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Tag: Alex Rodriguez

Blogs

Oct 12, 2012

ALDS Game 4 Thoughts: Everyone Left on Base

The Yankees lost Game 4 and are now faced with the scenario they fought so hard to avoid: a one-game playoff.

I remember this feeling. I felt it on Oct. 6, 2011. It was Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS. This feeling sucks.

The feeling is when “elimination” becomes a real possibility. It’s a word that no baseball fan wants to hear. It’s the strongest word in the sports vocabulary because it’s so final.

You don’t face elimination unless you screw up along the way, and the 2012 Yankees have done just that. Their regular season problem found its way to the postseason and the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position will be their downfall if the season doesn’t extend past Friday night.

One run in 13 innings. That’s how I will remember Game 4. I won’t remember it for Phil Hughes stepping up, Derek Jeter coming through on one good leg, Nick Swisher and Ichiro playing horrible defense in the eighth inning or A-Rod getting pinch-hit for once again. One run in 13 innings. That’s what I will remember about Game 4. The theme from April 6 through October 3 didn’t go away during the three off days before Game 1 of the ALDS. And now it has the Yankees in the scenario they fought down the stretch to avoid: a one-game playoff.

The Yankees haven’t made it out of the ALDS against a team not named the Minnesota Twins since 2001 when they came back from down 0-2 against the A’s. The Angels knocked them out in 2002 and again in 2005. The Tigers took them down in 2006, the Indians got them in 2007 and the Tigers did it again last October. Now the Yankees are one more bad game of leaving men on base from having their season end.

The Yankees will play their 167th game of the 2012 season on Friday night. The heart of the order will determine if they get to play for the 168th time on Saturday.

***

Here are my thoughts from Game 4 of the ALDS.

– Four runs in the last 25 innings and two of those runs are Raul Ibanez’s solo home runs. That’s disgusting and embarrassing on so many levels. I would take the San Francisco Giants offense in Game 5. At least they have guys who will deliver a big hit.

– Phil Hughes stepped up in Game 4 (6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) and delivered as good of a performance as he did in Game 3 against the Twins at the Stadium in Game 3 of the 2010 ALDS (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). He deserved to win on Thursday night the same way that Andy Pettitte deserved to win on Monday night. I didn’t trust Hughes entering Game 4, but I will trust him if there’s an ALCS for him to get the ball in next week.

– I really hope Nick Swisher’s roll in the 13th inning like he was 007 dodging gunfire makes hisYankeeography. It was the latest in what I call Nick Swisher Unnecessary Antics. My favorite has always been him climbing the wall on home runs that he is unable to catch or come remotely close to making a play on. You’re the worst, Nick Swisher. The worst.

– I always laugh when people say, “The moment always finds A-Rod.” The moment always found David Ortiz when the Red Sox used to make the postseason and Ortiz loved the moment and owned it.

– Hey, Yankee Stadium music guy, don’t play Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” while I’m walking out of the Stadium following a 13-inning loss in which the Yankees score one run, forcing them into an elimination game. Maybe that’s the time for you to play Howie Day’s “Collide” rather than in Game 3 when the Yankees were losing before Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run.

– Remember when Robinson Cano was tearing up the Twins’, Blue Jays’ and Red Sox’ pitching in the last week of the season and everyone was calling him the best and hottest hitter on the planet. Good call, everyone! Cano will be as responsible for a first-round exit as anyone if he doesn’t show up in Game 5 and the Yankees don’t advance to the ALCS. He is now 2-for-18 in the series and is supposed to be the most important hitter in the lineup, even if Joe Girardi still doesn’t think he is.

– The Stadium has a montage for every moment. The problem is that most of them involve plays from previous years. There isn’t a “Left On Base” montage to the Rocky theme to be played when the team is trying to rally late, but there should be. Instead there are hundreds of clips from the last few years of big hits, plays and pitches from the Yankees. I think my friend Andrew said it best last night at the game when talking about great moments being shown: “I’m starting to think these aren’t real.”

– There was a time when there was a pitching change or a mound visit during the beginning of a Yankees rally meant “Black Betty” would fill the Bronx night and the Yankees would come through in the clutch. That time is long gone.

– Tommy Hunter helps win a Game 4 at the Stadium again. TOM-MY HUN-TER! Is this real life? Yes, it is.

– Curtis Granderson (1-for-9, nine strikeouts) is making Alfonso Soriano’s 2003 postseason look like A-Rod’s 2009 postseason. I find it hard to believe that the Yankees are going to look to lock up Granderson along with Cano. Yes, he has 84 home runs in the last two years, but I don’t see the Orioles rushing to sign Mark Reynolds to a long-term, massive deal. And yes, Granderson has become the left-handed Reynolds.

– Joe Girardi made the best decision of his managerial career in hitting Raul Ibanez for A-Rod in Game 3. But if Girardi is going to hit for A-Rod then when does he start hitting for Swisher and Granderson too? It’s not too late to do so, but the time is running out.

I’m not ready for the baseball season to end. This train carries CC Sabathia in Game 5.

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Blogs

Oct 11, 2012

ALDS Game 3 Thoughts: Saving the Season

Joe Girardi made the biggest decision of his managerial career and saved the Yankees’ season.

As I did after Game 1 and Game 2 and I will continue to do after every Yankees postseason game, here are my thoughts from Game 3 of the ALDS. Well, just one thought because really it’s all that matters from Wednesday night.

