The reason I haven't written much of worth for many years is because I want to write it all, and write it perfectly, when I do.
Instead, I've seen my time, physical ability, and mental capacity slip away more and more. And I'm not that even old and decrepit. It's just gone.
Right now, my body gives me about 15 minutes until the arms go out. I've already worked for three hours tonight. So, I'm in pain, but I want to write, because it's about time I find a way to write a little bit each day about what matters — especially if eight hours of my days are spent writing about the likes of Kevin Garnett, Derek Jeter, and Tim Tebow. (Not a bad life, but still.)
If I had to describe today, I would term it as "redeemed." Now, I've long understood redemption in its essence (as what it means for salvation) and in the grand sense (how God is fixing this world and making everything glorious bit by bit).
But God has also been showing me that even smaller things can be redeemed, like days or moments or even crappy stories.
I've been compelled to start actually walking with God — that is, living moment by moment and asking Him to help my unbelief in each instance of the day. And in that world, I am only reminded more and more what a mess I am. But rather than considering the day a wash, I've instead started asking God to redeem it, like Galatians talks of redeeming our time. God can turn the tide, and He can bring goodness.
God has turned many bad days into good ones. Second winds and bursts of energies are not accidents, and neither is the renewed attitude that comes when I acknowledge Him (Proverbs 3:5-6 isn't just a cliche), grab a hold of Him with my hip out of joint before sunrise and ask Him to bless me (Jacob!), and overall just take a deep breath and ask Him to redeem my moments the same way He redeems thoughts and lives.
I have had many good second halves of days recently, and better yet, now that I'm looking, I see God working all the time.
And there's hope that, if God can redeem everything from a moment to a day to a lifetime, that He can redeem a writer who has never quite been satisfied with a world and a work that has often struck her as unredeemable.
Showing posts with label derek jeter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label derek jeter. Show all posts
11.29.2012
5.01.2012
Good reads
I am a sportswriter now, so I should be advertising my work on my own site, I guess.
Most nights when the Red Sox play, I write a little opinion piece on a quote from the loquacious manager, Bobby Valentine. It turns out his quotes have been pretty boring lately, so I wrote about that tonight. It's quite a change for a man who used to be a chatterbox.
In that section, I've also written about Valentine' reaction to a blown 9-0 lead, to admitting mistakes with pitching and player management, and to finally getting all of the pieces working together and winning. He's also said he thought a player was "trying to kill me," and that the Sox "have a lot of heart" (but not the right kind, I point out).
Most days, I write offbeat stories about interesting angles in the professional sports leagues. Tonight Dwyane Wade chucked an opponent's shoe into the stands, and the Nationals' newest outfield phenom played softball with some locals at the Washington Monument.
Other times, it's been about Eli Manning making people drive their cars slow, Indianapolis bidding Peyton Manning good riddance, Kevin Love's fresh face, Wes Welker as he looked in seventh grade, or a look at the original draft card that had Tom Brady going No. 199.
My favorite are the opinion or think pieces. Tonight I took a look at the Knicks, surmising that this combination ought not to be. I also wrote once about how awesome Derek Jeter is and the state of American tennis.
I also make amazing photo galleries, like of how Bobby Valentine looks like a muppet or the greatest appearances by athletes on Saturday Night Live.
So, feast on it. This is some of the world's best work.
Most nights when the Red Sox play, I write a little opinion piece on a quote from the loquacious manager, Bobby Valentine. It turns out his quotes have been pretty boring lately, so I wrote about that tonight. It's quite a change for a man who used to be a chatterbox.
In that section, I've also written about Valentine' reaction to a blown 9-0 lead, to admitting mistakes with pitching and player management, and to finally getting all of the pieces working together and winning. He's also said he thought a player was "trying to kill me," and that the Sox "have a lot of heart" (but not the right kind, I point out).
Most days, I write offbeat stories about interesting angles in the professional sports leagues. Tonight Dwyane Wade chucked an opponent's shoe into the stands, and the Nationals' newest outfield phenom played softball with some locals at the Washington Monument.
Other times, it's been about Eli Manning making people drive their cars slow, Indianapolis bidding Peyton Manning good riddance, Kevin Love's fresh face, Wes Welker as he looked in seventh grade, or a look at the original draft card that had Tom Brady going No. 199.
My favorite are the opinion or think pieces. Tonight I took a look at the Knicks, surmising that this combination ought not to be. I also wrote once about how awesome Derek Jeter is and the state of American tennis.
I also make amazing photo galleries, like of how Bobby Valentine looks like a muppet or the greatest appearances by athletes on Saturday Night Live.
So, feast on it. This is some of the world's best work.
3.31.2010
March book reviews, part 2
The next installment in a series of book reviews on my current reading.
Today: The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.
Yesterday I said I would be reviewing two New York Yankees-related books, with the good one first. That leaves the lousy one for today.
And this one was truly lousy. You'd think that if one of the most successful managers in baseball, who was in charge of one of the most storied franchises in the game for over a decade, would get together with an elite sportswriter, you'd get a great book. Nope. It's terrible.
The problem, I think, starts with Tom Verducci, who obviously did most of the writing (with the "by Joe Torre" part due to his supplying quotes and background). I always thought Verducci was a great writer, but when I think back to his Sports Illustrated pieces, they all have the same qualities: magazine-length writing, great sources, and a couple good flourishes.
This book is written the same way. But the problem is, it's a book, not a magazine article. So, rather than getting a sweeping story of Torre's time with the Yankees, we get a bunch of individual storylines mashed together with horrid transitions (or a nice horizontal line off to the left of the page that's meant to indicate that we should not expect any kind of transition, or that the sections before and after the line will not be connected even remotely).
The book is really Verducci's take on all things baseball within the last decade and a half, with baseball's biggest centerpiece—the Yankees—providing a nice hook and an excuse to write an excessively long book (about 500 pages). You can tell he wrote several Sports Illustrated articles out of the content he has in the book, and he had no qualms dropping them in there among his bland telling of the franchise under Torre's reign.
The chapters are hastily divided and thwatched together with no apparent thought. Verducci employs terrible writing techniques, such as rhetorical questions—"What was it about Jeter that enabled him to succeed in clutch situations?"—then proceeds to answer them, like a cub reporter filing his first softball report.
It's no wonder all the reviewers of the book were focused on pulling random quotes and facts out then blowing them up for sensational story lines; there's no story here, and the details Torre and Yankees players reveal are the only interesting parts.
The magazine-style brevity to Verducci's storylines, which hiccup around within chapters and are awakened hundreds of pages later to be beat unreadable again, are just one of the ways Verducci shows he's not made for a full-length book. His two other aforementioned strengths—great sources and a couple good flourishes—also show up in the book, but they're ill-suited for a project of this magnitude.
Verducci overuses his sources, especially guys such as David Cone, who is quoted on nearly every other page. You can tell Verducci used Cone as a major source for everything, including non-Yankees material. It's as if Verducci humored the guy in the retirement home then felt he had to use everything he said. Now, Cone was extremely important to the Yankees' franchise and their string of championships, but couldn't a great writer like Verducci get a wider variety of sources?
Verducci's moments of good writing also doom him, because you can see what the book could have been. He has paragraphs of brilliance, with great storytelling and details. But most of the book is blandly written. He botches scintillating sports moments; he explains ideas and opinions until they're left to a whimperless death; he skips around on details and event descriptions that could have been organized far better.
By overrelying on quotes, Verducci misses the great storytelling that could have powered this book. Although he interviewed many good sources, they were all also mainly baseball players, which means when you quote them at length, you're going to have something that sounds as riveting as the news conference players give after their 152 games a year.
When it comes time to recount a great moment of Yankees history, such as the 2003 American League Championship Series, Verducci does a great job. It's just too bad he tells how it's going to end, and all the attitudes that went with it ending, before he has a chance to wind through the great narrative.
It's like an amateur tried to write the story, with no clue how to get good information, how to organize the information that he had, or how to dress up drab details enough to carry the reader.
Verducci does have strong moments. His chapter on steroids has a bit of a narrative, smooth writing, and good insight. Similar writing pops up elsewhere in the book. His use of statistics, and chronicling why the Yankees suffered during the Moneyball era despite having plenty of money, is top-notch. But a slow, unpowerful beginning kills the book before it can begin and sets the tone for all that the book really is.
I really think all these problems are Verducci's fault, because he had a willing subject to work with. Torre is very candid throughout the book, sharing not only juicy details but also his team concepts. While a manager, Torre was open with the media and easy to work with, and he even had some keen observations buried in the 15-line paragraph quotes Verducci chose to run.
Where the writing failed is in showing who Torre is. Over and over, Verducci tells us about Torre wanting this or liking this, or having the team be honest and blah blah blah blah blah. Show us this man. Give us some physical description. Reveal what he looked like during these great moments in Yankees history. Get inside his head, but not in block quotes. Where is his childhood? How much did you talk to his wife? His old teammates? Writers who have covered him?
The book lacks because it has been treated as an encyclopedia to hold Yankees details, not a story to show Yankees lore.
For those needing to brush up on their Yankees history, or to get inside the game of baseball via a great Verducci essay, this book is fine. But if you want a story, if you want the mystique that is New York, you will not find it here.
Today: The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.
Yesterday I said I would be reviewing two New York Yankees-related books, with the good one first. That leaves the lousy one for today.
And this one was truly lousy. You'd think that if one of the most successful managers in baseball, who was in charge of one of the most storied franchises in the game for over a decade, would get together with an elite sportswriter, you'd get a great book. Nope. It's terrible.
The problem, I think, starts with Tom Verducci, who obviously did most of the writing (with the "by Joe Torre" part due to his supplying quotes and background). I always thought Verducci was a great writer, but when I think back to his Sports Illustrated pieces, they all have the same qualities: magazine-length writing, great sources, and a couple good flourishes.
This book is written the same way. But the problem is, it's a book, not a magazine article. So, rather than getting a sweeping story of Torre's time with the Yankees, we get a bunch of individual storylines mashed together with horrid transitions (or a nice horizontal line off to the left of the page that's meant to indicate that we should not expect any kind of transition, or that the sections before and after the line will not be connected even remotely).
The book is really Verducci's take on all things baseball within the last decade and a half, with baseball's biggest centerpiece—the Yankees—providing a nice hook and an excuse to write an excessively long book (about 500 pages). You can tell he wrote several Sports Illustrated articles out of the content he has in the book, and he had no qualms dropping them in there among his bland telling of the franchise under Torre's reign.
The chapters are hastily divided and thwatched together with no apparent thought. Verducci employs terrible writing techniques, such as rhetorical questions—"What was it about Jeter that enabled him to succeed in clutch situations?"—then proceeds to answer them, like a cub reporter filing his first softball report.
It's no wonder all the reviewers of the book were focused on pulling random quotes and facts out then blowing them up for sensational story lines; there's no story here, and the details Torre and Yankees players reveal are the only interesting parts.
The magazine-style brevity to Verducci's storylines, which hiccup around within chapters and are awakened hundreds of pages later to be beat unreadable again, are just one of the ways Verducci shows he's not made for a full-length book. His two other aforementioned strengths—great sources and a couple good flourishes—also show up in the book, but they're ill-suited for a project of this magnitude.
Verducci overuses his sources, especially guys such as David Cone, who is quoted on nearly every other page. You can tell Verducci used Cone as a major source for everything, including non-Yankees material. It's as if Verducci humored the guy in the retirement home then felt he had to use everything he said. Now, Cone was extremely important to the Yankees' franchise and their string of championships, but couldn't a great writer like Verducci get a wider variety of sources?
Verducci's moments of good writing also doom him, because you can see what the book could have been. He has paragraphs of brilliance, with great storytelling and details. But most of the book is blandly written. He botches scintillating sports moments; he explains ideas and opinions until they're left to a whimperless death; he skips around on details and event descriptions that could have been organized far better.
By overrelying on quotes, Verducci misses the great storytelling that could have powered this book. Although he interviewed many good sources, they were all also mainly baseball players, which means when you quote them at length, you're going to have something that sounds as riveting as the news conference players give after their 152 games a year.
When it comes time to recount a great moment of Yankees history, such as the 2003 American League Championship Series, Verducci does a great job. It's just too bad he tells how it's going to end, and all the attitudes that went with it ending, before he has a chance to wind through the great narrative.
It's like an amateur tried to write the story, with no clue how to get good information, how to organize the information that he had, or how to dress up drab details enough to carry the reader.
Verducci does have strong moments. His chapter on steroids has a bit of a narrative, smooth writing, and good insight. Similar writing pops up elsewhere in the book. His use of statistics, and chronicling why the Yankees suffered during the Moneyball era despite having plenty of money, is top-notch. But a slow, unpowerful beginning kills the book before it can begin and sets the tone for all that the book really is.
I really think all these problems are Verducci's fault, because he had a willing subject to work with. Torre is very candid throughout the book, sharing not only juicy details but also his team concepts. While a manager, Torre was open with the media and easy to work with, and he even had some keen observations buried in the 15-line paragraph quotes Verducci chose to run.
Where the writing failed is in showing who Torre is. Over and over, Verducci tells us about Torre wanting this or liking this, or having the team be honest and blah blah blah blah blah. Show us this man. Give us some physical description. Reveal what he looked like during these great moments in Yankees history. Get inside his head, but not in block quotes. Where is his childhood? How much did you talk to his wife? His old teammates? Writers who have covered him?
The book lacks because it has been treated as an encyclopedia to hold Yankees details, not a story to show Yankees lore.
For those needing to brush up on their Yankees history, or to get inside the game of baseball via a great Verducci essay, this book is fine. But if you want a story, if you want the mystique that is New York, you will not find it here.
3.30.2010
March book reviews, part 1
The latest in a continuing series of book reviews of my current reading.
Today: A-Rod by Selena Roberts.
