The LoHud Yankees Blog

The scheduling during this year’s playoffs has included a bunch of extra off days – the last one of which comes today, as the Yankees and Angels take a break in the middle of their three-game set at Angel Stadium. Normally, the set-up of the Championship Series is like what we’ll see in the World Series: two games in one city followed by an off day, then three games in another city, followed by another off day and the final two games back in the first city.

This year, the ALCS and NLCS have extra rest days. The NLCS was off yesterday and the ALCS sits today, primarily because of – surprise – TV. With two different networks (TBS and FOX) broadcasting the series, both want to their series to have the spotlight and the primetime spot as much as possible.

What’s it mean for you the fans? Lots and lots of waiting around.

What’s it mean for the Yankees today? Another round of batting practice in an empty stadium. The Yankees are working out today at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time, with Joe Girardi and Game 5 starter A.J. Burnett meeting the media just before the team takes the field. Chad and I will be at the park to bring you whatever news and notes comes out of it.

The Yankees are one win away from their first World Series since 2003 after beating the Angels last night in Game 4. Chad Jennings has all the details, including plenty about Alex Rodriguez’s incredible postseason.

Joe Girardi’s gamble on CC Sabathia paid off perfectly, as Sabathia delivered yet another gem. As good as Rodriguez has been, Sabathia’s impact on this series can’t be overstated and for more on him, check out my column.

Mariano Rivera and the Yankees (as well as MLB) laughed off a baseless claim that the Yankees closer might have spit on the ball in Game 3. Chad has that story.

Girardi defended the struggling hitters at the bottom of the Yankee lineup, and got a partial reward when Melky Cabrera came through with a big hit in Game 4. The notebook also has items on some more umpiring mistakes, an appearance for Chad Gaudin and Girardi’s second-day thoughts on his controversial bullpen decisions from Game 3.

Alex Rodriguez is crushing the ball, CC Sabathia is everything anyone could have hoped for and the Yankees are one win away from their first World Series in six years.

“We’re not comfortable,” Nick Swisher said. “We’ve got some work to do. We’re not quite where we want to be, but we feel like if we keep going out there and playing good baseball like this, we’ve got a chance.”

That’s what the playoffs are about. Much is always made about the fact that the best team doesn’t always win in the postseason, but so far the Yankees are playing like a team that is going to give itself a chance.

They made a few base-running mistakes tonight — though they weren’t always punished for them — but this has generally been a fairly clean postseason in terms of Yankees fundamentals. They have a clean-up hitter and a lead-off hitter who have been good enough to carry a lineup that has otherwise gotten big hits from different hitters night-to-night. They have a rotation that’s been consistent behind a no-doubt-about-it ace, and they have a bullpen that’s become a reliable bridge to the game’s top closer.

Let’s give the last word of the night to Rodriguez, who was asked if his postseason will finally eliminate the questions about his ability to perform on this stage.

“Well, I’m not sure about that,” he said. “I will say that in other postseasons I failed and sometimes failed miserably. It certainly feels good to come through for my team and help the team win.”

At this point you’d have to consider the race for the ALCS MVP award to be a dead heat between CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez, and the Yankees – after a 10-1 thrashing of the Angels in Game 4 – are just one win away from their first World Series since 2003. Check back here for updates from the clubhouse as soon as Chad and I get back upstairs.

UPDATE, 12:11 p.m.: Joe Girardi said Sabathia “was spectacular again. To be able to shut this club down like he did, again, is no easy feat. … I don’t think you can say enough what he’s done so far in this series.”

As for A-Rod, Girardi was similarly awed. “He’s a great player – I think that’s plain and simple,” Girardi said. “He’s in the zone right now. He’s locked in. Every at-bat is a good at-bat. You see him not missing pitches. When he puts the swing on it, it’s a good swing.”

I’ll have audio from Girardi, Sabathia and umpire Tim McClelland – who made a statement essentially saying he missed two calls at third base – shortly.

UPDATE, 12:26 a.m.: Jorge Posada kept his assessment of Alex Rodriguez pretty cut and dry. “I think he’s proven that he’s probably the best player in baseball.”

UPDATE, 12:45 a.m.: Here’s the audio from Girardi’s postgame presser. He basically goes back and forth from CC to Alex, CC to Alex throughout.

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And here’s CC’s audio.