***

I didn’t see where Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth landed. I didn’t see where Raul Ibanez’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th landed. I didn’t see them because I was getting pulled and hugged and crushed and trampled in a shower of Bud Light, Miller Lite, French fries, Skoal, sweat and tears. It didn’t matter where they went because I knew they were gone.

The feeling before Raul Ibanez pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning was not a good one. For 8 1/3 innings I watched the Yankees struggle to hit another average starting pitcher in the playoffs. The home runs dried up again in October for the Yankees with just one in 25 1/3 innings (Russell Martin’s Game 1 home run) and I started to think that maybe all the small ball fanatics and home run critics in the regular season shouldn’t have been laughed at for saying the Yankees’ only offense was the home run. I had visions of Paul Byrd and Tommy Hunter coming to the Stadium and winning an October game. I had flashbacks to the Stadium last October when everyone was left on base in Game 5. I sat there thinking about how we got to this point so early into the postseason and wondering if Phil Hughes, of all people, was really going to be relied to extend the season.

And then Joe Girardi pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez.

The relationship between A-Rod and Yankee fans is a weird one. From the time he walks from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box with “Ni**as In Paris” playing, A-Rod is loved. The Stadium is full of applause and cheers in an attempt to will a home run or an extra-base hit or even just a single or a walk out of him. The fans want A-Rod to succeed. They want to have a reason to feel optimistic about him even if the 2009 playoffs should have bought him a lifetime of immunity. After that walk to the batter’s box, A-Rod has until the end of his plate appearance for the cheers to continue. If his at-bat ends well then he’s loved until his next at-bat. If it ends poorly he’s hated until his next at-bat. The perception of A-Rod as a Yankee is about life between at-bats and about him buying time between boos. In a game where failure is expected, he faces unrealistic expectations.

If I’m not the CEO of the Anti-Joe Girardi Fan Club then I’m at least on the Board of Directors or the VP of one of the departments. I’m against bunting and hitting Robinson Cano fourth and letting Boone Logan face righties and letting Eduardo Nunez play shortstop, so it only makes sense that I don’t understand most of Girardi’s managerial decisions. But you have to give credit where credit is due and to take a page out of A-Rod’s book, “All I can do is tip my cap to Joe Girardi for his Game 3 managing.”

Girardi was willing to give himself up to the New York media and sports radio and the Internet to go with a gut instinct in the ninth inning. He was willing to have the Steinbrenners and Randy Levine and Brian Cashman wondering why their non-injured $275-million cleanup hitter was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning. Girardi showed that maybe, just maybe his binder doesn’t control his life and that he finally understands that “Alex Rodriguez” is just a name at this point and that name doesn’t get you what it did three years ago. Girardi showed he had balls when he hit A-Rod third again in Game 3 when the whole world thought he wouldn’t and he showed just how big those balls are when he took him out of the game in the ninth inning.

In Game 3 with the season on the line, Joe Girardi went against everything believes in and has been as Yankees manager by doing something he had never done before. He pinch-hit for the game’s highest-paid player and asked A-Rod to be someone he has never been before. Then he asked Raul Ibanez to extend the game. Thankfully, he did one better and saved the season.

Two down, nine to go. This train carries Phil Hughes in Game 4.

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Blogs

Oct 9, 2012

ALDS Game 2 Thoughts: It’s Always A-Rod’s Fault

The Yankees lost Game 2 of the ALDS to the Orioles and everyone wants to blame A-Rod.

On Tuesday morning on the subway I was standing with my back to the door and the guy sitting down in the second seat to the right of me was reading the New York Post on his iPad, so I decided to read it with him. I couldn’t actually read the articles from where I was, but I could see the headlines. I only needed to see one to stop reading.

Even when A-Rod hits liners it turns into outs for Yankees

If A-Rod went 3-for-4 in Game 2, but the one out he made was the strikeout to end the game against Jim Johnson, there would still be negative headlines about him. But when he goes 1-for-5 and is now 1-for-9 with with five strikeouts in two games, well he’s feeding the New York media exactly what they want.

A-Rod shouldn’t be hitting third. He shouldn’t have been hitting third for a long time now. But does that mean the Yankees’ Game 2 loss is his fault or that he should take responsibility for it because he’s the team’s highest-paid player? Of course not. But that’s how the world works when it comes to A-Rod. He has never been given any sort of pass since he arrived in 2004 when the Yankees lost the ALCS because of Joe Torre, Tom Gordon, Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and a short wall in right field at Fenway Park. It was his fault in 2005 when Randy Johnson destroyed Game 3 and Bubba Crosby and Gary Sheffifled crashed into each other in Game 5. It was all on him in 2006 when Mike Mussina couldn’t hold a lead and Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright couldn’t get an out. In 2007, it was all A-Rod and not Chien-Ming Wang giving up 12 earned runs on 14 hits in just 5 2/3 innings in two starts against the Indians. In 2009, the Yankees won because of A-Rod and really only because of him. It was on A-Rod when Phil Hughes pulled a Chien-Ming Wang in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers and A.J. Burnett was given the chance to face Bengie Molina in Game 4. And last year, it was A-Rod’s fault that Freddy Garica started Game 2, CC Sabathia came up short in Game 3 and Ivan Nova looked like A.J. Burnett early in Game 5.

A-Rod has been bad in every postseason series for the Yankees except the 2004 ALDS against the Twins and all of the 2009 playoffs. And not just “bad,” but painfully bad. Here are his averages in playoff series that aren’t the 2004 ALDS or any of the 2009 playoffs.

