While the Yanks remain in first place, the one-game lead they had on the Red Sox disappeared yesterday as Jaret Wright and B.J. Ryan each suffered a meltdown that would be directly responsible for handing their teams a loss. Wright’s was almost tragicomic.
In his previous start, also against the Blue Jays, Wright was forced to leave the game with one out in the third when a broken bat lacerated his pitching elbow. Less than three weeks before that, he had a start shortened when a comebacker ricocheted off his collarbone. This after spending more than three months on the disabled list with a reoccurrence of the shoulder problems that have plagued him throughout his career. Yesterday, Wright was again hit by a comebacker, this time in the chest. This time, however, the projectile did not prompt his removal from the game, though in retrospect, it might have benefited the Yankees if it had.
Wright surrendered singles to the first four batters he faced yesterday, putting him down 1-0 with the bases loaded and no one out by the time he had thrown a dozen pitches. Two pitches later, Erik Hinske hit what looked to be a sac fly toward the foul line in left field, which would have made the game 2-0 with one out and men on first and second. But Hideki Matsui, perhaps bewildered by the mid-afternoon sun, closed his glove before he had the ball, effectively swatting it toward foul territory, allowing two runs to score and putting runners at second and third, still with no outs. Two pitches later, Gregg Zaun hit a shot off Wright’s chest for a 1-3 groundout. Wright then surrendered a sac fly to Reed Johnson that made it 4-0 and struck out Gabe Gross to get out of the inning.
The Yankees got right back in it in the bottom of the first when Derek Jeter was hit in the back foot with a Scott Downs curve ball and Alex Rodriguez cashed both the Captain and himself in with a two-run dinger into the Yankee bullpen (tying Joe DiMaggio’s record of 46 home runs for a right-handed Yankee batter in the process). Unfortunately, Wright couldn’t get it together, allowing two more singles to start the second then walking Frank Catalanotto to load the bases. That was enough for Joe Torre, who replaced Wright with displaced starter Aaron Small. Brought into an unfair bases-loaded, no-outs situation, Small got Vernon Wells to foul out to Giambi at first, and got a hard ground ball to second base from Shea Hillenbrand. Unfortunately, Hillenbrand’s grounder was a little too hard and Robinson Cano, rather than getting his body in front of it, tried to scoop it to turn two and wound up having the ball ricochet off the inside of his elbow and into right field, scoring two runs and placing runners at the corners. Erik Hinske followed with a sac fly to make it 7-0 and Small struck out Zaun to end the inning.
Without the errors by Matsui and Cano (the first of which was far more egregious than the latter) the game would have been tied 2-2. Had Zaun’s comebacker driven Wright from the game, prompting Torre to bring in Small with one out in the first, the game likely would have stood at 4-2 after an inning and a half. Instead, it was 7-2 and, despite a tremendous performance from Small, who pitched 5 2/3 more scoreless innings, allowing just four singles, striking out three and walking none, the Yankee offense just couldn’t make up the difference.
The Yanks eeked out a run in the bottom of the second when Bubba Crosby reached on an infield single with two outs (he hit a hard shot back to Downs, who, in an attempt to glove the ball, looped it back to the catcher), moved to second when Jeter was hit with another pitch, and was plated by an Alex Rodriguez single. Downs then cruised through the next few innings, a one-out Rodriguez walk and two-out Sheffield single going to waste in the fifth.
With two outs in the sixth, Bernie Williams reached on a bobble by out-of-position rookie second baseman Aaron Hill. Torre then sent up Ruben Sierra to hit for Crosby, and Ruben came through with a single to put runners on the corners and drive Downs from the game. Derek Jeter then picked up an RBI infield single off reliever Justin Speier to push the score to 7-4 where it would remain.
With one out and runners at the corners in the seventh, Jorge Posada swung at the first pitch he saw from lefty Scott Schoeneweis and grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. Miguel Batista then struck out Jason Giambi with two-out and the bases loaded in the eighth and struck out Sheffield, Matsui (on a combined six pitches) and Posada in the ninth.
