Monthly Archives: November 2009

Tomorrow night at this time…Showtime!

Hard to imagine how to fill all those minutes an hours ’til then.

Be like Reggie.

Leigh Montville edited this year’s edition of The Best American Sports Writing. If you’ve got the extra scratch, pick-up a copy to see Todd Drew’s terrific Yankee Stadium memory in print. It’s one of the great moments in this site’s history.

WEEI in Boston ran a short interview with Montville who has some interesting thoughts about the newspaper business, Sports Illustrated, and the nature of sports writing today (thanks to the Think Factory for the link).

Also, there’s this on the Babe:

What’s the most surprising thing you learned about Babe Ruth when you wrote that book?

“I think he was smarter than most people think he was. He grew up without much education. He came out of an orphanage. He had that reputation, and it was well-deserved of being a late-night guy, a carouser who ate a million hot dogs and all that stuff. But he was very smart in lining up his career. He had the first real business manager of any athlete. The guy took care of him and his money. Babe Ruth had money until he died and lived a good life. He made sound decisions in the people he enlisted to help him. He got a personal trainer back when nobody had personal trainers, when he was starting to fall apart. The personal trainer got him on the road and got him hitting again. He had the knowledge to straighten himself out. A lot of guys don’t have that — Antoine Walker being the latest one. He had more self control that I think most people give him credit for.”

The sun is shinning in New York. It is a beautiful autumn day.

Last night was a drag but it’s over and done with. Nothing to do but wait for tomorrow. Sure, there is plenty to worry about if you like to worry. But there is this too: the Yanks have two chances to win one game. I thought Robbie Cano had his best at bats of the Serious last night and I expect the offense to be a Bomb Squad tomorrow night.

Whadda ya say?

In a way it was classic A.J. Burnett. Just when I was ready to make my peace with his presence on the Yankees and accept him as a key contributor to a championship club, he took the mound in the potential World Series clincher and managed just six outs before getting the hook.

Burnett’s stinker was especially hard to take as Cliff Lee, whom most expected to shut down the Yankees again in Monday night’s Game Five like he did in Game One, was vulnerable. The Yankees managed just an unearned run in the ninth against Lee in Game One, but last night they jumped on the board in the top of the first on a Johnny Damon single and an Alex Rodriguez double. That lead was gone in the blink of an eye, however, as Jimmy Rollins greeted Burnett with a single back up through the middle, Shane Victorino got hit on the right hand attempting to bunt Rollins up, and Chase Utley crushed a first-pitch fastball for a three-run homer that put the Phillies up 3-1 before Burnett had recorded an out.

Burnett stranded a subsequent walk to Ryan Howard and worked around a two-out walk to Rollins in the second, but when he started the third with two more walks, both of which came around to score on singles by Jayson Werth and Raul Ibañez, Joe Girardi had seen enough. The first four batters reached against Burnett in two of his three innings of work and he had walked four and given up five runs on four hits without getting an out in the third, using up 53 pitches in the process.

With runners on the corners and none out, Girardi turned to David Robertson, who allowed the man on third to score on a fielder’s choice, but avoided an escalation of the inning, then pitched a perfect fourth. The Yankees got a run back in the fifth when Eric Hinske walked for Robertson, went to third on a Derek Jeter single, and scored on a Damon groundout. Alfredo Aceves then pitched in two scoreless innings, but after Jerry Hairston Jr. flied out for Aceves, Phil Coke was unable to answer in kind.

Brought in to face Utley, Howard, and, if necessary, Ibañez, Coke was greeted by yet another solo homer by Utley, his fifth dinger of this World Series, tying Reggie Jackson’s single-Series mark set in 1977. Two outs later, Ibañez also went deep off Coke, inflating the Philadelphia lead to 8-2.

Those two runs would prove to be the difference in the game as the Yankees immediately answered back. Damon led off the top of the eighth with an infield single which was followed by doubles by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, the latter of which plated both Damon and Teixeira and bounced Lee. With Chan Ho Park on in relief, Rodriguez moved to third on a groundout and scored on a shallow sac fly to center by Robinson Cano.

