees had to turn to a kid hitting .190 for AA Trenton?

I don't know if you do remember this or if you don't, but if you remember anything, I hope you remember the fight.

I hope you remember how the Yankees would keep fighting back, keep making you wait until that final out even if they couldn't quite get over it.

I hope you remember how we said that this team was too good to not eventually break through, to get over the hump, to turn those come back efforts into whipped cream pies.

Did we know then that we could be looking at a special team? Did we have even a slight inkling?

There are, of course, those of us that will say that we are looking at a good team, but that it's not a special team unless those men are all clobbered in a massive dog pile on the field against the cool Halloween air.

If these are the Yankees we are talking about--and they are--then one should expect no less. Twenty six championships in just over 100 years tends to spoil fans.

Even so, had you told someone back on May 5th that the Yankees would wind up on pace to win 104 games on Labor Day, would he or she have believed you?

How can you put it in perspective?

One hundred and four wins, if achieved, is still ten wins shy of 114--but perhaps, instead of saying how 104 wins still could not compare to 1998, we should look at how good 104 wins would be--and how much more impressive 114 is, still firmly entrenched in our memories.

Last year the New York Yankees won 89 games.

Eighty-nine wins is not a horrible win total. In 2008, 89 wins was only good enough for third place in the AL East, but it was good enough to win the AL Central and NL West, and only one game shy of the NL Wild Card.

Eighty-nine wins would have won the AL East in 2000. The Yankees won 87 games that year--and then went on to win the World Series.

Eighty-nine wins is living in playoff contention, not living on the edge of disaster.

Eighty-nine wins, for any team not from New York or Boston is reason enough to hold one's head high.

Eight-nine wins is also what the Yankees have in 2009 with 23 games still to play.

The Yankees probably won't win 23 more games--almost certainly not with another trip to Anaheim remaining--but where they are now, they could win 11 more games, finish with 100 wins even, and do not have to play .500 baseball to accomplish that.

One hundred and four wins hasn't been done by the Yankees--with the exception of 1998--since the 1970s.

One hundred and four wins a year after winning 89 is a fifteen game improvement in one year.

Many thought that the Yankees this year would end up winning somewhere in the mid-90s--not necessarily good enough for the AL East, but good enough for a Wild Card spot.

Some thought the Yankees could not compete with the Red Sox and the Rays.

Nothing is done yet, nothing is clinched, and teams have found ways to stage impossible collapses as recently as 2007.

That said, a nine game lead with 23 left to play is a pretty darned good place to be.

The Yankees have some issues and concerns--and they also have the luxury of being able to try to fix them. They don't have to start their #1 starter on three days' rest for half of a month straight, for example, and they can let Mariano Rivera take a couple days off if his groin is nagging him. Fans can focus on historic milestones, such as what Derek Jeter will likely accomplish this week, and watch other pennant races knowing that their team's fight won't be so much getting to October as it will be staying there.

This time last year we knew two things: the Yankees would need a miracle to meet the postseason, and the old Yankee Stadium had precious few days left.

This year, we don't know how it will end, but it has the distinct possibility of being the best possible opening year of all.

Baseball players can't stop to smell the roses--not until they can pop champagne or until they can pack the golf bag--but the fans--we--can.

Roses, like all plants, bloom most spectacularly after a rain fall.

Yanks Sweep Double-header; Magic # down to 16

2009-09-07T22:41:00.002-04:00

For a complete recap, check out my post on The Yankee Universe

Perhaps it's a microcosm of how this season has gone for the Yankees, but both Sabathia and Burnett turned in stellar outings

In the first game, the Yankees remained deadlocked at 1-1 in a pitchers' duel until the eighth.

In the second game, the Yankees scored eight runs in the third inning, and never looked back, notching Burnett his first win since the end of July.

Derek Jeter went hitless, the first time in his career in a double-header.

Larry Mahnken of Replacement Level fame mentioned to me that the Yankees are now getting above league-average production at every position.

Trenton Attempts To Stave Off Elimination

2009-09-05T22:44:00.002-04:00

As last night, I went to the New Britain/Trenton game tonight. Much was on the line: Trenton wins, they live to play on tomorrow. A loss, and they are eliminated from postseason contention.

