In today’s Journal News
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Oct 10, 2009 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Has everyone’s heart rate slowed down just yet, or will it take a bit longer to come down from last night’s remarkable Yankees win?
I’m sitting just outside of Gate 4, waiting for a 6:15 flight out of New York. I have the game story for today’s newspaper, which calls last night the first postseason classic of the new Yankee Stadium. A few hours after writing it, I stand by that assessment.
Sam has a column on Alex Rodriguez and his defining moment as a Yankee. These two games have surely done a lot to change the image of A-Rod as a postseason choke artist.
In the end, there was an obvious sidebar to Game 2, and that’s Josh’s story on umpire Phil Cuzzi’s blown call in left field. There’s no telling what would have happened had Joe Mauer been given a hit on that drive to left, but based on how the rest of the inning unfolded, it certainly could have changed things.
Finally, Josh and I worked together on a notebook, which leads with the fact Rodriguez likely does not need further surgery on his hip. There’s also mention of Hideki Matsui, Joba Chamberlain, Brett Gardner and Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez.
Well I’m still excited.
If any LoHudders are going to the Presidents Cup tomorrow, feel free to say hello.
you guys have been doing an incredible job providing us with up-to-the-minute news ever since you stepped in. Thank you so much!
Isn’t this blog so good now? Its a major improvement and for some reason, it just seem fun
Great job on the constant updates and such guys! Really haven’t missed a beat since Pete left, & and blog seems more fun with you guys. Keep it up.
Amazing game, Go Yanks!
I wonder if all those folks that were banned before and finally able to post on this blog!
All of you are to be complimented for your coverage. It is excellent and free of player bias. Very refreshing.
I read where Girardi said that Phil is still the 8th inning guy. But have you heard anything about Girardi and Cashman saying that Joba will remain in the pen when the Yankees reach the WS? And who would replace him? Gaudin, maybe.
I have read Joe Mauer’s comments 10 times now and each time I realize what a class guy he is.
On another note you three guys have made this blog the most fun I have had in a long time.
I’m still speechless.
Thanks for all the coverage, guys.
I kind of wish we didn’t have to wait until tomorrow, but Yankees BP could use the rest.
Loved watching Dave Robertson’s interview after the game last night. He was positively beaming! I’m glad he got the belt.
What a team. That’s all I can say. What a team.
W.B. Mason October 10th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Isn’t this blog so good now? Its a major improvement and for some reason, it just seem fun
Playoffs
Suggestion guys!!!!
MINIMUM 30 min between new blog posts. Yesterday was ridiculous!
BTW love the post game audio guys… You’re going to put Pel out of business.
the HR by Arod last night, is the biggest hit he’s ever had, as a Yankee. And the subject is not even up for debate.
commonly, Arod will hit HR’s which break a tie. However, this HR came when NYY was BEHIND in the bottom of the 9th, and staring at a loss in a divisional playoff game.
thank you Tex. However, this was Arod’s game
(and David Robinson – i love you brother)
What’s really pathetic is that the same people that are drooling over what Rodriguez has done so far are the same ones (media and fans) that have called him everything but human since 2004. Mark my words, you’ll hear it all again in the next game NYY loses and he goes hitless.
People forget what he did against the Twins in the 2004 ALDS and in the first 3 and a half games in the ALCS against Boston. He, like the rest of the offense and the pitchers disappeared in about the 6th inning of game 4, but, it was all because Rodriguez “choked”. Anybody taking bets?
Wow, the Yankees used up several of their nine lives in this one. They just seem to own the Twins. Now if they can stay focused and not take it for granted, they should get it over qiuckly in Minni and await the winner of the other series.
part of the story of this season’s team is:
phil hughes
david robertson
phil hughes
aceves
cervelli
pena
melky
gardner
in other words, this team has a nucleus of talented young players all developed via the farm system. Yet sadly, all we will hear from the worthless Chip Caray, is how the yankees have the highest payroll and spent ++ money on players in the off-season. You’re a broken record, Chip. And you wouldn’t make a pimple on your father’s @ss.
end of rant.
How sleazy and dispicable is John Henry? How about this little note from MLB Rumors-R-Us?
•Interesting note from WEEI’s Alex Speier. Back in 2002, upon purchasing the Red Sox and selling the Marlins, John Henry attempted to have Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett transferred to the Sox.
“What’s really pathetic is that the same people that are drooling over what Rodriguez has done so far are the same ones (media and fans) that have called him everything but human since 2004″
I am one of them. I proudly admit this fact.
for me, this is not any declaration of naming Arod as my favorite player. He’s not. But credit where it’s due.
also, arod has delivered a few big hits in the postseason (with the yankees) in previous seasons. However, this was a hit which brought the yankees from behind (2 hits actually). And on an evening, when all the other bats were completely dead.
Best line so far – -
” Wow, the Yankees used up several of their nine lives in this one.”
sidenote: the HR by Arod was off Joe Nathan. Another factor which makes it, his biggest hit
Credit for what he’s done is about 6 years over due. Yankee fans can name on 4 fingers the number of players that had a good post season since 2004. Jeter, Posada, Rodriguez, Rivera and the others have all had disappearing acts in the post season since then. Sorry, but, I don’t accept that they earned a pass. They’ve all screwed up.
MLB really pushing a Sox win in the next game. Game time @ 12…..?
{‘m looking at a picture right now of the missed fair/foul call. Cuzzi is right on that play. How on earth did he miss it? Unreal. It may or may not of cost Minny the game, but that’s not really the point (since they did go on to fruitlessly load the bases anyway). The point is how many really, really bad calls have been made this season?
It’s not just Yankees games. It’s league-wide.
Balls/strikes I’ve gotten used to.
This one was so blatant and there was really no excuse for it. They have 2 extra umpires in the playoffs for this very type of play.
** may not HAVE cost **
Doreen, the reason is because there are no penalties on the umpires for failing to do their jobs. If you’re a player, you get benched, released or sent to the minors. If you’re a manager or coach, you get fired.
Baseball has the checks in place with Pitch Trax or Questec, but, refuse to use it as punishment or disiplinary purposes. Beyond that, they are told they are the sole policemen for the games and they can’t be challenged. They were none too happy about instant replay on homers, but, they didn’t have a say. There are ways to fix it, but, it will take suspensions and demotions to the minors to fix it. The worst part is being constantly out of position on the plays.
GB7…I know I can say that I have never jumped on that let’s kill ARod bandwagon and he is not a true Yankee crap, but I will say that I have called him out at times, like I have all Yankee players.
However, it most likely will not end until he is on a Championship winning team…but at least it may be a little easier to defend him with certain friends.
Also, how about that David Robertson guy…there when you needed him.
“GreenBeret7
October 10th, 2009 at 7:19 am
What’s really pathetic is that the same people that are drooling over what Rodriguez has done so far are the same ones (media and fans) that have called him everything but human since 2004. Mark my words, you’ll hear it all again in the next game NYY loses and he goes hitless.
People forget what he did against the Twins in the 2004 ALDS and in the first 3 and a half games in the ALCS against Boston. He, like the rest of the offense and the pitchers disappeared in about the 6th inning of game 4, but, it was all because Rodriguez “choked”. Anybody taking bets?”
What a truly pathetic comment. After a game like last night, is anybody taking bets on if Al will be blamed if the Yanks lose???????? How about enjoying last night’s victory and hoping we do not lose a game this postseason and it does not come to the media and fans misguidedly blaming Al.
When the Yankees lost in the postseason, the entire offense disappeared. The media, of course, helped the fans have that perception of Al to begin with, and Joe Torre helped along the fans’ view with his arrogant and disgraceful batting order of Al batting 8th in 2006.
GreenBeret7
What’s really irksome to me is my husband and I have been to a few minor league games over the last few years. AA and A ball. The umpires are lean and mean and seem to be everywhere, even though there are fewer per game.
I simply do not understand what happens in the promotion process.
I agree there needs to be some real accountability system put in place. It’s like once they have tenure, they can relax a bit because their jobs are never on the line.
In one sense, I get the “infallibility” idea, at least on the field, because otherwise, you have the potential for mayhem on the field on a daily basis. But they need to “police” their own. This season it has reached the point of being ridiculous.
Yeah absolutely the call was awful but at the same time the grounder from Kubel might be right at Tex if he isn’t holding on Maurer. Also they might have elected to just pitch around him with the base open knowing that he would either strike out or walk. By Gardenhire saying that” the next guy singled and then the next guy singled, so you can figure out what would have happened”. That is a complete cop out and jealousy is a stinky cologne.
arod’s is over the hump as far as booing is concerned.
as long as he stays the “new” arod the fans will not get on him.
as far as the past is concerned, he earned the boos.
he is a different person now, transformed, if you will.
no need to be bitter.
