Last night before the game, my boys wanted to play trains. I started stacking tracks and they pulled the trains out of the yellow toy cubby.
“Which train do you want, Daddy?” asked the two-and-a-half-year-old.
“The one that’s fast, clean and not too crowded,” I said.
“So not the A Train?” asked the four- year-old.
Bill Pennington profiled John Sterling in the Times the other day:
Sterling came to the Yankees’ radio booth in 1989 and did every game, although his 100 percent work attendance streak began in 1981 in Atlanta.
“I have not missed a game I was supposed to work,” he said. “I am blessed with a good immune system.”
Michael Kay, the Yankees television announcer and Sterling’s radio partner from 1992 to 2001, said: “I do 125 games a season, and that feels like a lot. I don’t know how he has done 162 games a year for 23 years.”
In his time with the Yankees, Sterling has had five broadcasting partners. He has worked with Suzyn Waldman since 2005.
A typical day for Sterling starts late because he stays up late. Besides having an affection for TV soap operas, he is a voracious reader of mystery novels and celebrity biographies. He tries to swim every day for at least a half-hour. On the road, it is a familiar sight at the Ritz-Carltons and other fashionable hotels where the Yankees stay to see a soggy Sterling striding through the ornate lobby in a terry-cloth robe, goggles perched on his head on his way back from the hotel pool.
The piece is well-worth your time.
[Photo Credit: Beatrice de Gea for the New York Times]
And So. We didn’t sleep well, ok. And yeah, we’ve got all day to wait before greeting Mr. Burnett tonight. Fine. At least we’ve got a game to watch. And anything can happen.
[Photo Credit: Martin Fuchs and Joel Zimmer]
Many of you will remember that our old pal Todd Drew was a true believer. He was a Yankee season ticket holder. Never left his seat once the game began. He clapped until his palms were red, didn’t matter if the Yanks were getting blown out. When the game was over he went downstairs and waited by the players gate. He’d cheer on the rookies and offer words of encouragement to the losing pitcher.
Todd didn’t live long enough to see the new Yankee Stadium, never saw A.J. Burnett pitch for his team, but he was alive when they signed Burnett and was excited about it. He liked Burnett’s arm, in spite of his erratic career. More than anything, Todd believed in Burnett’s potential. In 2009, Burnett did reasonably well for the Yanks. The past two years, he has been lousy. He starts tonight and it is easy to think that the Yankees’ season will be over before long.
But hope is the thing with feathers, not without. Todd isn’t around to watch the game. But he’s with us in spirit and he’d be clapping and rooting until the final out. So should we.
Never mind that glass looking half-full: Let’s Go Yan-kees.
C.C. vs. Verlander. Top Billin’.
Score Truck, please. Pretty please?
YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF
TIGERS
Austin Jackson CF
Ramon Santiago 2B
Delmon Young LF
Miguel Cabrera 1B
Victor Martinez DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Jhonny Peralta SS
Alex Avila C
Brandon Inge 3B
Never mind tomorrow: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Joe Ism]
Good new Director’s Cut over at Grantland. Rafe Bartholomew interviews Don Delillo about “Pafko at the Wall.” And then, they offer up an excerpt.
Check it out.
Alex Rodriguez had a bad game at the plate yesterday but he is not panicking. Neither is hitting coach, Kevin Long. Josh Thompson has more. Over at Hardball Talk, Matthew Pouliot thinks it is time for the Yankees to drop Rodriguez down in the order. I don’t see it happening, at least not yet, but you never know…
[Photo Credit: Farther Off the Wall]
Al Hirschfeld and his daughter, Nina.
Pete Dexter’s first book report in 55 years appeared in the New York Times Book Review yesterday. It is about Jim Harrison’s latest novel, “The Great Leader”:
To enlighten and to entertain: what else is there? And while good books — even so-so books — serve both functions, if you ever have to choose one over the other, keep in mind that a book that entertains without enlightening can still be a guilty pleasure, but a book that enlightens without entertaining is algebra.
… I would mention that for me, Harrison set the hook deep and early, in a novella called “Revenge.”
There is a scene in that story of almost incomprehensible savagery — Harrison by the way is as good at writing violence as anybody, and particularly gets the weirdness of the incubation period — and he accomplished this particular violence by interrupting himself and manually moving readers to the fireplace mantel, where they could watch without getting hurt.