Tonight was a little different than last night.

For one thing, Ryan Pope pitched pretty darn well.

Pope pitched 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits, though the tying runs, although charged to him, were inherited runners that Valdez allowed to score.

The Trenton offense tonight was far from brilliant--even forgetting that you cannot, in fact, have two men on the same base--but a win is a win, and when you are trying to stave off elimination, any win will do.

Austin Krum AKA the dude from AAH Real Monsters AKA the Bulgarian Seeker...

Sunset shot from the game.

The Thunder won the game, 4-3, in twelve innings. They must win tomorrow and if they do, then again on Monday to make the postseason. It's a long shot, but it's by no means impossible.

Joba's Troubles Concerning

2009-09-05T11:17:00.004-04:00

The Yankees, as of September 5th 2009, do not have a lot of concerns.

They have the best record in baseball by a decent margin and have had quite a few win streaks of seven games or more. Losses are rare; the team has lost only two series entirely since the All Star Break.

Life, as a Yankees fan, is pretty darned good.

It is not, however, perfect.

There are concerns, and right now there is probably none looming as large as Joba Chamberlain.

It's true that AJ Burnett hasn't won in a month, but some of those non-decisions and losses have more to do with the Yankees giving him no run support than they do Burnett pitching poorly.

Chamberlain, on the other hand, has not pitched well since before that first Boston game of that four-game sweep we remember so fondly.

Since that game, Chamberlain has pitched to an ERA of 7.96, which, even considering ERA's inaccuracies, is really, really bad. Like, Sergio Mitre in that time has been almost twice as good.

Seriously.

Chamberlain's 20-17 strikeouts to walks is nearly identical, which is not something you'd want even from your number five starter, let alone someone that's going to start games for your team in the playoffs.

Opponents are OPSing .923 against Chamberlain--that's better than Mark Teixeira.

Then there's also the fact that Joba is fast (okay, maybe not so fast) approaching the 150 innings gray area, in which the Yankees will begin to risk his long-term health if he keeps going out there.

In short, Joba has about four weeks to show some massive improvement, or else the Yankees might seriously consider starting Mitre, because if the Yankees are in the ALCS, fans will remember easily that a game four win actually matters. At least Mitre can get the occasional out.

Thunder lose heartbreaker

2009-09-04T23:02:00.003-04:00

For various reasons, which you may or may not know, I ended up taking the Amtrak today from New York City to Hartford, with the singular purpose of catching the Trenton Thunder in their series against the New Britain Rock Cats, with dire playoff implications.

For the Thunder to make the playoffs they more or less needed to take three of four from New Britain--but alas, tonight it was not to be.

Jeremy Bleich started for the Thunder. He gave up five hits and walked two before recording an out.

The Thunder's first baserunner. At one point, the Thunder were trying to beat out the Yankees for the-most-likely-to-be-no-hit-tonight bid.

At one point the Thunder were down 7-0, which, given that the Thunder's offense without Montero is the AA equivalent of the San Francisco Giants, is usually an insurmountable thing.

At some point in time, however, the Thunder decided that it'd be fun to mess with everyone and stage a furious comeback. They tied the game with 6 runs in the 7th.

Thunder(ers?) trying to play the hero.

Alas, the comeback could not be completed and in the ninth inning the Rock Cats walked off--a walk, and then a line drive into the corner.

I'm going back tomorrow and may or may not take more pictures. If the Thunder lose another game they will be officially eliminated.

Jeter Would Be First Yankee to 3000 Hits

2009-09-03T17:14:00.003-04:00

With Derek Jeter only nine hits away from breaking the Yankees all-time hits record, it struck me the other night that the Yankees have, in their illustrious history, not had a 3000 hit hitter--certainly not one that was a Yankee his entire career.

Yesterday, I was talking to Mike McCann of WFAN, when I brought this up, and we devolved into a long conversation as to why this has happened.

As it turns out, most of the everyday Yankees that we idolize as part of the team's storied history have legitimate reasons as to why they were never able to play long enough to collect 3,000 hits:

Lou Gehrig got sick with ALS, a disease that now commonly is referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease. There is little question that had Gehrig remained healthy he would have broken the record.