Earlier this month, I sampled two New York Yankees-centered books, and as the time comes to finally write my thoughts about them before March is gone (and they are no longer "March book reviews"), I will start with the good one first.
"Good" may actually be an understatement.
Selena Roberts' A-Rod is in the uppermost class of sports tomes, a well-researched book that not only breaks news but also tells a compelling story.
What is most well-known about the book by now, of course, was the case it laid for Alex Rodriguez's use of steroids, a story that Sports Illustrated scribe Roberts broke while writing the book. That vaulted the book to new levels of popularity and spawned numerous stories, but Roberts should be lauded for keeping the book's story intact once it was published. Steroids is just one storyline in the multi-faceted package that is her telling of the story of Rodriguez's life.
In the book, Roberts explains that the point of her taking on the project was to get to the bottom of a sudden aberration in A-Rod's life: His suddenly inconsistent, tabloid-courting public persona. A-Rod had always been a public figure, and always seem to attract trouble and distractions, but during the past couple years his life had suddenly erupted into a publicity extravaganza as he estranged his family, posed for cameras, started dating Madonna, and became increasingly erratic in his team commitments and public appearances.
Roberts decided to dig behind the image that was A-Rod and figure out who Alex Rodriguez was, and she explains in the book that there is a difference: A-Rod is the carefully sculpted image that is rich, famous, manipulated, and manicured; Alex is the person who knew how to play baseball and became obsessed with pleasing people but still had a human side.
Throughout the book, Roberts calls Rodriguez "Alex," and that is no coincidence. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon of criticism and pigeonholing that would be so easy after exposing him as a huge fraud and empty individual, she instead gives Rodriguez the benefit of the doubt. She doesn't prey on his faults but instead tries to explain them. She shows his family background and uses his friends' supporting voices. You can easily see how Alex became A-Rod, and you can even feel it's not Alex's fault. You can even hope Alex will return to being Alex.
But A-Rod is the title of the book, for that is what Alex Rodriguez has become. From his high school days to his current ego-bloated self, Roberts show a slow transition from a person-pleasing, talented youngster to the image-obsessed man who wants to break records, have the perfect body, be the best, and gather adoration. The problem was always the same: Rodriguez saw what he wanted to be (often from the mouths of ill-intentioned friends and advisors), and he chased it even if he could never become what was on the other end.
The result was the reputation that sticks to A-Rod more than his great baseball numbers or his kind moments; he is known as a fraud, as an empty person putting on a show he is desperately trying to support.
It's a terrible trap, and Roberts' exploration of how key choices along the line in choosing advisors and lifestyle attitudes can derail a life. From Rodriguez's father leaving him as a child to a money- and power-hungry agent (Scott Boras), A-Rod could never get enough to complete that perfect image, and all his tries along the line only humiliated him more. No one ever told Rodriguez that he could just be Rodriguez; years later, that Alex doesn't even exist anymore.
Ironically, A-Rod's need for self-gratification was what led to his biggest collapse. When he moved to New York, all the factors that had been contributing to him becoming a more controlling, self-centered, fraudulent person were basically put on Big Apple steroids. He courted the intellect, the fashion, the popularity of the city, and within a few years, his family was in shambles as he was chasing pseudo religions and 50-year-old pop stars. His alarming emergence into total tabloid buffoonery started Roberts' investigation, and she was totally shocked when she started hearing whiffs of steroids.
Through careful reporting, Roberts found there was more than suspicion; A-Rod was one of the biggest users. So, in an attempt to write a story about A-Rod and his strange image quest, Roberts unearthed the biggest emblem of who this A-Rod was: In a desire to please, Rodriguez lived off of steroids because of the great pressure he felt to please people and be the best.
When the steroid story broke, Rodriguez of course tried to take down Roberts, but her research was flawless, and she had many mainstream sources to corroborate her case. Near the end of the book, Roberts spends a little time explaining this and defending herself. She is respectful yet firm and complete in showing that the charges were ludicrous, and that the way Rodriguez treated her (even in an "apology") only reinforced the entire book she had just written. Still, Roberts is a class act for placing her justification in the back of the book. She could have easily gloated and led the first two chapters with her self-defense, but instead she does just a little bit of pumping up (for a story that was massive in relation) to emphasize her points. Then she lets it go.
And what are we left with? An amazing portrait of a baseball star. The pressures, the insecurities, the culture—an amazing glimpse of modern baseball, with all its painful moments, are laid out in excellent storytelling. Roberts never suffers from the disease some sports writers have where they gather press clips and tell the consensus version of a story; she instead is a real writer, with piles of interviews providing all those sacred details that make for a great narrative that literally shows you what the high school baseball diamond looked like, and what the extent of A-Rod's public appearance snafus felt like to those watching.
Roberts is a great reporter, and you can see it in this book. And for those wanting a brief treatment in the world of baseball, superstars, or the human condition, this book is the place to go. Full of great details and quotes, it covers the game well without getting off-track. It teaches implicitly, from steroids to fatherhood to selfishness. It makes you cringe and realize there are many parts of Rodriguez you have seen in yourself, or someone you love, that you'd like to eradicate.
Best yet, though, is that Roberts is not dive-bombing A-Rod. When the steroid scandals broke, she told it straight and made sure everyone knew what he was doing. Those details are still in the book. But when Roberts tells Alex's story, it's honest enough to make you realize this didn't have to end up this way. Things could have been different. Alex, the ever-pleasing Alex, could have done it all differently.
Which means he still can.
Alex Rodriguez is a very flawed human being, but he still has amazing talent (and not just hitting a baseball). The guy had an ability to engage people, to be kind, to be genuine, and when he was dragged from the pinnacle he was trying to hard to stay aloft, it created the perfect opportunity to do a rewrite.
A season has passed since the steroid story broke and the book was published, and A-Rod acted considerably different this year. You may remember that the past season ended with the New York Yankees winning a World Series championship. It was an ultimate redemption for the superstar who was trying so hard in so many failing ways to be that perfect being—but who only got that ultimate World Series crown when all he had was taken away.
Rodriguez approached last season a new way, with considerable less gaffes, a lot less fawning and publicity, and very good baseball. He fought injuries and never saw his numbers rise. Yet there were rumblings he was showing signs of being a better teammate, and he started hitting when his team actually needed hits. The image wasn't his primary focus; his public life was considerably less eventful. He answered questions politely yet never felt compelled to answer everything, solve everything, be everything.
This is why we root for our superstars: Yes, he's flawed, but he's living despite the flaws. (For an alternative to Rodriguez's willingness to face his problems and turn things around, see Woods, Tigers.) And he's no longer trying to hide those flaws, or excuse them, or make them go away through sheer power, social connections, or showmanship. The world already knows. Why not just play?
A-Rod is no Derek Jeter. But neither are most of us.
Today: A-Rod by Selena Roberts.
Earlier this month, I sampled two New York Yankees-centered books, and as the time comes to finally write my thoughts about them before March is gone (and they are no longer "March book reviews"), I will start with the good one first.
"Good" may actually be an understatement.
Selena Roberts' A-Rod is in the uppermost class of sports tomes, a well-researched book that not only breaks news but also tells a compelling story.
What is most well-known about the book by now, of course, was the case it laid for Alex Rodriguez's use of steroids, a story that Sports Illustrated scribe Roberts broke while writing the book. That vaulted the book to new levels of popularity and spawned numerous stories, but Roberts should be lauded for keeping the book's story intact once it was published. Steroids is just one storyline in the multi-faceted package that is her telling of the story of Rodriguez's life.
In the book, Roberts explains that the point of her taking on the project was to get to the bottom of a sudden aberration in A-Rod's life: His suddenly inconsistent, tabloid-courting public persona. A-Rod had always been a public figure, and always seem to attract trouble and distractions, but during the past couple years his life had suddenly erupted into a publicity extravaganza as he estranged his family, posed for cameras, started dating Madonna, and became increasingly erratic in his team commitments and public appearances.
Roberts decided to dig behind the image that was A-Rod and figure out who Alex Rodriguez was, and she explains in the book that there is a difference: A-Rod is the carefully sculpted image that is rich, famous, manipulated, and manicured; Alex is the person who knew how to play baseball and became obsessed with pleasing people but still had a human side.
Throughout the book, Roberts calls Rodriguez "Alex," and that is no coincidence. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon of criticism and pigeonholing that would be so easy after exposing him as a huge fraud and empty individual, she instead gives Rodriguez the benefit of the doubt. She doesn't prey on his faults but instead tries to explain them. She shows his family background and uses his friends' supporting voices. You can easily see how Alex became A-Rod, and you can even feel it's not Alex's fault. You can even hope Alex will return to being Alex.
But A-Rod is the title of the book, for that is what Alex Rodriguez has become. From his high school days to his current ego-bloated self, Roberts show a slow transition from a person-pleasing, talented youngster to the image-obsessed man who wants to break records, have the perfect body, be the best, and gather adoration. The problem was always the same: Rodriguez saw what he wanted to be (often from the mouths of ill-intentioned friends and advisors), and he chased it even if he could never become what was on the other end.
The result was the reputation that sticks to A-Rod more than his great baseball numbers or his kind moments; he is known as a fraud, as an empty person putting on a show he is desperately trying to support.
It's a terrible trap, and Roberts' exploration of how key choices along the line in choosing advisors and lifestyle attitudes can derail a life. From Rodriguez's father leaving him as a child to a money- and power-hungry agent (Scott Boras), A-Rod could never get enough to complete that perfect image, and all his tries along the line only humiliated him more. No one ever told Rodriguez that he could just be Rodriguez; years later, that Alex doesn't even exist anymore.
Ironically, A-Rod's need for self-gratification was what led to his biggest collapse. When he moved to New York, all the factors that had been contributing to him becoming a more controlling, self-centered, fraudulent person were basically put on Big Apple steroids. He courted the intellect, the fashion, the popularity of the city, and within a few years, his family was in shambles as he was chasing pseudo religions and 50-year-old pop stars. His alarming emergence into total tabloid buffoonery started Roberts' investigation, and she was totally shocked when she started hearing whiffs of steroids.
Through careful reporting, Roberts found there was more than suspicion; A-Rod was one of the biggest users. So, in an attempt to write a story about A-Rod and his strange image quest, Roberts unearthed the biggest emblem of who this A-Rod was: In a desire to please, Rodriguez lived off of steroids because of the great pressure he felt to please people and be the best.
When the steroid story broke, Rodriguez of course tried to take down Roberts, but her research was flawless, and she had many mainstream sources to corroborate her case. Near the end of the book, Roberts spends a little time explaining this and defending herself. She is respectful yet firm and complete in showing that the charges were ludicrous, and that the way Rodriguez treated her (even in an "apology") only reinforced the entire book she had just written. Still, Roberts is a class act for placing her justification in the back of the book. She could have easily gloated and led the first two chapters with her self-defense, but instead she does just a little bit of pumping up (for a story that was massive in relation) to emphasize her points. Then she lets it go.
And what are we left with? An amazing portrait of a baseball star. The pressures, the insecurities, the culture—an amazing glimpse of modern baseball, with all its painful moments, are laid out in excellent storytelling. Roberts never suffers from the disease some sports writers have where they gather press clips and tell the consensus version of a story; she instead is a real writer, with piles of interviews providing all those sacred details that make for a great narrative that literally shows you what the high school baseball diamond looked like, and what the extent of A-Rod's public appearance snafus felt like to those watching.
Roberts is a great reporter, and you can see it in this book. And for those wanting a brief treatment in the world of baseball, superstars, or the human condition, this book is the place to go. Full of great details and quotes, it covers the game well without getting off-track. It teaches implicitly, from steroids to fatherhood to selfishness. It makes you cringe and realize there are many parts of Rodriguez you have seen in yourself, or someone you love, that you'd like to eradicate.
Best yet, though, is that Roberts is not dive-bombing A-Rod. When the steroid scandals broke, she told it straight and made sure everyone knew what he was doing. Those details are still in the book. But when Roberts tells Alex's story, it's honest enough to make you realize this didn't have to end up this way. Things could have been different. Alex, the ever-pleasing Alex, could have done it all differently.
Which means he still can.
Alex Rodriguez is a very flawed human being, but he still has amazing talent (and not just hitting a baseball). The guy had an ability to engage people, to be kind, to be genuine, and when he was dragged from the pinnacle he was trying to hard to stay aloft, it created the perfect opportunity to do a rewrite.
A season has passed since the steroid story broke and the book was published, and A-Rod acted considerably different this year. You may remember that the past season ended with the New York Yankees winning a World Series championship. It was an ultimate redemption for the superstar who was trying so hard in so many failing ways to be that perfect being—but who only got that ultimate World Series crown when all he had was taken away.
Rodriguez approached last season a new way, with considerable less gaffes, a lot less fawning and publicity, and very good baseball. He fought injuries and never saw his numbers rise. Yet there were rumblings he was showing signs of being a better teammate, and he started hitting when his team actually needed hits. The image wasn't his primary focus; his public life was considerably less eventful. He answered questions politely yet never felt compelled to answer everything, solve everything, be everything.
This is why we root for our superstars: Yes, he's flawed, but he's living despite the flaws. (For an alternative to Rodriguez's willingness to face his problems and turn things around, see Woods, Tigers.) And he's no longer trying to hide those flaws, or excuse them, or make them go away through sheer power, social connections, or showmanship. The world already knows. Why not just play?
A-Rod is no Derek Jeter. But neither are most of us.
3.27.2010
A better reason to play
As much as I love the New York Yankees, I hate it when the players say a year was a failure because they didn't win the World Series (unless they are requisitely stacked, well-managed, and blow it...which many years of this past decade was not the case). Yes, they are paid a lot, and yes the goal is excellence, but you can be excellent without always winning it all; it's difficult to put together all the factors that equal a championship, and not winning it doesn't account to complete inferiority. (If Derek Jeter finishes with 10 World Series rings in 15 seasons, is he a 67% failure? Or 33%? No, he would be far beyond the modern standard. Lost seasons are part of the game; the Yankees just need to get all the different factors together to give them the best chance they can to win, and then do it.)