It was one of Harrison’s moments of instinctive genius, I think, perhaps the only way to bring off the scene without changing the mesmeric sound coming off the pages to something more ordinary, and I mean it as no disrespect to speculate that these moments are in some way out of Harrison’s hands, and very close to magic.
War Stories
By John Schulian
In the space of two and a half years, I got fired from the Chicago Sun-Times and divorced, moved from Chicago to Philadelphia, changed careers, lived through the death of my father, moved from Philadelphia to L.A., tried to get my feet under me in show business, and wound up spending two weeks in the hospital with the back problems that afflict me to this day. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but my diagnosis is that my cumulative stress had to go somewhere, so it went to my back. Of course the problem is more complicated than that, but I truly was wrung out from the roller coaster ride I’d been on. The ride wasn’t over, though. I was simply changing roller coasters.
When I got out of the hospital, I turned down a chance to return to “Miami Vice” because there was a new dramedy on ABC called “The ‘Slap’ Maxwell Story” that sounded like it wound be fun to write. Slap was a sports columnist, which made me right for the show, and he was played by Dabney Coleman, who specialized in self-centered misanthropes who made audiences laugh. ABC had to beg Dabney to do the show, though, and he didn’t say yes until a prickly comedy genius named Jay Tarses agreed to write the pilot and produce the series. Conveniently overlooked was the fact that they hated each other.
They had worked together several years earlier on “Buffalo Bill,” a wonderfully twisted comedy that went off the tracks when it addressed a subject that remains tetchy to this day. Dabney’s character, an oblivious Buffalo, New York talk show host, got his girl friend pregnant – “So, who’s the lucky father?” he asked – and she had an abortion. Ratings went in the toilet, Dabney went through the roof, and that was it for the Tarses-Coleman connection, or so everyone thought.
“Slap” was supposed to be the corrective for all that, but the era of good feeling lasted until the second or third day of shooting, when Dabney announced for one and all to hear that he wouldn’t say a line because it was “sitcom bullshit.” Jay, who had written the line and everything else in the marvelously quirky script, got up from his director’s chair – he was the director, after all – and stomped off the set. The battle lines were drawn.
Nobody bothered to mention that to me when I showed up for my interview with Jay. He was an easy guy to get along with unless you were a troublesome thespian or a network or studio executive. No artifice, no overweening ego. He even liked sports, which wasn’t always the case with the people I met in Hollywood. The business may amount to nothing so much as a boys’ club, but the boys don’t always care about who won last night. Jay cared. But even so, I was caught off guard when he asked me, “Why do you want to do this? You had the best job in the world.”
The way he emphasized “this,” leaning on it almost contemptuously, should have been a warning. But I was still in my fantasyland stage and wouldn’t come out of it until my first official day on the job as one of the show’s story editors. (Story editor is a synonym for writer, just as executive story editor, co-producer, producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer, and executive producer can be.) Jay invited me to sit down with him and one of the show’s writer-producers as they punched up a script that was about to shoot. Encouraged to sound off with any lines I thought might work, I spoke up and Jay put both of my suggestions in the script. Just like that, I felt like I was part of the team. Then Dabney walked into the outer office, talking in a voice that would have cut through granite. Jay scarcely looked up from the changes he was making before he uttered the words that snapped everything into focus for me: “Oh, the asshole is here.”
“The ‘Slap’ Maxwell Story” was cancelled after one season.
When I moved on to my next TV job, as executive story editor on “Wiseguy,” our star, Ken Wahl presented a different problem: self-destructiveness. He had risen beyond his talent and developed all the bad habits typical of too many half-bright actors. What’s more, his tendency to put on weight had the writing staff joking that the name of the show should be changed to “Wideguy.” But blubber and bad behavior, and so-so ratings aside – can’t forget the ratings – “Wiseguy” was much loved by critics and viewers in search of a crime drama that welcomed their intelligence instead of insulting it.
Because “Wiseguy” was a Stephen Cannell production, Cannell is hailed as the mastermind behind it. Not so. He created a classic in “The Rockford Files,” a monstrous hit in “The A-Team,” and such exceedingly cool failures as “City of Angels” and “Tenspeed and Brownshoe,” but “Wiseguy” was his and co-creator Frank Lupo’s in name only. The brains of the operation was David Burke, who came out of TV news, was the son of a New York radio talk show host, and possessed an ego that was even bigger than his talent. Burke put his stamp on “Wiseguy” with a writerly verve inspired by his hero, Paddy Chayefsky, and stories that ran in arcs of four or five episodes, sometimes even more. He created beguiling, multidimensional villains like Sonny Steelgrave and Mel Profit and made them part of the pop culture dialogue in the early 90s. To watch him in action was to see a man possessed by both his work and the fame and wealth he was getting closer to by the day.