2004 ALCS: .258
2005 ALDS: .133
2006 ALDS: .071
2007 ALDS: .267
2010 ALDS: .273
2010 ALCS: .190
2011 ALDS: .111

The last time A-Rod hit a postseason home run was in Game 3 of the 2009 World Series. Since then he has played in 18 playoff games and has had 65 at-bats. But even as bad as A-Rod has been in October, it’s disgusting the attention and criticism he endures because of his lack of production in October.

Guess who these postseason series averages belong to: .167, .222, .136, .308, .000 (0-for-14) and .167. Those would be the postseason series averages for Mark Teixeira prior to the start of the 2012 postseason. Guess how many postseason home runs Teixeira has for the Yankees in six series prior to 2012? Three. That’s three home runs in 29 games and 106 at-bats. Mark Teixeira has been a worse postseason player than Alex Rodriguez in his three postseasons with the team before this year. So why is it that Teixeira gets a free pass for failure and A-Rod doesn’t? It’s not like Mark Teixeira is making the league minimum at $22.5 million per year (just $6.5 million less than A-Rod will make this year) as the second highest-paid player on the team. The reason is because Mark Teixeira was part of a championship team in his first season in New York and A-Rod wasn’t. The ironic part is that Teixeira was part of a championship team because of A-Rod.

Teixeira never had to deal with questions about why he hit .167 against the Twins in the 2009 ALDS or .222 against the Angels in the 2009 ALCS or .136 against the Phillies in the 2009 World Series because while he was busy leaving everyone on base and being what A-Rod was from the 2004 ALCS through the 2007 ALDS, A-Rod was busy winning the World Series for the Yankees. So instead of hearing about what a terrible free-agent signing Teixeira was for Brian Cashman because he isn’t a clutch player, the lasting image of Mark Teixeira in 2009 is him hugging A-Rod and Derek Jeter in the center of the Yankee Stadium infield.

A-Rod is going to hear it from the Stadium on Wednesday night if he doesn’t produce in Game 3 and Mark Teixeira will hear it too, but he’ll hear it less. Because if the Yankees don’t win every postseason game and don’t win the last game of their postseason then it’s on A-Rod’s and no one else. Mark Teixeira will get a free pass. He always does.

***

As I wrote after Game 1 and will do after every Yankees postseason game, here are my thoughts from Game 2 of the ALDS.

– Sweeny Murti is calling it the “Ichiro Shuffle.” I’m going to call it magic. The slide and moves that Ichiro put on Matt Wieters in the play at the plate in the first inning were unbelievable. The sad thing is that Rob Thomson sent Ichiro on the play. Is there a worse third base coach in the league than Thomson? I’m not sure, but I don’t know a more known third base coach and that’s never a good thing. Most of the time Thomson holds guys up when he shouldn’t, but when he finally has a chance to, he sends Ichiro home and the ball got to Wieters before Ichiro was even at the “P” in “POSTSEASON” written on the third-base line. If Ichiro was tagged out there, that would have been the second out made at the plate in two games for the Yankees. No big deal!

– If A-Swisheira doesn’t produce then the Yankees will not advance to the ALCS. It’s that easy.

– Mark Teixeira might have been the slowest player in Major League Baseball before his calf injury. Now it’s not even a discussion. If I need Teixeira or Jorge Posada to score from second on a single, I’m taking Posada every single time and that’s scary. Teixeira was thrown out at second in Game 1 on a ball off the right-field wall and in Game 2 he couldn’t score from second on a single up the middle from Curtis Granderson. But that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that after his leadoff single in the eighth inning, Joe Girardi chose not to pinch run for a guy who has proven he is a station-to-station runner. I guess the decision to leave Teixeira in the game isn’t worth complaining about since Brett Gardner is out for the season and not on the playoff roster and wasn’t available to pinch run for Teixeira. Wait? Brett Gardner is on the postseason roster and was available off the bench to pinch run in Game 2? I don’t believe you.

– I never talk negatively about Derek Jeter and I’m not going to here. All I’m going to say is that he looked drunk in the field and he probably shouldn’t have swung at the first pitch against Jim Johnson in the ninth inning, a night after Johnson was embarrassed for five runs in 1/3 of an inning. But again, I’m not going to talk negatively about Derek Jeter or criticize his play.

– Wei-Yin Chen was getting fatigued and his pitch count was rising like Jason Hammel’s and then in the fifth inning, Ichiro got out on the first pitch and then A-Rod got out on the first pitch and then Cano got out on the second pitch. Three outs on four pitches without a double play. That’s impressive.

– It’s hard to win in the postseason, period. It’s even harder to win when you have to get four outs a few innings a game. Luckily an error hasn’t cost the Yankees yet, but eventually one will if they continue to play this bad defensively.

– How much money did Mark Teixeira give Ernie Johnson, John Smoltz and Cal Ripken Jr. to say nothing negative about him? (Did you notice how I didn’t ask if you think Teixeira paid them because it’s not a question. He paid them.) I’m going with $145,061.73 each since that is what Teixeira makes per regular season game and since he didn’t play for the final month of the year because he wasn’t about to play at 80 percent (his words not mine) during a pennant race that went down to the last day of the season, he probably felt like he could afford to give up three games pay to make sure national TV viewers don’t think he sucks.

The problem with Teixeira supporters is that when he doesn’t hit they can always say, “Well, he makes up for it with his defense.” That’s nice and all, but Teixeira didn’t get $180 million because he plays great defense. Doug Mientkiewicz played well defensively and he made $1.5 million for the Yankees in 2007. If you’re going to misplay grounders like Teixeira did in Game 2 then that argument is destroyed.