Later last night in Baltimore, the Orioles entered the ninth inning in a 2-2 tie with the Red Sox. Joe Perlozzo put in his closer, free agent-to-be B.J. Ryan. The big lefty got Buell Mueller to pop out but then surrendered an infield single to Trot Nixon, another single to Tony Graffanino and walked Johnny Damon on four pitches to load the bases. Edgar Renteria then hit Ryan’s very next pitch into short left for a two-RBI single that would give the Red Sox all the runs they would need to pull even with the Yankees in the AL East (for what it’s worth, Ryan and Todd Willams then retired both Ortiz and Ramirez and the Orioles did rally for a run off of Mike Timlin in the bottom of the ninth–all too little too late).
The Indians and White Sox also won, putting the Red Sox and Yankees 1.5 games back in the Wild Card and keeping the White Sox 1.5 games up in the Central and three games ahead of the Yanks and Bosox.
Today, the Yankees play their final home game of the year and, barring a possible playoff appearance, what could very well be Bernie Williams’ final appearance in pinstripes (though right now my gut is telling me Bernie will be back next year, for better or worse). Chien-Ming Wang has earned the start against Josh “Control” Towers (about 1 1/3 BB/9 both this season and for his career). Towers made a pair of quality starts against the Yankees in August, though his defense cost him a couple of extra runs in the first of those two outings at the Stadium. Wang is coming off a dominating eight-inning performance against the Orioles in which 23 of the 24 outs he recorded came via groundball or strikeout, and nine of the nineteen groundball outs were weak combackers that resulted in 1-3 putouts.
1. I'm worried about today's game. Towers is the kind of pitcher that seems to flummox the Yanks.
More importantly, I think the Yankees are worn out. Exhausted after so many close games with no days off. That's why they're making these goofball errors. That's why they aren't hitting better. Torre needs to find a way to rest his first-stringers, but with each game so close, and so important, and Sheff ensconced as DH, it's not easy.
I'm sure Wang will pitch great today, but his style means the rest of the team has to be on their toes. There are going to be a lot of grounders to chase down.
Unless Wang fields them all himself...
2. Unfortunately, last night was yet another example of the Yanks main bain this year... the inability to cash in on prime scoring situations. With 2 out, you can look the other way, but we have stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd, with 1 out or no outs FAR to many times.
Jete's has the worst FB/GB ratio in the AL. He has turned from a line drive hitter into a ground ball hitter. He also has hit many weak ground balls the other way on pitches to far inside to swing at. It's great to able able to go the other way, especially when the pitch is outside, but Jetes has almost made this his mantra, as opposed to waiting for a better pitch he could pull or drive. While his overall numbers are good, his overall offensive effect has been way below his average.
ARod will have to be Superman in Boston to beat Ortiz for MVP. A strong case is made for Ortiz at: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=2169112... especially "hitting .345 with runners in scoring position, and with two outs, an incredible .370". McAdams is a Sox fan, and the numbers between Ortiz and ARod are much more even then he presents, but still...
I have a bad feeling in my gut about this year. Cleveland is possessed, and Chicago has picked a bad time (for us) to start playing well. It looks like beat Boston or else. Next weekend is not for 1st place, but for the PS, as the wildcard looks to come from the Central.
We will see if there is truly such a thing as "Yankee magic".
3. Day games at the Stadium seem to have so many errors. Are their data to back this up?
4. I think we'd also need the data to find out which Yankees went to which clubs the night before, and how long they stayed out.
5. By the by,
Come the 1st week in October, if there is anyone with 50 miles of Concord, NH, who will need to do some serious drinking, please let me know.
6. Good review and good comments already. Yesterday sucked. Had the yard work all done and sat down to enjoy the game. There will be no enjoying of games anymore....just worries ! Need a win today. Need to be up a couple before next weekend.
7. relax everyone...we're tied for first with 8 to go.
As someone mentioned in a recent thread, it seems like the Jays are committed to being a factor in this close AL East race -- where it also seems like the O's are not.
After today (which I have already assumed will result in the Yanks being a game back behind Boston), the Yanks have four straight against the O's while the Sox have four against the tougher Jay.