Twenty years later, however, you never hear Burke mentioned in the same sentence with David Kelley or Dick Wolfe or the cable grit-masters who work the territory he might have, David Simon and David Chase. I’d feel bad for him if I hadn’t walked into his office at “Wiseguy” office one morning just in time to hear him tell a producer, “I’m a genius and I’ve got the clippings to prove it.” That would be press clippings, of course, and I’m surprised that Burke, as smart as he was, never learned that they weren’t to be believed.
But let me not leave “Wiseguy” on a sour note. Better I should tell you about the show’s garment district arc, which, to my mind, was the crowning achievement for Burke and his mordant, ferociously hard-working right-hand man, Steve Kronish. They found something special inside themselves as they conjured up a tale about fathers and sons and risks that come with rewards that have a trap door beneath them. They didn’t do it alone, though. In fact, they were off trying to launch a Cannell series about serial killers – think body parts in a refrigerator every Thursday night — when Ken Wahl was injured during filming of the first garment district episode. It was Al Ruggiero, our square-shouldered, motorcycle-riding co-producer, and I who had to create an undercover agent to replace the one Wahl played and re-write the script in a weekend. Anthony Dennison got the part when he was still hot after doing “Crime Story,” and the first thing he said to us was, “This is better than any of the feature scripts I’ve read lately.” Burke and Kronish never bothered to thank us.
We were left to find our satisfaction in the performances of the movie-quality cast that brought our script to life. From the get-go, “Wiseguy” had been a magnet for emerging stars like Kevin Spacey and reclamation projects like the doomed Ray Sharkey. I still remember how impressed I was when Paul Winfield showed up at our office in a sport coat and tie and told us he’d just flown in from New York after reading Langston Hughes at the 92nd Street Y the night before. And it got even better when we shined our light on the garment district. Consider this cast: Stanley Tucci, Ron Silver, Joan Chen, and – I mention him last only for effect – Jerry Lewis. We wanted Lewis because we’d seen his bravura performance as the talk shot host in Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy.” What we failed to consider was that movie making is done at a glacial pace and while TV shows are made at warp speed. The mercurial Mr. Lewis had trouble adapting to the lavish speeches we’d written for him. He could probably remember every joke he’d ever told, but dialogue was something that brought him to his knees until we promised to trim the excess from all of his speeches.
For Christmas he gave everybody connected with the show Jerry Lewis watches with his likeness on them. On the last day he worked, he told everybody that doing the show had been the greatest experience of his career. All right, so maybe he was exaggerating. That morning, in fact, when a producer had gone to him with dialogue changes, he had not been the ray of sunshine he was when he exited stage left. “You heard of Jerry Lewis’ reputation, pal?” he said. “I’ll show you Jerry Lewis’ reputation.” Better the dialogue changes should wind up in a wastebasket. And they did.
There is an older woman I see on the train often, looks like Selma Diamond (if only she spoke like Selma Diamond). She wears gold and fiddles with her phone. This morning, one stop away from where we both get off, a middle-aged woman with long hair sat next to her. I missed what started it all but they began to argue. Selma got up, “There, now you can have all the space you need.”
“Good, I do need it.”
“I bet you do, bitch.”
“I’m not the bitch, you’re the bitch. Old bitch.”
“Look at you,” said Selma, “Aren’t you too old to be acting like a bitch?”
“I’m a good bitch. What are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll beat you up.”
This is when the middle-aged woman with long hair stood up and shook her finger at Selma. But Selma had her head turned, earphones in her ears, and the middle-aged woman sat down. They kept at it some but it wasn’t going to get worse, just two cranky ladies on a Monday morning cursing at each other.
I was left with one thought as I got off the train. When does “I’ll beat you up” stop being part of your arsenal in an argument?
Remember the Yanks had a 1-0 lead on the Tigers back in 2006. And that didn’t turn out so hot, did it?