– Here’s a picture of Robisnon Cano’s effort on Mark Reynolds’ RBI single that made it 3-1.

If you didn’t see the play, the next picture in the sequence isn’t Canoon the ground with the ball in the outfield after laying out for it. The next picture is Cano standing there with Nick Swisher fielding the ball. What does that mean? It means Cano didn’t dive to knock the ball down. If Cano knocks the ball down then Wieters doesn’t score. If Wieters doesn’t score then the Orioles’ lead is only 2-1. The Yankees scored again later in the game. That means the score would have been 2-2. I understand this is all part of Michael Kay’s “fallacy of the predetermined outcome,” but how is Cano not going to dive there and knock the ball down? Not giving maximum effort to save a run in the postseason doesn’t matter anyway.

– For the second straight game I had no idea what was a ball and what a strike was, and I wasn’t alone.

– Ernie Johnson dropped the old “(Player name) and (Player name) are a combined (number) years old” line when Andy Pettitte faced Jim Thome. Is there a worse and more meaningless saying in sports? No.

– In Game 1, Derek Jeter was asked to bunt. Derek Jeter is the all-time Yankees hits leader. Derek Jeter is the all-time postseason hits leader. Derek Jeter was Major League Baseball’s hits leader this year.

In Game 2, Ichiro was asked to bunt. Ichiro might be the best hitter in the history of baseball and he hit .322 as Yankee in 67 games. Right now Ichiro and Jeter are the only two Yankees you can fully trust to come through in a big spot and they have both been asked to give up at-bats.

Again, I know Joe Girardi will keep bunting in these spots even if he successful zero percent of the time, so I’m wasiting words even talking about it, but if I don’t get my frustration out here it will come out during or after games and lead to me getting evicted from my apartment. And because of me blaring The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight” a couple weekends ago late at night, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

– I wish I were upset when Curtis Granderson strikes out in big spots, but I’m not. At this point I assume he’s going to strike out and if he makes contact I consider it a moral victory. That’s not good, is it?

– I’m saving everything that I have built up in my head for Nick Swisher for another time and another column.

This train carries Hiroki Kuroda in Game 3.

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Blogs • Yankees

Sep 4, 2012

First Place Isn’t Supposed to Feel This Way

The Yankees’ 10-game lead is now a one-game lead, but the Yankees say they aren’t panicking. They are the only ones who aren’t.

I know that seasonal depression is a real thing because I’m pretty sure I have it. When I left Atlantic City on Sunday afternoon after a weekend with a group of guys that I see sparingly, including some I now see only once a year, it was on the train ride back when it really hit me: summer is over, and there’s no getting it back.

I spent the weekend drinking anything handed to me, inhaling second-hand smoke at the tables, sleeping in an overcrowded hotel room and trying to draft the perfect fantasy football team (which is the real reason we went to AC in the first place). But really what I was doing was attempting to be Billy Chapel in For Love of the Game and trying to “push the sun back up in the sky and give us one more day of summer.”

It seems like just yesterday I was in Nantucket for Figawi and Memorial Day weekend and in Boston for the Yankees-Red Sox series over Fourth of July weekend. Now it’s September 4, it’s getting cold at night and the Giants’ season begins on Wednesday night. Is this real life?

The end of summer is devastating, but it’s inevitable and because of that, it doesn’t come close to the level of devastation that the Yankees are putting me through as they are now one game away from erasing the 10-game lead they held on July 18. But when you combine the end of summer with the Yankees’ second-half slide, well I’m on the verge of spending the next six-plus months in my bed like Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys until Opening Day 2013.

How did we get here? The easy answer is injuries. Andy Pettitte broke his leg, CC Sabathia hit the disabled list twice, A-Rod missed over a month, Ivan Nova sucked before getting hurt, and Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and now maybe Robinson Cano have missed time due to various injuries. Injuries is the easy answer, but it’s not the real answer. The real answer is that the Yankees have played bad baseball since the All-Star break, and that’s the real answer because if I cite injuries as the reason for nine games of their 10-game lead being erased then I’m no better than John Henry or Larry Lucchino or Bobby Valentine. I’m not going to use injuries as an excuse because that’s irresponsible and would make me unaccountable as a Yankee fan. Every team has injuries and no one cares about who is injured. People care about who wins.

The 2008 Yankees were a train wreck and that had a lot to do with injuries. But no one felt bad for them and in the long run, people will remember the 2008 Yankees as the first Yankees team to miss the postseason since 1993 rather than the team that had Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson start 40 games combined or the team that had Jose Molina play in 100 games or the team that actually picked up Richie Sexson and played him because things got so bad. No, people will just remember the 2008 Yankees as the team that failed.

The same goes for the 2012 Yankees. No one will care that the 2012 Yankees lost Michael Pineda without ever throwing a pitch, lost Mariano Rivera and Brett Gardner to season-ending injuries, only got nine starts out of Andy Pettitte until now or that a handful of other key guys missed significant time. All that matters is whether or not the Yankees make the postseason and what they do in the postseason.

With a one-game lead with 28 games to go (and a relatively easy schedule), the 2012 Yankees can become one of three things between now and the last out of Game 162.

1. They can hang on to win the the division and this column will have been a waste of my time writing and your time reading.

2. They can blow the division lead and play in Bud Selig’s one-game playoff, which will likely end with me being hooked up to a respirator.

3. They can blow the division lead and miss the one-game playoff, and I will take myself off the grid and go into hiding indefinitely.