That cut the Phillies’ lead to three runs at 8-5 and, after a scoreless frame by Phil Hughes, the Yanks got right back at it. Having watched Brad Lidge blow the game the night before, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose Ryan Madson for the ninth inning this time and only narrowly avoided a similar result.

Madson was greeted by a double by Jorge Posada and a single by pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui. Facing the potential tying run, Madson fell behind Derek Jeter 2-0 before getting the Captain to ground into a sadly predictable double play (I say that only because I, sadly, predicted it). Posada scored on the DP, however, and Damon followed with a single that brought Mark Teixeira to the plate as the tying run.

With the Citizens Bank Park crowd roaring and waving towels like 46,178 Phil McConkeys, Madson threw Teixeira a first-pitch fastball on the outside corner for strike one followed by a trio of changeups that dove out of the zone. Teixeira swung over the first as Damon took second, took the second for ball one, then swung over the third for strike three, giving the Phillies an 8-6 win and sending the Series back to the Bronx for Game Six.

Neither of the last two games unfolded exactly as expected, but the results were the same. When the Series moved to Philadelphia tied 1-1, I said the Yankees would win behind Pettitte and Sabathia, lose to Lee, and head home up 3-2, and that’s exactly what they’ve done. I’m sure any fan, as well as the Yankees themselves, would have signed up for that three games ago, as the Yankees now have two chances two win the Series at home and a significant pitching advantage in a potential Game Seven with CC Sabathia going against an as-yet-unnamed Philly starter that could be the struggling Cole Hamels or the largely unused J.A. Happ.

Though he wasn’t all that impressive in this game, the Yankees can sleep well knowing they won’t be facing Lee again, and that they’ve made noise against both of the Phillies’ closer options. Losing a game that could have clinched a world championship isn’t fun, but the Yankees are in great position to win either of the final two games of this Series. As Teixeira said after the game, the Yankees were in a similar position in the ALCS, losing a potential clincher in Game Five. They then went home and wrapped up the series in Game Six behind Andy Pettitte. I won’t be surprised if they do it again.

If the first two games of this World Series could have gone either way, the pitching matchups in Games Three and Four clearly favored the Yankees and, though they came close, it was the Phillies’ inability to break serve that has them one win away from failing in their bid to repeat as world champions.

Tonight’s pitching matchup calls for a Phillies victory that would send the Series back up the Turnpike with the Yankees leading 3-2. The Phillies haven’t lost a game started by Cliff Lee this postseason as Lee has been flat-out dominant. In four starts, he has tossed two complete games and twice struck out ten men without walking a batter, and doing both of those things in Game One of this World Series against the Yankees. In his four starts combined, Lee has walked just three, given up no home runs, and allowed just two earned runs, giving him a 0.54 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, and 10.0 K/BB. Opponents are hitting just .171/.192/.214 against Lee this postseason. His worst start saw him give up three runs, two of them unearned in 7 1/3 innings against the Rockies in Game Four of the NLDS. However good you think Cliff Lee has been, he’s been better.

That’s why the Phillies’ decision not to try to get three starts out of Lee drastically reduced their chances of repeating. Sure, Lee had never pitched on three-days’ rest before, but that doesn’t mean he can’t or that he wouldn’t succeed if he tried. One could argue that the Phils were better off getting two guaranteed wins from a fully-rested Lee than risking the second win by trying to milk a third out of him, but that only works if a) the Phillies can somehow win two other games (with a maximum of three games left in the series they’ve still won only Lee’s one start) and b) if they win tonight.

As I said, tonight’s pitching matchup clearly favors the Phillies, but that doesn’t mean A.J. Burnett is chopped liver. Despite all of my complaints about his contract and his inconsistency (both of which remain problematic, the contract especially), Burnett has answered the bell every time the Yankees have rung it. He took his turn every five days during the regular season, surpassing 30 starts for just the third time in his career, and, save for a bad first inning in Game Five against the Angels and his usual assortment of walks, hit batters, and wild pitches (resulting in 18 free bases in 25 1/3 innings), has been nails in the postseason. Burnett’s Game Two start against the Phillies would have bested Lee’s Game Four outing against the Rockies, so there’s more than momentum to cling to for those hoping the Yankees will wrap things up tonight.