That's why coach Mike Krzyzewski's take on Duke not being to the Final Four since 2001 is so refreshing. He wants to win games, and he wants to be in the Final Four, but he knows it's difficult and not always a given. He considers 30-win seasons a success and measures his players by how much they fulfill their potential.
A national championship would be amazing (especially after North Carolina's dominance this past decade), but Duke has something better. Rather than a coach embroiled in recruiting scandals, academic ineligibility accusations, player violence, or demeaning attitudes, their coach supports playing the game, and seeing where it will take them. That's what will make a championship, or a Final Four, or even an Elite Eight, this year that much more fantastic.
That's why coach Mike Krzyzewski's take on Duke not being to the Final Four since 2001 is so refreshing. He wants to win games, and he wants to be in the Final Four, but he knows it's difficult and not always a given. He considers 30-win seasons a success and measures his players by how much they fulfill their potential.
A national championship would be amazing (especially after North Carolina's dominance this past decade), but Duke has something better. Rather than a coach embroiled in recruiting scandals, academic ineligibility accusations, player violence, or demeaning attitudes, their coach supports playing the game, and seeing where it will take them. That's what will make a championship, or a Final Four, or even an Elite Eight, this year that much more fantastic.
11.13.2009
Silver and gold
Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira now have Silver Slugger awards to add to their Gold Gloves.
11.11.2009
Jeter, Teixeira win Gold Gloves
Derek Jeter (shortstop) and Mark Teixeira (first base) have won American League Gold Gloves at their positions. Notice in the story that these guys didn't get $25,000 tips; turns out their owner already pays them a decent wage.
11.04.2009
It's time
Just before the seventh, and FOX is showing great World Series moments. The ball dribbles through Bill Buckner's legs, and a laugh bursts out of my mouth as I move past the TV.
Problem is, I'm at the Boston Globe. And for those of you short on baseball history, that error was one of the worst moments in Boston Red Sox history, a play where the Sox had it all wrapped up until Buckner prolonged the 86-year curse.
The Sox have been done playing for a while now, of course. Worse yet, their archnemesis, New York, is leading the World Series three games to two.
I am forced to watch at the Boston Globe, where every laugh at Buckner gets a dirty look, and every Hideki Matsui RBI gets a groan.
Ah, yes, Matsui. That's where this story begins, right? The story of Game 6 and Championship #27.
The great storyline going into the game, of course, was that this contest offered a matchup between two players deep within Yankees-Red Sox lore. New York brought Andy Pettitte, who holds the record for most postseason games with 19. He's won four championships and was the pitcher who clinched the American League Division Series and American League Championship for the Yankees this year.
On the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies was Pedro Martinez, the same Pedro who slew the Yankees en route to the 2004 championship by the Sox. Martinez is best known for admitting, before he had learned how to get past New York, that the Yankees were his "daddy."
So they there were, the great Yankees-killer versus the great Yankees playoff pitcher, ready for a duel that made even New York fans who were sick over the series stretching to six games pleased as the great matchup.
Martinez buzzed through the first inning, as did Pettitte, then Martinez opened up the second frame with a leadoff walk. (You have to wonder who Pedro's Little League coach was, and if he spoke enough Spanish to teach little Pedro to never walk the leadoff man.)
Alex Rodriguez trotted to first, and the Matsui show began. Matsui battled Pedro in an eight-pitch battle that saw Godzilla (Matsui's nickname in his native Japan) hit a few Japanese home runs, towering blasts landing in the right-field seats that would once have been counted as homers in Japanese baseball.
Finally, Matsui straightened one out and went just as deep, and five batters into the game, the Yankees were ahead 2-1.
It was a lead New York would never relinquish.
Pettitte, although pitching on merelythree days of rest, looked decent early, humming through the Phillies lineup. He allowed a triple (that could have been a double if not for a strange bounce), then the runner scored on a sacrifice fly.
Pedro, on the other hand, hit some more trouble in the very next inning. Derek Jeter hit a one-out single, then Martinez walked Johnny Damon after a seven-pitch at-bat. Next up was Mark Teixeira, who has had a measley two hits this World Series and would probably be more comfortable hiding in a locker. But Pedro bailed him out, plunking him to load the bases.
Rodriguez stepped to the plate with another chance to continue writing his magical playoff story, but Pedro struck him out.
Next up: Matsui. The Yankees already led 2-1, with the designated hitter having done his job. Matsui seemed eager, though, to make up for time lost in Philadelphia, where he rode the pine for three games (with no DH).
Matsui ripped a beautiful RBI single up the middle with two outs and the bases loaded, boosting New York's margin to 4-1.
By the time the fifth came around, Pedro was gone, chased after just four innings. The vaunted pitching matchup had fallen to Japanese pressure, and the bats would now decide the game.
Jeter came out with no care for who was on the mound, lacing a leadoff double to keep the Phillies on their heels. After Jeter was sacrificed over to third, Teixeira finally came through, singling Jeter home to put the Yankees up 5-1. It was the only RBI the Yankees would get that wasn't by Matsui.
Yes, Matsui again. After A-Rod got plunked one more time (the fourth time this series), Matsui the Phillies-killer did as he knew best, doubling the runners home for a 7-1 New York lead.
Apparently, after being rested for three games, Matsui thought he'd compensate with three games' worth of stats in one amazing evening.
Matsui's 6 RBI tied a record for the most RBI in a World Series game.
In the top half of the innings, by the way, Pettitte was still mowing them down, pitching a nearly flawless game. He allowed just two hits through five innings, which is just what the Yankees needed after their poor pitching destroyed their six-run effort the night before.
As Pettitte moved into the sixth, the camera cut to the bullpen, capturing a shot of someone tossing a ball at Joba Chamberlain, who totally missed it and saw it fly by his head.
Stomach ulcers, commence. Yankees fans are already nervous enough about ever having to use the bullpen (especially Chamberlain), so that's the last thing we want to see.
Pettitte gave up a walk, a two-run homer, and a double, and it was time to summon Chamberlain. The real test began. But surprisingly, Chamberlain got his outs.
In the top of the seventh, Chase Utley came to the plate with two guys on, with the chance to pull the Phils within one with one swing. But the man who has foiled the Yankees so far this Series, who even dared to tie Mr. October Reggie Jackson's home record, was struck out by Damaso Marte.
It was then that you realized that it was time. This could be it. It could really be happening.
Rodriguez came to the plate, and the Phillies threw at his head again. But what were they doing? Getting A-Rod uncomfortable seemed to be Philadelphia's last, desperate ploy to keep some kind of hold on the Series.
But the Yankees have been winning with just moderate production from A-Rod. And the pitching showed up tonight. And they were holding fast; no meltdowns, no worries, nothing.
Phillies MVP Ryan Howard came to the plate and struck out again, the 13th time this series (that's a record). People say that if you're a power hitter, you're going to strike out a lot as well as hit home runs. Well, Howard has hit one home run and struck out 13 times. Yeah, I think New York has this one.
Enter Sandman. Five outs, game over. Did this just happen?
The New York Yankees are world champions. !!!!!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
Other Yankees Posts
Game Recap
Problem is, I'm at the Boston Globe. And for those of you short on baseball history, that error was one of the worst moments in Boston Red Sox history, a play where the Sox had it all wrapped up until Buckner prolonged the 86-year curse.
The Sox have been done playing for a while now, of course. Worse yet, their archnemesis, New York, is leading the World Series three games to two.
I am forced to watch at the Boston Globe, where every laugh at Buckner gets a dirty look, and every Hideki Matsui RBI gets a groan.
Ah, yes, Matsui. That's where this story begins, right? The story of Game 6 and Championship #27.
The great storyline going into the game, of course, was that this contest offered a matchup between two players deep within Yankees-Red Sox lore. New York brought Andy Pettitte, who holds the record for most postseason games with 19. He's won four championships and was the pitcher who clinched the American League Division Series and American League Championship for the Yankees this year.
On the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies was Pedro Martinez, the same Pedro who slew the Yankees en route to the 2004 championship by the Sox. Martinez is best known for admitting, before he had learned how to get past New York, that the Yankees were his "daddy."
So they there were, the great Yankees-killer versus the great Yankees playoff pitcher, ready for a duel that made even New York fans who were sick over the series stretching to six games pleased as the great matchup.
Martinez buzzed through the first inning, as did Pettitte, then Martinez opened up the second frame with a leadoff walk. (You have to wonder who Pedro's Little League coach was, and if he spoke enough Spanish to teach little Pedro to never walk the leadoff man.)
Alex Rodriguez trotted to first, and the Matsui show began. Matsui battled Pedro in an eight-pitch battle that saw Godzilla (Matsui's nickname in his native Japan) hit a few Japanese home runs, towering blasts landing in the right-field seats that would once have been counted as homers in Japanese baseball.
Finally, Matsui straightened one out and went just as deep, and five batters into the game, the Yankees were ahead 2-1.
It was a lead New York would never relinquish.
Pettitte, although pitching on merelythree days of rest, looked decent early, humming through the Phillies lineup. He allowed a triple (that could have been a double if not for a strange bounce), then the runner scored on a sacrifice fly.
Pedro, on the other hand, hit some more trouble in the very next inning. Derek Jeter hit a one-out single, then Martinez walked Johnny Damon after a seven-pitch at-bat. Next up was Mark Teixeira, who has had a measley two hits this World Series and would probably be more comfortable hiding in a locker. But Pedro bailed him out, plunking him to load the bases.
Rodriguez stepped to the plate with another chance to continue writing his magical playoff story, but Pedro struck him out.
Next up: Matsui. The Yankees already led 2-1, with the designated hitter having done his job. Matsui seemed eager, though, to make up for time lost in Philadelphia, where he rode the pine for three games (with no DH).
Matsui ripped a beautiful RBI single up the middle with two outs and the bases loaded, boosting New York's margin to 4-1.
By the time the fifth came around, Pedro was gone, chased after just four innings. The vaunted pitching matchup had fallen to Japanese pressure, and the bats would now decide the game.
Jeter came out with no care for who was on the mound, lacing a leadoff double to keep the Phillies on their heels. After Jeter was sacrificed over to third, Teixeira finally came through, singling Jeter home to put the Yankees up 5-1. It was the only RBI the Yankees would get that wasn't by Matsui.
Yes, Matsui again. After A-Rod got plunked one more time (the fourth time this series), Matsui the Phillies-killer did as he knew best, doubling the runners home for a 7-1 New York lead.
Apparently, after being rested for three games, Matsui thought he'd compensate with three games' worth of stats in one amazing evening.
Matsui's 6 RBI tied a record for the most RBI in a World Series game.
In the top half of the innings, by the way, Pettitte was still mowing them down, pitching a nearly flawless game. He allowed just two hits through five innings, which is just what the Yankees needed after their poor pitching destroyed their six-run effort the night before.
As Pettitte moved into the sixth, the camera cut to the bullpen, capturing a shot of someone tossing a ball at Joba Chamberlain, who totally missed it and saw it fly by his head.
Stomach ulcers, commence. Yankees fans are already nervous enough about ever having to use the bullpen (especially Chamberlain), so that's the last thing we want to see.
Pettitte gave up a walk, a two-run homer, and a double, and it was time to summon Chamberlain. The real test began. But surprisingly, Chamberlain got his outs.
In the top of the seventh, Chase Utley came to the plate with two guys on, with the chance to pull the Phils within one with one swing. But the man who has foiled the Yankees so far this Series, who even dared to tie Mr. October Reggie Jackson's home record, was struck out by Damaso Marte.
It was then that you realized that it was time. This could be it. It could really be happening.
Rodriguez came to the plate, and the Phillies threw at his head again. But what were they doing? Getting A-Rod uncomfortable seemed to be Philadelphia's last, desperate ploy to keep some kind of hold on the Series.
But the Yankees have been winning with just moderate production from A-Rod. And the pitching showed up tonight. And they were holding fast; no meltdowns, no worries, nothing.
Phillies MVP Ryan Howard came to the plate and struck out again, the 13th time this series (that's a record). People say that if you're a power hitter, you're going to strike out a lot as well as hit home runs. Well, Howard has hit one home run and struck out 13 times. Yeah, I think New York has this one.
Enter Sandman. Five outs, game over. Did this just happen?
The New York Yankees are world champions. !!!!!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
The New York Yankees are world champions!
Other Yankees Posts
Game Recap
11.02.2009
Team W
Was it Mr. November, punching home the go-ahead run in fifth? The acquired workhorse pitcher, muscling his way through nearly six innings on short rest? Perhaps the All-Star first baseman, cleaning up a 20-foot radius at the right-field bag? Or maybe the team's biggest "fraud," driving the hit he's been trying to find for the past five years? Wait — the old-man, shallow-throwing Boston defector? Or the bullpen ghosts, actually finding outs rather than bringing a curse? Perhaps the Sandman, closing it out with eight pitches?
It was the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers, the boys in pinstripes, the Evil Empire. The team that resides in New York, N.Y., collectively won Game 4 of the World Series tonight, and it was beautiful.
The action began in the first inning, as it always should, with Yankees captain Derek Jeter up to bat. He struck the second pitch of the night and ran for a single, and Johnny Damon followed behind with a pounding double.
Mark Teixeira, who has one hit to his name in the World Series so far, took a step in the right direction by lacing an RBI grounder down the right-field line. Teixeira was tagged out by first after a great Ryan Howard dive, but the Yankees were up 1-0 after six pitches.
(Irony: Teixeira and Howard are both first baseman and their team's leading sluggers, and both haven't been hitting in the Series but have played incredible defense.)
