Pedro Martinez – Keefe To The City

Tag: Pedro Martinez

Aug 12, 2015

Podcast: Bob Ryan

The Boston Globe columnist joined me to talk about his book Scribe: My Life in Sports, the evolution of sports media, being able to root for teams as a writer, covering Larry Bird and Bobby Orr and the 2004 ALCS.

Growing up in southern Connecticut, the New York sports media was what I grew up with. But then after going to college in Boston and living there and interning and working in the sports media there, I became accustomed with the coverage of Boston sports.

There are very few people I have to listen to on TV or radio or read online or in print. Bob Ryan has always been one of them. I have said that if I could get a cooler of beers and sit on a porch or deck somewhere and talk sports, the four people I would want to join me are Bob Ryan, Jim Kaat, David Cone, and of course, Bobby Orr. Now I just need to get all four of them in the same place at the same time.

The Boston Globe columnist and ESPN personality Bob Ryan joined me to talk about his book Scribe: My Life in Sports, the evolution of sports media and reporting, being able to root for team as a writer, covering Larry Bird and Bobby, the old Boston Garden, the 2004 ALCS, the opposite perceptions of A-Rod and David Ortiz and the career of Pedro Martinez.

Blogs • Yankees

Apr 29, 2015

Everyone Is a Doctor When It Comes to Masahiro Tanaka

Everyone seems to have an opinion on Masahiro Tanaka’s right arm even though not everyone is a doctor or a surgeon.

Tuesday ended up being “that day”. “That day” is the day I have feared since Masahiro Tanaka returned from an elbow tear on Sept. 21. of last season. “That day” is the day Tanaka would land on the disabled list again.

I ranked Tanaka No. 1 on The 2015 Yankees Order of Importance and I said:

At the end of Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck’s character (Chuckie Sullivan) tells Matt Damon’s character (Will Hunting), “You know what the best part of my day is? The ten seconds before I knock on the door ’cause I let myself think I might get there, and you’d be gone. I’d knock on the door and you just wouldn’t be there. You just left.”

You know what the best part of my day is? Every day when I sign online or go on Twitter or turn on the TV or the radio or check my phone and I don’t hear bad news about Masahiro Tanaka’s right arm.

Tanaka and Pineda are the 2015 Yankees. The success of this season and making sure the Yankees don’t miss the playoffs for a third straight time lies in the health of those two. If they stay healthy, the Yankees have the best 1-2 punch in the AL East. If they don’t, the Yankees don’t have a season.

Well, April 28 ended up being the day when I heard the bad news about Tanaka, and now that he is out of the rotation for at least a month, the first-place Yankees are in trouble. Not as much as trouble as the 2014 Yankees were in without Tanaka because they couldn’t hit, but enough trouble that it’s to rely on Chase Whitley again.

This time it’s not an elbow issue, it’s a forearm one that Tanaka thought was a wrist one when he went to the doctor. His latest MRI didn’t show any new damage to his already-damaged right elbow, but it did show a forearm strain that may or may not be related to the tender wrist Tanaka also has.

The moment George King tweeted that there could be an issue with Tanaka, you could feel the smiles of the old guard, the lazy newspaper columnists in the city, grow bigger and their Grinch-like hearts enlarge at the idea of turmoil around the Yankees and their ace. And when Brian Cashman held a “press conference” with reporters at the Stadium, everyone quickly earned their medical degree and a lifetime of knowledge in orthopedic surgery.

I used to think you had to be really smart, get into a good college, do extremely well there, apply to med schools, get into one, do extremely well there, graduate and then do a residency to become a doctor. I didn’t know you could just write for the Daily News or Post to become one. There are a lot of doctors out there that could have saved a lot of time and money and who wouldn’t be paying back hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans if they had only gotten a job on the copy desk with either of the two tabloids out of college and then worked their way to columnist to achieve their dream of being a doctor or surgeon.