Even though the Sox have 7 straight in Boston, I have faith in the Yanks in both Camden and Fenway. Camden Yards is always Yankee Stadium South and I expect it to be even more so with the four games finishing up the season. Yankee fans had probably bought up the tickets months ago. Plus, we took 3 of 4 in Fenway last time there.
But more importantly, while both Mo and Gordo have been given a bit of a rest over the last few days -- and hopefully a Yankee laugher will give them rest today -- the Sox bullpen has been working hard again lately. Did anyone notice that Timlin has been closing out the last few games and throwing a lot of pitches (giving up runs in both outings)?
Have faith, every. Looking back at this season, we may just remember the Blue Jays as the ultimate difference makers!
8. Regarding the day games, I've heard multiple times that fielders sometimes lose the ball in the white shirts in the crowd. But why would this be worse at Yankee Stadium than for other places? And of course this doesn't explain Matsui's error, which is part of his battling the left field sun.
9. //I've heard multiple times that fielders sometimes lose the ball in the white shirts in the crowd. But why would this be worse at Yankee Stadium than for other places? //
Especially since New Yorkers are supposed to be fond of wearing black all the time. ;-)
I think the sun was definitely a factor yesterday. Not only for Matsui's error, but for the batters at the end. They just couldn't see the ball. They were swinging like blind men - because they were. They should have kept trying to get walks, because that was the only way they were going to score.
Today is supposed to be cloudy, so maybe the sun won't be a problem today. Just in case...the Yanks better get ahead early, before those @#$% shadows creep over the plate.
10. While Wright technically got the loss, I lay the blame at joe Torre's feet. Torre pretty much admitted that the only reasons for starting Wright are Wright's salary and that he was in the starting rotation in the beginning of the year. Sorry, but those aren't good enough reasons in my book.
I do not care what a pitcher is being paid or what he thinks he "deserves". The manager's job is to put the best team on the field day in and day out. If Small, Chacon and Wang are better than Wright - which they clearly are - they should be in the rotation and the magnet for flying objects should be in the bullpen.
11. "As someone mentioned in a recent thread, it seems like the Jays are committed to being a factor in this close AL East race -- where it also seems like the O's are not."
Not true, Unpopster. I watched the game yesterday, and, make no mistake about it, the Orioles played their hearts out. Expect them to do so today and through the Yankee series.
I agree that they are not as good a team as the Jays at this point, but I'd rather play the Jays at home than the Birds on the road.
12. "Torre pretty much admitted that the only reasons for starting Wright are Wright's salary and that he was in the starting rotation in the beginning of the year."
Ramone - where did you hear this from?
Also, lets remember Torre wants to win this more then we do. He has a lot on the line and a lot to prove. If you think he's a lousy manager, thats fine... but for peaople to imply he doesn't manage to win is unfair.
13. Also,
The O's left a ton of guys on base last night, and Miggy threw away out #3, which allowed 3 unearned runs to score. It was big-time lucky for the Sox last night.
14. I suspect there was an order from the top to start Wright. Like it or not, he is a big part of next year and the FO needs to know if he can do his job before the off-season trade wars begin. Nothing to back this up, of course. Just my opinion.
15. The O's have been ridiculously unlucky and sometimes boneheaded (sometimes both at the same time), but they're definitely trying to win. Unfortunately, when they do break through, it may be against us, since they had opportunities to win the last two games but couldn't come through when it counted.
I can't see the Sox doing any worse than winning 3 out of 4 against the Jays. The Sox won 2 out of 3 at Toronto last time, and being at Fenway helps a lot.
All we can do is win today, and win at least 3 out of 4 vs the Os.
16. My anaylisis tells me this: If we lose more than one game prior to the Boston series, the Boston series might not matter.
Boston will win at least 4 of 5 going into the weekend. We lose 2 or 3 of 5, and we are one or two back, meaning we will need at least 2 out of 3 at Fenway, most likely. Boston is playing great offense, and the young arms out of the pen are getting their legs under them.