Big game today. Maybe the pivotal game of the series. Gunna need another miracle out of Freddy. Plus, how about a Sunday delivery from the Score Truck?
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF
Never mind the sunshine (the what?!?!):
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Stay Gold]
Photo: AP
When the Yankees played the Tigers in the 2006 ALDS, Jim Leyland referred to the power-laden Bronx Bombers as Murders’ Row and Robbie Cano. In game one of the 2011 ALDS, Cano demonstrated what many have known for some time. The Yankees’ second baseman is no longer a supporting member of the lineup. He has become the heart and soul.
Joe Girardi’s decision to elevate Cano to the three-hole came just before the start of the playoffs, but it only took one game for the move to pay immediate dividends. In his third at bat of the game (and second of the evening), the Yankees’ second baseman broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth by driving a Doug Fister fastball off the very top of the wall for an RBI double. The play, which was reviewed but upheld, was reminiscent of Todd Zeile’s two-base hit in game one of the 2000 World Series, but unlike Timo Perez, Curtis Granderson never stopped running. Of course, if Jeffrey Maier had been in the stands, Cano would have been circling the bases too.
One inning later, after Brett Gardner singled home two runs, Cano struck again, this time belting a grand slam deep into the right field second deck off reliever Al Alburquerque. The bases clearing homer was Cano’s sixth of the year, but only the eleventh in Yankees’ postseason history. The second baseman further added his name to the record book by driving in another run with a double in the eighth inning, giving him a franchise high six RBIs in one postseason game.
Most RBIs by a Yankee in One Postseason Game
| Player | Date | Series | Opp | Rslt | PA | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI |
| Robinson Cano | 10/1/2011 | ALDS | DET | W9-3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Hideki Matsui | 11/4/2009 | WS | PHI | W7-3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Bernie Williams | 10/5/1999 | ALDS | TEX | W8-0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Bobby Richardson | 10/8/1960 | WS | PIT | W10-0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com
The reason Cano had a chance to break the game open was because Ivan Nova kept the Tigers off the scoreboard until the ninth inning. Although he was technically making a relief appearance, Nova became the defacto third Yankees’ rookie to start a postseason series opener and showed little signs of being overwhelmed by the experience. The Yankees have seen a sharper Nova, but he still limited the Tigers to only two hits until taking a hard hit grounder off his backside in the ninth. Detroit wound up scoring two runs in the final frame, but it did little to detract from Nova’s strong outing.
Before the Yankees broke out with the bats, Nova also got some help from his defense. With runners on first and second in the top of the fifth, Jhonny Peralta lined a single to center, but Alex Avila was gunned down by a great relay from Jeter, who, as often seems to be the case during the postseason, found himself in the perfect position to handle Curtis Granderson’s throw from centerfield. Jeter’s toss to Russell Martin allowed the Yankees’ catcher to apply a swipe tag and turned aside the one real threat the Tigers had during the game.
Youngest Yankees’ Pitchers to Start a Post Season Opener
| Player | Age | Year | Series | Opp | Result | IP | ER | GSc |
| Waite Hoyt | 24.031 | 1923 | WS | NYG | L 4-5 | 2 1/3 | 4 | 32 |
| Jim Beattie | 24.091 | 1978 | ALCS | KCR | W 7-1 | 5 1/3 | 1 | 58 |
| Andy Pettitte | 24.116 | 1996 | ALCS | BAL | W 5-4 | 7 | 4 | 47 |
| Andy Pettitte | 24.127 | 1996 | WS | ATL | L 1-12 | 2 1/3 | 7 | 17 |
| Doyle Alexander | 26.042 | 1976 | WS | CIN | L 1-5 | 6 | 5 | 33 |
| C.-Ming Wang | 26.186 | 2006 | ALDS | DET | W 8-4 | 6 2/3 | 3 | 49 |
| Don Gullett | 26.272 | 1977 | ALCS | KCR | L 2-7 | 2 | 4 | 30 |
| Don Gullett | 26.278 | 1977 | WS | LAD | W 4-3 | 8 1/3 | 3 | 61 |
| Whitey Ford | 26.342 | 1955 | WS | BRO | W 6-5 | 8 | 3 | 46 |
| Spec Shea | 26.363 | 1947 | WS | BRO | W 5-3 | 5 | 1 | 60 |
Note: Underline indicates rookie.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
After all the rain, and all the runs, the Yankees still needed Mariano Rivera to slam the door on the Tigers’ rally in the ninth. Summoning the great closer might have been overkill, but it was also an appropriate way to end another Yankees’ postseason victory. With three dynamite cutters, Rivera struck out Betemit and sent the crowd home happy one day after they departed the Stadium soaking wet. I guess good things do come to those who wait. It also doesn’t hurt to have Robinson Cano.