After Monday’s loss, the Yankees were asked about whether or not they are panicking now that they are a loss and a Baltimore win on Tuesday away from not having sole possession of first place in the AL East anymore. Let’s take a look at what they had to say with my response to their explanation.

(Warning: Things said in this column might be irrational and unreasonable. That’s what happens when a 10-game lead becomes a one-game lead.)

“Who’s panicking? You? Are you panicking? How do you deal with panic? … I don’t panic. So I don’t have to deal with it. Everyone deals with it differently. But I’m not one to panic.” – Derek Jeter

Yes, I’m panicking. Yes, I also understand that Derek Jeter isn’t going to say that the sh-t has hit the fan and the Yankees are in trouble. This is the same guy who could lose his house and everything he owns in a hurricane and stand next to his destroyed home and tell you that everything is going to be fine. So while I want to believe Derek Jeter because I don’t know any other way, it’s really hard to believe him right now. I’m glad he doesn’t have to panic. I’m glad this is so easy for him.

“It’s not a good feeling. You lose some games, and you just want to win games. You don’t want to put your head down. Just got to turn the page. Just be ready for tomorrow. … It’s a little bit hard, but you don’t want to send negative messages to your brain. You’ve got to be positive and just mentally prepare for tomorrow.” – Robinson Cano

It’s Robbie Cano … sports psychologist … don’t ya know! I could get on Robinson Cano’s recent lack of hustling, but I won’t because that’s who Robinson Cano is. Instead let’s just go with who Robinson Cano isn’t: On July 18, the Yankees had a 10-game lead. On July 19, they lost the first game of a four-game sweep at the hands of the A’s. Since July 19, Cano is hitting .265/.335/.457 with seven home runs and 16 RBIs in 42 games. When exactly is “tomorrow” coming?

“See, I look at the positives, you know what I’m saying? Like I said before we even got into this month, we play everyone. So we’ve got to win games. That’s it. It doesn’t get any more complicated than that. … We beat some teams early on, right? Baseball’s a funny game, a funny sport. Sometimes you struggle a bit, and then all of a sudden, things seem to change and you roll off a lot of wins.” – Derek Jeter

The Yankees play the Rays the next two days and then they play the Orioles in a four-game series at Camden Yards. I want to think they will win all six games and go on the kind of run Derek Jeter thinks they can go on and this will all be a minor blip on the 2012 season. But if I can easily believe that then I should also believe that the money left under my pillow in exchange for a lost tooth came from someone other than my parents when I was younger.

“We all gotta’ do what we do. The way you come out of things like this is by doing the little things and if we focus on doing the little things and become master at those we don’t have to worry about big things. And hopefully we’re on our way. I think nobody’s panicking. We’ve done this for a long time.” – Alex Rodriguez

If the Yankees can master the little things then they won’t have to worry about big things? What the eff? How does no one follow this answer up with a question asking what any of this means?

“It’s baseball. We’ve got to go out and keep playing. It’s a tough game but we still have a lead. It’s all up to us and hopefully we can turn it around. … We’ve had some injuries. We’ve got some guys coming back. Hopefully that could give us a shot in the arm to be able to take off and start playing well. … Like I said, it’s up to us to go out and play well and I didn’t help us out today.” – CC Sabathia

Hey, it’s CC Sabathia making excuses! Don’t you just love the “We’ve had some injuries” thrown into the middle of his answer? At least he made up for it by finishing with “I didn’t help us out today” so he isn’t completely delusional like Ivan Nova at times this season and Ian Kennedy back in 2009.

I got scared when CC started this answer by saying “It’s baseball” and thought he might go off on a Tom Glavine 2007 rant about how baseball doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of life and that there are more important things to worry and care about. But CC Sabathia will make $23 million this season, so I’m glad he isn’t as stupid as Glavine was to go down that road.

It’s rare, very rare, that I recklessly throw out a “Ladies and gentlemen, CC Sabathia!” but I did it on Monday afternoon and I felt good after I did it. A lot of people went into Monday saying, “This is why the Yankees signed CC and re-signed him for all that money … to win games like this.” Well, he lost. He lost for the second time in as many starts since coming off the DL for the second time. Last Wednesday he blew two leads to the lowly Blue Jays and on Monday he blew a one-run lead to the Rays after just one shutdown inning following the Yankees taking a lead. We are CC Sabathia losing his next start away from me talking about how much money he makes per start the way I used to have to with A.J. Burnett.

“I thought the team played with some energy. Today was just a classic game of two great pitchers going at each other and we came up on the short end. But I feel if we play with that type of intensity it’s going to be a fun month of September.” – Alex Rodriguez

A “classic game” huh? I don’t even know what to say about that. And if the Yankees play the way they did on Monday, a game in which they lost, then how is September going to be fun at all?

“I’m always positive. That’s my personality. I’ve said it all along; these guys have found a way to get it done all year long through a lot of adversity, through a lot of injuries, through a lot of different things that we’ve been through. I believe they’re going to do it. That’s who they are and I believe in them.” – Joe Girardi

Joe Girardi lies a lot. We all know that. But this might be the biggest lie of them all. How have the Yankees handled adversity and their injuries well? They have all but erased their division lead, and as another part of adversity, they have won zero games when trailing after eight innings. The Yankees are supposed to be built on the notion that they are never out of a game and they will fight until the last out. But what good is fighting until the last out, if you never win the fight?