The old baseball saying is that momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, but sometimes in postseason series a heartbreaking loss that puts a team one game away from elimination really does carry over to the next game. Think of the Giants in the 2002 Series or the Cubs in the 2003 NLCS (both walking-dead Game Sevens by Dusty Baker managed teams), the Cardinals in the 1985 World Series after Don Denkinger’s call opened the door to their collapse in Game Six, or the Angels in the 1986 ALCS after Dave Henderson’s Game Six home run ripped the pennant out of their hands. The Red Sox got a lead in Game Seven of the 1986 World Series, but I doubt even they believed they’d hold it after their crushing loss in Game Six.

The Phillies weren’t on the verge of the championship last night, they weren’t even really on the verge of tying up the series (they never had a lead in the game), but Pedro Feliz’s game-tying home run and Brad Lidge’s return to perfection in the first two rounds of the postseason made them believe they had the game in hand with the score tied 4-4 and two outs in the top of the ninth. The crowd even thought they had the final out in that inning when Johnny Damon foul tipped a would-be strike three from Lidge early in his game-changing at-bat. The sequence of events that followed (Damon’s single and steal of second and third on a single pitch against the shift, Alex Rodriguez’s ringing go-ahead double, and Jorge Posada’s two-RBI single, which gave Mariano Rivera some unneeded breathing room) was legitimately heartbreaking for a Phillies team that was flush with excitement after tying up the game in the previous half inning. They’d be right to wonder if they couldn’t complete that comeback what hope have they of coming back in the Series.

At the risk of rousing the ghosts of 2004, I’d say none. The only question is whether or not this series goes back to the Bronx, like the ALCS did, or Burnett and company get it done tonight despite the presence of Lee.

Major League Baseball has yet to approve the Yankees’ request to replace the injured Melky Cabrera, who tore his hamstring running to first last night, but Brett Gardner would be in center field either way and is tonight. With Jose Molina catching Burnett yet again, that gives the Yankees a bottom five of Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Jose Molina, and Burnett. That against Cliff Lee. Molina hits lefties better than righties (.259/.306/.384 career) and Gardner is at least Melky’s equal (beyond the gains in speed and defense, he posted a .272 EqA this year to Melky’s .267). Still looking at that lineup, one suspects we’ll get a sixth game out of this Series after all.

Alex Rodriguez and the Yanks are shooting for one…more…win.

Do it.

If the Yankees hold on to win the Serious, Johnny Damon’s at bat and stolen bases in the ninth inning of Game Four will be a major reason why. Duh, I know. But still, it’s hard not to linger on Damon for a moment this afternoon as we gear up for Game Five.

Whew.

After a tense, up-and-down (and-up-and-down-and-up) game, with some smart batting and quick thinking from Johnny Damon, and yet another monster (centaur-ish, even?) Alex Rodriguez hit, the Yankees beat the Phillies 7-4 and took a 3-1 lead in the Series. Now they’ve got three more chances to get that 11th postseason win… but for the sake of older Yankees fans and those with hypertension or weak hearts, let’s hope this thing doesn’t go to Game 7.

For one thing, while CC Sabathia came through and pitched a solid game tonight, he wasn’t quite the dominant force he was against the Angels; he’s now thrown 266 innings this year, so it would hardly be shocking if he was getting a little worn out. The Yankees staked him to a 2-run lead right away, on Jeter’s single, Damon’s double, Teixeira’s RBI groundout, A-Rod’s third HBP of the last two games, and Posada’s sac fly; for a little while, it looked like Blanton might implode. But either he got it together or the Yankees let him off the hook, depending on your point of view, and in the bottom of the first Sabathia gave back a run on two doubles – the second hit by Sabathia’s current arch-nemesis Chase Utley (who now, with that hair, looks like the sidekick to the snobby frat-guy villain of a Revenge of the Nerds sequel).