Alex Rodriguez came to the plate with his own redemption at stake. Since torching the American League Division and Championship Series, Rodriguez has been horrific against the Phils, striking out six times and getting just one hit (although it was a beauty, a two-run round-tripper). Clearly in the zone, A-Rod got in his stance and stared toward Philadelphia pitcher Joe Blanton, ready to send the runner on third home.
Blanton's first pitch skewed out of his hand and flew straight into the back of A-Rod's rib cage, a pitch so off the mark you had to think he was more shaken at the prospect of the ensuing at-bat than trying to plunk the hard-hitting cleanup man. A-Rod turned away, visibly angry — not so much at the pain, though. This man wanted to drive 'em in.
It was the third time Rodriguez had been hit in the last two games, with the two times he was beaned yesterday the first time since the 1960s that a player had been hit twice in a World Series game.
Jorge Posada came through with a sacrifice fly, putting New York up 2-0, and then it was time for CC Sabathia to get to work.
Sabathia looked rough early, allowing back-to-back doubles for a run, but he buckled down to strike out two and escape the innings. It appeared that the game might dissolve into a pitcher's duel, but in the bottom of the fourth, Sabathia allowed another run.
The Yankees' batters were ready.
Nick Swisher drew a four-pitch walk from the leadoff spot, a big feat for a guy who's been hitting nothing lately, sans yesterday's outburst. (Swisher ended up drawing two walks, a mix of hilarity and greatness.) Then, in a scene all Yankees fans could smile at, the camera cut to the on-deck circle to show Sabathia lopping his bat around, stretching/practice swinging, looking like a fat kid trying to imitate his father.
Melky Cabrera was up next, though, and he provided the Melky special with a man on first. Cabrera doesn't always hit it strong, but he finds ways to get on base, such as his legging out a bunt a couple games ago or his hit tonight, a grounder he outran.
Sabathia arrived at the plate wanting to pull a Pettitte and put his team ahead after letting the Phils catch up, but he came up short. No worries: Mr. November will take care of it.
Jeter hooked an RBI single to put the Yankees up again, 3-2, in the top of the fifth.
Damon followed, absolutely plopping the ball in the gap, and alert running by Cabrera helped him come all the way home once he knew the ball would drop, scoring a 4-2 run in a game that proved to hang on each run's importance.
With the Yankees bats finally, officially, unflukishly alive, all Sabathia had to do was hold the Phillies. The big man worked into the seventh and was an out away from sewing up the frame when Chase Utley came to the plate. Utley had already hit a first-inning RBI double off Sabathia to get Philly within one, and he was the one responsible for Philadelphia's Game 1 win, thanks to his two quads off of Sabathia while Cliff Lee held New York at bay (until the bullpen imploded, and New York destroyed itself).
Chase Utley did it again, chasing Sabathia with a solo homer that brought the Phillies, once again, within a run. 4-3 Yankees.
Sabathia left with six-and-two-thirds innings pitched, 107 pitches tossed, and six strikeouts. It wasn't a flawless game, but it was enough — just what the Yankees needed. New York didn't need dominance; it just needed him to work out of enough jams to let a decent bat effort win the game. You know, have him be part of the team rather than carrying everyone.
The bottom of the eighth brought a pitching change for the Yankees necessitated by a pinch batter, and manager Joe Girardi summoned Joba Chamberlain. Once the fireballing pride of the Bronx, Chamberlain has been caught in management's yo-yo routine between being an average starting pitcher and a dominating setup man to the point that he can barely do either now. But he seemed to have found his form again when he took the mound, striking out two and loading two strikes on Pedro Feliz.
Chamberlain was close to redemption, then boom, Feliz ripped one over the wall. In a game the Yankees had been controlling, with just one inning left, it was all evened up, 4-4.
Out of Philadelphia's bullpen, with the game on the line, came the Phillie with the biggest need of his own redemption: Brad Lidge. A year after being Philadelphia's savior, winning the town its first championship since 1983 by saving game after game with Mariano Rivera-like perfection, Lidge had imploded in the regular season, posting unsightly numbers and losing games.
But come October, he was the old Lidge, not allowing anything past him and closing out the tight Phillies games as the men in red recorded more of their vaunted comebacks.
It was the Yankees' first test against Lidge, and at first it looked like they were failing. Hideki Matsui went down on a popup, and Jeter struck out ugly on seven pitches. Damon came to the plate as the Yankees' final chance before an extra innings (or comeback) mess and worked up a nine-pitch, full-count single to put a man on first with two out and the American League's most prolific hitter in 2009 coming to the plate.
Problem is, the American League's most prolific hitter in 2009 has been one of the Yankees' worst postseason hitter. Teixeira has one hit so far in the Series, and his only other good stat (that first-inning RBI) was inches from being another chopped foul.
The pressure was on, and Teixeira — Sesame Street-face seriousness and all — was ready for it.
But the baseball gods wanted someone else to have a try at it. With a 1-0 count, Damon took off running for a steal of second, and the throw — while wayward — barely went to the right side of the bag as Damon slid in for an easy swipe. But Damon, realizing that the throw had drawn the second baseman away, and seeing that no Phillies were on the left side of the diamond due to the shift they'd put on to quell Teixeira, decided he'd take third.
At first, it looked like a blunder. Had Damon not seen that the fielder had the ball? Was he trying to be a hero? Why did he need third? Where was he going?
Moments later, when sneaky Damon had taken third, all was clear, and the Yankees were in prime position to close out the game.
The pressure was still on Teixeira, but Lidge took it off when his next pitch plunked Tex, putting men on first and third for the man the baseball gods have been summoning since last Wednesday.
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, come forth.
(Word play to not be taken seriously: Doesn't Emmanuel mean "God with us"?)
We've been saying it in June, in July, in the final days of September, that this A-Rod is the real deal. He's a team player; he's focused; he's ready to just play; he's firing on all cylinders. October showed up, and A-Rod bashed seven RBI in his final regular-season game to snatch 100 RBI and rev the motor for the playoffs. The postseason arrived, and he arrived with it, carrying the Yankees past the Twins and the Angels, breaking records and erasing years of terrible play.
But the World Series brought an 0-for-8 start, including six strikeouts. And even the two-run blast yesterday to pull the Yankees into the game wasn't a solace as A-Rod came to the plate against Lidge, who despite his foibles, had looked very good in striking out Jeter three batters before.
Strike looking. A-Rod is calm, serene, stepping back, then moving into the box again.
Nervousness grips the pinstriped faithful, for as much as they've hated him before, they don't want to hate him anymore. They want this one. They want it bad.
Take back what is rightfully our's. K-O the Phillies. Three games to one. Championship No. 27. Do it. Do it. Do it.
Swing — hard hit — oh, it's a hit — a good one — it's moving — Yankees ahead — A-Rod's for real — A-Rod's for real — A-Rod's for real!
Cannot believe it. The 1-for-13 batter just got it done.
A Jorge Posada single followed, scoring Teixeira and Rodriguez to put the game away (well, until Rivera's eight-pitch shut-down that blew away the three Phillies who'd had the air sucked out of them).
And there we go. A 7-4 win. A postseason edge.
27 outs away from No. 27.
Whew, I'm sure glad those 39 pitches Mo threw two games ago didn't let the Phillies figure him out like they said they would. Give me a break, Phillies. You're problem isn't Mo. It's not Sabathia. It's not even A-Rod, or Jeter, or Damon, or a rejuvenated bullpen.
You've met a collection of men called the New York Yankees, and they want this one.
Other Yankees Posts
Game Recap
Notables: Jeter was 2-for-4 with a walk, run, and RBI in a game where his stat line didn't reveal how insanely clutch this tight-pants-clad man is. ... Damon was 3-for-5, and officially absolved of the accusations that he brought the curse with him from Boston. ... A-Rod's double was his only hit of the night, and Teixeira was hitless again. ... Posada had just one hit but 3 RBI; he knows how to pick his spots. ... Cabrera may have pulled his hamstring after running out that grounder. He had to leave the game. ... Chamberlain got the win, with hopes it won't go to his head since his hat is already stretched to the seams (both literally and figuratively). He's also credited with a blown save, which is abbreviated "BS" in statistic-keeping. ... Rivera's save was his fifth of this postseason. ... The runs Lidge allowed were the first this postseason. Until now he was the last pitcher to not allow a run in the 2009 playoffs. ... Jimmy Rollins said the Phillies would win in five games.
It was the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers, the boys in pinstripes, the Evil Empire. The team that resides in New York, N.Y., collectively won Game 4 of the World Series tonight, and it was beautiful.
The action began in the first inning, as it always should, with Yankees captain Derek Jeter up to bat. He struck the second pitch of the night and ran for a single, and Johnny Damon followed behind with a pounding double.
Mark Teixeira, who has one hit to his name in the World Series so far, took a step in the right direction by lacing an RBI grounder down the right-field line. Teixeira was tagged out by first after a great Ryan Howard dive, but the Yankees were up 1-0 after six pitches.
(Irony: Teixeira and Howard are both first baseman and their team's leading sluggers, and both haven't been hitting in the Series but have played incredible defense.)
Alex Rodriguez came to the plate with his own redemption at stake. Since torching the American League Division and Championship Series, Rodriguez has been horrific against the Phils, striking out six times and getting just one hit (although it was a beauty, a two-run round-tripper). Clearly in the zone, A-Rod got in his stance and stared toward Philadelphia pitcher Joe Blanton, ready to send the runner on third home.
Blanton's first pitch skewed out of his hand and flew straight into the back of A-Rod's rib cage, a pitch so off the mark you had to think he was more shaken at the prospect of the ensuing at-bat than trying to plunk the hard-hitting cleanup man. A-Rod turned away, visibly angry — not so much at the pain, though. This man wanted to drive 'em in.
It was the third time Rodriguez had been hit in the last two games, with the two times he was beaned yesterday the first time since the 1960s that a player had been hit twice in a World Series game.
Jorge Posada came through with a sacrifice fly, putting New York up 2-0, and then it was time for CC Sabathia to get to work.
Sabathia looked rough early, allowing back-to-back doubles for a run, but he buckled down to strike out two and escape the innings. It appeared that the game might dissolve into a pitcher's duel, but in the bottom of the fourth, Sabathia allowed another run.
The Yankees' batters were ready.
Nick Swisher drew a four-pitch walk from the leadoff spot, a big feat for a guy who's been hitting nothing lately, sans yesterday's outburst. (Swisher ended up drawing two walks, a mix of hilarity and greatness.) Then, in a scene all Yankees fans could smile at, the camera cut to the on-deck circle to show Sabathia lopping his bat around, stretching/practice swinging, looking like a fat kid trying to imitate his father.
Melky Cabrera was up next, though, and he provided the Melky special with a man on first. Cabrera doesn't always hit it strong, but he finds ways to get on base, such as his legging out a bunt a couple games ago or his hit tonight, a grounder he outran.
Sabathia arrived at the plate wanting to pull a Pettitte and put his team ahead after letting the Phils catch up, but he came up short. No worries: Mr. November will take care of it.
Jeter hooked an RBI single to put the Yankees up again, 3-2, in the top of the fifth.
Damon followed, absolutely plopping the ball in the gap, and alert running by Cabrera helped him come all the way home once he knew the ball would drop, scoring a 4-2 run in a game that proved to hang on each run's importance.
With the Yankees bats finally, officially, unflukishly alive, all Sabathia had to do was hold the Phillies. The big man worked into the seventh and was an out away from sewing up the frame when Chase Utley came to the plate. Utley had already hit a first-inning RBI double off Sabathia to get Philly within one, and he was the one responsible for Philadelphia's Game 1 win, thanks to his two quads off of Sabathia while Cliff Lee held New York at bay (until the bullpen imploded, and New York destroyed itself).
Chase Utley did it again, chasing Sabathia with a solo homer that brought the Phillies, once again, within a run. 4-3 Yankees.
Sabathia left with six-and-two-thirds innings pitched, 107 pitches tossed, and six strikeouts. It wasn't a flawless game, but it was enough — just what the Yankees needed. New York didn't need dominance; it just needed him to work out of enough jams to let a decent bat effort win the game. You know, have him be part of the team rather than carrying everyone.
The bottom of the eighth brought a pitching change for the Yankees necessitated by a pinch batter, and manager Joe Girardi summoned Joba Chamberlain. Once the fireballing pride of the Bronx, Chamberlain has been caught in management's yo-yo routine between being an average starting pitcher and a dominating setup man to the point that he can barely do either now. But he seemed to have found his form again when he took the mound, striking out two and loading two strikes on Pedro Feliz.
Chamberlain was close to redemption, then boom, Feliz ripped one over the wall. In a game the Yankees had been controlling, with just one inning left, it was all evened up, 4-4.
Out of Philadelphia's bullpen, with the game on the line, came the Phillie with the biggest need of his own redemption: Brad Lidge. A year after being Philadelphia's savior, winning the town its first championship since 1983 by saving game after game with Mariano Rivera-like perfection, Lidge had imploded in the regular season, posting unsightly numbers and losing games.
But come October, he was the old Lidge, not allowing anything past him and closing out the tight Phillies games as the men in red recorded more of their vaunted comebacks.
It was the Yankees' first test against Lidge, and at first it looked like they were failing. Hideki Matsui went down on a popup, and Jeter struck out ugly on seven pitches. Damon came to the plate as the Yankees' final chance before an extra innings (or comeback) mess and worked up a nine-pitch, full-count single to put a man on first with two out and the American League's most prolific hitter in 2009 coming to the plate.
Problem is, the American League's most prolific hitter in 2009 has been one of the Yankees' worst postseason hitter. Teixeira has one hit so far in the Series, and his only other good stat (that first-inning RBI) was inches from being another chopped foul.
The pressure was on, and Teixeira — Sesame Street-face seriousness and all — was ready for it.