Verlander vs. C.C. Here we go.
You guys know the rules. Cursing is allowed but no bitching at each other.
Time to git it on.
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF
Never mind the pending Cy Young Award:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
In the franchise’s 111-year history, the Yankees have made the post season in 50 seasons, including 27 championships, 40 pennants, and 46 division titles. The Bronx Bombers have also punched their ticket to the playoffs in 16 of the past 17 seasons. No wonder so many Yankees’ fans consider October baseball to be a birthright. However, surviving the 162-game marathon isn’t easy. Just ask the Boston Red Sox. So, in honor of the team’s prolific post season record, a breakdown of all 254 October games is provided below.
Yankees All-Time Post Season Record, by Opponent
| W | L | T | W% | Series W | Series L | Longest WStrk | Longest LStrk | |
| Chicago Cubs | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| San Diego Padres | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Texas Rangers | 11 | 5 | 0.688 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 3 | |
| Minnesota Twins | 12 | 2 | 0.857 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| Atlanta Braves | 8 | 2 | 0.800 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | |
| Baltimore Orioles | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| New York Mets | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 8 | 2 | 0.800 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
| Oakland Athletics | 9 | 4 | 0.692 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 7 | 4 | 0.636 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
| Seattle Mariners | 10 | 6 | 0.625 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Cincinnati Reds | 8 | 5 | 0.615 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 27 | 17 | 0.614 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3 | |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 3 | 2 | 0.600 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Boston Red Sox | 11 | 8 | 0.579 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| San Francisco Giants | 4 | 3 | 0.571 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| New York Giants | 19 | 16 | 1 | 0.543 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 15 | 13 | 0.536 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | |
| Kansas City Royals | 9 | 8 | 0.529 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Milwaukee Braves | 7 | 7 | 0.500 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Anaheim Angels | 7 | 8 | 0.467 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Cleveland Indians | 7 | 8 | 0.467 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 10 | 12 | 0.455 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | |
| Arizona D’backs | 3 | 4 | 0.429 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| Florida Marlins | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Detroit Tigers | 1 | 3 | 0.250 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com
Yankees All-Time Post Season Record, by Series
| W | L | T | W% | Game WStrk | Game LStrk | Series W | Series L | Series WStrk | Series LStrk | |
| ALDS | 39 | 27 | 0 | 0.591 | 6 (2x) | 4 (2x) | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| ALCS | 45 | 28 | 0 | 0.616 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| WS | 134 | 90 | 1 | 0.596 | 14 | 8 | 27 | 13 | 8 | 2 (2x) |
| Total | 218 | 145 | 1 | 0.599 | 12 (2x) | 8 | 48 | 22 | 11 | 4 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com
World Series Record, By Game
| W | L | T | Pct | |
| Game 1 | 24 | 16 | 0.600 | |
| Game 2 | 23 | 16 | 1 | 0.575 |
| Game 3 | 26 | 14 | 0.650 | |
| Game 4 | 24 | 16 | 0.600 | |
| Game 5 | 18 | 12 | 0.600 | |
| Game 6 | 14 | 8 | 0.636 | |
| Game 7 | 5 | 7 | 0.417 | |
| Game 8 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com
American League Playoff Record, By Game
| ALCS | ALDS | ||||||
| W | L | Pct | W | L | Pct | ||
| Game 1 | 10 | 4 | 0.714 | Game 1 | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Game 2 | 8 | 6 | 0.571 | Game 2 | 10 | 6 | 0.625 |
| Game 3 | 7 | 7 | 0.500 | Game 3 | 11 | 5 | 0.688 |
| Game 4 | 8 | 4 | 0.667 | Game 4 | 5 | 7 | 0.417 |
| Game 5 | 8 | 3 | 0.727 | Game 5 | 3 | 3 | 0.500 |
| Game 6 | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | ||||
| Game 7 | 1 | 1 | 0.500 | ||||
Source: Baseball-reference.com
Total Post Season Record, By Game
| W | L | T | Pct | |
| Game 1 | 44 | 26 | 0.629 | |
| Game 2 | 41 | 28 | 1 | 0.586 |
| Game 3 | 44 | 26 | 0.629 | |
| Game 4 | 37 | 27 | 0.578 | |
| Game 5 | 29 | 18 | 0.617 | |
| Game 6 | 17 | 11 | 0.607 | |
| Game 7 | 6 | 8 | 0.429 | |
| Game 8 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com
As usual, the Yankees are waiting until the last minute to officially announce their 25-man roster for the Division Series. So that leaves me guessing as to what will they do at the periphery of the roster. We do know that Jorge Posada will be on the roster, as will Russell Martin and Jesus Montero. I have a hard time believing the Yankees will carry four catchers, so I’m guessing that rookie Austin Romine will be left off, with the Yankees gambling that they can tolerate either Montero or Posada doing some catching if Martin is lifted in the late innings for a pinch-hitter. The Tigers don’t run much, so a strong throwing catcher becomes less of a priority.