A wise man once said, “When you win the division, you don’t really care what you win by.” That wise man was Joe Girardi on Monday after the Yankees 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay, which cut their AL East lead to one game. You remember that lead, right? It was 10 games back on July 18. On Tuesday night it could be zero. I miss that 10-game lead and I miss summer.

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Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 29, 2012

A State of Worry for the Yankees

The Yankees have basically played .500 baseball in the second half and the constant worrying about their division lead led to an email exchange with Jake Strasser of Barstool Sports.

On Wednesday, July 18, the Yankees finished a sweep of the Blue Jays with a 6-0 win at the Stadium and they finished the day with a 10-game lead in the division. Today their lead is 3 1/2 games.

The Yankees have gone 22-21 since the All-Star break and 18-20 since they held that 10-game lead on July 18. The injuries are mounting and now the team will enter September without Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira in the lineup. I haven’t pulled the alarm yet on the 2012 Yankees and avoiding the one-game playoff, but I have shattered the glass and my hand is on the lever.

With constant worrying and scoreboard watching each day, I thought it would be a good idea to talk to someone who I know is going through the same thing. And that’s how this email exchange with Jake Strasser of Barstool Sports started.

Keefe: On Tuesday night, Steve Pearce hit fourth for the Yankees. Russell Martin hit fifth. If you didn’t watch the game, I could probably sell you on the idea that I hit sixth and the doorman in my apartment building hit seventh. That’s how bad things are right now for the Yankees due to injuries.

With A-Rod already out, Mark Teixeira went down on Monday night and Joe Girardi said he could be out “seven, eight or 15 days.” (The man who counted like that actually went to Northwestern University.) So yeah, if our starting pitching right now doesn’t do what Phil Hughes did on Tuesday night then it’s going to be really hard to win games. And if Rafael Soriano does what he did on Monday night it’s going to be even harder.

The reason the Yankees lost in five games to the Tigers last year was because of their hitting. Their pitching could have been better, but it was their hitting with runners in scoring position and the heart of the order that did them in. This year I’m scared that the same thing might happen. Actually I’m not scared … I’m petrified. And it’s not even the ALDS I’m scared of. It’s the one-game playoff. I have already been stocking up on bottled water, canned foods, flashlights and batteries in the event that the Yankees have to play in that one-game playoff.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Yankees had a comfortable 10-game lead in the division and I was laughing and watching games with a spring training mentality. Now with a month to go I feel like every game is Game 7 and I’m scoreboard watching Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Things have unraveled quickly. I don’t think I will truly be nervous until the lead gets to two games (if it ever gets there), but the current state of the Yankees is enough to cause for a test of the emergency broadcast system.

With a month to go, what is your take on the state of the Yankees and how worried are you of the possibility of a one-game playoff, if you’re worried at all?

Strasser: The Yankees are an enigma. I have never seen a club traverse the spectrum of success quite like this year’s team. There are points throughout the course of the season when they coast through series after series with what seems to be zero resistance. And then you have the stretches of poor play when the Yankee offense channels its inner Astros and the lineup looks anemic at the plate. The Yankees are a team built to crush mediocrity. Aside from the game’s top-shelf arms, along with any double-A pitcher lucky enough to make his debut in the Bronx, the Yankees are a near-sure bet to put up at least five or six runs on any given night. But what happens when they run into the buzz saw arms of the Verlanders and Weavers of the league? Well, we’ve all seen it a million times. How many 4-1 or 6-2 losses can we take?

As demonstrated the other night in Cleveland, the Yankees live and die with the home run. In a game where they let myriad scoring opportunities slip through their fingers against Indians pitcher, Corey Kluber, they ended up pulling out the win with a late two-run home run by Swisher. I’ve never been mad about a Yankee win, but I’d be lying if I said that one didn’t infuriate me. The ball that Swisher hit not only cleared the right-field wall, but the team from getting questioned about their inability to manufacture runs as well. The big blast consistently overshadows the offensive woes. This is great for the regular season, but aces on playoff teams don’t generally give up the long ball. The Yankees don’t move the runners, they don’t play small ball, and they don’t hit in the clutch. So where does that leave them? A couple games behind the best record in the AL. It’s both perplexing and frustrating how a team can look so good on paper, but instill a much lower level of confidence on the field.

So you ask me how nervous I am for a potential one-game playoff? Let’s put it this way- I’m letting my fingernails grow out until that day so I have plenty to pick for all nine innings. My cuticles will look like a teen slasher horror movie by the sixth. It all depends on the pitching match up, but anything can happen. And that’s what scares me. Given the roster (and the payroll), the Yankees should have the edge over any team, but as was stated in Moneyball, statistics go out the window when it comes to one game. For the Yankees to have any sort of success in this year’s playoff run, it will come from one or two guys getting hot at the right time circa 2009 with A Rod and Matsui. And if that doesn’t happen, well, let’s hope for a relevant Jets team, because it will be yet another early round exit for the pinstripes.

Keefe: You said it all depends on the pitching matchup, but we shouldn’t worry because a wise man once told me in a podcast that “Ivan Nova will become a big-game pitcher.” Actually that wasn’t a wise man … it was you.

OK, maybe that’s a low-blow, but I don’t think it is since you did disregard Hiroki Kuroda, who I talked up on that same podcast and now he’s become the Yankees’ best pitcher. Before we go any further, I think you owe No. 18 an apology.

(This is ne waiting for your apology…)

Let’s continue and let’s say the Yankees don’t completely fall apart between now and Game 162 and reach the ALDS and that Andy Pettitte returns and is healthy enough to pitch in the postseason. Who’s pitching Games 1, 2 and 3? Hopefully they don’t need a Game 4 starter, but eff it, let’s put a Game 4 starter in there too. And I know we have talked about it before, but I think it’s important for an update since it changes all the time.