But the baseball gods wanted someone else to have a try at it. With a 1-0 count, Damon took off running for a steal of second, and the throw — while wayward — barely went to the right side of the bag as Damon slid in for an easy swipe. But Damon, realizing that the throw had drawn the second baseman away, and seeing that no Phillies were on the left side of the diamond due to the shift they'd put on to quell Teixeira, decided he'd take third.
At first, it looked like a blunder. Had Damon not seen that the fielder had the ball? Was he trying to be a hero? Why did he need third? Where was he going?
Moments later, when sneaky Damon had taken third, all was clear, and the Yankees were in prime position to close out the game.
The pressure was still on Teixeira, but Lidge took it off when his next pitch plunked Tex, putting men on first and third for the man the baseball gods have been summoning since last Wednesday.
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, come forth.
(Word play to not be taken seriously: Doesn't Emmanuel mean "God with us"?)
We've been saying it in June, in July, in the final days of September, that this A-Rod is the real deal. He's a team player; he's focused; he's ready to just play; he's firing on all cylinders. October showed up, and A-Rod bashed seven RBI in his final regular-season game to snatch 100 RBI and rev the motor for the playoffs. The postseason arrived, and he arrived with it, carrying the Yankees past the Twins and the Angels, breaking records and erasing years of terrible play.
But the World Series brought an 0-for-8 start, including six strikeouts. And even the two-run blast yesterday to pull the Yankees into the game wasn't a solace as A-Rod came to the plate against Lidge, who despite his foibles, had looked very good in striking out Jeter three batters before.
Strike looking. A-Rod is calm, serene, stepping back, then moving into the box again.
Nervousness grips the pinstriped faithful, for as much as they've hated him before, they don't want to hate him anymore. They want this one. They want it bad.
Take back what is rightfully our's. K-O the Phillies. Three games to one. Championship No. 27. Do it. Do it. Do it.
Swing — hard hit — oh, it's a hit — a good one — it's moving — Yankees ahead — A-Rod's for real — A-Rod's for real — A-Rod's for real!
Cannot believe it. The 1-for-13 batter just got it done.
A Jorge Posada single followed, scoring Teixeira and Rodriguez to put the game away (well, until Rivera's eight-pitch shut-down that blew away the three Phillies who'd had the air sucked out of them).
And there we go. A 7-4 win. A postseason edge.
27 outs away from No. 27.
Whew, I'm sure glad those 39 pitches Mo threw two games ago didn't let the Phillies figure him out like they said they would. Give me a break, Phillies. You're problem isn't Mo. It's not Sabathia. It's not even A-Rod, or Jeter, or Damon, or a rejuvenated bullpen.
You've met a collection of men called the New York Yankees, and they want this one.
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Game Recap
Notables: Jeter was 2-for-4 with a walk, run, and RBI in a game where his stat line didn't reveal how insanely clutch this tight-pants-clad man is. ... Damon was 3-for-5, and officially absolved of the accusations that he brought the curse with him from Boston. ... A-Rod's double was his only hit of the night, and Teixeira was hitless again. ... Posada had just one hit but 3 RBI; he knows how to pick his spots. ... Cabrera may have pulled his hamstring after running out that grounder. He had to leave the game. ... Chamberlain got the win, with hopes it won't go to his head since his hat is already stretched to the seams (both literally and figuratively). He's also credited with a blown save, which is abbreviated "BS" in statistic-keeping. ... Rivera's save was his fifth of this postseason. ... The runs Lidge allowed were the first this postseason. Until now he was the last pitcher to not allow a run in the 2009 playoffs. ... Jimmy Rollins said the Phillies would win in five games.
10.29.2009
The right medicine
A.J. Burnett was just what the Yankees needed tonight, and I'll credit the uneven No. 2 pitcher for New York for this Game 2 win.
After sporadic pitching performances throughout the postseason (not just winning some games and losing some, or letting a lot of runs in during one and not the other, but throwing more pitches in the dirt in some than some pitchers throw all year), Burnett was excellent tonight.
He pitched hard and kept his head in the game even after the Phillies went ahead. With nine strikeouts and seven innings pitched, he didn't just get the guys in red out, he also saved the New York bullpen (which had no right coming into this game) and sent a message to a hard-hitting Philly lineup. And by allowing just four hits, he reasserted that although he may not be an ace, he can still hold down that second-pitcher spot.
After allowing that one run, Burnett didn't let any runners get past second.
On Saturday Andy Pettitte, the Yanks' postseason veteran, gets to take his stab in enemy territory, but tonight, the Yankees are happy for the win.
This series has already turned into a National League showdown, and that's not a good thing, especially since the first two games were in New York. After sporting perfection at the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were no-shows in the first game, excluding the bullpen, which showed up to throw meatballs and let the Phillies run away with the 6-1 Game 1 win.
That all changed tonight. There was no New York bombing (the good kind), but there was gutsy Yankees playing, which is exactly what the Pinstriped Faithful needed to see their boys get back in the series.
After falling behind 1-0, Mark Teixeira showed up with a fourth-inning homer that evened the game. He had been batting .182 in the postseason so far.
Two innings later, Hideki Matsui (who has had middling postseason numbers) sent one into the right field porch with two outs to put New York up 2-1.
The seventh inning was a well-crafted Yankees onslaught, with Jerry Hairston Jr. (of all people) making good on his promotion into Nick Swisher's spot (finally) singling. Melky Cabrera provided another timely hit, putting guys on first and second without an out.
In a scene that is a great part of the 2009 Yankees' postseason, Jorge Posada came up to pinch-hit for Jose Molina, who was catching Burnett, as is usual of late. Posada has been able to come in fresh and inject some life into the late inning for the Yankees, and tonight was no different, with the New York catcher lacing an RBI single to put men on first and second with one out and the leadoff hitter coming to the plate. Yankees 3, Phillies 1.
But remember how I said this was a National League showdown? Yeah. On top of the ludicrous starting pitching and Joe Girardi's hyper hook with the bullpen, the manager who holds the American League pennant started managing his tuchis off again. And that's not a good thing because, remember, his team is in the American League. American League. With hitters, and designated hitters. Not the National League, where you managed the Florida Marlins. American League. American.
Nope, we've got Derek Jeter bunting. Not just bunting, but bunting three times in a row, for a strikeout. Derek Jeter. Mr. November. The guy who has more clutch, postseason hits than most people have years they've lived. The guy who hits a dozen home runs in a year then cranks half a dozen over the wall when it comes to the fortnight that is the playoffs.
Men on first and second, and Jeter is bunting. Oi, Girardi.
Stack another blown call by the playoff umps on the next play (a one-hopper into Phillies' first baseman Ryan Howard's glove was ruled a lineout), and the inning was over. But not even Girardi could derail the rest of the Yankees' day.
In a change from his six-relievers-for-two-innings approach, Girardi called on Mariano Rivera to take care of the last two frames. Mo didn't have to pitch in last night's debacle, and after letting guys reach first and second, a dark horse factor for the Yankees showed up. Robinson Cano turned a great double play to Derek Jeter, who fired, legs splayed over a sliding Phil, to Mark Teixeiera at first just in time to save the inning. The Yankees x-factor defense had made the difference.
Rivera was out for the ninth, of course, and Cano caught a lazy liner for a phenomenal second out before Rivera took down way-too-heavy Philly DH Matt Stairs on strikes for the win.
It wasn't a pretty night, with plenty of Yankee problems, but the goal is a win, and New York got that. Alex Rodriguez had another rough night, whiffing three times for the second day in a row to increase his World Series drought to 0-for-8 through two games. Let's hope it doesn't take him as long to get on track in the Fall Classic as it has in the postseason of recent years.
Phillies slugger Howard struck out four times.
Jeter had an uncharacteristic three strikeouts and a double, and aside from the aforementioned hits, there was only singles by Cano and Matsui, leaving the Yankees with eight hits on the night.
Rivera's fourth save of this postseason was his 10th World Series save and 38th playoff save of his career. Burnett got his first win of the playoffs after three no-decisions.
Game Recap
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After sporadic pitching performances throughout the postseason (not just winning some games and losing some, or letting a lot of runs in during one and not the other, but throwing more pitches in the dirt in some than some pitchers throw all year), Burnett was excellent tonight.
He pitched hard and kept his head in the game even after the Phillies went ahead. With nine strikeouts and seven innings pitched, he didn't just get the guys in red out, he also saved the New York bullpen (which had no right coming into this game) and sent a message to a hard-hitting Philly lineup. And by allowing just four hits, he reasserted that although he may not be an ace, he can still hold down that second-pitcher spot.
After allowing that one run, Burnett didn't let any runners get past second.
On Saturday Andy Pettitte, the Yanks' postseason veteran, gets to take his stab in enemy territory, but tonight, the Yankees are happy for the win.
This series has already turned into a National League showdown, and that's not a good thing, especially since the first two games were in New York. After sporting perfection at the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were no-shows in the first game, excluding the bullpen, which showed up to throw meatballs and let the Phillies run away with the 6-1 Game 1 win.
That all changed tonight. There was no New York bombing (the good kind), but there was gutsy Yankees playing, which is exactly what the Pinstriped Faithful needed to see their boys get back in the series.
After falling behind 1-0, Mark Teixeira showed up with a fourth-inning homer that evened the game. He had been batting .182 in the postseason so far.
Two innings later, Hideki Matsui (who has had middling postseason numbers) sent one into the right field porch with two outs to put New York up 2-1.
The seventh inning was a well-crafted Yankees onslaught, with Jerry Hairston Jr. (of all people) making good on his promotion into Nick Swisher's spot (finally) singling. Melky Cabrera provided another timely hit, putting guys on first and second without an out.
In a scene that is a great part of the 2009 Yankees' postseason, Jorge Posada came up to pinch-hit for Jose Molina, who was catching Burnett, as is usual of late. Posada has been able to come in fresh and inject some life into the late inning for the Yankees, and tonight was no different, with the New York catcher lacing an RBI single to put men on first and second with one out and the leadoff hitter coming to the plate. Yankees 3, Phillies 1.
But remember how I said this was a National League showdown? Yeah. On top of the ludicrous starting pitching and Joe Girardi's hyper hook with the bullpen, the manager who holds the American League pennant started managing his tuchis off again. And that's not a good thing because, remember, his team is in the American League. American League. With hitters, and designated hitters. Not the National League, where you managed the Florida Marlins. American League. American.
Nope, we've got Derek Jeter bunting. Not just bunting, but bunting three times in a row, for a strikeout. Derek Jeter. Mr. November. The guy who has more clutch, postseason hits than most people have years they've lived. The guy who hits a dozen home runs in a year then cranks half a dozen over the wall when it comes to the fortnight that is the playoffs.
Men on first and second, and Jeter is bunting. Oi, Girardi.
Stack another blown call by the playoff umps on the next play (a one-hopper into Phillies' first baseman Ryan Howard's glove was ruled a lineout), and the inning was over. But not even Girardi could derail the rest of the Yankees' day.
In a change from his six-relievers-for-two-innings approach, Girardi called on Mariano Rivera to take care of the last two frames. Mo didn't have to pitch in last night's debacle, and after letting guys reach first and second, a dark horse factor for the Yankees showed up. Robinson Cano turned a great double play to Derek Jeter, who fired, legs splayed over a sliding Phil, to Mark Teixeiera at first just in time to save the inning. The Yankees x-factor defense had made the difference.
Rivera was out for the ninth, of course, and Cano caught a lazy liner for a phenomenal second out before Rivera took down way-too-heavy Philly DH Matt Stairs on strikes for the win.
It wasn't a pretty night, with plenty of Yankee problems, but the goal is a win, and New York got that. Alex Rodriguez had another rough night, whiffing three times for the second day in a row to increase his World Series drought to 0-for-8 through two games. Let's hope it doesn't take him as long to get on track in the Fall Classic as it has in the postseason of recent years.
Phillies slugger Howard struck out four times.
Jeter had an uncharacteristic three strikeouts and a double, and aside from the aforementioned hits, there was only singles by Cano and Matsui, leaving the Yankees with eight hits on the night.
Rivera's fourth save of this postseason was his 10th World Series save and 38th playoff save of his career. Burnett got his first win of the playoffs after three no-decisions.
Game Recap
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10.28.2009
Everything I feared, and more
Game 1 of the World Series was everything I feared, and more. The bats didn't show up (4 total hits; 2 by Derek Jeter). The bullpen blew it (Phil Hughes got another 2 earned runs, and Damaso Marte and David Robertson were the guys who let them score; then Brian Bruney and Phil Coke couldn't put a cap on it). And worst of all, CC Sabathia was Chased -- not chased from the game (that didn't happen until the eighth inning), but slammed twice by Chase Utley, whose two solo home runs were the difference for most of the game.
Argh.
It was a wet, chilly night in the Bronx, a night that had most thinking the game shouldn't be played. The poor Yankees probably wish it hadn't been played, because the non-pretty loss was an almost must-win for them. Oh, and they didn't win it, by the way.
The game was at home, and Sabathia was on the mound -- two factors that the Bombers have hung on throughout the postseason while their bats haven't exactly been bombing.
But without even half an inning in the books, it already looked bad.
After Jimmy Rollins gave the Phils a whimpering start to the series by bunting (bunting?!?!) the first pitch of the game, Sabathia allowed Philadelphia to load the bases and went through six batters on 24 pitches.
He escaped that jam, but in the top of the ninth, Utley worked him for a nine-pitch at-bat then sent one out of the park.
Cliff Lee was unhittable in the bottom half of hte frames, seeming to get stronger as the game went on. He tossed a complete game, in fact, which was the only sensible thing for an unstoppable pitcher to do with these made-of-china bullpens.
Lee struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth and had seven strikeouts through the first four innings. He ended the night with 10.
Sabathia retired eight straight, but in the top of the sixth, Utley got him again to put the Phillies up 2-0. Sabathia got a big, three-pitch strikeout on Raul Ibanez to end the inning, but the damage was done.