“GreenBeret7
October 10th, 2009 at 7:28 am
How sleazy and dispicable is John Henry? How about this little note from MLB Rumors-R-Us?
•Interesting note from WEEI’s Alex Speier. Back in 2002, upon purchasing the Red Sox and selling the Marlins, John Henry attempted to have Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett transferred to the Sox.”
Cleveland Spiders.
Part II.
[Even before YORE time, GB :_)]
“John Henry attempted to have Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett transferred to the Sox.”
Transferred? What does that mean? That they would just become Red Sox without being traded or having to be released first?
I’m sorry, I know there was a blown call…not like one where a guy was called out and clearly safe or some kid reaching over and grabbing a homerun, but you can’t say that if he made the right call and Mauer got a double, that Kubel would have gotten hit…no one would ever know what would have happened next.
What I do know, is that there was blown call and then the Twins loaded the bases with no outs and they didn’t score a run.
Chad – you found the image feature and posted a picture. Great! Keep up the good work.
The media and fans have been blaming Rodriguez since 2004 for everything except the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932. I’m sure that they’ve tried, though.
When “fans” depend on the media to shape their opinions of player blame, they deserve to get hammered.
As far as my being happy about the playoffs so far? Why would I be. As far as those that are calling this over, BS. Too many things can go wrong. The Twins are not pushovers. The first thing that fans use is the word “choke” or “clutch”. They need to get a clue.
I fell asleep last night with a smile and memories of Joe Nathan continuously exhaling through his quivering lips. Sweet dreams.
Mark…they would have been traded, but for a bag of balls.
Ack. Barely got any sleep. My heart is still racing from last night’s game.
GreenBeret7
What’s really irksome to me is my husband and I have been to a few minor league games over the last few years. AA and A ball. The umpires are lean and mean and seem to be everywhere, even though there are fewer per game.
I simply do not understand what happens in the promotion process.
I agree there needs to be some real accountability system put in place. It’s like once they have tenure, they can relax a bit because their jobs are never on the line.
In one sense, I get the “infallibility” idea, at least on the field, because otherwise, you have the potential for mayhem on the field on a daily basis. But they need to “police” their own. This season it has reached the point of being ridiculous.
————————————————————
When you watch they umpires in the minors, they are jist like 99% of the young players. They are everywhere. They tire you out just watching them. It’s amazing when you realize that they do it with only three umpires and at times with two umpires. They are still learning, but, you almost always see them ask each other for help, which is something you seldom see in the majors.
Mark in Tampa
October 10th, 2009 at 8:01 am
“John Henry attempted to have Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett transferred to the Sox.”
Transferred? What does that mean? That they would just become Red Sox without being traded or having to be released first?
————————————————————
They basically would have been part of the sale price with a couple of non-descript players transferred. What was really sad, was that Selig actually allowed Henry to own parts of three teams at the same time. Talk about sleeping with your boss?
“What was really sad, was that Selig actually allowed Henry to own parts of three teams at the same time. Talk about sleeping with your boss?”
How could he not allow it, he was commissioner and owner at the same time for a while.
“Talk about sleeping with your boss?”…or David Letterman
The Arod hate started because of one thing, IMO-expectations. How much did we see of him before he was a Yankee? Not much. Playing in Seattle and Texas, just about all we saw were highlights. It seemed like he would hit a HR or a booming double in every AB. We were told by anybody who had a mic that he was the greatest player ever. When we played against him, you would hold your breath when he was hitting, and consider it luck if he didn’t do something big against us. And then there was the contract biggest in the history of sports. the guy must be superhuman.
Then, he comes to our team, and “fans” realize that he is “just” a .300 hitter who hits “only” 35-45 HRs and sometimes doesn’t even get to 140 RBIs. Sometimes he even makes outs in key situations. He must be booed, he isn’t nearly as great as he was supposed to be. At least that was the mentality of the booing fans, I think. Then, it just became a sport to give him the business.
If we ever acquired Pujols, I would expect the same treatment. I think some rather uninformed fans think that Pujols hits about .850 with 400 HRs every year.
good to see the young players get playoff experience.
cervelli, robertson,coke,gardner and aceves all played and survived.
Arod won 2 MVPs. For those who booed him before, sad to say, you don’t know much about baseball
The last two innings of the game I felt like I needed a nitroglycerine pill under my tongue. Just amazing. In many ways the regular season is just the undercard, October baseball is the main event.
To replay or not to replay, that is the question. Ninety feet between the bases is the closest man has – or maybe should – come to perfection.
How far do we go in the quest for perfection in a game played by fallible humans? That blown call was an honest mistake, not an attempt to influence the outcome. Honest mistakes happen, some benefit, some lose as a result. Getting a “break” is part of the game, just like in life. It’s the “X” factor – that’s why you run every ball out, play hard and don’t let up, as a hedge against disaster. You want to play this game, you accept the flaws and the adventure of the unknown in exchange for all its natural beauty.
But before we all go mad demanding that we turn the National Pastime into a computer controlled, laser-measured joust, look at it another way: as Mauer pointed out, you don’t leave 17 men on base and complain about losing by one run. Yes, the right call might have changed things. But, as Michael Kay frequently points out, beware the fallacy of the predetermined outcome: the right call might have been followed by the next three batters making an out without further damage.
my eyeballs hurt.
watching the red sox lose was the cherry on the sundae.
what a yankee win.
“Arod won 2 MVPs. For those who booed him before, sad to say, you don’t know much about baseball”
It isn’t just NY fans, either. I get so sick of FOX, etc. pounding it into us how great the ST. Louis fans are. I will never forgive them for booing Tino out of town because he was past his prime. Real fans would have understood that he was in the last couple of years of his career, and even in his prime, was not a big numbers guy, except for 1 or 2 years. Now I hear they are down on Pujols. Nice group of highly intelligent baseball fans.
How would we be reacting today if Mauer had hit a homerun on the next pitch after the missed call?
I am not for replay. It is OK for HRs as it is now, but I was against that because it will not be the end. There will always be a different kind of blown call that replay could have fixed. So it will continue to expand until we have complete replay capability. I am not sure that is where I would like to see the game going.
also,
Just watched highlights on MLB – it looked like maybe Mauer could have made it home from second on that single, instead of stopping at 3rd. Though I understand why you would play it safe there.
Anyone hear Hazel Mae’s promo? Watch our guys, “they’ve been there; they’ve done that.” Maybe it’s me, but doesn’t that phrase connote some kind of “ho-hum” boredom? I know what she’s trying to say, but the “they’ve done that” part of that promo should be cut or replaced.
I was too tired to stay up to watch the Sox/Angels. Glad to wake up to the good news that the go back to Fenway 0-2. But not so sure an Angels draw is a good thing
Another walkoff win for the Yankees. Absolutley incredible. Still hard to believe that Robertson gave up no run with base loaded and no one out. This team is destined to win!
“Suggestion guys!!!!
MINIMUM 30 min between new blog posts. Yesterday was ridiculous!”
Even though I love the updates, I have to agree that the new blog posts have been too many in a short period of time.
Doreen-
All I can say about the blown call is that Cabreras body must have prevented the ump from seeing that the ball had dropped about 8 inches inside the line. The only other explanation is that Jeffrey Mair was in the stands last night as our good luck charm!!!
Thank goodness the chest pain from the ninth inning on wasn’t due to a heart attack, but to some reflux suffered after eating a plate of shutup!!!!!!!!
The kids did great last night. I can’t say the same about our overpaid lefty relief specialist. Maybe Bruney will get a break and be in the next series.
Terrific reporting and insights. Keep up the excellent work guys.
Thanks for the coverage. You have added to the fun. I can feel the excitement of Chad and Josh to be on a big stage. As fan represtatives I think you all are responsible for organizing the post-season Kate Hudson film festival followed by a weekend of Friday Night Lights reruns.
doreen -
i was happy to see many of the regulars hang in there when a loss looked imminent and keep the blog energy going.
it’s actually funny watching people fall apart when things are going badly.
As far as Arod, the other day I posted how many great players have disappeared from time to time during the playoffs and Arod is no different. He had great playoff numbers prior to the last three games against Boston in 2004 so I’ve expected him to break out of his playoff slump. The HOF is littered with great players that disappeared in the WS or had great WS, but also terrible ones in these short playoff series. It happens in baseball as these hitters aren’t going against chopped liver on those pitching mounds.
Mark in Tampa
October 10th, 2009 at 8:23 am
“What was really sad, was that Selig actually allowed Henry to own parts of three teams at the same time. Talk about sleeping with your boss?”
How could he not allow it, he was commissioner and owner at the same time for a while.