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And lastly, here’s Tim McClelland making a statement about how he missed two calls at third base.

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UPDATE, 12:55 a.m.: Chad here with some words from Derek Jeter. The clubhouse audio is a bit spotty, but here are the highlights from the Captain.

•  On expectations when Alex Rodriguez comes to the plate: “I wouldn’t say a home run, but we expect him to hit the ball hard. That’s the biggest key. He seems like he’s swinging at strikes. He’s human. He’s going to get out sometimes. But it seems like when he puts the ball in play he puts the ball in play hard.”
•  On what makes CC Sabathia pitch well in big games: “His demeanor hasn’t changed. Good games. Bad games. If he strikes a guy out or gives up a hit, he has the same demeanor. He has a lot of confidence in his ability, but he’s pretty unflappable.”
•  After someone with a microphone called this a breather: “It wasn’t a breather, man. It was a breather for what, an inning and a half? It was 5-1 going into the eighth inning. Get a couple of guys on and the monkey comes out, you never know what’s going to happen. No, it wasn’t a breather. It’s the playoffs. You never know what can happen.”

UPDATE, 10:20 p.m.: Two outs in the sixth, Yanks up 5-1 and we’re into thread No. 3.

UPDATE, 10:30 p.m.: This just got hairy for Sabathia in a hurry. A tough check-swing call on ball four to Hunter followed by a single to right from Guerrero. Suddenly it’s two-on, none out.

UPDATE, 10:35 p.m.: Posada is having a rough night. He started to run off the field after Rivera bounced into a double play, obviously thinking there were three outs. Only a heads-up play by A-Rod to sprint and cover home kept Torii Hunter from trying to sneak down the baseline and pick up a cheap run.

UPDATE, 10:37 p.m.: And CC gets a lineout from Kendrick to end the inning. He’s through six, has a four-run lead and has thrown 80 pitches. The Yankees would love it if he could take it all the way to Mariano.

UPDATE, 10:54 p.m.: Another 1-2-3 for Sabathia in only nine pitches. He’s been outstanding and the Yankees are three outs away from Rivera.

UPDATE, 11:02 p.m.: For a pinch-runner, Gardner sure does get thrown out a lot. That was a great throw by Napoli. Right on the money.

UPDATE, 11:09 p.m.: That’s Damon’s second homer in as many days and ninth career postseason homer. He absolutely murdered it to left field and it’s 7-1 now. Lots of red shirts heading toward the exits.

UPDATE, 11:17 p.m.: That’s 101 pitches and eight innings for Sabathia. You want to talk about an ace showing up? You saw it tonight.

UPDATE, 11:37 p.m.: Chad Gaudin comes in to finish it off and the Yankees are one win away from the World Series.

UPDATE, 9:01 p.m.: Still zeros on the board as we get into thread No. 2.

UPDATE, 9:03 p.m.: The Yankees bats may be ice cold but CC has come to play tonight. That slider to get Abreu was nasty. He’s thrown only 29 pitches through three.

UPDATE, 9:12 p.m.: We’ve seen this story before, no? Second and third, none out and Matsui goes down swinging. Now it’s on Cano.

UPDATE, 9:13 p.m.: Earlier in this series, A-Rod ran over the catcher in a close play at the plate and was out. This time, he slid and just got in under Napoli’s tag. That was an aggressive play, and if Kendrick’s throw hits Napoli in the chest, A-Rod is probably out. Instead the throw was high and A-Rod just got in underneath. 1-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 9:22 p.m.: And Melky (finally) delivers a single to left with RISP, two runs scoring on a great slide by Cano. Then, with Jeter up, Kazmir absolutely had Swisher picked off second but the ump blew the call. Let’s see if the Yankees take advantage of the break and knock out Kazmir.

UPDATE, 9:26 p.m.: A second bad call in the inning, this one against the Yankees. Third base ump Tim McClelland just took a run off the board for the Yankees, saying Swisher left third base too early on a sac fly by Damon (replays show he didn’t). I guess you could say justice was served – Kazmir would have been out of the inning if Swisher had been correctly called out at second on the pickoff.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m.: Meanwhile, CC continues to cruise. Three up, three down on just nine pitches. He’s at 38 through four.

UPDATE, 9:39 p.m.: That’s it for Kazmir. Jason Bulger coming on to face A-Rod.