I’m going with CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and then … umm … hmm … uhh … I guess … Phil Hughes? I would love to say David Phelps there, but we both know that’s not going to happen, and I don’t want Freddy Garcia anywhere near a playoff game again let alone on the postseason roster.

Strasser: Yeah, so I put myself out there with a bold prediction. Strasser took a shot, and you know what, Strasser missed. But at least I’m in the game. You’re sitting over there on the sidelines observing and reporting while I’m risking my reputation on a daily basis. You’re the douche bag with the combover in Good Will Hunting and I’m Matt Damon. I may be serving your fries on the way to your ski trip, but at least I’m original. So enjoy your bland perspective of watching and relaying, while I take a leap of faith and throw my heart into something I believe. I’d rather falsely predict something with 100% conviction than sit in the shadows and play it safe any day. I dare to dream, Neil. I dare to dream.

The postseason rotation depends entirely on the situation. It’s CC first, and then either Kuroda or Pettitte. If CC loses game 1 for instance, assuming a healthy Pettitte, I want Andy on the mound. He’s a big-game pitcher and going down 0-2 is a death sentence. I do owe Kuroda an apology, and I have gained a lot of faith in him, but the playoffs are a different world.

It also depends on the breakdown of home and away. It’s no secret that Kuroda is a better pitcher at the Stadium. That plays into rotation decisions, as well. Ask me this question when the ALDS schedule is set, and I’ll have a more definitive answer for you. Until then, Nova4Life.

Keefe: Being called the scumbag in the Harvard bar in Good Will Hunting is as bad as it gets, so move over “me wanting Ubaldo Jimenez last year” there’s a new low point in my life. And I don’t think it was a bold prediction or anything that out there since Nova did win Game 1 of the ALDS last year before getting pulled early in Game 5. So let’s hold patting yourself on the back for a second there. It’s not like you told me that CC Sabathia would go on the DL twice and Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez would also hit the DL and Mariano Rivera and Brett Gardner would be out for the year and the Yankees would still be in first in the division. That would be something to be proud of.

The Yankees are in a weird spot with the looming luxury tax penalties. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that they would sign Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson to long-term deals and let Nick Swisher walk away. But a funny thing happened on a way to that plan. Actually, it’s not funny. What happened is Granderson has become Adam Dunn-like and Swisher has carried the team offensively through August. (Granderson is still a great defender while I don’t trust Swisher on routine plays.) Now there is talk that Swisher wants Jayson Werth’s $126 million, which is unlikely, but he will at least get a solid deal given his performance this year and the weak free agent market.

It’s no secret that I’m not that big of a Nick Swisher fan, if I’m one at all, which I don’t think I am. I know it will all come down to what he does in October, which is likely nothing, but it seems more and more likely that Swisher and his phony personality and his disgusting arguments on called third strikes might not only be back in the Bronx for 2013, but maybe a few years after. And it doesn’t help that the Red Sox’ impending interest in him will likely drive his price up and force the Yankees to make a play for him.

If Nicky Swish (sorry to go John Sterling on you) finally hits in the postseason and the Yankees make a long run, that’s one thing. But if he fails to hit elite pitching for the fourth straight postseason I don’t want to see No. 33 in right field in 2013 unless the new right fielder also wants to wear No. 33.

Strasser: I like the idea of Swisher. What does that mean? Well, this. Fake or not, he helps the clubhouse – one that up until his arrival in 2009, had been publicly documented as stiff and stale. His boisterous personality is good for the team and even better for the fans. That being said, he doesn’t really do it for me on the field. Outside of this year, which so coincidentally happens to be a contract year, he hasn’t been anything special in my opinion. He targets the short porch far too frequently, often times resulting in a pop out to short when a ground ball to second would have moved the runner over.

If the Yankees commit the amount of money Swisher will want, and the basic fundamentals of supply and demand will allow, it will result in an overpaid outfielder clogging a spot that could be used for future acquisitions. I love his on-base percentage, I love his occasional power, but I don’t love his price tag. Let him walk.

Keefe: There’s going to come a time in October when Joe Girardi decides, “Hey, these people paid to come see me manage and insert myself into this game and not to see the players on the field” and he will likely turn to Clay Rapada or Cody Eppley to get a big out. Let’s just hope they get that big out.

The bullpen pecking order is all out of whack right now aside from Rafael Soriano and David Robertson. I think Boone Logan is probably viewed as the third-best reliever (that feels weird even thinking about let alone typing) and then it’s a mess between Cody Eppley, Clay Rapada and whoever that guy wearing No. 62 and pretending to be Joba Chamberlain is. I really only trust David Robertson out there even though Soriano has been great, and I don’t want the other three putting their hands on the game. Actually there might be one guy I don’t mind.

For some reason and I can’t explain this, I still have this thing about Joba in that I trust him. Or I want to trust him. When I see him out there I have flashbacks of the summer of 2007 and unhittable fastballs and devastating sliders. I see fist pumps and scoreless innings. In reality, he is basically Chad Qualls right now (actually he’s statistically worse). This pains me and I don’t want it to be like this, but the guy is also coming back from elbow surgery, having his appendix removed and a brutal ankle injury. I think he will find it, I just don’t know when.