We know that the starting infield will have Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, and (hopefully a healthy) Alex Rodriguez, with Eduardo Nunez serving as the primary utility infielder. Eric Chavez will also be around as a backup at first and third base, but perhaps more importantly, as the primary left-handed pinch-hitter. So that makes for six infielders.
The starting outfield of Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher will need a backup, so right-handed specialist Andruw Jones is a certainty. The real question is this: will the Yankees carry a fifth outfielder? It’s a tough call, but I think they will. Chris Dickerson has played well in his limited opportunities; he’s a good corner outfielder who can handle Comerica Park and has enough footspeed to serve as a pinch runner. While he doesn’t have the blazing speed of Greg Golson, he’s a better baserunner, as evidenced by Golon’s extra-inning foul up in extra innings on Wednesday against the Rays. So Golson will be out, and Dickerson should be in as a backup outfielder.
With three catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders, that makes for 14 position players. That leaves room for 11 pitchers, instead of 12. And that’s the right way to go in a series that can go no longer than five games. The Yankees figure to use only three starters (CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, and Freddy Garcia), which leaves room for an eight-man bullpen. The givens are Mariano Rivera, David Robertson, Rafael Soriano, A.J. Burnett, Cory Wade, and Boone Logan. That still leaves two spots for pitchers from a group that includes Phil Hughes, the slumping Bartolo Colon, Luis Ayala, Hector Noesi and obscure left-hander Raul Valdes. Out of loyalty, I see Joe Girardi going with Hughes for one of the spots. The final spot? Given that the Tigers have a lineup that is deeper from the right side, I see the Yankees going with Noesi, whom the Tigers have never seen face-to-face. So mystery will win out over the strategy of lefty-on-lefty matchups.
On Thursday, the Yankees did announce two important decisions for the postseason. I like one, but not the other. Simply put, Posada is a bad choice to DH against flamethrowing Justin Verlander in Game One; he just doesn’t have the bat speed to catch up with fastballs in the high 90s. Montero, with his OPS of .996, would have been the better choice, riskier, but better.
In terms of the No. 3 starter, Freddy Garcia is absolutely the correct choice. Selecting Burnett, based on one good start last weekend against the Red Sox, would have been a horrendous selection. Similarly, the enigmatic Hughes has been too inconsistent from game to game, with his velocity readings continuing to fluctuate so violently. Of all the possibilities, Garcia has been the most consistent starter, the one who is most likely to give the Yankees six innings of two-run ball. He also has a terrific record in the playoffs and World Series. Across seven different postseason series, Garcia has posted an ERA of 3.11, with 45 strikeouts and 22 walks in 55 innings. “The Chief” will not be rattled by the pressure of a short series, or by the enemy crowd at Comerica Park…
***
Since my wife Sue is a Red Sox fan, I do have some sympathy for what their fans are enduring in the wake of the team blowing a nine-game lead in the span of four weeks. The collapse of this year’s Sox has me thinking about the events of 1978, when the Red Sox allowed a 14-game lead to fritter away over the span of ten weeks. By comparison, the collapse of the ‘78 Red Sox seems milder. After all, they did win 15 games in September and October, and managed to put together an eight-game win streak at the end to force a one-game tiebreaker against the Yankees. In contrast, the 2011 Red Sox won only seven games in September, lost 20, and generally played dreadful baseball, especially from the mound and on the basepaths.