Joe DiMaggio lost seasons due to World War Two, as did many other of the best players of that era.

Mickey Mantle's career was derailed by injuries and some not-so-good off field habits.

These are only three examples, but they are among the most high-profile Yankees (you could also consider Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra here) to have ever worn the uniform. If they never reached 3000 hits, that tells you two things:

1) It tells you just how hard it is to achieve this feat--how long one has to play and how long one has to remain healthy.

2) It tells you just how good Derek Jeter really is. No, seriously. He might never win that MVP award (Gehrig never won a World Series without either Ruth or DiMaggio; this is baseball, strange things happen), but Jeter is easily one of the ten best Yankees to have ever put on the uniform.

Late inning Yankee heroics are not your imagination.

2009-09-03T10:55:00.002-04:00

Since last night's seven run ninth-inning brings the issue up, check this out:

In innings 7-9 the Yankees are batting .297/.383/.517/.900 as a team. It's more drastic if you look at innings seven and nine individually: in the seventh the Yankees are batting .314/.403/.528/.930 as a team.

That's right, in the seventh inning, the Yankees as a team are batting .314 (guys that bat .314 generally contend for the All Star team) and OPSing .930. To compare, Mark Teixeira is OPSing .920 for the year.

The ninth inning numbers are similar: .311/.399/.528/.927.

The difference here, however, is that while the Yankees always play a seventh inning, they don't always play the ninth (if they're winning and at home). So that makes the seventh inning numbers all that more insane.

The Yankees have scored 271 runs in the 7th-9th innings; they have not scored 250 in either the 1st-3rd or 4th-6th.

We knew the Yankee offense was good...really good...but their numbers in the latter innings are kind of insane.

Maybe this is why the Yankees have 12 walk off wins and g-d-knows-how-many come-from-behind wins. It's the mark of a team that keeps fighting.

Boy, is it fun to watch...

Yankees Sweep Baltimore; Rivera out with Tight Groin (Postgame Notes 2 September 2009)

2009-09-02T23:05:00.005-04:00

View my complete recap at The Yankee Universe

Marc Carig and Pete Abraham are reporting that Mariano Rivera has tightness in his groin and will miss a few days but could be back by the weekend.

Sabathia struggled early--five hits in two--but picked it up afterwards and held Baltimore to one run.

The Yankee offense exploded for seven runs in the 9th.

All Eric Hinske does is come off the bench and hit HRs.

Is it too early to start talking about the postseason rotation?

2009-09-02T11:13:00.004-04:00

Ask someone what the Yankees' biggest concerns are at the moment, and he or she might be hard pressed to answer. After all, when your team has the best record in the league and a 6.5 game lead in the division race, it's hard to find areas to complain.

Still, there will be those who say that AJ Burnett and Joba Chamberlain are worrisome, and that certain relievers in the bullpen can utterly not be trusted.

So, the questions will inevitably arise, how will the Yankees construct their postseason rotation?

No, the Yankees have not made the postseason yet, but we are fast approaching a point where if the Yankees do not make the playoffs, even as a wild card team, it would be a collapse of historic proportions. Thus, it does not seem a stretch to address this issue.

Right now, the Yankees' rotation comprises of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain and Sergio Mitre.

In the postseason, barring injury, you need four starters--so we can drop mighty mighty Mitre off the list for right now.

Thus, the question becomes, how do you organize the remaining four, and here the issue isn't so much the game one starter (Sabathia) or the game four starter (if needed) (Chamberlain). The issue is, as it was in 2007, who starts game two.

For most of this season, AJ Burnett has easily been the Yankees' #2 starter, but of late he has a couple of things working against him: he hasn't won in a month, and he's never pitched in a postseason game.

For me, at least, the second issue is more pressing than the first. Yes, Burnett hasn't won in a month, but he has been unlucky in some of those starts--like the fifteen inning game against Beckett, and the game he pitched in Oakland where he surrendered only three runs but the Yankees couldn't muster anything against Brett Tomko. His ERA for this time is over 6.00, but two absolutley horrid starts--in Chicago and Boston--are perhaps inflating it further. Of course, Burnett had a poor outing last night, so that doesn't do him any favors.