————————————————————
There are no by-laws saying that an owner can’t be commissioner, but, there are against having ownership in more than one team. We won’t even discuss Selig’s refusal to ok the higher bid to buy the Red Sox and Henry being allowed to buy the team for 150 mil less. Then, there is the Mitchell farce.
as far as arod goes it ain’t easy being a yankee.
to me, the new alex started with those short stroke 2 strike ground balls up the middle in early august.
maybe he was doing it before then , but that’s when i first noticed and jumped on board the new alex bandwagon.
The umpire blew the call, but when you leave 17 men on base including having the bases loaded with no outs and don’t score during that same inning with the blown call, you have little room to cry about that bad call when you had opportunities to overcome it.
2.88 seconds.
fastest homerun in baseball this year.
teixeira homerun
espn
It is funny on here watching the same “experts” that wanted arod run out of town because he was a distraction and couldn’t hit now tripping over themselves. And the posters who think that a one line mea culpa make up for their years of arguing with others about the guys merits is truly pathetic.
randy l.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
as far as arod goes it ain’t easy being a yankee.
to me, the new alex started with those short stroke 2 strike ground balls up the middle in early august.
maybe he was doing it before then , but that’s when i first noticed and jumped on board the new alex bandwagon.
————————————————————
It appeared to me that Rodriguez has been trying to get that swing down since early in June when he was scuffling to get over .200. It seems that he realized that he had to have timing and perfect mechanics and not be like before when he could just overpower a pitch. As he got healthier, he was able to keep the swing and still overpower a pitch. Teixeira and Matsui’s rebirth just allows him to settle for singles and continue are start rallies instead of being the rally. He’s not even the same player he was in 2007. In many respects, he’s better. He still has those “gueesed wrong” at bats, but, not as many and they don’t last as long.
Oh yeah. Molina proved to be a better receiver than posada. That ump was horrible and could easily have gotten in ajs head. Bc it’s obvious he got in posadas.
I hate to channel Michael Kay and all (and I certainly don’t have a large enough cranium to do it justice)…but I really think the “blown call” crowd is missing the fact that with Mauer on second and first base open, Marte (if he had any ability to perform in that situation) may well have pitched Kubel differently. Sure, Kubel had been a K machine, but I’d think about pitching him a little differently with a base open than I would with a guy on first.
Jen, if you are out there………when did AJ whisper something to Tex?
The problem with Arod is that he will never be Jeter. Even if AROD wins 3 WS rings Jeter will always have more. Plus I will never forgive him for cheating the game. Im sorry but that’s a big part of it. I’ll root for him to do well, but I will never like the guy.
GB, you are so right. People don’t like to critize the core guys, but Jeter and Posada have struggled in recent post-seasons……along with everyone else. It’s pathetic how blame only fell on Alex………..and screw redemption. Alex never needed to be redeemed in the playoffs. Those fans cheering him ought to sit on their hands because they are the same bozos who boo him.
I’m watching the post-game show now – nice of YES to replay it.
if that K-Zone or whatever they call it was correct last night that Home plate umpire had a very bad game
gb7-
i forgot all about the struggling to get over .200. i think you’re right about his timing depending on him being so athletic before. he got away with a swing that had to have perfect timing.
his new swing gets results even when he’s not perfect.
but we’re going to see him really go crazy with this swing when everything is clicking. he will hit some bombs with this short stroke.
The Alex hate started with the GQ article……………he will never live that down among Yankee fans. Ironically, he and Jeter have healed whatever rift was between them and they are friends. Yankees fans will turn on Alex next time he dares to make an out – count on it.
just an aside .
any one watch beckett get lit up in his last inning ?
why’d francona leave him in there?
he was losing it that whole inning?
weird.
“The problem with Arod is that he will never be Jeter. Even if AROD wins 3 WS rings Jeter will always have more. Plus I will never forgive him for cheating the game. Im sorry but that’s a big part of it. I’ll root for him to do well, but I will never like the guy.”
Who cares if you or anybody doesn’t like him. If you’re a Yankee fan then you want him to do well as it makes the Yankees a better team.
“The Alex hate started with the GQ article……………he will never live that down among Yankee fans. Ironically, he and Jeter have healed whatever rift was between them and they are friends. Yankees fans will turn on Alex next time he dares to make an out – count on it.”
Some Yankee fans not all of them.
Last night, I was sort of not enjoying the win QUITE as much as I should because I felt that the Yanks may have won on a blown call. However, so many people have pointed out, correctly so, that the Twins still had bases loaded and no out…….and still couldn’t score. I give credit to MLB and Baseball Tonight because they both said the exact same thing.
Bad things about the game: Hughes, Mo (but I can’t count him because that’s a blip) and Marte.
Pictures fom last nights game:
http://www.gettyimages.com/Sea.....20Yankees#
The strange thing about the blown call on the Mauer flyball is that no one from the Twins questioned the call at the time. I understand that the manager, Gardenhire, was blocked from the view…but neither Mauer nor the third base coach had a problem with the call. It wasn’t until Orlando Cabrera went into the clubhouse and saw the video that he told everyone on the bench and that the Twins felt victimized. Under that circumstance, I can’t feel sorry for the Twins. If they had questioned the call at the time I’d feel more sympathetic.
randy l.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:19 am
gb7-
i forgot all about the struggling to get over .200. i think you’re right about his timing depending on him being so athletic before. he got away with a swing that had to have perfect timing.
his new swing gets results even when he’s not perfect.
but we’re going to see him really go crazy with this swing when everything is clicking. he will hit some bombs with this short stroke.
————————————————————
One thing that I don’t remember seeing from him this year is taking advantage of the right field seats. He always seemed to have 5 or so to straight away right field. Everything seems ro be right center to left center with a few pulled shots. When he gets the right field seats zeroed in, he’s going to be nearly unstoppable. Right now, even with the pitching being as good as it’s been Jeter and Rodriguez have been c0-winners of this series’ MVP. They’ve done it all…offense and defense. They haven’t had mucg chance or reason to run the bases….yet.
does Kate Hudson go to away games?
A-Rod’s 2004 ALDS vs. Minny: .421/.476/.737 with a couple of huge hits that win games 2 and 4. But he then has 2 bad ALDS’s in ’05 and ’06 and suddenly he’s the Worst Person in the History of Baseball. Playoff performance is so much random chance–think of all the marginal players who had one great series and are never heard from again. A-Rod never deserved the “choke-rod” reputation.
randy l -
I was hangin’ on by a thread, let me tell ya.
I just figured the late-inning magic couldn’t last forever. But, really, it only has to last for a few more weeks. I won’t get fooled again!
I’m beginning to think it would be easier on the nerves to tune into the game somewhere around the 7th inning. That might save a little naitbiting.
** or NAILbiting.
Betsy
October 10th, 2009 at 9:18 am
GB, you are so right. People don’t like to critize the core guys, but Jeter and Posada have struggled in recent post-seasons……along with everyone else. It’s pathetic how blame only fell on Alex………..and screw redemption. Alex never needed to be redeemed in the playoffs. Those fans cheering him ought to sit on their hands because they are the same bozos who boo him.
I’m watching the post-game show now – nice of YES to replay it.
————————————————————
He’s just seemed so pleased to be lost in the crowd with his team mates and that’s helped.
Next year, I don’t see any down-turns in production (and they all could actually be better). The two I want and expect to see improve as far as consistency will be Burnett and Chamberlain.
Not sure what they will tweak with Burnett, but, consistency was really all he was missing. Looking at his numbers of 2008 and this year, there’s very little difference, except against the Red Sox. Maybe he’s trying to justify the money, but, really, he had the same season that they gave him the money to begin with. Like Rodriguez, next year, he’ll be just one of the guys and not having to prove anything to anyone. The one major thing he proved is that he can stay healthy for 2 straight years.
Mauer’s reaction to the blown call was so professional.
The fact is that you can not say the bad umpiring was one sided.
That may have caused one run difference, but even like Mauer said, who knows, maybe the Yankees defensive alignment would have been different and they would have cut off a run, or intentionally walked a batter to produce a force situation.
The fact remains that the Twins left SEVENTEEN runners on base. Unacceptible, and they know it.
And WE ALL KNOW that if the Twins managed to score one more run, the Yankees had plenty of Heroics left in them. Arod was on deck anyways
Randy L … yes sir. If Lester and Becket are their 1 and 2 then they have a .003 % chance of pulling off this series. It is over in my mind. The Angels had some serious pitching efforts which scares me a bit.
But then so did Nick Blackburn last night and you see what happened. Just gotta hold em off and get to the bullpens.