One of the reasons that the ‘78 Red Sox lost was due to questionable managing by skipper Don Zimmer, who was not yet a gleam in Joe Torre’s eye. Zimmer buried Bill Lee in his doghouse, refusing to use him as a starter while youngsters like Bobby Sprowl and Jim Wright struggled. Zimmer also continued to play Butch Hobson at third base even though he had several bone chips in his elbow that prevented him from making even routine throws to first. Hobson ended up with a whopping 43 errors that summer. Hobson, as hard-nosed a player as I’ve ever seen, did not ask out of the lineup until late September. Zimmer should have taken the decision out of his hands much earlier, made Hobson the DH, and put backup Jack Brohamer at third base. By waiting so long, Zimmer may have cost the Red Sox a game or two in the standings.
Four years later, the Yankees acquired Hobson in a trade with the Angels for righty reliever Bill Castro. I remember being excited about the trade, remembering how tough and tenacious Hobson had been for the rival Red Sox.
Unfortunately, Hobson had nothing left in the tank. He was only 30, but his body was much older. Years of drug abuse, running into walls, and playing through bone chips and bad shoulders had taken their toll. In 60 plate appearances, Hobson put up an OPS of .390, which is so low it doesn’t seem possible.
I wish Hobson had done better with the Yankees. He certainly deserved better in 1978, when his manager should have done him a favor, but didn’t.
Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times.
Around the dial, dig these ALDS previews, predictions and other good stuff:
First up, our man Cliff over at SI.com:
1. Three Days’ Rest
No need to speculate about when these team’s aces will pitch. Managers Jim Leyland of Detroit and Joe Girardi of New York have already announced it. CC Sabathia will pitch on three days’ rest in Game 4. Justin Verlander won’t. That’s consistent with their histories. Verlander has never pitched on three days’ rest in the major leagues. Sabathia is 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA in four regular-season starts on three days’ rest, three of which came in his final three starts of the 2008 season and helped lift the Brewers into the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. He also posted a 2.45 ERA in two quality starts on three days’ rest in the 2009 postseason, both of which were won by the Yankees on the way to their 27th world championship.As a result, those two aces, arguably the first and fourth best pitchers in the American League this year, will only face off once in this series and will be opposed by lesser pitchers should their second starts be necessary. That also means that Doug Fister, who went a Doyle Alexander-like 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA and 11.40 K/BB in 11 games after being acquired from the Mariners at the trading deadline, will only start once, even if this series goes the distance.
2. Ivan Nova
Verlander and Fister will still start three times in this best-of-five series, which is good news for the Tigers, who were 18-3 in games started by those two since the latter’s acquisition. In two of those starts, including a potential double-elimination Game 5 against Verlander, the Yankees will counter with Ivan Nova, a rookie who was farmed out to Triple-A in July. That’s a heady assignment for a rookie, not that he hasn’t earned it. Nova went 8-0 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 starts after returning to the Yankees rotation, and really shouldn’t have been demoted in the first place (though one could argue that he returned with greater purpose and effectiveness). However, even over those last 11 starts, Nova’s peripherals have been underwhelming (5.7 K/9, 2.35 K/BB). If the Tigers’ formula for winning this series is taking the three games started by their top two starters, the Yankees’ formula for winning the series just might require winning one of Nova’s two starts against the Tigers’ big two, and if the Tigers take Game 1 behind Verlander, there’s no other way for the Yankees to win the series.
Larry Koestler at The Yankee Analysts
Tyler Kepner in the New York Times
Steven Goldman at Pinstriped Bible
And over at Was Watching Jeff F offers 25 things we didn’t know about the 2011 Yankees.
Be sure to check out these sites as well as Replacement Level Yankees, YFSF, River Ave Blues and No Maas for all the Yankeeness you can handle.
[Photo Credit: Your Very Own Contrapasso]
It was warm and humid in New York until yesterday evening after a rain. Then, the autumn was back in the air. And the coolness is still there today although it’s not cold. But it is playoff weather and for Yankee fans the change to fall means more baseball. This won’t last forever, the Yankees making the playoffs annually, but it has been a constant in New York life for a generation now and you have to be a selfish fool not to take a moment to breath it in and give thanks.
[Photo Credit: I Spy NYC]
A favorite Bronx battle rhyme from the Teacher and Mr. Foxxx.