UPDATE, 9:43 p.m.: Scioscia’s probably thinking that Kazmir could’ve done that. That was A-Rod’s third homer of the series and fifth of the postseason, matching Reggie Jackson for the second-most by a Yankee in a single postseason (Bernie Williams had six in 1996). A-Rod has homered in three straight games and it’s now 5-0 Yankees.

UPDATE, 9:45 p.m.: Darren Oliver coming in after Bulger walks Posada. This could get pretty ugly pretty quick if the Yankees can string together a few more hits. The way CC is pitching so far, 6-0 or 7-0 will look like 15-0.

UPDATE, 9:49 p.m.: Well, I’ve seen it all – Posada just stole second.

UPDATE, 9:50 p.m.: And, after that display of blazing speed, Posada gets completely faked out by Torii Hunter’s deke and doesn’t score on a double off the wall. Quite a sequence there. Second and third for Swisher.

UPDATE, 9:53 p.m.: Wow. Tim McClelland is one of the best umpires in the league and he is having an absolutely brutal game. Neither Cano nor Posada was on the base when Napoli tagged them, yet somehow McClelland ruled that Posada was out and Cano was safe. Awful baserunning by Posada to begin with, but an even worse call by McClelland.

UPDATE, 10:00 p.m.: That’s the first mistake by Sabathia, as Morales takes him over the fence in dead center to make it 5-1. According to the GameCast I’m using, Morales hit a 97 mph fastball. Not bad.

UPDATE, 10:06 p.m.: FYI, for those who asked: Posada had one stolen base during the regular season: April 29 against the Tigers.

UPDATE, 10:12 p.m.: Big escape for Sabathia there. He’s at 63 pitches through five so still should have plenty left.

UPDATE, 10:20 p.m.: Time for another thread. 2,200 comments and counting …

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (2-0, 1.23 ERA)

ANGELS
Chone Figgins 3B
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Juan Rivera LF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Erick Aybar SS

Pitching: LHP Scott Kazmir (0-0, 7.50 ERA)

TIME/TV: 7:57 p.m., FOX

WEATHER: It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood – clear skies, temps in the 60s and 70s and plenty of sun. Check out the full forecast here.

STATE OF THE STRIPES: The Yankees remain two wins from the World Series after losing a heartbreaker in 11 innings yesterday. Weird fact? All seven of the Angels postseason wins over the Yankees (three in the 2002 ALDS, three in the 2005 ALDS and one so far this year) have been of the come-from-behind variety.

BATTER VS. PITCHER: Here’s the Angels vs. Sabathia. And here’s the Yankees vs. Kazmir.

CC ON SHORT REST: CC Sabathia threw 114 pitches in his Game 1 start and is pitching tonight on three days rest. Sabathia didn’t pitch on short rest this year, but did it in his final four starts last year for the Brewers and went 2-1 with a 0.83 ERA before getting roughed up in his one playoff start for Milwaukee. Joe Girardi says the short rest won’t give him a quick hook with Sabathia. “As far as the pitch count, I would have no problem letting him go 110, 115 if that’s what it took,” Girardi said.

THREE DAYS HISTORY: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there have been 85 instances since 1995 in which a team has started a pitcher on short rest in the playoffs. In those games, the starters have gone 20-34, throwing 458 1/3 innings and compiling a 4.65 ERA.

A-PLUS: Alex Rodriguez hit his fourth homer of the postseason in Game 3, and he’s got a career-high nine RBI. In his previous 39 career playoff games before this year, he had a combined seven home runs and 17 RBI.

TEX TURNAROUND: Mark Teixeira has been struggling at the plate, taking a .120 batting average into today’s game. Could facing Kazmir be what gets him going? Texieira is 7-for-11 with four doubles in his career against the lefty.

YANKEE KILLER: Howie Kendrick continued to torment the Yankees yesterday, finishing a double shy of the cycle and hitting an 11th inning single off Alfredo Aceves that led to him scoring the winning run. History would indicate tonight might be more of the same: Kendrick is 8-for-12 lifetime off Sabathia.

RANDOM QUESTION OF THE DAY: If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, is it worse to drive along the shoulder or go solo in the HOV lane?

IF THERE WERE WALK-TO-THE-PLATE MUSIC IN REAL LIFE, TODAY’S WOULD BE: California Love by Tupac

UPDATE, 5:09 p.m.: Chad here. Mike Scioscia on the Mariano Rivera “spitball” video: “I’d be shocked if there was anything to that.”