And WE ALL KNOW that if the Twins managed to score one more run, the Yankees had plenty of Heroics left in them. Arod was on deck anyways
—————————————————–
Thats right!!! Whatever the Twins did in the top of the 11th inning, the Yankees would have topped that in the bottom of that inning.
crawdaddy
October 10th, 2009 at 9:24 am
“The Alex hate started with the GQ article……………he will never live that down among Yankee fans. Ironically, he and Jeter have healed whatever rift was between them and they are friends. Yankees fans will turn on Alex next time he dares to make an out – count on it.”
Some Yankee fans not all of them.
————————————————————
Rodriguez was never the best at giving interviews, but, really, what he said wasn’t all that wrong. Everyone, except the media and Jeter fans, always thought of Jeter as the main table setter, not the guy that scared you to death when you needed a blast. That’s what Williams, Martinez, Posada and even O’Neill did, though O’Neill was never a home run hitter to begin with. They were they guys you pitched around. Jeter did nearly as much damage, but, that wasn’t the perception. Rodriguez, for all of his “handlers” (Boras), he was never schooled in the art of saying nothing for an hour.
I dont understand why some Yankees fans are so upset by other Yankees fans not liking Alex Rodriguez. Do we all have to like the players equally. Im a Jeter, Jorge and Mo guy and I love Tex and Joba. But I absolutely DESPISED Roger Clemens when he was a Yankee and I still havent warmed up to Damon because I think he is a mercenery who just came for the money. I dont like all the players equally and I dont think I;ll ever warm up to Rodriguez.
I’m sure that Rodriguez will be crushed to find out that you’ll never “warm up to him”. I assume that you had no use for Giambi or Pettitte, either.
Okay Ken. We get it.
“Rodriguez was never the best at giving interviews, but, really, what he said wasn’t all that wrong. Everyone, except the media and Jeter fans, always thought of Jeter as the main table setter, not the guy that scared you to death when you needed a blast. That’s what Williams, Martinez, Posada and even O’Neill did, though O’Neill was never a home run hitter to begin with. They were they guys you pitched around. Jeter did nearly as much damage, but, that wasn’t the perception. Rodriguez, for all of his “handlers” (Boras), he was never schooled in the art of saying nothing for an hour.”
It wasn’t what he said, but how he said it. At that time, they were best friends and for him to make such public comments that would reflect negatively on Jeter, after Jeter received his big contract was taken as it should have been which was a envious swipe at Jeter.
GB, I totally agree about AJ staying healthy. I was never one of those who worried about his health – it seemed that so many fans were practically counting the days until he got injured. What’s the point? Clearly whatever AJ is doing now is working – there was no whisper of an ache or pain this year.
When AJ signed, fans/experts wondered how he would do in NY…even Cash admitted he was something of an unknown. I think he handled NY very well – he was accountable and he was a great teammate. In fact, all of our new guys handled NY well – remarkable given how it usually takes a year or so for players to get used to the pressure-cooker of the city.
He had some bad starts this year, but up until August, he’d been terrific and he kept the Yankees in most of his games. I don’t know anything about mechanics – I don’t know if they can tweak AJ’s mechanics so that they are repeatable. He walked more this year (and had more WP) than he usually does….hopefully he can reduce those #s next year.
That game was EPIC.
This postseason has started out magical, fellow fans. On the anniversary of the Maier HR, another huge blown call goes our way. DESTINY.
“I dont understand why some Yankees fans are so upset by other Yankees fans not liking Alex Rodriguez. Do we all have to like the players equally. Im a Jeter, Jorge and Mo guy and I love Tex and Joba. But I absolutely DESPISED Roger Clemens when he was a Yankee and I still havent warmed up to Damon because I think he is a mercenery who just came for the money. I dont like all the players equally and I dont think I;ll ever warm up to Rodriguez.”
Nobody is upset except you. We don’t care how you feel about Arod or Damon. That’s your problem, not ours.
GB7,
One more thing about Jeter being a tablesetter. These power guys won’t be nearly effective without these so-called tablesetters as they are with them. You can win WS championships without a prime power guy like Arod, but tablesetters are almost a needed requirement to score runs in enough quantities to win baseball games on a regular basis.
Giambi was another hired gun ‘roid guy. I never liked him and like I said Ive lost a lot of respect for all of them.
Petite Im convinced was brainwashed by that ass-hat Roger Clemens and his “training” regime that he boasted about with his “workouts”. If you recall, Clemens took Petite under his wing and then went around talking to the media about these high intensity workouts that turned out to be nothing more than a needle. I firmly believe Clemens convniced Petite into trying the HgH. When the news broke on Petite I was devestated. Andy came clean and apologized. Im still disheartened but Ive forgiven Andy. I know its hypocritical but Im convinced he only got caught up in the stuff because of his relationship with Clemens.
crawdaddy
October 10th, 2009 at 9:53 am
It wasn’t what he said, but how he said it. At that time, they were best friends and for him to make such public comments that would reflect negatively on Jeter, after Jeter received his big contract was taken as it should have been which was a envious swipe at Jeter.
————————————————————
If you were managing the other team back in 2000-2001 and the other team needed a home run to tie or win a game, would you fear Jeter or Williams/Martinez, O’Neill/Posada?
That’s all he said. As far as how he said it, perhaps it’s because of how it was written. The media has never been particular about taking things out of context or adding/subtracting words to fluff up a story.
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....twins.html
And you can’t fault Burnett for not knowing the crowd’s outburst meant it was over, because he was amazed by how crazy the playoff atmosphere had been all night.
“They could have given up on me with the five walks and two hit batters, but they stayed with me, this place was going nuts,” said Burnett, who said his heart was racing as he warmed up before the game. “Hearing the fans and the crowd, they were pretty loud and I hadn’t even stepped on the field yet. This is the best place to play … these people here, this place is amazing.”
A few thoughts:
Alex Rodriguez – WOW. Just, WOW. I don’t think any of us could’ve predicted the production he’s giving. Bravo, and thank you.
Robertson – Amazing. Joe should have started the inning with him. I wouldn’t even carry Marte if they advance. They would be better off with Bruney.
Hughes – Not sure what happened to him and I’d like to read analysis on what he did wrong. Did they get too good of a look at him on Wednesday?
Joba – I think we’ll see him for more than two batters moving forward.
Tex – Just when you think someone may not show up this round … he made a huge arrival last night. Nice.
Jeter – Its like a play-off time capsule or something. He just picks up where he left off. So clutch, so critical to the success of this team. He reminds everyone, that yes, it can be done.
This blog – Outstanding guys. Thanks for not only great coverage, but actual improvement since Pete left. Kudos, Sam, Chad and Josh. Its been a blast thus far.
Ken
October 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Giambi was another hired gun ‘roid guy. I never liked him and like I said Ive lost a lot of respect for all of them.
Petite Im convinced was brainwashed by that ass-hat Roger Clemens and his “training” regime that he boasted about with his “workouts”. If you recall, Clemens took Petite under his wing and then went around talking to the media about these high intensity workouts that turned out to be nothing more than a needle. I firmly believe Clemens convniced Petite into trying the HgH. When the news broke on Petite I was devestated. Andy came clean and apologized. Im still disheartened but Ive forgiven Andy. I know its hypocritical but Im convinced he only got caught up in the stuff because of his relationship with Clemens.
————————————————————
That’s pure BS and you know it. Pettitte was a 30 year old multi-millionaire adult. He knew what he was doing.
A dis is a dis is a dis.
And the ironic thing is that there was a period of time where if you asked opposing teams which Yankee you didn’t want to face with the game on the line, it was Jeter.
But whatever, that was then, this is now. (Thanks NYY for that quote about Alex by Kevin Long). It seems that the dark secrets Alex had locked up for years aren’t so burdensome anymore.
The bad call? It looks bad now, but Melky did a good job of distracting the ump.
Anyone else scared when the bases were loaded that the season was on the line? Nya, didn’t think so.
Jen, in case you are out there – you were wondering what AJ said to Tex. Per Tex, AJ said “I finally got you”…….lol
It is funny on here watching the same “experts” that wanted arod run out of town because he was a distraction and couldn’t hit now tripping over themselves. And the posters who think that a one line mea culpa make up for their years of arguing with others about the guys merits is truly pathetic.
IMBACK:
i couldn’t careless.
was simply pointing out, the magnitude of Arod’s hit. And the fact it is the biggest hit he’s ever had as a Yankee.
the fact it is impossible to compliment a player on this board without getting into a debate/pissing contest with someone, is a trip. Maybe it will make you feel better if i tell you Arod was not my favorite player. And he’s still not my favorite player.