It's not impossible to be sure, and we could sweep at Fenway for all I know, but I wouldn't count on it. We need to win the next 5 games to keep pace.
17. Sheff's in right? Hmm.
18. Posada might be hot and cold as a hitter this year, but his defense has been damned good.
19. Nice start. Jeter with a single and A-Rod with a walk. No outs. We better come out of this with some points on the board.
20. I think Matsui is really exhausted. Remember how much better he hit when his ankle was hurt and he was DH? Torre thinks he needs a rest, so he's DH today. Good day for it, because with Wang on the mound, I doubt Sheff will have to field much. :)
21. Hope this isn't one of those games again...you know, where we get runners on base and then the opposing pitcher needs a bare minimum of pitches to get through the heart of the order.
22. It would nice to see a steady stream of runs from the boys today, no drama... and hopefully Fat Boy hit the town last night in Baltimore. His knee has been acting up and the Birds should be bunting early and often.
Let's go Yanks!
23. Time to start looking for a #40 Yankee jersey for my son !
24. Looks like outfield D won't be a major concern today.
25. Dammit. Is Towers settling down?
26. Nice hand for Bernie.
27. I think the Yankees hitters are too antsy. Going for the home run. They have to be patient. A-Rod had the right idea. Ended up working a walk, and the end result was a run scored.
28. Sox up 2-0 already, clearly they have used that day off to recover their swagger
29. O's failing to do a simple task AGAIN
30. 5-0 now, could be ugly since Sox play the rest in the Bandbox
31. Well, it goes without saying that we have to sweep Baltimore again.
32. Wang is amazing, not one fly ball out yet...
Actually we don't need help yet. We still control the outcome. Pitching and defense must be sharp this week, and we'll be OK.
33. Bklyn why would you say something like that in the middle of the game? Don't Jinx us!!
34. See, and now a line drive double, better do some hex fixing Bklyn!
35. Pretty frustrating when Boston has thier game won in the 1st half hour.
Double for Koskie.
We need to WAKE UP! We simply have no room for error. Does anyone think the WC will come from the East?
36. An "albatross", huh, Kay? Keep your mouth shut.
37. Damn.
38. Me and my big mouth :-(
39. Dammit, all of a sudden its all falling apart...
40. Pull yourself together, Wang!
41. This fucking sucks. The offense has been dormant since the first.
42. Keep that ball down, Wang!
43. If not for that bonehead baserunner, it would be 4-1. The bats better wake up!
44. Nic eot see that hand for Bernie
45. Arrghh. Cano!
46. If not for that bonehead baserunner, we'd have 2 on and 1 out.
47. Bubba's been looking a lot more confident at the plate, lately...
48. "B Williams reached on infield single to second, R Cano out at third."
Following games on the net sucks--this doesn't even make sense. Cano was out at third trying to advance on an infield single? Did Sojo wave him on?
49. Nice to see Jeter come up in the clutch.
50. OK, Jetes!
51. Now if Jeter is what they say he is, he needs to get a hit right here.
52. Nice hit, Jete!
We'd be tied if Cano hadn't screwed up.
53. And he did! On A-Rod's shoulders now...
54. No, Cano was not waved on. He must have assumed the ball was going through to the outfield. He tried for 3rd and got caught in a rundown. Not even close.
55. Cano thought the ball went through the infield and headed straight for third. He didn't turn around to look until he was about at the shortstop. Hillenbrand already fired the ball to third and Cano was tagged out running back to second. Bad baserunning...
56. FUCKING LOOKING A-ROD????
FUCKING LOOKING?
57. Well, we have our MVP, defense or not.
58. Let's see if Wang recovers. He's remarkably calm for a rookie (heck, he's remarkably calm for anyone), but he seemed unnerved last inning.
59. The difference between winning the east and not winning it might be the day off Boston got and the day off the Yanks didn't get.