And then the bullpen made it worse. Hughes has been the loose linchpin since October began, but manager Joe Girardi called on him again. Sure enough, he walked leadoff batter Jimmy Rollins (of all people) then let him steal before walking Shane Victorino. That brought in Marte, who surprisingly, didn't blow the game, but Robertson couldn't hold the men on. In the next inning, Bruney encouraged more carnage and saw the Phillies' margin move to 5-0.
Coke let another in on a Ryan Howard double.
6-0? Pitcher's duel? Well, it was, until the Yankees tapped that cesspool they've been calling their bullpen.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugly.
The Yankees' vaunted bats went out with little more than an error-aided whimper in the bottom of the ninth, and that was it.
There's always tomorrow, but I think we know what needs the tweaking before 7:57 Thursday evening.
Game recap
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Argh.
It was a wet, chilly night in the Bronx, a night that had most thinking the game shouldn't be played. The poor Yankees probably wish it hadn't been played, because the non-pretty loss was an almost must-win for them. Oh, and they didn't win it, by the way.
The game was at home, and Sabathia was on the mound -- two factors that the Bombers have hung on throughout the postseason while their bats haven't exactly been bombing.
But without even half an inning in the books, it already looked bad.
After Jimmy Rollins gave the Phils a whimpering start to the series by bunting (bunting?!?!) the first pitch of the game, Sabathia allowed Philadelphia to load the bases and went through six batters on 24 pitches.
He escaped that jam, but in the top of the ninth, Utley worked him for a nine-pitch at-bat then sent one out of the park.
Cliff Lee was unhittable in the bottom half of hte frames, seeming to get stronger as the game went on. He tossed a complete game, in fact, which was the only sensible thing for an unstoppable pitcher to do with these made-of-china bullpens.
Lee struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth and had seven strikeouts through the first four innings. He ended the night with 10.
Sabathia retired eight straight, but in the top of the sixth, Utley got him again to put the Phillies up 2-0. Sabathia got a big, three-pitch strikeout on Raul Ibanez to end the inning, but the damage was done.
And then the bullpen made it worse. Hughes has been the loose linchpin since October began, but manager Joe Girardi called on him again. Sure enough, he walked leadoff batter Jimmy Rollins (of all people) then let him steal before walking Shane Victorino. That brought in Marte, who surprisingly, didn't blow the game, but Robertson couldn't hold the men on. In the next inning, Bruney encouraged more carnage and saw the Phillies' margin move to 5-0.
Coke let another in on a Ryan Howard double.
6-0? Pitcher's duel? Well, it was, until the Yankees tapped that cesspool they've been calling their bullpen.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugly.
The Yankees' vaunted bats went out with little more than an error-aided whimper in the bottom of the ninth, and that was it.
There's always tomorrow, but I think we know what needs the tweaking before 7:57 Thursday evening.
Game recap
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10.27.2009
World Series preview
I'm not sure I have the attention span for a full-fledged World Series preview, so I'm going to post bits and pieces as I think of them.
My #1 concern going into the series: the Yankees' bats and bullpen.
Let's start with the bullpen. I trust CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera completely, but I haven't been impressed with the bullpen this postseason. Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes should no longer be treated the way they were in the regular season, when they could be lights out. Instead, the few guys who have shown they can hold the seventh and eighth down should be called upon in the next four to seven games.
Some of this has to do with Joe Girardi's decision-making, but more of it has to do with some of these guys just not having it right now. I don't know if it's them being figured out after a long season or the jitters of the playoffs, but the bullpen's going to have to be stronger in the World Series.
Don't get me started on A.J. Burnett.
My other worry is the Yankees' batting woes. While slumpers Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher did come around (no pun intended) this last game, the Yankees' lineup from top to bottom has been horrid in the last two playoff series. Without Alex Rodriguez, timely hits by Derek Jeter, and the random hit every once in a while by everyone else, the Yankees could have easily been shut out.
Some guys have had bad luck, lining out or missing the gaps, but others have been horrid. Robinson Cano, Hideki Matsui, and Swisher have been the worst. Teixeira and Johnny Damon have been half and half. Jorge Posada has been hitting, but his getting on base is rarely rewarded. Melky Cabrera has held his own.
With only three or four consistent hitters, the Yankees are waiting to be feasted upon.
The good news is that this last game provided some great momentum. Most of the guys got a hit, and hopefully a little rest and refocusing can get the bats going again. As long as they're hitting the ball well, they won't have to rely on flukish errors and flubs by the other team to make the difference in tight games.
Other Yankees Posts
My #1 concern going into the series: the Yankees' bats and bullpen.
Let's start with the bullpen. I trust CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera completely, but I haven't been impressed with the bullpen this postseason. Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes should no longer be treated the way they were in the regular season, when they could be lights out. Instead, the few guys who have shown they can hold the seventh and eighth down should be called upon in the next four to seven games.
Some of this has to do with Joe Girardi's decision-making, but more of it has to do with some of these guys just not having it right now. I don't know if it's them being figured out after a long season or the jitters of the playoffs, but the bullpen's going to have to be stronger in the World Series.
Don't get me started on A.J. Burnett.
My other worry is the Yankees' batting woes. While slumpers Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher did come around (no pun intended) this last game, the Yankees' lineup from top to bottom has been horrid in the last two playoff series. Without Alex Rodriguez, timely hits by Derek Jeter, and the random hit every once in a while by everyone else, the Yankees could have easily been shut out.
Some guys have had bad luck, lining out or missing the gaps, but others have been horrid. Robinson Cano, Hideki Matsui, and Swisher have been the worst. Teixeira and Johnny Damon have been half and half. Jorge Posada has been hitting, but his getting on base is rarely rewarded. Melky Cabrera has held his own.
With only three or four consistent hitters, the Yankees are waiting to be feasted upon.
The good news is that this last game provided some great momentum. Most of the guys got a hit, and hopefully a little rest and refocusing can get the bats going again. As long as they're hitting the ball well, they won't have to rely on flukish errors and flubs by the other team to make the difference in tight games.
Other Yankees Posts
10.26.2009
Unroll the bunting
When the Yankees missed the playoffs last season, I put a "World Series 2009!" banner on the top of my Web page for the team. Well, it's 2009, and they've done their part.
The Yankees are in the World Series for the 40th time.
Tonight's 5-2 win was another classic Andy Pettitte-Mariano Rivera combination, with Pettitte winning a postseason-record 16th game and Rivera grabbing his 37th playoff save.
Pettitte was sharp all night, going 6.1 innings and allowing just one run while striking out six. Mo let a run through in the eighth but pitched two full innings, striking out the final batter to send the Yankees into November.
Despite holding the record for wins in the postseason, Pettitte had yet to beat the Angels until tonight (he was 0-4). He defers the compliments and says he's just surrounded by good guys, but tonight he showed that's just not true; he's a playoff master as much as Rivera.
The Yankees didn't break through until the fourth inning tonight after three straight innings (and several games, for that matter) of leaving men on base. In the first, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez both hit singles but were left stranded. In the second, it was Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, plus a Derek Jeter walk, but Johnny Damon couldn't come through. In the third, Rodriguez walked, but no runs.
In the fourth, a Cano walk and Nick Swisher single, with the men advanced to second and third on a Cabrera sacrifice, set the stage for Los Angeles to unravel. It began when Jeter fouled a ball off near the right field seats that Angels first baseman Kendry Morales pulled up on and didn't make an attempt to dive to catch (a "Jeter," if you will). Jeter ended up with a free pass to first a few pitches later, and Damon came to the plate to avenge himself.
After going 0-for-4 with the bases loaded in the postseason, Damon slapped a two-run-scoring single, putting the Yankees ahead.
Angels starter Joe Saunders had been looking shaky already, one-hopping some pitches to the plate, and he walked Teixeira next to load the bags.
The crowd was pensive, nervous, standing without much motion as memories of recent Yankee collapses surely streamed through their heads.
The new October hero, Rodriguez, came to the plate, and after a hard cut on a foul ball, Saunders was the one looking nervous, walking A-Rod to score a run and put the Yankees up 3-1. Rodriguez ended the night with three walks.
The small-ball hitting was the theme of the night, as Yankee Stadium went without a homer for the second time this postseason after just one day without a home run during the regular season.
When the seventh inning rolled around, though, the worrying could reconvene as New York turned to its bullpen, which has had its issues lately. But Joba Chamberlain pulled through for his two outs, and Rivera was summoned to put the Angels away (but not before a little teasing and making it a nail-biter by letting the Angels come within a run at 3-2).
The Yankees came out ready in the bottom of the eighth, not content to be ahead by just one. After getting a man on first, Swisher showed he is actually good for something this season, putting down an excellent bunt then legging it out to force an error at first and put men on first and second with no outs.
Another beautiful Cabrera bunt looked to advance the runners, but the same Yankees that were in the Angels' heads for most of the series were there again tonight. Scott Kazmir, who was already questionably in the game after being the losing pitcher in the game 4 Yankees blowout, made a huge error. His lob to first flew way over the leaping first baseman's head, letting a Yankee run score and preserving another out.
Kazmir tried to make up for his gaffe with the next batter, firing to first to get Jeter on a groundout, but the damage was done.
By now, the Yankees knew. A-Rod was smelling it, sitting perky in the dugout. He had carried the team so far and no longer cared about his October monkeys; he wanted the World Series.
Jeter stood, holding back a grin. He was relishing the new Yankee Stadium, full of screaming fans and perfect color, with the Angels on the ropes. There's no way the game was tense for him; he knew they had it.
A Teixeira sacrifice fly had the Yankees taking the field for the top of the ninth up 5-2.
This was how they wanted it: at home, in front of this crowd, with this kind of domination, with this momentum going into a matchup with the defending champions.
A few pitches later, they had it. It was all over but the champagne.
CC Sabathia, who is almost certainly starting Wednesday's World Series opener, was named the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player, despite Rodriguez batting .438 with five home runs and 11 RBI, and all his game-tying or game-winning heroics.
But the A-Rod that has cared about quality, not image, all season, was at Yankee Stadium again tonight. When he jumped in celebration after Mo struck out the final batter, his gum flopped out of his supermodel mouth, ruining the splendid image that should be A-Rod.
He jumped into a hug with Jeter and Teixeira, just one of the guys.
One of the guys going to the World Series.
Other Yankees Posts
The Yankees are in the World Series for the 40th time.
Tonight's 5-2 win was another classic Andy Pettitte-Mariano Rivera combination, with Pettitte winning a postseason-record 16th game and Rivera grabbing his 37th playoff save.
Pettitte was sharp all night, going 6.1 innings and allowing just one run while striking out six. Mo let a run through in the eighth but pitched two full innings, striking out the final batter to send the Yankees into November.
Despite holding the record for wins in the postseason, Pettitte had yet to beat the Angels until tonight (he was 0-4). He defers the compliments and says he's just surrounded by good guys, but tonight he showed that's just not true; he's a playoff master as much as Rivera.
The Yankees didn't break through until the fourth inning tonight after three straight innings (and several games, for that matter) of leaving men on base. In the first, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez both hit singles but were left stranded. In the second, it was Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, plus a Derek Jeter walk, but Johnny Damon couldn't come through. In the third, Rodriguez walked, but no runs.
In the fourth, a Cano walk and Nick Swisher single, with the men advanced to second and third on a Cabrera sacrifice, set the stage for Los Angeles to unravel. It began when Jeter fouled a ball off near the right field seats that Angels first baseman Kendry Morales pulled up on and didn't make an attempt to dive to catch (a "Jeter," if you will). Jeter ended up with a free pass to first a few pitches later, and Damon came to the plate to avenge himself.
After going 0-for-4 with the bases loaded in the postseason, Damon slapped a two-run-scoring single, putting the Yankees ahead.
Angels starter Joe Saunders had been looking shaky already, one-hopping some pitches to the plate, and he walked Teixeira next to load the bags.
The crowd was pensive, nervous, standing without much motion as memories of recent Yankee collapses surely streamed through their heads.
The new October hero, Rodriguez, came to the plate, and after a hard cut on a foul ball, Saunders was the one looking nervous, walking A-Rod to score a run and put the Yankees up 3-1. Rodriguez ended the night with three walks.
The small-ball hitting was the theme of the night, as Yankee Stadium went without a homer for the second time this postseason after just one day without a home run during the regular season.
When the seventh inning rolled around, though, the worrying could reconvene as New York turned to its bullpen, which has had its issues lately. But Joba Chamberlain pulled through for his two outs, and Rivera was summoned to put the Angels away (but not before a little teasing and making it a nail-biter by letting the Angels come within a run at 3-2).
The Yankees came out ready in the bottom of the eighth, not content to be ahead by just one. After getting a man on first, Swisher showed he is actually good for something this season, putting down an excellent bunt then legging it out to force an error at first and put men on first and second with no outs.
Another beautiful Cabrera bunt looked to advance the runners, but the same Yankees that were in the Angels' heads for most of the series were there again tonight. Scott Kazmir, who was already questionably in the game after being the losing pitcher in the game 4 Yankees blowout, made a huge error. His lob to first flew way over the leaping first baseman's head, letting a Yankee run score and preserving another out.
Kazmir tried to make up for his gaffe with the next batter, firing to first to get Jeter on a groundout, but the damage was done.
By now, the Yankees knew. A-Rod was smelling it, sitting perky in the dugout. He had carried the team so far and no longer cared about his October monkeys; he wanted the World Series.
Jeter stood, holding back a grin. He was relishing the new Yankee Stadium, full of screaming fans and perfect color, with the Angels on the ropes. There's no way the game was tense for him; he knew they had it.
A Teixeira sacrifice fly had the Yankees taking the field for the top of the ninth up 5-2.
