Monthly Archives: October 2005

The Yankees played well down the stretch and earned their way into the playoffs. The Angels, winners of 14 of their last 16 have been even hotter. The Halos took the season series from the Bombers, 6-4. There were a couple of memorable comebacks (Vlad’s grand slam, K Rod and Shields blowing saves on consectuive days) as well as Alex Rodriguez’s big night in April. Here’s a quick rundown of the Yankee-Angels games, via the Bronx Banter archives.

Cliff’s Angels Preview

In New York

April 26: 12-4 Yankee win. Alex Rodriguez hits three home runs off of Bartolo Colon.

April 27: 5-1 Angels win. Jarod Washburn pitches a gem, Mike Mussina makes critical mistakes.

April 28: 3-1 Angels win. Yankee offense snoozes as Kevin Brown pitches a good game.

In California

Second Angels Preview

July 21: 6-5 Angels win. Vladi’s grand slam off of Flash Gordon spoils a decent performance from The Big Unit.

July 22: 6-3 Angels win. In his second outing as a Yankee, Al Leiter is roughed up by the Halos.

July 23: 8-6 Angels win. Kevin Brown gets bombed.

July 24: 4-1 Yankees win. With the Angels star relievers resting, Mike Mussina outduels Jarod Washburn.

Back in New York

July 29: 4-1 Angels win. A decent performance from Moose is not enough.

July 30: 9-7 Yankees win. A tired K Rod folds in the ninth as the Yanks rally to win it.

July 31: 8-7 Yankees win. A similarly fatigued Shields blows a late lead.

Derek Jeter drove Curt Schilling’s first offering off the green monster in the first inning yesterday. But Manny Ramirez expertly fielded the ball and threw Jeter out at second base. It was a sign that it wouldn’t be the Yankees’ day. Jeter bruised his right knee sliding into the bag and was removed from the game in the fourth inning. The Bombers actually had three hits in the first but weren’t able to score. Schilling wasn’t dazzling but he was effective enough, especially after this teammates started beating Jaret Wright and company around but good. By the middle innings the win didn’t much matter to the Home Nine after the results of the White Sox win over the Indians were posted. Toward the end of the game, there were scrubinies on the field for both sides as the Sox pounded the Yanks, 10-1 in the regular season finale.

The teams finished with identical records of 95-67. The Red Sox will travel to Chicago to take on the White Sox in the ALDS, while the Yankees are on their way to Califorina to tackle the Angels, a team who has given them fits over last several years. We’ll spend plenty of time looking at how the two teams match-up over the next day-and-a-half, but before we move on, I’d like to take a moment to give thanks to this Yankee team for reaching the playoffs once again.

Sure, with the kind of dough they spend you’d expect nothing less. Yet the most infuriating aspect of Yankee culture these days is the sense of entitlement that surrounds the team–from the owner down to many of the fans. What’s lost in being seduced by this atmosphere of high (win-or-else) expectations, is often a genuine appreciation of just how hard it is to make the playoffs year-after-year. Joe Torre was not choked up and crying for nothing on Saturday evening. However, considering how disastrous their off-season was–some contend that it was the worst in the team’s storied history–and how poorly they played to begin the season, it is some accomplishment that they are still playing in October. Virtual no-names like Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano, Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon played vital roles. So did veterans did Jason Giambi and Randy Johnson and Flash Gordon. Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield and Derek Jeter all had the kind of All-Star seasons we’ve come to expect from them. And Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez were simply brilliant.

When Rivera was hurt in 2002 I began to count the days. Who knew how much longer he’d last? How long can a stopper remain elite? Well, his last three seasons are three of the best he’s ever had in his career. After a rough first couple of games against the Red Sox, where everybody and his uncle had a theory about what was wrong with him and what he needed to do to rebound, Rivera was dominant for the rest of the summer. Rodriguez was rock-steady at third base, putting up perhaps the most impressive season at that position that anyone has seen since the days of the great Mike Schmidt and George Brett. His defense wasn’t great early in the year, but by the end of the season, he proved himself to be a Gold Glove caliber fielder. Offensively, he was outstanding, and amazingly even–look at the splits, month-by-month the guy was $ in the bank.

Yes indeed, there were many frustrating moments this year, but there is also a lot to be thankful for as well. The Yanks have made their fans proud. We are blessed to root for such a successful organization. Let’s hope they keep playing well and who knows what could happen?