CB had a good analyis/brakedown of Arod’s swing the other day. And this is why he is performing now. Hopefully he will have enough enough sense to stay with this revised/improved swing, instead of trying to be a slugger at the plate every time. As he is much more fun to watch now, and a more valuable player
Ken =
Say what you want about the added ingredient, but Clemens did the work. It wasn’t just the needle.
(Not that I like finding myself in the position of defending Clemens, however.)
“It is funny on here watching the same “experts” that wanted arod run out of town because he was a distraction and couldn’t hit now tripping over themselves. And the posters who think that a one line mea culpa make up for their years of arguing with others about the guys merits is truly pathetic”
IMBACK:
i couldn’t careless.
was simply pointing out, the magnitude of Arod’s hit. And the fact it is the biggest hit he’s ever had as a Yankee.
the fact it is impossible to compliment a player on this board without getting into a debate/pissing contest with someone, is a trip. Maybe it will make you feel better if i tell you Arod was not my favorite player. And he’s still not my favorite player.
CB had a good analyis/brakedown of Arod’s swing the other day. And this is why he is performing now. Hopefully he will have enough enough sense to stay with this revised/improved swing, instead of trying to be a slugger at the plate every time. As he is much more fun to watch now, and a more valuable playe
Green Beret, are you telling me Petite would still have gone on the HgH if Clemens wasnt here ?? I highly doubt it. Clemens was like a father figure to Andy. Im sure he pushed the garbage on Andy. Yes, Andy made a horrible judgement call to inject himself but Im sure Clemens was in his ear.
“If you were managing the other team back in 2000-2001 and the other team needed a home run to tie or win a game, would you fear Jeter or Williams/Martinez, O’Neill/Posada?
That’s all he said. As far as how he said it, perhaps it’s because of how it was written. The media has never been particular about taking things out of context or adding/subtracting words to fluff up a story.”
If it was a playoff game during that time, I feared Jeter because he hit some crucial playoff homeruns during that time and Jeter’s hitting ability was even more dangerous than Posada or Tino in the right scenario.
As far as the media, I know you have a hate fest going on with them and I’m not a big fan of that profession either, but when Arod decided to comment about his best friend in that article then he should’ve been more careful with his words. However, with that said, the article never bothered me a great deal in which I had a grudge against Arod because I felt it was a personal matter for those two people to harsh through as I’m only a Yankee fan that wants my players to play well and win.
m -
Sadly, I did have the fleeting thought that a loss would be imminent and would change the tone of the rest of the series.
Happily, I dried some dishes and came to my senses! Housework is a cathartic thing.
“I wouldn’t even carry Marte if they advance. They would be better off with Bruney”
laura:
you’re prolly right (on Marte). He is a walking russian roulette game. Even though Bruney isn’t much better, at this point
Speaking of Andy. They panned him during one of the uptight moments late in the game last night. Top of the 11th maybe? I think he was the most relieved person last night.
“The media and fans have been blaming Rodriguez since 2004 for everything except the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1932.”
GB is correct. I think Angel Berroa got most of the blame for that 1932 kidnapping.
If you missed it(late late last night) – Rebecca posted a nice write-up with pics of her experiences at the game last night.
http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com/
I’m so happy for A-Rod. Those postseason demons are officially gone with that 9th inning HR. Awesome.
Doreen, I cant believe Im debating the merits of Roger Clemens on a day the Yankees have clinched the series but be fair — that “extra ingredient” he took cheated the game. The only saving grace is he has took himself out of the hall of fame consideration.
The name is Pettitte.
“Doreen, I cant believe Im debating the merits of Roger Clemens on a day the Yankees have clinched the series but be fair — that “extra ingredient” he took cheated the game. The only saving grace is he has took himself out of the hall of fame consideration.”
The seris is clinched when they win the third game.
Does anyone think the Red Sox stand a chance at this point ? I had a debate this morning on the site I work and my friend actually thinks the Sox can win. I told him down 2-0 in a best of 5, only 5 teams have ever come back and won. I dont see it. Angels/Yanks here we come! On the downside it means a lot of coast to coast travel.
Doreen,
Realistically speaking I was prepared for the loss, knowing that there was the slimmest of chances for a comeback. And I posted at bases loaded, no outs that we needed a miracle (looks like all those good deeds by the Yankees paid off!). But at no point did I think that the season was over like someone (or their imposter) said when we went down 3-1 in the game.
m
October 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Speaking of Andy. They panned him during one of the uptight moments late in the game last night. Top of the 11th maybe? I think he was the most relieved person last night.
————————————————————
There’s no question that last night made Pettitte’s start a lot easier in that he doesn’t have to be perfect. It gives him room for error. A groundball, contact pitcher pitching on carpet doesn’t have a lot of room for error. It could very well relax him and he pitches the game of his life (I’ll take a Game #5, 1996 any time).
Crawdaddy, take it to the bank. This series is OVAH! Yanks in 3 now. I predicted Yanks in 4 when the series started but the Twins look incompetent out there ( baserunning mistakes, no clutch hitting, no power, and a choke closer in Nathan). The fact that they won the central is a testament to how bad the central is.
Does anyone think the Red Sox stand a chance at this point ?
——————————————————–
All they have to do is win three in a row. Thats not unreasonable. Their problem is that they now have ‘no room for error’.
“The problem with Arod is that he will never be Jeter. Even if AROD wins 3 WS rings Jeter will always have more. Plus I will never forgive him for cheating the game. Im sorry but that’s a big part of it. I’ll root for him to do well, but I will never like the guy.”
——–
nor should he be.
jeter was raised w/ a strong male presence…who was also a drug counselor.
arod was raised w/o a father at home…and poor.
these two guys have come from completely different backgrounds and upbringings.
so when people get on arod for how he “behaved” previously, they don’t take into any other factor into account like how he was raised and what type of life experiences he’s had.
i never held that against him. there are plenty of grown people on this forum that start crying when the yanks don’t win…so everyone has their flaws.
but arod also shoulders a tremendous amount of pressure b/c of his contract. to his credit, we have seen the man change in ny for the better. and now he is validating the opinion that he IS the best player in baseball.
I think the Red Sox have a shot.
I can’t imagine that was SJ that said the season was over……..the other stuff? It sounded like him………..but season over? Ridiculous.
At the game last night – absolutely, no doubt the best game I have ever been at. The crowd was amazing throughout – Swish getting Gomez at 2nd before the run could score — PRICELESS! But when ARod hit that shot, the place was INSANE!
I have no voice this morning, but I wouldn’t trade being a part of that experience last night for anything.
Woke up to review all the amazing coverage on this blog – great job guys! Thanks!
GB7,
Definitely. When they showed Andy, he had his game face on already.
If you’re the Twins, you must hate pie. That’s 4X this season. And they held leads in all 8 games. I know they’re going to break through at some point, but I’m glad we held on last night.
Remember all the cracks about pie? Nothing at all to do with pitching, but people included Fatcessa were so fixated on it. How can no one enjoy that pie last night? It’s symbolic already.
And I swear, Tex was waiting a long time for the interview to start. He wasn’t smiling, waving to family or pointing at teammates. He was waiting. Waiting for the pie that didn’t come. He looked almost disappointed to me. Like the person expecting a surprise party, lol. He must’ve heard AJ coming or seen someone tipped him off because he reacted before the pie.
Doreen–Anytime you need a catharsis I have dirty dishes awaiting to help you.
I find pacing while wearing my lucky shirt to be critical to the team’s success. I just wonder why I am so underappreciated by the team and media for my important contributions. Clearly, it worked last night. I wish I had owned the shirt in 1960, 1963, 2001 et al.
Tex enjoyed the heck out of that pie – I’m going to watch the replay again as AJ got him good. Man, I want Jeter to hit a walk off…….
I love how our new guys are just exhilirated to be here. I posted AJ’s quote above…Tex also said during that interview that his was the best place to play and I’m sure CC said something similar. October baseball is the best – and October baseball in NY is truly special, there’s just nothing like it.
Betsy-
http://www.gettyimages.com/det.....ages-Sport
I just watched the YES postgame show for the 2nd time. It beats pulling the air conditioners out of the windows and all the other chores I’m procratining doing lol.
Still on a high from last night. The Yanks win combined the Sox loss made for a perfect night of baseball.
I’m very glad that it’s Andy pitching tomorrow night. He knows the pressure better than any other starter we have. The key will be to get to Carla early and often and take the crowd out of the game. Then Andy will be free to deal.
You 3 guys are doing such a great job with this blog. It’s so nice to finally have someone running it who actually likes the Yankees and isn’t so negative all the time. Out with the bad, in with the good. There isn’t anymore constant bashing of A-Rod, Swisher, Cano, and Joba. Keep up the great work!