This was how they wanted it: at home, in front of this crowd, with this kind of domination, with this momentum going into a matchup with the defending champions.
A few pitches later, they had it. It was all over but the champagne.
CC Sabathia, who is almost certainly starting Wednesday's World Series opener, was named the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player, despite Rodriguez batting .438 with five home runs and 11 RBI, and all his game-tying or game-winning heroics.
But the A-Rod that has cared about quality, not image, all season, was at Yankee Stadium again tonight. When he jumped in celebration after Mo struck out the final batter, his gum flopped out of his supermodel mouth, ruining the splendid image that should be A-Rod.
He jumped into a hug with Jeter and Teixeira, just one of the guys.
One of the guys going to the World Series.
Other Yankees Posts
10.20.2009
In their heads
No one has ever said Alex Rodriguez isn't talented, that he isn't a great batter, that he isn't MVP-caliber talent.
But he has been accused of being an underachiever, a choke, a less-than-real Yankee.
That's why it was only fitting when A-Rod's fifth-inning home run to bury the Angels in a 5-0 hole also capped an incredible seven games of baseball, putting him in good company with a Yankee great.
Rodriguez's two-run shot made tonight's game the eighth game in a row (seven this postseason) with an RBI, a figure that ties Lou Gehrig for first place in playoff history.
Angel Stadium went silent after A-Rod's latest bomb, as this year's postseason leader for the Yankees led his pinstriped fellows into familiar territory: getting inside the Angels' heads.
The game started innocently enough, with Derek Jeter slapping an opposite-field single in the gap. But Jeter got caught off the bag trying to steal, and the Yankees looked ready to repeat their gaffe-filled ways from earlier in the series (which, until yesterday's extra-innings Angels win, had yet to result in a New York loss).
But tonight's game turned out to be more like the New England Patriots' victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. After opening up with some terrible play (Yankees: the Jeter mishap, Swisher getting called out for not tagging up soon enough; Patriots: stalling in the red zone, missing a field goal), both teams went off and blew away their opponents. The Patriots won 59-0 behind six touchdowns from Tom Brady. The Yankees stacked it on until the night ended with a 10-1 score.
If there's a trademark to this Angels-Yankees series, it's that even when the Yankees hand it to the Angels, the Angels can't seem to take it, and then the Yankees decimate them. In the first two games, it was late-inning heroics. The Angels shed their demons in the 11th inning of last night's win only to invite them back today, letting the Yankees into their heads despite serious mental lapses by the Bombers (see Jeter, Derek; Swisher, Nick; and Posada, Jorge, which led to Cano, Robinson).
(Side note: There were some terrible calls by the umps this game, but at least they didn't affect the outcome.)
With the Angels not taking advantage of the Yankees' ineptness, they had no chance of stemming the tide that was the unstopable A-Rod and CC Sabathia.
Before A-Rod's big homer, the Yankees had scratched together three runs, but there was no astounding hitting. The real hero of the game so far had been Sabathia, who was being the ultimate team player as he pitched on three day's rest and kept his pitch count low to be able to stay in the game. In one inning, he had about a third of the number of pitches the Angels' starter, Scott Kazmir, had totaled, and the big horse lasted eight innings overall and was able to strike out five while allowing just five hits (the one run coming from a homer).
At this point, people start saying that the Yankees are winning because all their players get paid so much, but getting paid a lot is nothing until you produce. Ask A-Rod.
From 2004-2007, he had four home runs and nine RBI. This year alone, he has five home runs and 11 RBI. (And this is the first season his regular-season numbers weren't as hot...do you hear anyone whining about that?) Plus, there's those terrible numbers he's had in years past with runners in scoring position.
Sabathia has followed suit, minus the years of frustration A-Rod had. He may not always pitch pretty, but eight innings means valuable rest for the bullpen and no need for a run-around in trying to find a fourth man to pitch.
Once Sabathia started dominating the Angels bats, and Rodriguez began to light things up again, the rest of the Yankees followed. Johnny Damon bolstered his case to stay with the Yankees for another season with a two-run blast that put the game away. Melky Cabrera slapped in a couple runs in the ninth inning, after A-Rod teased Bobby's Abreu arm by tagging up on a flyout then scoring on the errant throw. (Want to know why New York didn't keep Abreu? Yeah, look at that arm. Swisher may strike out and look silly most days, but he can throw a ball.)
It was a definitive win by the Yankees, the ultimate yes-we-did victory that will give this team enough momentum to hopefully end the series Thursday or else close it out in front of a raucous New York City crowd.
Sabathia's win was his third of the postseason, which leads all playoff pitchers, and his ERA is now 1.19 after allowing just one run today.
Rodriguez and Cabrera both went 3-for-4, although Rodriguez's two RBI were bested by Cabrera's four. Jeter had two hits, Damon's home run was worth two RBI, and Cano added the final RBI for the Yankees, which got a hit from each member of the lineup sans Hideki Matsui (0-for-5) and Swisher (0-for-2).
Rodriguez and Posada (!!!) both had stolen bases.
Angel Stadium hosts Thursday's matchup, set for 7:57 p.m.
A.J. Burnett is expected to start for the Yankees, and John Lackey wil try to take the Yanks after losing Game 1.
Other Yankees Posts
But he has been accused of being an underachiever, a choke, a less-than-real Yankee.
That's why it was only fitting when A-Rod's fifth-inning home run to bury the Angels in a 5-0 hole also capped an incredible seven games of baseball, putting him in good company with a Yankee great.
Rodriguez's two-run shot made tonight's game the eighth game in a row (seven this postseason) with an RBI, a figure that ties Lou Gehrig for first place in playoff history.
Angel Stadium went silent after A-Rod's latest bomb, as this year's postseason leader for the Yankees led his pinstriped fellows into familiar territory: getting inside the Angels' heads.
The game started innocently enough, with Derek Jeter slapping an opposite-field single in the gap. But Jeter got caught off the bag trying to steal, and the Yankees looked ready to repeat their gaffe-filled ways from earlier in the series (which, until yesterday's extra-innings Angels win, had yet to result in a New York loss).
But tonight's game turned out to be more like the New England Patriots' victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. After opening up with some terrible play (Yankees: the Jeter mishap, Swisher getting called out for not tagging up soon enough; Patriots: stalling in the red zone, missing a field goal), both teams went off and blew away their opponents. The Patriots won 59-0 behind six touchdowns from Tom Brady. The Yankees stacked it on until the night ended with a 10-1 score.
If there's a trademark to this Angels-Yankees series, it's that even when the Yankees hand it to the Angels, the Angels can't seem to take it, and then the Yankees decimate them. In the first two games, it was late-inning heroics. The Angels shed their demons in the 11th inning of last night's win only to invite them back today, letting the Yankees into their heads despite serious mental lapses by the Bombers (see Jeter, Derek; Swisher, Nick; and Posada, Jorge, which led to Cano, Robinson).
(Side note: There were some terrible calls by the umps this game, but at least they didn't affect the outcome.)
With the Angels not taking advantage of the Yankees' ineptness, they had no chance of stemming the tide that was the unstopable A-Rod and CC Sabathia.
Before A-Rod's big homer, the Yankees had scratched together three runs, but there was no astounding hitting. The real hero of the game so far had been Sabathia, who was being the ultimate team player as he pitched on three day's rest and kept his pitch count low to be able to stay in the game. In one inning, he had about a third of the number of pitches the Angels' starter, Scott Kazmir, had totaled, and the big horse lasted eight innings overall and was able to strike out five while allowing just five hits (the one run coming from a homer).
At this point, people start saying that the Yankees are winning because all their players get paid so much, but getting paid a lot is nothing until you produce. Ask A-Rod.
From 2004-2007, he had four home runs and nine RBI. This year alone, he has five home runs and 11 RBI. (And this is the first season his regular-season numbers weren't as hot...do you hear anyone whining about that?) Plus, there's those terrible numbers he's had in years past with runners in scoring position.
Sabathia has followed suit, minus the years of frustration A-Rod had. He may not always pitch pretty, but eight innings means valuable rest for the bullpen and no need for a run-around in trying to find a fourth man to pitch.
Once Sabathia started dominating the Angels bats, and Rodriguez began to light things up again, the rest of the Yankees followed. Johnny Damon bolstered his case to stay with the Yankees for another season with a two-run blast that put the game away. Melky Cabrera slapped in a couple runs in the ninth inning, after A-Rod teased Bobby's Abreu arm by tagging up on a flyout then scoring on the errant throw. (Want to know why New York didn't keep Abreu? Yeah, look at that arm. Swisher may strike out and look silly most days, but he can throw a ball.)
It was a definitive win by the Yankees, the ultimate yes-we-did victory that will give this team enough momentum to hopefully end the series Thursday or else close it out in front of a raucous New York City crowd.
Sabathia's win was his third of the postseason, which leads all playoff pitchers, and his ERA is now 1.19 after allowing just one run today.
Rodriguez and Cabrera both went 3-for-4, although Rodriguez's two RBI were bested by Cabrera's four. Jeter had two hits, Damon's home run was worth two RBI, and Cano added the final RBI for the Yankees, which got a hit from each member of the lineup sans Hideki Matsui (0-for-5) and Swisher (0-for-2).
Rodriguez and Posada (!!!) both had stolen bases.
Angel Stadium hosts Thursday's matchup, set for 7:57 p.m.
A.J. Burnett is expected to start for the Yankees, and John Lackey wil try to take the Yanks after losing Game 1.
Other Yankees Posts
10.18.2009
"Classic," defined.
This kid has only been here since July, but Jerry Hairston Jr. knows what it means to be a 2009 Yankee: "We knew we were going to win this game."
Hairston was the baserunner for the Yanks in the bottom of the 13th, the random cog left from New York's postseason-shrunk roster who scored on a Melky Cabrera slapshot up the middle that the Angels bobbled. The Yankees won the second game of the American League Championship Series 4-3 but more importantly kept their hex over an Angels team that doesn't appear to be able to beat them, even with the game handed over on a silver platter.
Los Angeles left 28 men on base tonight, committed two errors and saw its everyone-hits-over-.300 lineup bat .170.
But the Angels faults were of secondary concern, for their failure was a reaction to the Yankees, who squandered most of the game until gutting out the win four innings past the end of regulation, in nasty conditions of heavy rain and whipping winds. New York had already committed three errors of its own, putting Angels on base with no outs due to walks, wild pitches, errors and muffed catches. Even the vaunted Yankees lineup left 20 men on base, with the 2009 Murderer's Row bleeting just .271 with hardly any runs to show for it.
The Angels left the door open, and the Yankees charged through. Pie in hands, ear-warmers in their pockets, Anaheim on their minds, New York took the contest by the neck once the game went to extra innings and produced what can be called nothing other than a fall classic.
It was a win so good you could barely touch it, with soaked fans in rally caps watching the new version of the New York Yankees sketch a picture-perfect win the same way Yankees teams have done in the postseason 26 times before.
Every New York starter had a hit in the marathon, sans Mark Teixeira (who was busy earning his paycheck by devouring every ball that came near first base). Robinson Cano, who appeared eager to become the team goat with two terrible errors, put the Yankees up early with an RBI triple.
Derek Jeter's solo home run gave New York a 2-0 edge before A.J. Burnett's wild throws let the Angels back into the game.
But New York's bullpen was phenomenal, and after Alex Rodriguez continued his postseason rampage with an equalizer in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees calmly held on before squirting the winner across in the 13th, breaking the Angels' will.
Maicer Izturis lost the game for the Angels the same way the Pirates lose every season: trying to be the Yankees, when you really, really can't be. Izturis tried to throw across his body and get the runner on second, pulling a "Jeter" (the classic spin and throw move from the New York shortstop). Instead, he threw the ball, and the game, away.
Damon and Cabrera were the only Yankees with two hits. Jeter, Rodriguez and Cano had the three RBI (the final run scoring on an error).
Although his usual erratic self on the mound, Burnett threw some good stuff, too, picking up four strikeouts against only two walks in 6.1 innings of work.
Mariano Rivera worked a little longer than usual, logging 2.1 innings in the 13-inning contest.
The series now shifts to sunny California, with three games scheduled. Judging by the mood of the Yankees clubhouse, and all that shaving cream Burnett is stuffing in his duffel, though, the Angels' season could easily end in two.
Mrs. October? A tribute to the 2009 version of A-Rod
Photos from tonight's game
Other Yankees Posts
Hairston was the baserunner for the Yanks in the bottom of the 13th, the random cog left from New York's postseason-shrunk roster who scored on a Melky Cabrera slapshot up the middle that the Angels bobbled. The Yankees won the second game of the American League Championship Series 4-3 but more importantly kept their hex over an Angels team that doesn't appear to be able to beat them, even with the game handed over on a silver platter.
Los Angeles left 28 men on base tonight, committed two errors and saw its everyone-hits-over-.300 lineup bat .170.
But the Angels faults were of secondary concern, for their failure was a reaction to the Yankees, who squandered most of the game until gutting out the win four innings past the end of regulation, in nasty conditions of heavy rain and whipping winds. New York had already committed three errors of its own, putting Angels on base with no outs due to walks, wild pitches, errors and muffed catches. Even the vaunted Yankees lineup left 20 men on base, with the 2009 Murderer's Row bleeting just .271 with hardly any runs to show for it.
The Angels left the door open, and the Yankees charged through. Pie in hands, ear-warmers in their pockets, Anaheim on their minds, New York took the contest by the neck once the game went to extra innings and produced what can be called nothing other than a fall classic.
It was a win so good you could barely touch it, with soaked fans in rally caps watching the new version of the New York Yankees sketch a picture-perfect win the same way Yankees teams have done in the postseason 26 times before.
Every New York starter had a hit in the marathon, sans Mark Teixeira (who was busy earning his paycheck by devouring every ball that came near first base). Robinson Cano, who appeared eager to become the team goat with two terrible errors, put the Yankees up early with an RBI triple.