If you have read the columns written by Dr. John Harper of the Daily News or Dr. Kevin Kernan of the Post, which both read like the flaming bag of dog crap that Billy Madison leaves on old man Clemens’ front steps, you would know they are clearly as qualified as someone like Dr. James Andrews or Dr. David Altchek to diagnose an elbow tear or even suggest Tommy John surgery. Dr. Harper and Dr. Kernan probably don’t know what MRI stands for let alone have the ability to read one or understand what goes on in a human elbow, but every chance they get, they’re quick to let you know that “Masahiro Tanaka should get Tommy John surgery!” and that he should have gotten it last July. Somehow they write under the impression that Tommy John surgery is a very simple procedure with a 100 percent recovery success rate.

On Wednesday in the Daily News, Dr. Harper had a column titled “Future of Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow could be doomed as Yankees’ ace head to disabled list” (the typo on “head” is there, so I left it in). In the opening sentence, Harper cites fellow doctor Pedro Martinez, who must have used the $146 million he made in his career to attend medical school after retiring in 2009 as a source for Tanaka needing surgery. Later on, he cites Dr. Curt Schilling, in trying to prove his point. And in between, he filled his word space with a timeline of Brian Cashman’s “press conference” and quotes from the Yankees general manager, who said he will follow the doctors’ orders. The real doctors. Not the newspaper ones.

Kernan’s “column” (if you consider 693 words of bad one-liners and quotes and tweets a column) on Wednesday in the Post was titled “Why Tanaka Needs Tommy John Surgery”. With a headline like that, I expected the byline to be of someone like Dr. Andrews or Dr. Altchek or someone who has performed the surgery or someone who is an expert on the surgery or someone with a medical degree. But nope, “By Kevin Kernan” was right there.

Tanaka is now on the 15-day disabled list. Brian Cashman said we likely won’t see him back in the rotation for a month. If everything goes right, Tanaka should be healthy and back to putting up zeroes by the end of May. But that’s if everything goes right, and when it comes to arm injuries, things rarely seem to go right.

If Tanaka ever gets Tommy John surgery, it will be because a real doctor decided he needs it and not someone who plays a doctor in the newspaper.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Sep 2, 2014

The Rivalry Is Now Irrelevant

Yankees-Red Sox in September isn’t what it used to be and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be what it once was anytime soon.

The last time the Yankees and Red Sox met was 30 days ago at Fenway Park when the Yankees overcame two three-run deficits on Sunday Night Baseball and looked like they might be ready to go on an August and September run after back-to-back come-from-behind wins in Boston. They went on to win three of four against the Tigers at the Stadium and my wish of a run down the stretch from the Yankees was coming true. But that run has been put on hold as the Yankees are just 9-11 over their last 20 games and are 4 games out of the second wild card with 28 games to play. Fortunately, the Red Sox are in the Bronx this week and if the Yankees want to keep their postseason dreams alive, there isn’t a better opponent to begin what will need to be a memorable September.

With the Yankees still somewhat alive in the wild-card race and the Red Sox just counting down the days until their miserable season is finally over, I emailed Mike Hurley of CBS Boston because that’s what I do when the Yankees and Red Sox play each other.

Keefe: The start of second grade. For both of us, that’s the last time both the Yankees and Red Sox missed the postseason. The fall of 1993, 21 years ago, was the last time September was basically meaningless for the two superpowers that have spent two decades at or near the top of baseball. That’s remarkable and astonishing and also sad and depressing.

The Red Sox suck and are the team they were in 2012 and the team they should have been in 2013, while the Yankees are 4 games out of the second wild card, the same wild card I was adamantly against with you when instituted two seasons ago. And at this point it’s going to take a 20-8 September from the Yankees to possibly have a shot at the one-game playoff or a one-game playoff to get to the one-game playoff.