Still, the lack of postseason experience is a concern, especially if it follows Sabathia immediately--Sabathia's postseason number in 2007 and 2008 are not very good (though 2008 may perhaps be attributed to his pitching on three days' rest multiple times that September).

Pettitte as the number two starter would give the Yankees someone with a lot of postseason experience, and, since the All Star break, no pitcher has been better for the Yankees. Well, no starter, anyway (I'm looking at you, Mo Rivera). Last season, Pettitte pitched the second half hurt and put up some not very good numbers, but this season, well, on Monday Pettitte came within 7 outs of a perfect game.

A lot, however, can change between September 2nd and October 1st. In that time, Burnett could put it all together and Pettitte could fall apart, and in that case the decision would become even harder.

Still, if constructing your postseason rotation is your biggest concern, you're probably in a pretty good place.

****

On another note entirely, make sure you check out some great baseball travel posts from WFAN's Mike McCann. He's gone and visited numerous stadia at all levels--worth a gander if you like doing ballpark tours/trips.

Bombs and Bullpen back Burnett (postgame notes 1 September (!!) 2009)

2009-09-01T23:10:00.002-04:00

For a full recap, please check out my post on The Yankee Universe any time after midnight.

Notes:

Handed leads of 3-1 and then 5-3, Burnett could maintain neither, and while he only walked two, he did surrender eleven hits.

The offense was Bronx Bombing at its best: five home runs, from Robinson Canó (who's hitting somewhere around .480 against Baltimore), Jorge Posada (who hit two, including one after he forgot the count and thought he had struck out!), Nick Swisher (whose home/road splits in the words of Girardi are "mind-boggling"), and Eric Hinske.

Damaso Marte, David Robertson, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera combined to hold the Orioles scoreless for 3.2 innings.

The Orioles have been mathematically eliminated from AL East contention tonight.

Scranton Outing a Success

2009-09-01T11:19:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, readers of Pete Abraham's LoHud Yankees Blog gathered in Scranton for the second annual LoHud blog outing.

The group was seated in the left field bullpen box--a field-level box, with all-you-can-eat ballpark food (the pasta salad was pretty good, actually...), and an open view to the field--so players could come over and say hi.

Francisco Cervelli came by; Shelley Duncan came by--and signed my program (yes, I'm a fair girl). Duncan would later hit the home run in the first game of a double-header, and a grand slam in the second.

We also received a visit from Champ, Scranton's mascot.

During the second game, a couple friends and I wandered to the other side of the ballpark and did a "Roll Call" for the minor league team. John Rodriguez, Shelley Duncan, Kevin Russo, Cody Ransom and Ramiro Peña all (not always eagerly) responded.

Through a raffle and donations, the LoHud group also managed to rage almost $800 for the Codey Miley Memorial Scholarship Fund. Miley, the son of Scranton manager Dave Miley, was killed in a car accident last summer.

Much thanks must go out to Ron H., who organized the outing for the second year running. It takes a lot of planning to put something that large together, and Ron has done a flawless job now for two years running.

Pettitte takes Perfecto into the 7th (Postgame Notes 31 August 2009)

2009-08-31T21:54:00.003-04:00

Throughout his career, Andy Pettitte has been known as a second half pitcher.

That was never more apparent than it was tonight, where Pettitte pitched eight two-hit innings of baseball--he took a perfect game into two outs in the seventh and lost it only when Jerry Hairston Jr did his best Bill Buckner impression at third, filling in for Alex Rodriguez.

The Yankees scored their own five runs--it's a road game, so of course Swisher had a home run and was a triple away from the cycle--but the story of the game is easily Pettitte.

Pettitte was so good that even when he did lose the perfect game and the no-hitter (lost on a clean single), and the game was only 2-0 at the time, Pettitte still got himself out of the inning without allowing a run. Pettitte would allow a lead-off home run to Melvin Mora, but by that time the Yankees were leading by five.

Pettitte's ERA since the all-star break is 2.56--and despite CC Sabathia having lost only one August game in the past two seasons, one could make the argument right now that Pettitte is pitching better than anyone else on the Yankees' staff.

In the end, tonight's game is exactly what should have happened when the team with the league's best record plays one of the cellar-dwellers: Good pitching, enough offense and the other team never really has a chance.