UPDATE, 5:38 p.m.: As you can see, the lineup is up and the only switch is Posada batting ahead of Matsui now. Girardi said that was based on Posada’s past success against Kazmir (11-for-25, 5 RBI). When he was asked about sticking with Swisher, Girardi said, “You just don’t give up on a guy because they’re struggling.” That said, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Brett Gardner get a start in Game 5 against Lackey.

Girardi also laughed off the Rivera/spitter story, pointing out that the spitball is designed to dart and move unpredictably – or the exact opposite of what Rivera’s cutter does, which is bite consistently. “To me, it’s a dead story,” Girardi said.

Audio coming shortly.

UPDATE, 5:54 p.m.: Here’s the audio from Girardi’s press conference. In addition to talking about his bullpen decisions and the Rivera video, he also touches on the Yankees struggles with Howie Kendrick, the approach to facing Vladimir Guerrero, Teixeira’s defense, Swisher’s struggles and a few other assorted topics.

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UPDATE, 6:05 p.m.: For those who can’t listen to the audio, here’s Girardi on being second-guessed: “If every move you made as a manager was 100 % foolproof, then you’d probably win 162 games, but that’s not going to happen either. … We prepare. We talk about things (on the bench). I felt in my gut and in my heart and in my mind that it was the right move.”

UPDATE, 6:27 p.m.: It’s Chad again. Mariano Rivera just talked about the spit controversy. “I laughed about the whole thing,” he said. “What would I get mad for? I care about what the fans think about me, but if somebody has followed my career for all of those years, I would have to have a lot of spit to spit for a lot of years.”

The audio’s not great, but we’re going to try to get it posted to the blog in a minute or two. Rivera was actually really funny. He put in a piece of gum just before talking to us, and at one point he actually had to turn away from the group of reporters. ”Excuse me,” he said. “I have to spit.”

UPDATE, 6:42 p.m.: Here’s the audio from Rivera.

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UPDATE, 6:54 p.m.: Chad here again with a few notes from Girardi’s session with the beat writers.

•  As expected, Girardi wouldn’t go into detail about why he wanted Aceves over Robertston last night, he said only that he thought Robertson matched up better against the first two batters that inning and that Aceves matched up better against the Kendrick and the batters who followed. “I figured I was bringing Ace in anyway an inning later,” Girardi said. “Because you’re only going an inning with Robby.”

•  If I may put two and two together, Aceves told us last night that he was attacking Kendrick with cutters and changeups. Robertson is a fastball/curveball pitcher. That must be the matchup difference the Yankees liked.

•  Girardi on whether he would have used Rivera in the bottom of the 11th had the Yankees taken the lead in the top of the inning: “Mo told me he was going back out if we scored.”

•  As for his mid-at-bat convesation on the mound about Vladimir Guerrero – after which Guerrero hit a two-run bomb — Girardi said he went out only after Jorge Posada first went to talk to Andy Pettitte: “They were talking and I wanted to make sure that everyone was on the same page. They knew exactly what they were doing and it was what we wanted, we just didn’t execute.”

UPDATE, 7:34 p.m.: Sabathia is out on the warning track, playing catch before heading into the bullpen to warm up. The grounds crew is working on the field and the fans are filing in. We’re about 25 minutes from first pitch on a beautiful night here in Orange County.

UPDATE, 7:59 p.m.: And we’re off. Jeter drops a single to right and it’s 73 degrees at game time.

UPDATE, 8:01 p.m.: So much for that. Jeter was going on first move there and Kazmir picked him clean.

UPDATE, 8:05 p.m.: Great slider from Kazmir to get Teixeira, who knew it right away. Now CC goes to the mound.

UPDATE, 8:15 p.m.: Girardi said that pitch count wouldn’t be an issue with Sabathia tonight, but even so, it’s nice for the Yankees to get a relatively quick one from CC to start. He finishes the first at 10 pitches; Kazmir threw 13.

UPDATE, 8:23 p.m.: Good patience from A-Rod and Posada. Making Kazmir work, instead of chasing, is critical for the Yankees tonight.

UPDATE, 8:34 p.m.: Again the bottom of the order fails to come through. Two pop-ups and then Swisher flies to right to strand two more runners. Swisher is now 3-for-23 with one RBI in the postseason.

UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: Whatever else happens tonight, at least Sabathia can say he retired Howie Kendrick. So that’s something.

UPDATE, 8:42 p.m.: CC is being economical. That was a nine-pitch inning to give him 19. Kazmir is at 38 going to the third.

UPDATE, 8:47 p.m.: Any of you happen to catch the Phillies rally against the Dodgers in the ninth inning yesterday? If you did, you’re a better teammate than Manny Ramirez. He was, apparently, in the shower at the time. Check out the ridiculous story here.

UPDATE, 8:55 p.m.: Teixeira goes down swinging again. He’s in a brutal slide and is 1-for-15 in the ALCS.

UPDATE, 9:00 p.m.: It’s only the third inning and we’re headed to a second thread. Come on over.

Apparently, Mariano Rivera was labeled as a cheater for a few hours today.

If you haven’t seen the video, check out YouTube for the “evidence” that Rivera spit on a baseball in last night’s game against the Angels. The video caused quite the uproar among Angels fans and Yankees fans alike.

The New York Post, though, is reporting that Major League Baseball has looked into the incident and ruled that Rivera did not actually spit on the ball. He clearly spit near the ball, but not on it. The video clip that has circulated through the Internet comes from a camera angle that makes it tough to tell where the spit was directed and/or landed — and it doesn’t help that the video cuts away just as Rivera spits — but it looks to me as if Rivera is spitting to the right of the baseball.

Not so long ago, it seemed Don Mattingly might be next in line to manage the Yankees. Now his name is being linked to the Cleveland Indians.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported that Mattingly is among those who has interviewed for the Indians job. The Boston Globe has talked to Mattingly about the possibility of looking for a job outside of Los Angeles, where he’s currently the Dodgers hitting coach.

“I don’t want to go anywhere that doesn’t want to win,” Mattingly told the Globe. “I’ve been around this game now long enough and played for and coached some very good teams, so you want a team that’s on the verge of making the playoffs. It doesn’t mean you wouldn’t go manage a young club that’s building toward that. As long as the organization wants to get there, I’d be fine with that.”

Former Yankee and current YES Network analyst John Flaherty has agreed to break down the pitching match-up for every Yankees postseason game exclusively on the LoHud Yankees blog. Be sure to check out John on the YES pre- and post-game shows today. Here’s his take on the Game 4 starters:

YANKEES: LHP CC Sabathia

WHAT’S HE THROW? “Fastball, slider, change-up.”

STRENGTHS: “I think last start he made a nice adjustment with the cold weather and went more fastball/changeup than fastball/slider. Tonight, though, I expect him to have all three and I expect there to be more swings and misses than there were in Game 1 because of that slider. He also did a great job using the whole plate the last time out: In Game 1 it was fastballs to both sides and a good change-up, so continuing that will be important for him.”

WEAKNESSES: “I know that CC has said he may not have his best fastball velocity, but if it were me I’d be less worried about that and more concerned with location. If you’re a little more tired, you run the risk of not finishing your pitches and then the location can suffer. You get a little quick with your front side and the slider can hang, which the Angels will jump on. If the short rest is a factor, I think that’s where it will show up.”

——

ANGELS: LHP Scott Kazmir

WHAT’S HE THROW? “Fastball, slider, change-up.”

STRENGTHS: “If Kazmir’s got that good slider, it’s going to be like CC’s – down and in, and it can be a weapon. That’s his strikeout pitch. If it’s on and you’re looking for it, you’ll still have trouble hitting it and then he can slip in a fastball for a strike and get you that way, too. His fastball isn’t as good as it once was because of his injury problems, but if the slider is working than the two still work well together.”

WEAKNESSES: “The bottom line for him is if he throws strikes then he’ going to be tough. The times when he’s behind and throwing strikes with the fastball when the hitters are looking for it? That’s when he’s in trouble. I look for the Yankees to make him work, get his pitch count up and try to take advantage of counts where he has to come over with a strike. If they can do that, they’ll get him out of the game earlier and get into that Angels bullpen.”

—–

EDGE: “CC gets the edge. Obviously not as much pressure on Kazmir because of the win last night, but I don’t expect the short rest to be a problem for CC and, with the better weather, I think he’s going to have command of all three pitches tonight against the Angels.”