60. the difference between the east and not might be Jaret effin Wright
61. OK, Tiger! Now's lets score!
62. God, Wright was such an awful signing, and every Yankee fan with a keyboard called it from the start.
63. Damn, looks like we are back to the old Yanks, who can lose all momentum in a moment's notice
64. Christ almighty
65. Yeah, it's getting late early... this game is moving too quickly and the 'mo has gone south.
66. Another run or two here will seem like 8...
67. Based loaded in Balt., Manny up...
68. whew... harmless fly to center. side out. still 5-2...
69. Is it too much to ask the uesless Orioles to do something today?
70. only 75 pitches through 7 for Wang
71. How many for Towers?
72. 71 through Posada's at bat
73. Cano has some makin' up to do here...
74. All is forgiven, Robby!
75. That's EXACTLY what I had in mind ;-)
76. YESSSSS!! Oh Robbie, thank you!!
77. i guess he did, Bklyn :)
78. Now Cano, don't lap Jorge on your way home, despite what Sojo might tell you:) No more base running errors!
79. Man, it looks like I picked the wrong week to quit mainlining speedballs. :-)
Let's get some insurance guys. A Bernie homerun would be nice.
80. Wang or Gordon for the 8th?
81. Sox up 9-2, O's suck, but will somehow mannage to find themselves vs us at home, easy to predict
82. It should be Wang but Torre will bring in Gordon
83. Gordon
84. My gut tells me would've stayed with Wang here, but we shall see.
85. Yup, it's Gordon.
86. Probably would have kept Wang in there
87. Bubba, you have to know that Jeter's going to make that play.
88. what the hell happened?
89. Guess Jeter's healthy. Captain is amazing. He steps up when they need him to.
90. well that didnt help anything
91. Nice play there. Unfortunately, that Crosby/Jeter collision is going to be the new gay photoshop fodder...
92. I can't blame Gordon for this.
93. Pop up in left. Bubba, Jeter, and A-Rod all running for it. Jeter had it in his glove, but dropped it colliding with Bubba.
94. Gordon is pitching well. Mariano has been shaky of late. I say leave Gordon in!
95. And here comes Mo, can't argue here I suppose
96. if of course, there is a "this" to happen.
97. Indians and Boston are both up. You have to trust Mo to get 4 outs in this must-win.
98. Don't think Photoshop would be required. It was incriminating enough on its own. ;-)
99. oh christ
100. Uh oh
101. my ulcer doesnt need this
102. Wonder what would have happened if they'd left Wang in?
103. Jorge needs to print up new shirts with the slogan "always an adventure."
104. Koskie has nothing on Mo. Get him out!
105. randy, its not like Gordon really did anything wrong. The one thing you can say is that in all liklihood the pop fly would have been a ground ball somewhere
106. Phew. Now let's get some insurance!
107. Must it be this way every time?
108. OK, here we go...
109. I want more runs
110. I forgot all about Bellhorn ;-)
111. You know you're slow when Mark Bellhorn runs for you.
112. SHEFFFF!!!!!!!!
Now that's what I call insurance!
113. Now there's a little breathing room... Iron Chef!
114. Gary!
115. Nicy & spicy Sheff. Let's get Bernie 1 more AB.
116. Does Sheffield hit non-3 run homeruns?
117. Bet they wish they left Towers in.
118. Wow...
Next inning we could see an outfield defense of Bubba, Lawton and Womack!
119. Ok, now I can appreciate some humor in the name Vinnie Chulk.
120. Was Bellhorn running to do a double switch and play second for Cano, and Tino goes in at first?
121. single, I doubt, especially with a 4 run (plus?) lead that they's pull Bernie in the top of the ninth
122. If Bernie does not get up, Joe should let him take the field and pull him before the first pitch to let him walk off to nice standing O.
123. Jorgie took care of that!
124. Ok, Bernie,
Do anything, but a DP.
