Everything Young is New Again (ALDS Game 3 Postgame Notes 7 October 2007)

It doesn't get any more fitting than the moment Joe Torre took the ball from Roger Clemens and handed it to Phil Hughes.

You have to hand it to Roger Clemens. He's got more heart, more grit, than perhaps anyone else, and you thought, just maybe he could pull out a miracle...but old bodies break easy. He's been with the Yankees since 1999, has two World Series rings, a first ballot Hall-of-Famer for sure...

...but tonight Joe Torre was managing not just for the Yankees season, but for his job, and when it was clear that Roger's heart was in the right place, but his body wasn't, it was an easy call.

The moment the ball was taken from Rocket and given to Phil Hughes, a chill went up my spine.

The past gave way to the future, and the future is bright.

Phil Hughes was brilliant. Watching him pitch tonight was like taking Andy Pettitte in a big game, mixing in a bit of Mike Mussina and the 2003 ALCS game 7, and then taking fifteen years off of the entire thing, and as amazing as his performance was, it's even more amazing when you consider that it was his first time pitching at Yankee Stadium in October.

There was one pitch Phil threw, I don't remember the batter, and I can't tell you if it was a curve or a breaking ball, but I thought it might have been the most beautiful pitch I have ever seen.

It was perfect.


Offensively, you knew that they just needed a spark.

It's hard to say what the spark was, exactly, because three double plays in three innings sit well in no one's stomach (especially when it's Captain Clutch hitting into two of them)...but when A-Rod got that first base hit, you KNEW something was going to happen.

When Hideki Matsui gritted it out on a bad knee for an infield hit, you KNEW that the offensive woes weren't going to last forever.

When Johnny Damon got his at bat that inning, in the fifth, with two men on base, you just wanted a fly ball of some sort. Anything out of the infield would do. When it sailed over the right-field fence, you knew that weight was gone. The hump was gone. The wall was broken through.

When Robbie got the bases-clearing single, it was amusing--you still hate Trot Nixon for those years on the Red Sox, but when he made that error, you jumped for joy...and if you were me, you thought about maybe wanting to give him a quick hug (but not really).


Joba had a Joba inning in the seventh, struggled a bit in the eighth, but managed to get the job(a) done. I have a feeling Yankee Stadium chanting his name in unison, in October...

...well, not really. I don't know how that feels; but I can imagine it.


Mo....

...Well, what needs to be said when you strike out Travis Hafner on three pitches? Mo is GREAT (Greatest Reliever Ever of All Time)...which I think is a much better acronym than GOAT!


Unlike the Phillies, Cubs and Angels, the Yankees did not go quietly, and honestly, if you expected them to not put up a fight, you're not much of a fan.

Yankee Stadium, in October, is surreal. It had to be odd for the Yankees, starting the LDS on the road, but coming back to Yankee Stadium was much more than a wake-up call.

It reminds you why they are the Yankees in the first place.


Game Three said and done now, Joe Torre will manage at least one more game in Yankee pinstripes, the Yankees will hold off the cold and dark of winter for at least one more day...

...and the dream, 27 in 2007 still survives.


In immortal words: "...And we'll see you tomorrow night!"

Phil 'er up! (Postgame Notes 27 Sept 2007)

Phil Hughes was brilliant on a night when most of the Yankees were probably feeling the effects of last night's champagne showers, and the Yankees won a game in an unbelievably fast three hours!

Scott Kazmir, pitching for Tampa Bay, was great, but, despite his 10 strike outs, Phil Hughes was better. Kazmir should be making the all star team in a few years--as some have said, he'd look great in pinstripes...

However, the more important thing is Phil's brilliant performance, throwing just over 100 pitches in seven innings, making only one real mistake to Carlos Pena, who really just seems to like homering against the Yankees.

Tonight's line up was great for the simple reasons that Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Posada, Melky and the Mient Man all got a night off, and the Yankees STILL won.

Bronson Sardinha and Alberto Gonzalez both got their first major league hits, so both need to be congratulated, well done! Sardinha also showed he's got plenty of speed, and quite an arm.

Our B-lineup tonight could probably beat most A-lineups...

The future looks bright, indeed.


SCORES AND STUFFS

Okay, if you prefer me giving you all the scores, just let me know, but for now I'm just going to stick to the ones you might care about:

The Mets have more or less completed one of the greatest collapses in baseball history. I feel for Willie, but not for the team--I'm a Yankees fan! Anyway, they lost to St. Louis, 3-0, so they got the pitching they needed...but not the offense. No team had ever blown a seven game lead with 17 to play...until now.

Of course, you can't blow that lead without another team winning, and the Phillies did just that, beating Atlanta 6-4, and more or less eliminating Atlanta from postseason contention. The Phillies seem to have defied every baseball rule ever written, as they've been doing this winning with no discernible pitching staff...

The Cubs lost to Florida 6-4, but San Diego's up 6-2 on Milwaukee and threatening for more, so I think Cubs fans can breathe easy for a night...and it really does stink that the Brewers and Cubs don't play each other any more.

Arizona won big 8-0 and Colorado and LA are scoreless in the first.


Now, I wait patiently for the Boston/Minnesota game to be over, and as Boston has the bases loaded with two out in the ninth, it's gonna end this inning...and it does. Minnesota holds on, so the Yankees are two back in the AL East with three to play...not that they care about the division or anything...

Pregame Notes 27 September 2007

Sit back, relax, enjoy the night.

Seriously now, there is absolutely no reason to worry even a little bit about tonight's game--we're in the playoffs, and while finishing out the season on a win streak would be sweet, it's far more important to get the regular guys some rest.

That being said, don't be surprised if tonight's line up completely boggles your mind...I'm personally hoping to see Sardinha and the (former) Attorney General get some ABs, or to see Shelley catch. Or pitch. Or something.


Phil's on tonight, with luck maybe we'll see the first-inning jitters go bye bye and the rest of the game go not like it did Saturday when we had to use every reliever in the known universe. Though, again, rest here is key, so maybe Torre will pull Phil after only five or six so that the gets some rest and some of the younger guys like Matt DeSalvo and Chase Wright can get some work.

I don't know about you, but right now it feels so much better than it did last year, because we clinched by winning, and not by Detroit losing.

We've done this on our own.

Oh, and that 48-24 second half record?

In 1998, we went 54-28.


48-24 = 0.667 winning percentage.
54-28 = 0.659


Unless I can't do math (which, unfortunately, is a distinct possibility), we've just knocked the socks off of 1998.


I wonder if anyone's realized that?