(For what it's worth, though, Brian Bruney has quite a bit of work to do to if he really really wants to be on that postseason roster...)

Mitre and Gaudin combine to one-hit White Sox (Postgame Notes 29 August 2009)

2009-08-29T16:43:00.002-04:00

You can be forgiven if, at the outset, you thought that today's Contreras-Mitre match up would be one long and non-fun game to sit through.

Jose Contreras certainly kept up his part of the bargain--unable to make it even through the fourth inning as the Yankees singled and doubled him to death.

Sergio Mitre, on the other hand, pitched well.

Not well-for-a-five-starter or well-for-someone-that-has-an-awfully-high-WHIP or passably good, but well.

Very, very well.

Through six and a third innings, Mitre gave up only one hit--a scorching double to Jim Thome (if you're going to give up a hit might as well be to a guy that's headed to Cooperstown)--and, just as importantly, walked only one.

Had he not been hit in the elbow with a come-back-line-drive-thingie, Mitre would have likely pitched the seventh, probably the eighth and possibly even the ninth--easily his best performance since 2006.

Coming on in relief, Chad Gaudin was also excellent--not allowing a single hit to the White Sox over the rest of the game.

On the flip side, the Yankees scored four runs in the second, four in the fourth, and then two more later on, and--unusual, perhaps for this team--the only home run was an Alex Rodriguez solo home run in the later innings.

Robinson Canó now has three hits with runners in scoring position since last night--a very rare feat for him this season.

Just as important, he made a stellar defensive play in the sixth inning--and he has played solid defense all season.

The Yankees have now assured themselves of their 14th straight season at .500 or better--even if they go winless the rest of the season (in which case they'd have some more serious problems).

Why the 2009 season kicks all sorts of you know what...

2009-08-29T00:23:00.001-04:00

Been posting this as a comment and it's too good not to post here:

Here’s how it breaks down:
Homestand #1: Cleveland and Oakland: Melky Cabrera walk off HR in the 14th inning.

Homestand #2: LA, Boston, TB: Jorge Posada walk-off single to cap off a five run comeback in the 8th and 9th innings.

Homestand #3: Minnesota, Baltimore, Philadelphia: Three walkoffs in a row vs Minnesota and then one against Philadelphia. Melky single, A-Rod homer, Damon homer, A-rod to tie and Melky to win.

Homestand #4: Texas and Tampa Bay, only walkoff-less stand of the year.

Homestand #5: Mets and Nationals, Luis Castillo dropped pop up.

Homestand #6: Mariners and Blue Jays, Jorge Posada 12th inning HR on Independence Day.

Homestand #7: Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland: Hideki Matsui bottom 9th HR against Baltimore (2-1 game).

Homestand #8: Boston and Toronto: A-Rod HR in 15th against Sox and Robinson Canó game-winning hit against Jays.

Homestand #9: Tonight, Robinson Canó 3r HR.

That's just one homestand, all season, where the Yankees did not have a walk off win.

That's, uh, impressive.

Yankees Walk Off (Again) (Postgame Notes 28 August 2009)

2009-08-28T22:47:00.002-04:00

If the Yankees have a "secret sauce" to winning in 2009, it's gotta be that they've figured out the recipe for the walk-off win.

When the game gets to the bottom of the ninth and it's tied, one almost expects, now, that the Yankees will win--and the only question is who will get the game winning hit (or walk, or hit by pitch, or pop up...)

It's quite a simple thing, really: decent starting pitching, good defense at key points in the game (like that seventh inning that could have been so much worse), a spotless bullpen and the offense getting the right hit at the right time.

Sabathia was great through six and kind of came apart in the seventh; Alex Rodriguez and Jose Molina sort of saved him on defense.

Phil Hughes struck out the side in the 8th, Mariano Rivera was Mariano Rivera and Brian Bruney had a delightfully decent appearance and Robinson Canó hit a bomb with a runner in scoring position (and a runner on first, too).

The Yanks had another rather bad night with runners in scoring position, but when you have the best record in the league such things seem minor concerns.

The Yankees were fairly desperate to get tonight's game in given the horrible weather forecast for Saturday; they did so without so much as a delay, which is impressive given that the heavens have now more or less completely opened.