Strasser: I’m pretty much in agreement with you on the bullpen issue. Robertson I trust, and Soriano I’m warming up to. Joba will hopefully come around because like you said, I want to trust him. I want to remember being at the first game he ever pitched in at the stadium (Section 434B … I splurged) and seeing the Bronx sky erupt with amazement at the spectacle we had all just witnessed. But is that guy still there, or are we just reaching for something that doesn’t exist like an image popping off the screen in a 3D movie? You know those a-holes swiping at the air in front of them … are we those a-holes, Neil?

You’re leaving out one incredibly important detail as far as playoff bullpen pitching goes. One man, three syllables: David Phelps. I loved this guy in the bullpen earlier in the season, and I like what I’m seeing from him as a starter. Throwing him back in the bullpen for a late September push and on into October could be that bridge the Yankees need to get to Robertson and Soriano.

Keefe: I forgot about your man crush on David Phelps and I hate to break it to you, but I think it’s a love triangle. That’s right, I’m joining this party, so I hope there’s room for three. I have loved everything Phelps has done for this team, and if he isn’t given a postseason start (which he very well could if he continues to impress and dominate) then he will be a huge addition to the bullpen.

You have told me that Raul Ibanez is your sleeper pick to be huge for the Yankees in the postseason, and I’m onboard with that decision. Ibanez has that “thing” about him that exudes confidence especially when the at-bats are the biggest the setting is most important. Granted, we could both be way off and he could have a Swisher-like 2-for-15 ALDS and the Yankees could be home in five games, but let’s just hope that’s not the case.

The other guy I think is going to be huge in October is Ichiro because of who he is and what he wanted out of going to New York to win and getting out of Seattle, the only place he ever knew in the majors. Ichiro hasn’t played in the postseason since Game 5 of the 2001 ALCS on the other side of the River Ave. Now he has a chance to chase that elusive championship, pick up the one thing missing in a Hall of Fame career that boasts a Rookie of the Year, MVP, batting titles, single-season hits records, Gold Gloves and All-Star Games, and a chance to earn a multiyear deal at the end of the season.

Why do you think Ibanez will be big in the postseason and what are you thoughts on Ichiro returning to October?

Strasser: There’s something about Raul Ibanez. He’s got that look. It’s a combination of focus, clutch, and ugly. The first two are going to be huge in October. Well, huge in my mind at least. In my mind, he has already hit two of those majestic moonshots to right in the first game of the ALDS. Okay, that may be a bit hopeful, but I really do get that vibe from him. That oddly unexplainable Jeterian vibe. But hey, I could be wrong. It’s happened before … cough … Nova … cough.

As far as Ichiro goes, I see him doing a lot of the little things for us in the playoffs. I’m not gonna sit here as a delusional Yankee homer and tell you that he’s going to rediscover his MVP form and hit .450 in the ALDS, but I do think he can provide some important benefits for the team. His baseball instincts are great, and sometimes a playoff win and the subsequent advancement to the next series can come down to one play. Whether it’s an astounding defensive play, some 2009 WS Damon-esque base running, or some other sort of contribution, I could see Ichiro having one or two “Yankee moments” in October.

My final prediction for the playoffs revolves around one of the most inconsistent cold weather bats in the league. No. 24 in your program and probably right around that number in our hearts, Robinson Cano has the potential to carry the Yankees to a ring. He’s just nonchalant enough to sleepwalk through a postseason line of .390 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs.

Keefe: Everyone keeps asking me if the Yankees can win the World Series, and I keep telling these people that I think they can. Right now there’s isn’t one team that really stands out in the AL, but if Pettitte returns healthy then a rotation of CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda is as good as any 1-2-3 punch this postseason.

But to win the World Series it’s going to take winning the ALDS first (and hopefully not the one-game playoff first). I think the Yankees’ best chance of advancing would be if the Orioles make the one-game playoff and win it. The Yankees have loved playing in Camden Yards since it opened and no matter the year or roster turnover, the Yankees continue to win there, and with the first games of the division series on the road, that’s a big deal. I don’t want to see the Rays since the Yankees can’t win at the Trop anymore, or the Tigers since they seem to have our number or the White Sox since the Yankees had enough trouble winning a game there last week, forget October. Even the A’s scare me with their starting pitching and the idea of going 3,000 miles for the first two games of the ALDS isn’t exactly enticing. Give me Baltimore!

Strasser: The best option for the Yankees to play in the ALDS is the not-Angels. I think the Yankees can really expose some of the weaknesses of the not-Angels and capitalize on their shortcomings. Seriously though, the one team I’m terrified of is the Angels. I have no idea why they aren’t running away with the West, but if they get into the playoffs, look out. Mike Trout is just young and naive enough to not even realize that he’s having this historic season that could easily carry into October. They are the one team in the AL I most certainly don’t want to face.

To be honest, there isn’t one team that I would sign up to play right now. If anything, it would be the Rangers and their mediocre pitching staff, but we all know what can happen when Josh Hamilton or Nelson Cruz gets hot. Still, if I had to choose, I’ll take a matchup with the Rangers and their antler nonsense.

As much as I bash the Yankees’ deficiencies, I think they will hang on to win the division. Pettitte and A-Rod are coming back, CC looks sharp after his 12th DL stint of the year and Kuroda continues to mock me. I don’t think Tampa has the offense and I’m still not sold on Baltimore, despite their success this season. I also hate Buck Showalter and refuse to give him any credit, but the O’s are a good team. Another scary group of inexperienced guys playing above their heads. Is “above their heads” an expression? If not, it is now.

Keefe: You want to play the Rangers? In real life? I don’t think I can even given you a chance to respond to this after that.

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