The Red Sox aren’t going to the playoffs. The Yankees are most likely not going to the playoffs. The Orioles and Royals most likely are and the Indians or Mariners could be. Is this a world you want to live in?

Hurley: I have distinct memories of being in second grade, sitting at my desk. I drew a hockey net on the front side of the box, and I wrote “MOOG 35” on the back of a little troll toy I had. Remember those? Those were messed up. Anyway, as you might imagine, I was a genius and I didn’t need to pay attention in school, so I kept myself busy by using a pencil to fire slappers at my troll Andy Moog.

Now for you to tell me that the last time the Red Sox and Yankees didn’t make the playoffs was when I was going top shelf in Mrs. Castiglione’s class, that’s pretty messed up. Though admittedly, it’s kind of misleading. I mean, that’s much more about the Yankees, who have made the postseason in 17 of the last 19 years, than it is about the Red Sox, who kind of pop in and out of the playoffs when they’re feeling good and then occasionally drop to last place.

I’ll tell you, and you’ll probably agree, that it’s easy to root for the Indians. Any time Terry Francona can make Red Sox ownership look bad for firing him for no reason, it’s going to be pretty funny.

But to answer your question, is this a world I want to live in? I believe Michael Scott said it best.

Keefe: I do like Terry Francona even if he was the man responsible for ruining the year 2004 for me. If only he hadn’t been so calm and composed and had been freaking out and going wild in the dugout and throwing things and skipping press conferences with the media, the Red Sox wouldn’t have come back. I hate you, Terry Francona. (But I also don’t.)

I was in Mrs. Lazar’s class, Don Mattingly was still playing first base for the Yankees, Mike Gallego was wearing No. 2 and splitting time at shortstop with Spike Owen (no wonder the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs) and I didn’t understand that the Whalers sucked and would finish 25^th out of 26 in attendance that season. (The Islanders, Jets and Panthers outdrew the Whalers in 1993-94.) It’s been a long, long time since both teams were home in October. The problem is that this is going to become a frequent event thanks to teams locking up their players and ruining their chances at becoming free agents for the Yankees and Red Sox to fight over signing.

In New York, Yankees fans are upset that the Yankees don’t have young, homegrown talent, while also being upset that the team isn’t competitive right now. These fans likely forget that the dynasty that began in the mid-90s was made possible because of a long period of losing in the Bronx. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada didn’t magically appear in the Bronx one day on the 4 train. It’s somewhat impossible to build through the draft and also sign big-name free agents in 2014 and while Brian Cashman continues to try and plug both old and new holes on a sinking boat, it seems inevitable that at some point you just need a new boat.

What’s the mood in Boston when it comes to the Red Sox? Do people even care that they suck this year? I realize they won the World Series last year and their five-year grace period is just starting while the Yankees’ five-year grace period from 2009 is over this season. Now that the Patriots are five days away from beginning their season and the Bruins are a month away from beginning theirs, do people even care about the Red Sox? It pains me that they won last year because if they were still looking at no postseason since 2009 and another miserable finish, I would imagine that John Henry wouldn’t be showing his face on Newbury Street or going out to dinner in the North End.

Hurley: The mood in Boston is kind of ridiculous, to be honest with you. The Red Sox traded away Jon Lester because they were unwilling to even get serious when it came to contract negotiations. Four years and $70 million for a durable lefty who was a badass in winning a World Series last year? What is that?

So they didn’t want to pay him because he’ll be in his 30s, and apparently they believe that no pitcher has ever pitched well in his 30s.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox traded away their homegrown star pitcher and then leaked info that they’re going to go after him hard in the offseason. And so many people bought it. What the hell is that? You don’t let your best players see what life is like on the other side of the fence, and you sure as hell don’t let them go to free agency when you have a chance to lock him up forever. It’s insane. Yet people are like “Oh, well they’re going to sign him in the winter, and they got Cespedes, so that’s OK!”

It’s madness.

