This is New York

(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.

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

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.

Meanwhile, the other Jeter gets a heart transplant

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

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!

Reflections

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.

The Top 10 Moments of the Yankees' 2009 regular season

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...

Bring on October

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)

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)

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.

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.

On Posada and Basebrawls (postgame notes 15 September 2009)

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.

Derek Jeter and All That

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.

Yanks have 13th Walk Off of Season (Postgame Notes 08 September 2009)

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

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

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.
  

Yankees Sweep Baltimore; Rivera out with Tight Groin (Postgame Notes 2 September 2009)

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?

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)

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.
  

Pettitte takes Perfecto into the 7th (Postgame Notes 31 August 2009)

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)

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).