Both pitchers clamped down after that, until the bottom of the fourth, when Ryan Howard – you remember Ryan Howard – singled and scored on Pedro Feliz’s hit to left, tying the game. It didn’t last long: the Yankees rallied right back in the top of the fifth, with Jeter and Damon coming through again, knocking in Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera respectively, and making it 4-2 Yankees.

Since it was That Kind of Game, that score didn’t last, either. In the seventh Utley destroyed yet another Sabathia slider,  pulling the Phillies to within a run, and ending Sabathia’s night at a workmanlike 6.2 innings with three earned runs, six strikeouts and three walks. The Phillies went on to tie it up the eighth, when Pedro Feliz of all people rudely interrupted an otherwise-excellent Joba Chamberlain inning with a big blast to left: 4-4.

Charlie Manuel brought in Brad Lidge for the ninth, and the Philly closer made pretty quick work of Hideki Matsui and Derek Jeter. I admit that at this point, I was trying and failing to imagine the Yankees surviving an inning of Phil Coke. Johnny Damon’s two-out at-bat, though, turned everything around, not just for Lidge but very possible for the Phillies. It took nine tense pitches, as Damon fouled off several sliders and fastball after fastball, looking for something he could hit – and when he finally got it, he dumped it into left field.

With Mark Teixeira up, Damon immediately took off for second base, slid in with a little room to spare… then popped up, paused for just a fraction of a second, and took off for third. “I was like, ‘Where is he going?!'” said Jorge Posada after the game, and that makes two of us. Joba Chamberlain said he had “a mini heart attack” watching the play, while Brett Gardner’s initial reaction was “Uh oh.” I think most Yankee fans could probably relate to one if not all of those responses, but in fact, Damon simply realized that because on the shift on Teixeira, no one was covering third base – no one was even close to covering third base – and that given where Pedro Feliz had caught the ball, he wasn’t in any position to outrun Damon. Hence, two stolen bases on a single pitch.

Teixeira was hit by a pitch – I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but still, Phillies pitchers: if you can’t pitch inside without hitting people, maybe don’t throw inside so much – and that brought up Alex Rodriguez. Of course. Lidge seemed rattled by then, and his second pitch to Rodriguez was a fat fastball that was promptly redirected towards the left field wall. The Yankees went up 5-4, and then up 7-4 on Jorge Posada’s two-run single. That was all they’d get, but not once in Mariano Rivera’s postseason career has three runs not been enough, and tonight was no exception.

(Incidentally, I love how Yankee fans have embraced the whole centaur thing. Personally, I think it’s hilarious if true – and it’s almost too weird to be invented – but anyway, Rodriguez has hit so well for most of this postseason, it would take a pretty serious felony for anyone to be bothered at this point).

Needless to say, the Series ain’t over til it’s over, as someone who’d know once put it, and you don’t have to try too hard to imagine ways in which the momentum could shift – Cliff Lee tomorrow, just for instance. But the Yankees are awfully close now… so stock up on the self-medication of your choice and get ready for another wild night.

World Serious Game Four.

The Big One.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

Trying to keep busy as the hours creep along. Man, tonight is the game of the year for CC and the Yanks. This is what it is all about. Meanwhile, there’s this thing called football on TV, and why not? It is November, after all.

Time for some soup. See you in a little bit.

Given the starters’ previous performances this postseason, the pitching matchup in Saturday night’s Game Three of the World Series, which pit Andy Pettitte against Cole Hamels, heavily favored the Yankees. That advantage played out as the Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the series behind a solid performance by Pettitte that included an unexpected game-tying single.

By his own admission, Pettitte was a bit off his game when the game began after an hour-twenty-minute rain delay. That manifested itself most in the second inning, when he had trouble finding the strike zone. Pettitte started the inning by falling behind Jayson Werth 3-0. Werth then reached out and yanked a 3-1 curve that was low and away into the seats in left to open the scoring. After Pettitte struck out Raul Ibañez, Pedro Feliz doubled into the right-field gap on a 1-0 pitch and, with the pitcher on deck, Pettitte walked Carlos Ruiz on five pitches.