As for the Sox now, they’re kind of non-existent. Some no-name on the Rays slid into second base on Saturday night and elbowed Dustin Pedroia in the head, and nobody seems to care. Everyone’s busy talking about Ryan Mallett and Logan Mankins.

But I’ll tell you, it’s not entirely different from last year. It was about a year ago to the date that Mike Cole and I bought tickets for $12 the day of a game and waltzed right in. It was pretty insane that just a few weeks later, they were beating Verlander and Scherzer and then winning the World Series. So even though the Red Sox were good last year and basically owned first place all year, there wasn’t much “Red Sox fever” gripping the region. People might be Sox’d out, which is understandable if you’ve seen how freaking hard everything Sox-related gets pushed on you in Boston.

Keefe: So I’m guessing the Fenway bricks and that sing-along CD from a couple years ago didn’t go over so well? That’s too bad.

In 24 days, Derek Jeter will either be playing three meaningless games in Fenway Park or playing three games that could determine the Yankees’ postseason chances. Right now, Jeter will be playing his final baseball game on Sunday, Sept. 28 in Boston in what could be a game full of September call-ups mirroring more of a March Grapefruit League game rather than a Yankees-Red Sox Game 162. But if the Yankees are eliminated from the playoffs before Game 160 in Boston, maybe Jeter doesn’t play that weekend at all?

Just last year, Mariano Rivera pitched at Yankee Stadium for what would be his final appearance ever in the Bronx and then he went with the Yankees to Houston and made that Stadium appearance his final appearance ever by not pitching in the final three games of the year. It’s obviously different for a position player than a closer and Jeter doesn’t seem like the type of person who would sit out three games he could play in before riding off into the sunset on the back porch of his Tampa mansion, but it would be better if Jeter plays Game 159 at the Stadium against Baltimore and then doesn’t board the plane to Boston if the Yankees are eliminated.

I would prefer if Boston doesn’t get to say goodbye to Jeets and give him four Duck Tour tickets, a burned out bulb from the Citgo sign, an old T token, a $25 gift card to the Bell in Hand and a painting of Haymarket or whatever they were going to give him for his farewell tour.

Hurley: See, in my ideal scenario, the Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to a one-day contract and let him start on that Sunday. Jeter can bat leadoff and Pedro can go in on the hands with the first pitch, in on the hands again with pitch two, up at the chin with ball three, and then square in the back. Benches will clear, Boston and New York will be enraged, and for one fleeting moment, baseball will feel like it used to feel.

Do you think that can happen? Oh, and it would all come immediately after an over-the-top standing ovation from the Fenway crowd as Jeter is digging into the box. Tell me that wouldn’t be infinitely more exciting than whatever boring-as-crap reality is more likely to play out.

Keefe: I would sign up for that. Well, if the Yankees signed Roger Clemens and Jorge Posada for the day as well and we made things even more interesting. You can have Gabe Kapler too.

It disgusts me that Fenway Park is going to give Jeter an ovation every time he comes to the plate that series. Have some pride, Boston. This is a player who was the face of everything you hate for the last 19 years. He was a main reason for a lot of heartache and devastation your team and the focal point of many explicit T-shirts being sold outside the Kenmore T stop. Boo him, shout obscenities at him, feel free to bring batteries and golf balls to throw at him.

Let’s use David Ortiz as an example. Let’s say David Ortiz never used steroids and was even 10 percent as respectable of an athlete and person as Derek Jeter. Now let’s say David Ortiz is having a farewell tour and it’s coming to Yankee Stadium. There is no chance people are cheering for David Ortiz and thanking him and saluting him for the 2004 ALCS or any form of RE2PECT for him. And if they are, they should be held without bail in a Bronx jail for no less than a week.

Yankees-Red Sox used to mean something and in September it meant everything. Now not only might it not mean anything for both teams, but the face of the rivalry for the last two decades might be cheered the way Ortiz, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and Tom Brady are in Boston. What an embarrassment.