Yankee fans have the luxury of kicking back this afternoon and enjoying the final game of the season. Sure, there are still things at stake, but it isn’t the do-or-die scenerio that it could well have been. If the Yankees win, they’ll most likely host the Angels Tuesday. If they lose and the Angels win, the ALDS will begin in Anahiem. The Red Sox are a pretty good bet to make the playoffs themselves. If the Indians lose, the Sox are in. If the Sox win, they are in. Should Boston lose and Cleveland win, the two teams would meet at Fenway Park tomorrow in a one-game playoff (I think that both the Indians and the Sox will win today and that’ll be that).

Jaret Wright will start against Curt Schilling today, and several Yankee starters will get some rest (I’m thinking that Sheff and Giambi will not play, but would be surprised not to see Jeter, Posada, Rodriguez and Matsui out there). Anyhow, let’s just hope that nobody gets hurt, and that a couple of guys can pad their stats a ‘lil bit.

The Bronx Bombers are headed to the playoffs again. Four months ago I wasn’t so sure that’d happen. Today is a good time to take pause and appreciate just how hard the players worked to earn this playoff berth, and for us to really take in how fortunate we’ve been to root for such a special team since Joe Torre became the manager in 1996.

Enjoy the day. Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

It was an uncommonly beautiful day in Boston yesterday. Not a single cloud could be found in the deep blue sky and the mid-day sun cast harsh shadows across the field at Fenway Park. In many ways, it was reminiscent of the afternoon 27 years ago today when Ron Guidry and Mike Torrez faced off to decide the American League’s Eastern Division, and with the temperature a crisp 64 degrees, there was more than a hint of playoff baseball in the air.

After 160 games, it had come to this. The Yankees and Red Sox were tied atop the AL East. The winner of this game would clinch a tie for first place. More significantly, a win by the Yankees and a loss by the Indians in Cleveland would hand the division to New York outright. On the mound for the two teams were a pair of veteran aces. Forty two-year-old future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, 4-0 in five starts against the Red Sox this year was set to face 39-year-old Tim Wakefield, the pitcher who almost single-handedly defeated the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS only to, in a cruel twist of fate, surrender the series-ending home run in relief in Game Seven. Three weeks ago the two had matched up in a grueling 1-0 pitchers duel won by Johnson in the final match-up of the year between the two teams at Yankee Stadium.

On this day, things would be a little different. Wakefield’s knuckler, which in that September 11 match-up was as good as it’s ever been, resulting in a career-high twelve strikeouts for Wakefield, simply didn’t have as much movement, and the Yankees, several of whom took batting practice against a former Yankee hurler who had learned the pitch from Wakefield himself, took advantage.

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The winner of today’s game will clinch a tie for the American League East. If the White Sox win in Cleveland, the loser of today’s game will clinch a tie for the American League Wild Card.

The Yankees and Red Sox are each sending their best pitchers to the mound. At Yankee Stadium on September 11, Randy Johnson pitched seven shutout innings to defeat Tim Wakefield 1-0 on a first-inning home run by Jason Giambi off a Wakefield curve ball, with Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera nailing down the win.

Giambi starts at DH today after making a crucial throwing error in last night’s loss. Tino Martinez gets the start at first, batting behind Robinson Cano, who hits sixth after having one of just three Yankee hits off Wakefield three weeks ago. Bernie’s in center. Flaherty’s behind the plate.

For the Red Sox, Kevin Millar’s in at first. Bill Mueller moves up to the six spot ahead of catcher Doug Mirabelli. With Gabe Kapler out for the year with an Achilles injury, Trot Nixon stays in the line-up against Johnson and drops to eighth.

Since 1904, when the embryonic Yankees lost the AL Pennant to the then Boston Pilgrims in the penultimate game of the year due to a series of infield errors and a sore-armed ace, the fortunes of the two teams had changed dramatically. The Boston club, who started calling themselves the Red Sox just a few years after their season-ending conflict with the New Yorkers, went on to become the dominant team of the next decade, winning four World Championships in the teens before owner Harry Frazee began selling off his stars, most notably a young pitcher-turned-outfielder named Babe Ruth who would go on to lead the Yankees to their first pennant in 1921, their first World Championship in 1923, and five other World Series appearances in his fifteen years in New York, four of which saw the Yankees emerge victorious.

Meanwhile, the Boston Club fell into despair, failing to produce a winning season during Ruth’s tenure as a Yankee, nine times finishing dead last in the American League. Under new owner Tom Yawkey, the Red Sox finally pulled themselves out of their almost two-decade-long funk at the end of the 1930s, a revival that was solidified by the arrival of a scrawny left-handed hitter named Ted Williams.

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