Cole Hamels followed with a bunt to the third base side of the mound. Pettitte ran over to field it, but hesitated thinking Jorge Posada was going to make the play coming out from behind home. Posada similarly hesitated seeing Pettitte beat him to the ball and those two brief pauses allowed Hamels to reach safely, loading the bases with out a play. Pettitte then walked Jimmy Rollins on five pitches, forcing in a run, and after Shane Victorino inexplicably swung at two pitches out of the zone, gave up a sac fly to Victorino that made it 3-0 Phillies.

Pettitte rallied to strike out Chase Utley to end the second, then didn’t allow another hit (or walk) until the sixth inning, when Werth again led off with a solo homer, this one an absolute bomb off the facing of the second deck in left. By then, however, the game situation was very different.

When Mark Teixeira walked with one out in the fourth, he was just the second Yankee baserunner of the game (Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch in the second), but Rodriguez followed with an apparent double off the top of the wall in the right-field corner for the first Yankee hit. Upon further review, however, the ball hit into the lens of a television camera just above the fence. The right field umpire admitted that the ball made an odd sound when it hit, so the officials went to the video replay for the first time in World Series history and came back, almost instantaneously, with the correct call, giving Rodriguez a home run and bringing the Yankees within 3-2. (Coincidentally, Rodriguez also hit the first reviewed home run in regular season history.)

An inning later, Nick Swisher, whose struggles this postseason led to his being benched in favor of Jerry Hairston Jr. in Game Two, led off with a double. With the pitchers’ spot on deck, Hamels struck out Melky Cabrera. Had Cabrera walked, Andy Pettitte likely would have bunted the runners up, but with one out, he was swinging away and flipped a first-pitch curveball by Hamels into shallow left center for a game-tying RBI single. It was the first World Series RBI by a Yankee pitcher since Jim Bouton drove in a run in the 1964 classic.

Derek Jeter followed Pettitte with another first pitch single that fell in front of a sliding Victorino in center, then nearly ran up Pettitte’s back as both were plated by a double by Damon, which gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead. An inning later, with lefty J.A. Happ on in relief of Hamels, Swisher delivered again with a solo homer to left. That put the Yankees up 6-3 when Werth connected for his second homer. The Yankees then got that run back in the top of the seventh when Damon drew a one-out walk, stole second (though replays showed he was out), and scored on a single by Posada.

With Pettitte at 104 pitches having battled through a night in which he claimed not to be able to control his pitches or throw his curveball for strikes, yet still struck out seven Phillies, including Chase Utley and Ryan Howard twice each, Joe Girardi turned to his bullpen for the seventh. The biggest concern for the Yankees heading into the game was how the set-up relievers would perform in between Pettitte, who has maxed out at 6 1/3 innings this postseason, and Mariano Rivera, who was unlikely to go more than an inning after throwing 39 pitches on Thursday night.

No worries. Joba Chamberlain needed just nine pitches to set the top three men in the Phillies lineup down in order in the seventh. After Hideki Matsui increased the Yankee lead to 8-4 with a pinch-hit home run in the top of the eighth, Damaso Marte then came on and struck out not just Howard, but also Werth, then got Raul Ibañez to line out to third for another perfect inning of relief. A crack appeared in the ninth, when Phil Hughes gave up a one-out solo homer to Carlos Ruiz, setting the final score at 8-5, but with that Girardi brought in Rivera, who got the last two outs on five pitches.

The Yankees now have a 2-1 lead in the Series, making them the first team to hold a  series lead on the Phillies since the Rockies in 2007, and CC Sabathia going up against Joe Blanton in Game Four. A win behind Sabathia would put the Yankees one win away from their first world championship since 2000. That was the plan all along, and the Yankees are doing a hell of a job of sticking to it.