Hurley: Yeah, sure thing. I bet if Jeter came and got booed, you’d be ranting and raving about how everyone from Boston is scum. So it’s kind of a lose-lose situation as far as Boston is concerned — well, that’s if anyone in Boston cared what Neil Keefe thinks about them.

Also, it’ll be 90% Yankee fans at Fenway on that Sunday. Ticket prices are absurd right now because my smart Boston brethren are fleecing you fools for a game in which Jeter might not even attend. Man, after saying that, I really hope he doesn’t make the trip. A bunch of jabronis spending $400 per ticket to fill Fenway, only to see Stephen Drew and Will Middlebrooks play baseball. That’d be classic.

I like how you praise Jeter as a great human too even though he agreed to star in a commercial where literally everyone in the world just tells him he’s the greatest thing to ever happen, and he’s just like, “Yeah, guys, I know it. Looks, Michael Jordan, I know, I’m the best. Thanks for the hat tip.” What a goober.

Nevertheless, you cheer the guy, because he was a good player who was a worthy rival for a long-ass time. People here won’t be cheering for him the way they cheer for Orr and Bird and Brady — people here would cheer when those guys fart. “Wow! Best fart of all time!!” Instead, people here will begrudgingly cheer for Jeter because A) it’s the right thing to do, and B) they’ll never have to see him send a dinky bloop single over the first baseman’s head to drive in another run.

Keefe: That was harsh. You won’t have to worry about those bloops even in September because he isn’t hitting the ball anywhere other than to short at this point. In the ninth inning on Sunday with the tying run on third and two outs, he hit his patented bloop to right and I thought at first it would fall and the Yankees would tie the game. But instead it fell at second base and the game was over. Not even the bloops are blooping anymore.

Since baseball has been over in Boston for a while now and the summer became more about you trying to get tickets for $2 and waiting until Week 1 of the NFL season, we are now there. It’s Week 1!

Even though you didn’t have much of a baseball season, at least you know your football team is going to walk through the regular season once again and end up with a first-round bye because the Jets still suck, the Dolphins somehow haven’t improved and the Bills are the Bills. You have at least five wins from your division before the opening kickoff of the season and then you just have to go .500 against the rest of the schedule and you have January football once again. It’s disgusting. Vegas has the Patriots over/under wins at 11 even though the last time the team won less than 11 games was Brady’s first season back from ACL surgery. Is there anyway the Patriots don’t win at least 12 games barring anything happening to TB12? Let me know so I can get a wager in on since is the last time I plan on talking to you until Sept. 26.

Hurley: 16-0. See you in Glendale, baby.

The Patriots have never played a bad game in Arizona after an undefeated regular season, have they? Didn’t think so! All right, now I’m ready for kickoff.

Blogs • KTTC Archive • Yankees

Jul 21, 2014

Another Sunday with John and Suzyn

The Yankees have never lost when I listen to John Stelring and Suzyn Waldman and write about it, so on Sunday, I turned to the duo with the Yankees looking for a sweep.

I couldn’t believe it had been over two years since the last time I listened to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman and wrote down my thoughts during a full Yankees broadcast. The last time I spent an entire game listening to John and Suzyn and then wrote about it the following day was June 5, 2012 and the time before that was June 29, 2011. The Yankees won both of those games (in the 2012 one Phil Hughes miraculously beat Justin Verlander), so with the Yankees needing to go on a summer run, I figured it was time to sit down with John and Suzyn and try to sweep the Reds.

Here’s what transpired on Sunday afternoon at the Stadium …

TOP 1ST
Suzyn: “And as Billy Hamilton steps up to the plate, stepping up to the microphone is the voice of the New York Yankees … here is John Sterling.”

John: “Well, Suzyn, I thank you.”