Tom, that’s pricless ……..thanks!
hearing people talk about how the yankees “got lucky” that the ball was called foul. but you have to realize if the twins cant hold a 2 run lead in the ninth and cant score one run with bases loaded no outs in the 11th, they dont deserve to win.
m
October 10th, 2009 at 10:24 am
GB7,
Definitely. When they showed Andy, he had his game face on already.
If you’re the Twins, you must hate pie. That’s 4X this season. And they held leads in all 8 games. I know they’re going to break through at some point, but I’m glad we held on last night.
Remember all the cracks about pie? Nothing at all to do with pitching, but people included Fatcessa were so fixated on it. How can no one enjoy that pie last night? It’s symbolic already.
And I swear, Tex was waiting a long time for the interview to start. He wasn’t smiling, waving to family or pointing at teammates. He was waiting. Waiting for the pie that didn’t come. He looked almost disappointed to me. Like the person expecting a surprise party, lol. He must’ve heard AJ coming or seen someone tipped him off because he reacted before the pie.
————————————————————
Speaking of interviews…did you guys carch David Robertson’s? That’s what baseball is all about. He was like a kid being the hero in his first little league game. He did everything except giggle, he was that excited. He had every right to be.
Josh (what part?) from NC,
Perfect example of you make your own luck!
Man the blog is HOPPIN
Wish I could follow more and post more often but I’m in the middle of moving to a new apartment and I don’t have internet access yet. It’s nice to see that Pete’s shoes are being filled admirably. Way to go Josh, Chad, Sam!
Anyways, what a great win last night. Everyone forgets the starting pitchers but they both pitched pretty well. Burnett was flirting with trouble all night but when isn’t he? I think he could have gotten through the 7th.
A-rod basically carried us this game. He tied it at 1-1 then tied it again at 3-3. Great series so far. Hopefully this production continues in the ALCS and WS (if the Yankees make it to both).
Hughes has looked human these last two games, hopefully he can lock it down and get back to being a shut-down guy at the end of the pen. Robertson did a phenomenal job and of course, thank you umpires
I’m not sure why Girardi didn’t stick with Ace in the 11th. I guess he wanted to give Marte a shot but in that situation I wouldn’t have risked it.
Anyways those are my thoughts, hopefully the Yankees finish this series on Sunday and the Red sox / Angels play three 15 inning games. Regardless of the result, I think the Yankees will demolish either team.
carch David Robertson’s
“catch” it soon. If you haven’t, I’ll try to locate it and post the link.
What a game. That was one of the most amazing games I’ve ever seen. I can barely talk today, my voice is so hoarse from screaming.
Weird thing about being inside the Stadium last night was the fact that nobody was discussing/aware of the blown call on Mauer’s should-be double in the crowd since we don’t get replays of such controversial plays. It didn’t make a difference to anyone considering Marte continue to pour gasoline on that inning after Mauer reached anyway.
Also after the Twins took the lead in the 8th, Damon came out to play LF in the 9th and turned to all the fans in the left field bleachers/field level seats and gave us a sort of head nod like “don’t worry, we got this”, which was optimistic at the time but proved prophetic.
I’ve never seen as much pure bliss among fans as when A-Rod touched that home run off, I high fived and hugged so many random people around me. All in all, an amazing game to be at.
The Yankees were lucky last night, but it is about time they had good luck. I’m tired of bloop hits losing Series and balls that bounce into the stands and keep the winning run from scoring.
Do we root for the Angels to finish the Sox or do we want a five game grueling series? I am not, however, counting my chickens yet in this series. The Twins will be tough at home.
“hearing people talk about how the yankees “got lucky” that the ball was called foul. but you have to realize if the twins cant hold a 2 run lead in the ninth and cant score one run with bases loaded no outs in the 11th, they dont deserve to win”
and the Twins will be the first to say, this is indeed the case. Classy group. Joe Nathan, etc
I’ll repeat it from earlier. How fitting that for the first two games, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are co-MVPs. Three of Rodriguez’ RBIs are from knocking in Jeter.
m,
im not sure if you know where Kings Mountain is. It is 30 mins west of charlotte
GB7 =
Robertson was positive beaming. Loved it.
m -
I loved Rebecca’s piece, especially where she talked about after Teixeira’s HR that everyone stayed waiting for pie! I think it’s mighty nice of those Yankees, providing dessert as often as they do!
“Do we root for the Angels to finish the Sox or do we want a five game grueling series?”
I wanted the RedSox anyways. However, that won’t be hapenning.
vinny-b,
Everyone but Nathan. Nathan was watching the play on a TV in the visiting clubhouse.
“I wasn’t the only one who had a tough night,” he said. “You don’t know how he missed it. There’s no red flag we can throw out there to get an instant replay.”
I’d like to second Dom’s sentiments about what a great job is being done by everyone associated with theis blog. Pete laid the groundwork and this place is arguaby better than ever after he left. No easy task. Thank you to everyone at the LoHud News for the not only continued, but added support. Go Yanks!
I think Francona is resting his MAIN players for AlCS.
Josh,
I was born in NC. I have “people” near Raleigh. Well, my dad & step-mother anyway.
Sorry the part lifted from the espn recap is
Nathan was watching the play on a TV in the visiting clubhouse.
“I wasn’t the only one who had a tough night,” he said. “You don’t know how he missed it. There’s no red flag we can throw out there to get an instant replay.”
Phil has really set the standards high when he’s getting called “human” for his first game……..when he got the biggest out of the game and struck out 2 (he gave up 1 hit, to MVP Mauer). He had a bad game last night – he’ll recover.
Do we root for the Red Sox to make this a 5 game series? No. I can’t force myself to root for Boston. F Boston, F the Angels. I hate them both. The Angels look like the better team right now but Boston is a completely different club at Fenway. I think it is fairly likely that they will win both games in Boston.
I couldn’t care less who wins that series. It would be fun to see a Boston, New York series but blah who cares? Just win. The Yankees will kill either the Angels or the Red Sox. Win out baby, 11-0
Vinny -b, Gardenhire didn’t sound so classy…..
As well as everything has gone so far, the two big bats that the Yanks need to get rolling are Damon and Cano. Cabrera, Swisher and Matsui haven’t been great, but, they’ve had their moments, too.
Ken
October 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Green Beret, are you telling me Petite would still have gone on the HgH if Clemens wasnt here ?? I highly doubt it. Clemens was like a father figure to Andy. Im sure he pushed the garbage on Andy. Yes, Andy made a horrible judgement call to inject himself but Im sure Clemens was in his ear.
———————————–
Ken, I’m not getting into the PED stuff but Clemens and Andy were buddies, it wasn’t a father-son type relationship at all. I’m saying this because I played golf with them about 6 years ago at my club and you can tell a lot from 4 hours of observation.
m:
ok. Nathan is normally class.
if i put myself in the place of a twins fan, to me it doesn’t make any difference. They had the bases loaded with nobody out. What more can you ask for
Betsy,
I’m not worried. He’s just a kid, and he still did better than Nathan. Mo’s not supposed to let inherited runners score either. It happens, sometimes.
But for all the bad, it set up for the fireworks from Alex and Tex.
“Phil has really set the standards high when he’s getting called “human” for his first game……..when he got the biggest out of the game and struck out 2 (he gave up 1 hit, to MVP Mauer). He had a bad game last night – he’ll recover.”
Well yeah he has set the standards high, and I’m not reading into it. Simply saying he hasn’t looked like himself for the first two games. He struggled a bit in game one but got the job done and last night he didn’t get the job done. He’s human, and he’s reminding us of it. He isn’t a superhuman like Mo. I’m sure Phil will be fine but no denying he’s been worse than what we expect thus far.
John Sterling’s A-Rod & Tex HR calls from last night (plays #2 & 1):
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.....id=7224150
Not as over-the-top as I had expected…
Oddly, I think one of the things that “protects” umpires is the reluctance of players/coaches/managers to be seen as “whining” when calls are blown. The very act of being classy allows the umpires to escape accountability.
betsy:
maybe am giving them to much credit (based on their track record). Didn’t see too much of the interviews
is it safe to assume damaso marte gets left off the ALCS if the yankees get there…or better said…after last night how do you trust to bring marte in any type situation that doesn’t involve being 10 runs up or down….he couldn’t get either lefty out – which was why he was brought in and put on the playoff roster in the first place..
also this game would have been over faster if phil hughes doesn’t walk the guy hitting .229 and has ZERO power to hit a homerun but happens to be the fastest guy on the team…thats the type of guy you throw fastballs over the plate and say “Go ahead scrub – try to hit it” none of this nibbling BS…
lastly – as much as i’d like to see the redsox eliminated in 3 games i’m actually hoping they win the next 2 games and have to fly back to LA only to lose in 18 innings so that the angels have to fly all the way back to NY to face a fresh NY yankee team that (hopefully) has won their series in 3 games..