125. Dang. Are you sure Bubba can't be a full-time major-leaguer?
126. Bleachers chanting "One more year"...
127. Dang. Mo's thrown a lot of pitches.
128. Jeter and Bubba arent particularly good at that play.
129. Damn, we don't want a 40 pitch inning from Mo. Let's put Embree in just to make it interesting ;-)
130. They're chanting "Thank you, Bernie."
131. too many pitches for Mo
132. C'mon, Mo. One more out!
133. Come on, Mo. Let's get this over with.
134. Ugh, Mo is throwing so many pitches and will be cooked for the rest of the season..I don't like this at all
135. there we go
136. What, 30+ pitches to hold a 5-run lead is not a good idea? Oh well, this is the way it is, it's a chance for a save and Torre will never remove him from that, so I'm just going to enjoy the win for three seconds and then start worrying about tomorrow.
137. the royal just took the lead 4-3. c'mon royals....
138. Now if the Big Blue Wreckin' Crew can get the job done tonight, it'll be a pretty good day, and I can keep my mind off of the coming week for few hours...
139. Cano was the player of the game. Except for that baserunning blunder.
140. KC owes us for that sweep in July. They better pay up ;-)
141. 30+ pitches with a 5 run lead? That might as well have been a loss. I'm going to be sick.
142. Royals just dodged a bullet, up 4-3, bottom 8
143. Guys, we were fortunate to get a 5 run lead (heck, to get a lead period, given the way Towers was pitching)...so I'm not complaining about a win.
Sucks Mo had to get that last out in the 8th...I would prefer to have stuck with Gordon, but if our infielders can't execute a relay, whose fault is that?
Torre has spit the bit many times with the bullpen, but in this case, I simply don't trust anyone outside of Mo or Gordon with even an eight run lead...maybe Tanyon lately, but he pitched 1 1/3 last night.
144. KC: bags loaded, 0 outs...
145. Dont blame Torre for Rivera throwing in a five run game With Gordon and Rivera already used, there is simply no one else in this bullpen who can hold a five run lead.
146. Max, this is going to be hell week for the pen, but we have no choice. If we pull off the division crown, the arms could be totally shot by then. Still, it's better than the alternative...
147. Thanks for nothing, KC! Hapless! Now please don't blow the lead...
148. Tribe ties it...
149. Unbelievable...we have to hope the Orioles do their best KC imitation the next few days, because I've never seen a team manage to blow it so many different ways like KC has.
I didn't think the Tribe could beat KC 11 straight, but KC's doing everything they can to make it happen. I still think the best we can do is 3 out of 4 against the Os.
150. KC have bases loaded and no outs, bottom 8, and get NOTHING.
Cleveland comes back and ties it in the top of the ninth.
The only surprise is the Tribe didn't win it outright already.
The only thing more pathetic than this KC/Cleveland series is the fact that KC swept.
151. swept us, that is.
152. Wow!!!! A KC win! Tribe CF lost ball in the sun with a runner at second!
153. Finally, Cleveland gets a taste of pennant-race heartbreak...Sizemore drops a ball in the sun, and then gives up on the play when he had a chance to get Berroa.
154. Though I can't deal with the tension, how much do you love this -- Cleveland, Yankees, Red Sox, all with 64 losses going into the final week.
I said something like this a week ago, and we're still in the same place going down to the bitter end.
155. This has been one helluva ride so far, I don't which is worse: wrapping up the division in early Sept., then worrying if the team will be sharp when games suddenly count again — or the daily nervous breakdown of a race like this.
For a slight ray of hope, Toronto leads the season series with Boston 9-5, but most of those before the break when the Jays were a little more competitive.
Tomorrow is an off day for the Tribe, so we'll be rid of that 1/2 game...
Forget quitting smoking until this Yankee season is over...
156. Wow, I was reading the posts here about how KC blew it and then when I had time to look I see KC won in an excruciating way for Cleveland. I can't get out my mind what Suzyn mentioned yesterday about the possibility of Yanks, Boston, Chisox and Cleveland all finishing at the same record forcing two playoff games with the two losers playing for the WC. If that's correct that would be unbelievable. I'm still not sure that's the way it would work. She just threw it out as a what if so I don't know if she was saying that's what would happen
157. It looks less likely now with the White Sox winning, but the question was asked in another forum regarding whether the best record has ever been up for grabs this late in the season between this many teams...Chicago, Cleveland, Yankees, Red Sox...with one of the teams not going to the playoffs.