I picked to follow John and Suzyn for this game because I’m visiting my parents for the weekend (because being in the city on the weekends in the summer is miserable) and I knew I would be outside during the game and since I was going to have to listen to the game rather than watch it, I figured I might as well write about it too. (That and the fact I knew my girlfriend would be laying outside and would rather have me listen and write about the game at once rather than watch/listen to it now and then write about it later.) But I didn’t even factor in that with Hiroki Kuroda and Johnny Cueto starting, the game has a chance to move rather quickly without a lot of baserunners and pitching changes.

To prove my point, Kuroda strikes out Hamilton on a splitter to begin the game, and John reiterates my point.

“If you’re going to beat Cueto, the way to do it is to pitch great against him.”

Skip Schumaker strikes out swinging on a splitter as well and there are two away.

John and Suzyn start to talk about the Yankees defense and lineup, which is the same for the third day in a row. I will have to check, but I’m 99 percent sure it’s the most consecutive games Girardi has used the same lineup since 2009. But in the lineup today (and therefore the third day in a row) is Kelly Johnson, who I have been calling to be designated for assignment for a while now.

“Both Solarte and Wheeler will get time next week,” Suzyn mentions in reference to Johnson playing again, and this is when I wish I was the third man in the booth for the game, so I could ask Suzyn, “What has Kelly Johnson done to not only remain in the lineup, but to remain on this 25-man roster?” The answer to that question would be “nothing.” Johnson is hitting .223/.304/.383 and has just two home runs since May 3 despite being in the lineup to provide extra power.

John, who probably would like to share some choice words about Johnson’s play himself, chooses to change the subject and begins his mission to drive home the point that Johnny Cueto is very good at pitching.

“You know if you’re facing Cueto … Kuroda better pitch a terrific game.”

Kuroda strikes out All-Star Todd Frazier looking with a fastball on the outside corner to strike out the side in the first. So far, Kuroda has done just what John has asked of him.

BOTTOM 1ST
“We’ll give Cueto’s numbers … they’re fabulous!” is how John opens the bottom of the first of the broadcast before telling us Cueto is 10-6 with a 2.11 ERA, mentioning that Cueto should have a much better record, but has been screwed over by run support (like Kuroda). John does some math to share Cueto’s hits per innings pitched and then exclaims, “I have a great story, which I’ll get to in a minute.” That great story ends up being about Sterling asking Bob Gibson how he lost nine games during his 22-9, 1.12 ERA season in 1968.

Brett Gardner takes a called third strike and goes down looking (also known as a “Gardner”) on a 3-2 pitch. “I don’t really blame Gardner,” John says before sharing his logic that Gardner was looking to walk and happened to get a pitch on the inside corner. “I don’t really blame Gardner … if you can draw a walk … the pitch was on the inside corner … if you can draw a walk maybe the Yankees build a run.”

The Stadium crowd begins to overpower John and Suzyn and that means Derek Jeter, the only right-handed in the lineup, is coming to the plate. John continues to gush over Cueto while Suzyn compares him to Pedro Martinez and Luis Tiant.

Jeter works the count full before going down swinging on a “nasty” sinker down and in. Even with the first two out by way of the K, Gardner and Jeter forced Cueto to throw 12 pitches and that is a small victory against an elite pitcher. (Yes, I’m looking for something to feel good about knowing the Yankees might not score today.)

Jacoby Ellsbury fouls off the first pitch he sees and then …

“The 0-1 … swung on and lined deep down the right-field line … toward the wall … and it is … foul ball! It is off the wall. Didn’t go out. And Ellsbury missed a double by, I guess, inches.”

Ellsbury ends up hitting on a single on 1-2 pitch and even if the Yankees don’t score this inning, they have made Cueto work.

Teixeira lines out to end the inning and Cueto’s pitch count is at 16.

TOP 2ND
Jay Bruce flies out to right field to begin the second and Suzyn jumps into her “Scoreboard Update.” I went back and found what I wrote the last two times about Suzyn’s love for her “Scoreboard Update.”