M, absolutely not worried. LOL on another board, someone wrote that this would go as a permanent black mark on Phil’s record. Talk about dramatic. If he pitches 10-15 years, Phil will have several more blown moments…..like every pitcher does. He’ll be fine……I just hope the media (yes, you George King…….who wrote this in his recap) doesn’t start clamoring for Joba to supplant Hughes based on one performance
How did Hughes not look like himself in game 1? Cabrera fouled off a ton of his mid-90s fastballs because he had no chance to catch up to them. Hughes eventually spotted one where he needed to to get him out. Also even superhuman Mo gives up hits here and there.
GreenBeret7 October 10th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I’ll repeat it from earlier. How fitting that for the first two games, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are co-MVPs. Three of Rodriguez’ RBIs are from knocking in Jeter.
________________________________________________________________
I think its awesome. If you watch the video on mlb.com of alex’s homerun with the different tv and radio calls, there is a great shot of Jeter giving alex a big hug in the dugout before alex’s curtain call. It made me smile
I still have no voice from last night. I watched the game at a bar with some friends. They played New York New York when the yankees won and everyone was going nuts.
I.LOVE.OCTOBER.
hardwired7 -
You know, Tex’s hr wasn’t “high” nor particularly “far” and it went out so fast that Sterling couldn’t do his normal stuff. It was a low line drive that barely made it out, but faster than any hr this season – no way he could over-react!
Nathan is not a premier closer in my book. Ive seen him blow too many important games now. Add him to the Trevor Hoffmans of the world – great at compiling stats but in a big game, I want Mo on the mound. Nathan looked like he was quiverring out there last night. He was tight as a drum!
Hey Chad, can you ask Tony Pena who is calling the pitches when Cervelli is behind the plate? Is it him or Cervelli or Girardi?
Patrick, I’m denying it as far as game 1 is concerned because I don’t agree that he looked worse than usual. It’s not a big deal, though.
When Peter left there was concern about what will happen to the quality of this blog.
I believe the quality improved further and now it is even a better blog.
Now we have three blog hosts who are doing a great job.
They post entries more frequently and they are all baseball/Yankess related.
They are not high-handed like Pete and respect all the bloggers.
They do not let thier personal opinions or feelings towards certain players or the manager affect thier writings and do not cirticise them for no reason just to get extra blog hits.
They do not argue irrationally and put down the bloggers who disagree with thier points of view.
We could not have asked for more.
This is the best blog out there for yankee fans.
Keep up the great work Sam, Chad, Josh.
Ken, How many closers do you know who are basically automatic in big games. I can think of a couple but not more than that.
Andrew, Hughes took 25 pitches to get 2 outs, he struggled with location. He is usually better than that. That’s all I’m saying, Hughes isn’t himself these last two games but I’m betting he will revert to his previous dominance soon enough
Doreen
October 10th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Oddly, I think one of the things that “protects” umpires is the reluctance of players/coaches/managers to be seen as “whining” when calls are blown. The very act of being classy allows the umpires to escape accountability.
————————————————————
Agreed, along with no fear of retribution from MLB. They talk about umpires drawing All-Star and Post Season assignments based on ability/rankings is BS. It’s just like tow-truck and police departments….It’s based on rotations. If it was ability, they wouldn’t allow Bucknor, West, Foster and a couple of others near the PS games. Not sure what happened with Cuzzi. He’s almost always one of the better umpires and doesn’t have a short fuze that complicates matters.
Ive seen this more than a few times from Nathan now. He is a good closer but he is not elite. He has a case of Big-game-itis in my eyes. He looked scared out there last night. I predicted he would blow the save once Tex got the leadoff single. Im sorry none of these closers stack up to Mo. You are fooling yourself if youd want Nathan on the Yankees. He is not good. Reminds me of another Benitez.
Doreen,
I don’t think so. I think that ball players accept that they get them wrong for both sides, and sometimes they get the breaks themselves. Players, I think, appreciate some of the traditional parts of the game.
But because of this gaffe, look for down the line calls to be reviewed in the same manner homeruns are now.
As for the whining? Players speak up now with no repercussions (or results either, they don’t get make up calls in subsequent games). But talking to the press would be a fine for the player and the team if this were the NBA or NFL. More and more grumbling going on. Big changes will come soon.
Even if Cabrera or Gardenhire ran out there to argue, they wouldn’t change the call. Have you ever seen a call reversed in baseball? Only when one ump says one thing, another says something else, and they conference. But never on something like fair/foul that deep into the oufield.
GB has the soapbox out this morning. Go Gb… Go GB…Go GB
The magazine article in question above was Esquire not GQ and Alex’s quote was really in response to something Jeter’s agent had said in the NY papers but that is never mentioned.
Jeter’s agent took a shot at Alex to the media (I think Lupica) and Alex wasn’t savvy enough to let Boras fire back instead of him.
Came off as him trashing a friend instead of just business.
I hope fans realize last nights performance doesn’t mean Alex is going to go 5-5 with a HR and 3 RBI every game.
There’s a pitcher on the mound and 8 other guys in the field who do have a say in the outcome of an AB too.
A quick player comparison:
Player 1: 65 postseason games, .283 BA, .389 OBP, .525 SLG%, 12 HRs (1 per every 23 plate appearances), 47 RBI (1 per every 6.0 plate appearances), 64 K’s (1 per every 4.4 plate appearances)
Player 2: 41 postseason games, .290 BA, .379 OBP, .503 SLG%, 8 HR (1 per every 22.2 plate appearances), 22 RBI (1 per every 8.1 plate appearances), 39 K’s (1 per every 4.5 plate appearances)
Player 1?
His holiness David Ortiz
Player 2?
The ‘choker’ Alex Rodriguez
Pretty similar, eh?
Granted, the last two games have helped, but let’s keep some perspective on what is a considerably small sample size. Over the course of several years (and at-bats) things have a tendency to even out. Let’s hope this postseason is, in fact, the ‘evening-out’….
“You are fooling yourself if youd want Nathan on the Yankees. He is not good. Reminds me of another Benitez”
who said we wanted Nathan on the yankees? Can’t someone respect a player on another team, without a debate?
The fact they add 2 extra umps down the lines and they still blow calls amazes me. Maybe its time for some sort of automated or computerized scoring system and we eliminate all these clown umps. I think its feasible with technology now. Richie Phillips must be laughing at this. Cuzzi should be sent for an eye check up. That ball was fair by a foot. Thank God it broke the Yanks way but I really hate these umps. They just seem to get worse and worse as the years go by.
I was glad to see that Josh got his mug on the right side along with Chad and Sam. Recognition [Generation Trey? haha - just joking!
]
Congrats on a great win.
Tough morning to be a Sox fan.
Hope all the regulars are having a great weekend and that time is going lightly this AM.
Happy Saturday.
-dennis
Nathan’s earned his share of saves, but he’s also blown a fair amount as has Fuentes, K-rod, and Lidge.
Mo and Papelbon are the gold standard.
But the fact that guys like Fuentes and Nathan can rack up nearly 50 saves tells you that the save is not that, that big a deal. It’s just coming in and getting 3 outs without losing the lead.
Obviously, Mo is the exception. When he comes in, it’s an event.
I’ve been doing some looking around but can’t find video of Beckett’s post game interview after last night’s loss to the Angels. Anybody got a link? I want to check out his “demeanor”;)
Best part of Alex’s home run is the reaction of the guys in the ‘pen.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.....id=7220402
dennis-Costanza:
Must be tough. I know because we’ve been there for a few years ourselves.
I’m curious what you think: Has the Angels pitching really been that good or is the Sox lineup cold?
Andrew-
So how many adult beverages were you consuming during the excitement of last night?? So jealous you got to be there
31 hours and 46 minutes until Game 3!!!!!!!!!
Regarding the blown call by Phil Cuzzi, as Michael Kay would like to say it is the “fallacy of the pre-determined outcome” to think that Twins lost out on a run because of the way inning transpired after the ball was ruled foul.
There is no way to know how the inning would have played out had Mauer been on second with a double and to assume that at least one run would have scored because Kubel and Cuddyer singled in the inning after Mauer’s at bat is the height of subjectivity.
Here’s a scenario, let’s say the ump correctly rules Mauer’s ball a hit and he is on second and Kubel comes up next and singles … maybe, Mauer tries to score and is thrown out at the plate … or … maybe, Marte pitches differently and strikes Kubel out … we will never know.