Derek Jeter's solo home run gave New York a 2-0 edge before A.J. Burnett's wild throws let the Angels back into the game.
But New York's bullpen was phenomenal, and after Alex Rodriguez continued his postseason rampage with an equalizer in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees calmly held on before squirting the winner across in the 13th, breaking the Angels' will.
Maicer Izturis lost the game for the Angels the same way the Pirates lose every season: trying to be the Yankees, when you really, really can't be. Izturis tried to throw across his body and get the runner on second, pulling a "Jeter" (the classic spin and throw move from the New York shortstop). Instead, he threw the ball, and the game, away.
Damon and Cabrera were the only Yankees with two hits. Jeter, Rodriguez and Cano had the three RBI (the final run scoring on an error).
Although his usual erratic self on the mound, Burnett threw some good stuff, too, picking up four strikeouts against only two walks in 6.1 innings of work.
Mariano Rivera worked a little longer than usual, logging 2.1 innings in the 13-inning contest.
The series now shifts to sunny California, with three games scheduled. Judging by the mood of the Yankees clubhouse, and all that shaving cream Burnett is stuffing in his duffel, though, the Angels' season could easily end in two.
Mrs. October? A tribute to the 2009 version of A-Rod
Photos from tonight's game
Other Yankees Posts
Mrs. October? A tribute to the 2009 version of A-Rod
You want him to do it. He comes to the plate, and you say, "Come on, A-Rod. Over the fence."
And he does it, effortlessly. In his prettier-than-springtime swing, he sends the ball sailing out of the diamond. Left field, right field, deep, short — a homer's a homer, and Alex Rodriguez is hitting them whenever they're needed.
Rodriguez took the monkeys off his back last week as the Yankees steamrolled the Minnesota Twins behind half a dozen A-Rod RBI.
Tonight, he pulled the Yankees onto his back by keeping them in a game they blew numerous chances to win.
New York had been clipping along fine, with Robbie Cano smashing a triple to score a run, then Mr. Postseason hitting a homer (Derek Jeter, who is not much of a power hitter, smacks round-trippers in the postseason like a kid raiding the cookie jar once his parents have left the house).
But scattershot-throwing A.J. Burnett let the lead slip away. A walk and a wild pitch with hits interspersed vaporized the 2-0 New York edge.
Both teams hung tough and piled men on the bases. Both teams saw unusual errors fall from their usually golden gloves. Both teams also got gutsy pitching and good fielding to keep it all close.
At first base, Mark Teixeira showed he was worth every penny of his $172 million with play after play. Stretching, lunging, scooping — any ball tossed within 10 feet of the bag fell into Tex's mitt.
Johnny Damon made a great catch in left, and Yankees speedsters Freddy Guzman and Brett Gardner were available to spare the old legs.
But New York couldn't break the tie. And then Los Angeles went ahead by a run.
The Yankees have had 51 come-from-behind wins this year (out of 103 total wins) and 15 walkoff shots. Signs in the outfield seats read "WE WANT PIE" as the rain fell harder and Burnett, the team's resident walk-off baker, watched his squandered lead loom larger.
Enter A-Rod.
The cleanup batter was 0-for-4 so far in the game, the first game of this postseason he didn't have an RBI in yet.
But when Alex Rodriguez shows up in October, he really shows up. The 2009 A-Rod changes games, bails his team out, pierces the challengers to the heart.
A-Rod fell behind 0-2 in the count, but looking as calm as he has every other time he's altered a game in the past two weeks, he stepped back into the box for another pitch.
Connection. It's in the air, a line drive at least. It'll drop in right. No wait, it's carrying. It's carrying! It's in Bobby Abreu land (that's a good sign this won't be a catch).
It's gone. How on earth did he do that — again?
Bottom of the 11th, game tied, a few more scoreless frames to follow. (Including one where A-Rod fails to drive in a go-ahead run with the bases loaded; does he only work October magic when tying games?) I don't think there's anyone in New York, or the rest of baseball, doubting A-Rod anymore. Monkeys off the back, team on it.
I'm not ready to anoint him Mr. October — he still runs like a girl. Could this be Mrs. October?
Yankees 4, Angels 3 game recap
Other Yankees Post
And he does it, effortlessly. In his prettier-than-springtime swing, he sends the ball sailing out of the diamond. Left field, right field, deep, short — a homer's a homer, and Alex Rodriguez is hitting them whenever they're needed.
Rodriguez took the monkeys off his back last week as the Yankees steamrolled the Minnesota Twins behind half a dozen A-Rod RBI.
Tonight, he pulled the Yankees onto his back by keeping them in a game they blew numerous chances to win.
New York had been clipping along fine, with Robbie Cano smashing a triple to score a run, then Mr. Postseason hitting a homer (Derek Jeter, who is not much of a power hitter, smacks round-trippers in the postseason like a kid raiding the cookie jar once his parents have left the house).
But scattershot-throwing A.J. Burnett let the lead slip away. A walk and a wild pitch with hits interspersed vaporized the 2-0 New York edge.
Both teams hung tough and piled men on the bases. Both teams saw unusual errors fall from their usually golden gloves. Both teams also got gutsy pitching and good fielding to keep it all close.
At first base, Mark Teixeira showed he was worth every penny of his $172 million with play after play. Stretching, lunging, scooping — any ball tossed within 10 feet of the bag fell into Tex's mitt.
Johnny Damon made a great catch in left, and Yankees speedsters Freddy Guzman and Brett Gardner were available to spare the old legs.
But New York couldn't break the tie. And then Los Angeles went ahead by a run.
The Yankees have had 51 come-from-behind wins this year (out of 103 total wins) and 15 walkoff shots. Signs in the outfield seats read "WE WANT PIE" as the rain fell harder and Burnett, the team's resident walk-off baker, watched his squandered lead loom larger.
Enter A-Rod.
The cleanup batter was 0-for-4 so far in the game, the first game of this postseason he didn't have an RBI in yet.
But when Alex Rodriguez shows up in October, he really shows up. The 2009 A-Rod changes games, bails his team out, pierces the challengers to the heart.
A-Rod fell behind 0-2 in the count, but looking as calm as he has every other time he's altered a game in the past two weeks, he stepped back into the box for another pitch.
Connection. It's in the air, a line drive at least. It'll drop in right. No wait, it's carrying. It's carrying! It's in Bobby Abreu land (that's a good sign this won't be a catch).
It's gone. How on earth did he do that — again?
Bottom of the 11th, game tied, a few more scoreless frames to follow. (Including one where A-Rod fails to drive in a go-ahead run with the bases loaded; does he only work October magic when tying games?) I don't think there's anyone in New York, or the rest of baseball, doubting A-Rod anymore. Monkeys off the back, team on it.
I'm not ready to anoint him Mr. October — he still runs like a girl. Could this be Mrs. October?
Yankees 4, Angels 3 game recap
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10.16.2009
Yankees take the opener
CC Sabathia, the old workhorse, went eight innings and 113 pitchings in a game where the Yankees were clearly flummoxing the visiting Angels.
Countless dropped balls and missed opportunities led to L.A.'s demise while the steady puttering of the Yankees machine gave the home team the 4-1 victory edge.
In a game devoid of home runs, New York won it the old-fashioned way. Hideki Matsui went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI (that man's legs are truly old-fashioned), and Alex Rodriguez knocked in a run on 1-for-2 hitting.
Derek Jeter (RBI) and Johnny Damon went 2-for-5. Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira knocked in the other two hits.
Doubles by Matsui and Damon were the only extra-base hits.
Sabathia was the true star of the game, however, muscling his way through eight strong innings while only allowing four hits. He struck out seven and walked just one.
The Yankees also kept the speedy L.A. runners off the basepaths.
Tomorrow night the two teams play again in another 7:57 nightcap, with A.J. Burnett throwing to try to take the Yankees to Anaheim with a 2-0 edge.
The Yankees Not-So-Gaudy Playoff Statistics:
Alex Rodriguez: .462, 7 RBI, 2 HR
Derek Jeter: .400, 3 RBI
Hideki Matsui: .333, 4 RBI, HR
Jorge Posada: .286, 2 RBI, HR
Melky Cabrera: .214
Mark Teixeira: .188, game-winning HR
Johnny Damon: .176
Robinson Cano: .133
Nick Swisher: .125
CC Sabathia: 1.23 ERA, 15 Ks, 14.2 IP
A.J. Burnett: 1.50 ERA, 6 Ks, 6.0 IP
Andy Pettitte: 1.42 ERA, 7 Ks, 6.1 IP
Mariano Rivera: 0.00 ERA, 8 Ks, 3.2 IP
Other Yankees Posts
Countless dropped balls and missed opportunities led to L.A.'s demise while the steady puttering of the Yankees machine gave the home team the 4-1 victory edge.
In a game devoid of home runs, New York won it the old-fashioned way. Hideki Matsui went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI (that man's legs are truly old-fashioned), and Alex Rodriguez knocked in a run on 1-for-2 hitting.
Derek Jeter (RBI) and Johnny Damon went 2-for-5. Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira knocked in the other two hits.
Doubles by Matsui and Damon were the only extra-base hits.
Sabathia was the true star of the game, however, muscling his way through eight strong innings while only allowing four hits. He struck out seven and walked just one.
The Yankees also kept the speedy L.A. runners off the basepaths.
Tomorrow night the two teams play again in another 7:57 nightcap, with A.J. Burnett throwing to try to take the Yankees to Anaheim with a 2-0 edge.
The Yankees Not-So-Gaudy Playoff Statistics:
Alex Rodriguez: .462, 7 RBI, 2 HR
Derek Jeter: .400, 3 RBI
Hideki Matsui: .333, 4 RBI, HR
Jorge Posada: .286, 2 RBI, HR
Melky Cabrera: .214
Mark Teixeira: .188, game-winning HR
Johnny Damon: .176
Robinson Cano: .133
Nick Swisher: .125
CC Sabathia: 1.23 ERA, 15 Ks, 14.2 IP
A.J. Burnett: 1.50 ERA, 6 Ks, 6.0 IP
Andy Pettitte: 1.42 ERA, 7 Ks, 6.1 IP
Mariano Rivera: 0.00 ERA, 8 Ks, 3.2 IP
Other Yankees Posts
10.09.2009
Tex time
I've detailed the Yankees heroics up to the 10th inning, but it's what happened in the last two frames that decided the game, of course.Mark Teixeira hit the world's shortest walkoff home run, chipping a ball off the left field fence, to send the Yankees to a 4-3 win in the bottom of the 11th.
It was New York's 14th walkoff win of the year (several of which have been over the poor Twins), and A.J. Burnett rewarded it with another pie to the face.
(Burnett was actually the starting pitching tonight, too, in a great performance that disspelled questions about his recent performance. So it's nice that the pie-dishing was not his only exercise for the day.)
The after-game interview was so beautiful. Sure, everyone talks about team and blah blah, but to see A-Rod grinning from ear-to-ear and just loving that his team won was fantastic.
It almost didn't happen, of course. In the top of the 11th, the New York bullpen almost let it get away before some gutsy pitching worked the pinstripes out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam. After nabbing two Twinsies on first-pitch outs, Almost-the-Goat-Gardner snared a fly to give Teixeira his rip at tying the game.
Gardner? A goat? Yes, yes.
The fleet-footed center fielder came in the game in the bottom of the 10th after Jorge Posada showed his postseason magic with a broken-bat single to center.
(Underlying storyline: Posada had been left out of his starting pitcher role when manager Joe Girardi turned to Jose Molina instead since A.J. Burnett had pitched better when in tandem with him throughout the season. Posada was, of course, upset, especially since the not-getting-younger veteran has been working so hard to get back to the playoffs, not to mention working hard to be able to play at all. But Posada was able to be in just the position he wanted (a major contributor to the game) when he came in two-thirds of the way through the contest after Burnett was done. In the bottom of the 10th, with the game on the line, he got his postseason pressure chance and did exactly what he had to do.)
The commentator said Gardner had been running sprints in the batting cages under Yankee Stadium, but the way he moves, he probably didn't need a warmup. He took off during Derek Jeter's at-bat and easily made it to second, long ahead of an off-the-mark throw. Then, when Minnesota's star closer, Joe Nathan, inexplicably tried to hold him on second (yes, second), Gardner took third (but not before falling in his butt en route, which drew a grimace from Jeter, who was watching from the batter's box).It looked like that was it. Nathan's gaffe would decide the game, since Gardner was now on third with just one out.
Jeter was intentionally walked, and the reliable Johnny Damon came up, but then the stupidity came out.
The third base coach had Gardner running on contact, which wouldn't have been an issue except that Damon hit a pitch hard, in the air, that was snared for an out. A quick toss later, and the inning was over, with Gardner caught off the bag.
Who knows who made the decision to send Gardner, but it obviously was a very bad one.
Now, instead of the Yankees winning or at least still having a runner in scoring position, it was the 11th inning. That prospect looked even worse a few pitches later, when Minnesota loaded it with no outs.
But the Yankees came through, and in beautiful, Yankees-2009 fashion. Strong defense in the diamond, a good starting pitching effort, quality relief, timely hitting, and a couple bombs.
So good.
The only Yankees with more than a hit were Teixeira (RBI) and Rodriguez (3 RBI). Jeter, Robinson Cano and Posada each had the other hits.
Burnett worked six innings and struck out six while allowing only three hits and one run. Mariano Rivera had three strikeouts over his four outs, and Phil Hughes was let off the hook despite allowing two earned runs that put the Twins ahead.
The Yankees left nine men on base throughout the night, but that was nothing compared to the Twins, who stranded 26.
It's to the MetroDome for the third game. Andy Pettitte will throw for New York.
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Above: After Alex Rodriguez hit his game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, he simply turned to the home dugout and pumped his fist. He knew.
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