Obviously, this was a more common situation when there was no wild card, but the drama of the last few weeks has been just amazing. Actually, any race that is so dramatic that it would compel me to listen to the KC Royals radio team is pretty amazing.
Now Cleveland gets to feel our pain...losing one game after an amazing run of wins, and feeling like you're thisclose to blowing it all and watching the playoffs at home.
158. marc — just found this online:
"If three teams finish with the same winning percentage and one team will be a division champion and another will be the wild-card holder, the two teams tied for the division lead first play a one-game tiebreaker to decide the champion. Then the loser would square off with the team from the other division in one game to decide the wild card."
Anyone know how to post an external link?
159. MLB.com has an article on "crazy scenarios" that could result:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?T10952CDB
Among them:
"What if, in a highly unlikely event, all three losers wound up with the same record?
That would set up the dreaded two-tier Wild Card playoff. The loser with the total of the best head-to-head records against the other two would have the choice of sitting out the first game or having home-field advantage in both games. The winner of the first game would then play the team with the bye to determine the AL Wild Card winner."
Gawd, I hope we can win the division outright.
160. According to Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN, if Cleveland, Yanks and Red Sox have equal records, there would be two games. The first game would have the Yanks hosting the Red Sox to determine the winner of the division. The loser of the that game would go to Cleveland to play a 2nd game.
161. well, I'm glad it goes in this fair way in the event of on these bizarre historic finishes. After all the winner of the WC would be forced to play 2 post-season games instead of the one that the division winner would have played to win the division and force the other team into the WC playoff. It would appropriately give the WC team less ability to prepare for the next round versus the division winner. Also it sounds so much fairer than some arbitrary idiocy like delivering the division to the team with the best head to head record etc. that could hand someone the division without winning it in a game. If we went to that and lost there'd be probably enough close plays, errors and hits to talk about for years.
162. Bernie! What a class act... in an era of T.O., Barry Bonds*, and countless other pro athletes who just don't get it, Yankee fans have been blessed with Bernie representing the Pinstripes and patrolling centerfield for the last 14 years.
From the AP account of today's game:
---
Williams went 1-for-4 with an infield single. When the Yankees began the bottom of the eighth, fans chanted his name, reminiscent of their tribute to Paul O'Neill during Game 5 of the 2001 World Series. Sitting in the dugout, Williams wasn't sure what to do and turned to Torre for advice before walking up the steps for a curtain call.
"I was trying to make sure I was within protocol within the team, and trying not to disturb anybody," Williams said. "They were not going to stop, so I sort of looked at Joe and said, `Can I do this?' and he said, `Yes.' It was a great moment, and I appreciate it a lot."
---
I dunno what will transpire over the next week and ensuing off-season, but I hope we can find a way to have him back for one more run. Tino, too, for that matter. If we can upgrade the pitching, we should be able to find a role both of them. But first things first — let's win this division — and make sure we haven't seen the last of Bernie in '05!
163. I just read that AP article. Bernie really is a class act.
The fans said good-bye to Bernie, and the Yankees initiated Cano and Wang by making them dress up as cheerleaders:
//Then they found some flamboyant attire at their lockers for the start of the final trip, a rookie hazing ritual.
As Donna Summer's "Last Dance" played over the sound system in the clubhouse, Cano and Wang put on navy cheerleader outfits, with Yankees written on the fronts and "Robbie" and "Wanger" on the backs. They giggled as they wore metallic headbands, carried silver pompoms and posed for photos in manager Joe Torre's office. Then they went upstairs to sign autographs for fans before boarding buses. //
Photos:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z27C35CDB
http://makeashorterlink.com/?C1AC32CDB
Did they do that to Bernie, 14 years ago?
Looks like the Chargers are spanking the Giants. I kind of figured that would happen, what with the Manning thing and all.
164. Bklyn,
Thanks for the post,
and, Thank You Bernie!
165. 30 pitches from Mo and it might as well have been a loss? That's easily the most ridiculous thing I've heard all year. Easily.