It was a bad call, just like the Jeffrey Maier incident was a bad call, or the ump not calling strike 3 to Tino before his grand slam in ’98 WS against the Padres, or the play at 3rd base with Brosius in Game 1 of the ’99 ALCS where he clearly dropped the ball which should have given Boston bases loaded with no outs in 9th inning of a tie game.
What are you going to do … the bottom line is that despite the blown call, the Twins still loaded the bases with no outs and couldnt score … it is still on them for not getting the big hit.
pat
October 10th, 2009 at 11:02 am
GB has the soapbox out this morning. Go Gb… Go GB…Go GB
The magazine article in question above was Esquire not GQ and Alex’s quote was really in response to something Jeter’s agent had said in the NY papers but that is never mentioned.
————————————————————
For all of the so-called insulation that Boras is supposed to give Rodriguez, he’s done a very poor job as far as getting him hooked up with people that specialize in training people to give interviews and public speaking. Rodriguez speaks what sounds normal and intelligent/well thought out for him. If he attempts to think it through, he gets accused of being a phoney. He’ll never be as polished as Derek Jeter, but, them Rodriguez doesn’t come from a highly educated and public family, either. They are basically public speakers and they taught their kids well.
Rodriguez hasn’t helped himself with some of his decisions, but, he’s only hurt himself, not others.
“Also after the Twins took the lead in the 8th, Damon came out to play LF in the 9th and turned to all the fans in the left field bleachers/field level seats and gave us a sort of head nod like “don’t worry, we got this”, which was optimistic at the time but proved prophetic.”
Andrew-
If you were that close to Johnny did you tell him I love him? LOL
Murph..
I thought Lackey had great stuff Thurs eve. Last night I thought the Sox were very impatient and not grinding out AB’s as usual. They seemed to be pressing. JMO.
-dennis
dennis,
The Weavers share the same gene. They frustrate teams with their mediocrity.
In the case of the Sox, I would say it’s been a bit of both the Halo pitching and the usual offensive road woes.
Beckett and Lester both pitched decently but not good enough to overcome.
Lot’s of pressure on Bucholz now. I hearKazimir’s got some good numbers at Fenway. Correct?
Hey Mel.
Re: Weavers. Amy says the same thing about me…
-dennis
dennis-Costanza
October 10th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Murph..
I thought Lackey had great stuff Thurs eve. Last night I thought the Sox were very impatient and not grinding out AB’s as usual. They seemed to be pressing. JMO.
-dennis
————————————————————
Weaver is a really tough proposition for any predominantly right handed hitting team, but what he did to Drew and Ortiz was pretty startling. There’s a world of difference between Wever and his older brother. I can’t remember Lackey handle the Red sox like that either. It hasn’t helped that it seems like Pedroia’s big swing appears really slow,
http://proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/p.....id=4547148
wow, a great day to be a Yankee fan…I have watched the post game, ESPN coverage and mlb coverage this am.
So happy to see D-rob get the belt, what a great job by a young kid. Great job by Alex and Tex, good that the team could pick up Phil and Mo. Too bad about the blown call, but the Twins had plenty of chances to score.
Ken
October 10th, 2009 at 9:17 am
The problem with Arod is that he will never be Jeter. Even if AROD wins 3 WS rings Jeter will always have more. Plus I will never forgive him for cheating the game. Im sorry but that’s a big part of it. I’ll root for him to do well, but I will never like the guy.
———————————————————–
thank goodness arod will never be jeter because we would have 2 ss & would be short a 3rd baseman not to mention we lose last nights game without when all is said & done the player that is going to hit the most hr in the history of baseball with or without steroids.
a little hint. arod & jeter are 2 different people & probably should remain so
if arod does not have the personality he does he does not achieve what he has so far,same with jeter,pujols,etc…
Ive always hated Gardenhire. He comes across as a sore loser. I just dont think he is a very good manager. He must be getting frustrated of his team constantly being taken to the cleaners by the Yanks.
dennis,
lol.
Have a good afternoon, guys. SAT test and team tennis for me. Well, not me personally. haha.
Betsy
October 10th, 2009 at 10:55 am
M, absolutely not worried. LOL on another board, someone wrote that this would go as a permanent black mark on Phil’s record. Talk about dramatic. If he pitches 10-15 years, Phil will have several more blown moments…..like every pitcher does. He’ll be fine……I just hope the media (yes, you George King…….who wrote this in his recap) doesn’t start clamoring for Joba to supplant Hughes based on one performance
====
George King is an absolute clown. He has no idea what he’s talking about – never has.
Also, the plate ump last night apparently is under the mistaken impression that you have to swing to strike out. He doesn’t realize a player can actually strike out looking.
In fact, the Twins have gotten some freebie base runners in the first two games. The joke of a strike zone doesn’t only affect the batter. It changes the way you pitch.
Joint was it’s absolutely loudest and most ferocious last night since we moved the operation across the street. My ears are still ringing.
Hey GB7.
I agree. Pedroia looks slow however the playoffs are so over examined by AB’s in a short period of time.
At noon I get to watch my Alma Mater BC at VT. I just think this may be a tough sports weekend.
Hope all is well with you …
-dennis
I just want to chime and and say THANKS to Sam, Chad & Josh. Awesome coverage!
“He’ll never be as polished as Derek Jeter, but, them Rodriguez doesn’t come from a highly educated and public family, either.”
True enough, Jete seems to know what to say no matter what. But, paraphrasing Michael Kay, interviewing Jeter one gets the feeling that he’s opened the front door but kept the screen door closed. I don’t blame Jete at all for saying as little as necessary, but can’t everyone predict what he’s going to say before he says it? I’m not knocking, I think in Jete’s case it’s about never becoming more than the team, being a spokesperson without becoming the only or most important person.
It’s tough to watch anyone who seems lost in their own skin as Alex did until recently. The contrivances, the hunger for attention, the ego all made everyone around that person uncomfortable, hence the A-Rod effect. I used to focus on the fact that the A-Rod persona gave me hives, but I let that go earlier this year. He did a good enough job screwing himself up that he didn’t need me pounding him on the head too. But Rodriguez has done an enormous amount of self-searching, growing up and changing. He looks like he sincerely is having fun now and if a guy this talented starts having fun, the sky is literally the limit.
In my opinion Alex deserves “comeback person” – not player – of the year.
Didn’t get to see any of the Angels-Bosox game, just listened from the 7th on in the car on the drive home.
Not at all surprised, however. Even when we had lost our eigth straight to Boston, my feeling was we’d get it together, and pull away to win the division by 7-8 games.
Boston’s pitching depth was over rated all season by ESPN Pollyanas, and their lineup has been eunuched on the road ever since Manny’s exit.
I would, Bronx pointed out, love to see them tie the series, because the Angels need to have some air taken out of their tires before they arrive here next Friday.
Hopefully the Green Monster will accommodate Boston’s otherwise feeble RHB. I think a Game 5 back in Cal would be splendid, but I don’t anticipate that happening. But that would be the best thing for the Yankees.
GB7,
Lackey pitched a gem during the season at Fenway. The guy was interviewed, and he clearly was tired of hearing about how he can’t beat the Red Sox.
dennis-Costanza
October 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Hey GB7.
I agree. Pedroia looks slow however the playoffs are so over examined by AB’s in a short period of time.
At noon I get to watch my Alma Mater BC at VT. I just think this may be a tough sports weekend.
Hope all is well with you …
-dennis
————————————————————
Definately agree that after just two games you can’t say what a player will do or not do the rest of the way. I was looking more at the last 10 games of Pedroia’s season. He did have a couple of homers, but, not much else. Even in the field, he doesn’t look as quick. You have to wonder if the family issues with the new baby and his brother isn’t finally catching up. That has to grind on you. He also seems to expend a lot of energy just standing around.
Dennis, I’m doing fine. Thanks for asking. Hope all is well with you and Ms amy, also.
ND is better than BC. (I just like to start trouble).
My only complaint about the coverage Sam is that there are too many updates when the game is happening. Maybe restrict updates to 1 every half an hour because otherwise things get lost in the shuffle.
The more updates the bette I say!….man what i game last night. I was there and by the time tex hit the walk off everyone was so tired and had already used up so much adrenaline it was hard to go crazy. i would say it was a classic.
“first postseason classic of the new Yankee Stadium” I’d have to agree. We’ve all seen the mighty emotional struggles of our team in the postseason. This one had the same kind of back-and-forth, edge-of-your-seat playing, but there was a different feel about this game. I believe it was because it was the first real fight in the new house.
Posada and his old game calling tripped up Phil,and Yankees almost lost a game.
I hope Posada sees how selfish he was.Joe pulled AJ too soon,and Posada came in calling runs with his,old fuddy duddy tired game calling.
Thanks to Tex and Arod the Yankees won.