Suzyn is giving her first scoreboard update of the day. The best part of the scoreboard updates is that John clearly hates them. He hates that his broadcast gets hijacked momentarily and hates that he has to interrupt Suzyn to give the play-by-play. It breaks up his flow and his rhythm and I kind of agree. And maybe the scoreboards can be taken out of the broadcast? I know it would be like taking away someone’s lines in a play in that Suzyn’s airtime would be cut down significantly, but it’s 2011. I don’t think anyone is waiting for Suzyn’s scoreboard updates to find out scores from around the league.

Well, it’s not 2014 and we are three years removed from when I first asked to have the scoreboard updates removed from the broadcast. I’m not sure how many Yankees fans are looking for the Giants-Marlins or Brewers-Nationals score, especially since I would assume only Yankees fans are listening to a Yankees radio broadcast. And if someone did want to know those scores, would they wait for Suzyn Waldman to tell them it or use one of the three billion forms of technology that could instantly give them the score they are looking for.

John only has to interrupt Suzyn twice while she gives the scores around the league, but then she goes into all the scheduled games and the pitching matchups, which irritates John to no end and she can sense it as she starts to race through them as if she is reading the side effects for some new erection drug at the end of a commercial.

“He is nominally the Yankees No. 1 pitcher,” John says of Kuroda, which gets me thinking.

I hadn’t really thought about the idea that Kuroda is the Yankees’ No. 1 pitcher since I have tried not to think about the state of the rotation at all since Masahiro Tanaka went on the diasabled list. But I guess right now, Kuroda would be the No. 1. If the Yankees were in the ALDS and it started today, I would set the rotation as Kuroda, Brandon McCarthy, Shane Greene and David Phelps (I think Girardi would flip Greene and Phelps) and that has to be the worst Yankee postseason rotation ever. That’s infinitely worse than Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, a 42-year-old Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright in 2006 and much, much worse than Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte and an injured 44-year-old Roger Clemens in 2007. The only rotation that compares to it happens to be 2004 when the Yankees started Mike Mussina, Jon Lieber, Orlando Hernandez and Kevin Brown against the Red Sox. Hernandez had a 3.30 ERA in 15 starts for the Yankees, but the lowest after that was Brown’s 4.09.

Ryan Ludwick walks, but Brayan Pena flies out and Chris Heisey pops out to end the inning.

BOTTOM 2ND
“McCann has gotten up to .240 and that’s up!” John says and I’m not sure if he is being sincere or sarcastic about Brian McCann’s struggles. The good news is that McCann is 3-for-7 against Cueto in his career and all three hits were home runs.

No home run this time as McCann grounds out. Carlos Beltran follows with a strikeout and Ichiro falls to 0-for-17 with a ground out. This game might be over by 3:15 p.m.

TOP 3RD
It’s 1:44 p.m. now, which is surprising because the game has felt quicker. Suzyn starts the inning by reading the Yankees’ statement in response to the New York Post falsely reporting that the team hiked up ticket prices for Derek Jeter Day on Sept. 7. Suzyn is outraged at the Post’s accusations and puts on her Yankees hat to defend the team against the article since even if the Post is wrong in this case, the team has never doe anything wrong regarding marketing in the past. Like the Yankees would never honor their iconic retiring star three weeks before the end of the season to increase ticket sales and TV ratings for a September afternoon game against the Royals coincidentally on the same day as the first Sunday of the NFL season.

Zack Cosart grounds out for the first out, but Ramon Santiago, the 9-hitter, “rips” a double to right field and I immediately start to get nervous, and rightfully so, about anyone getting into scoring position with Cueto pitching. Why is it always the 9-hitters against the Yankees?

John continues to back up Suzyn and the Yankees by telling those who have a problem with ticket prices, including those on the secondary market by saying, “One thing about ticket prices to game … You don’t have to go” to the game.

John and Suzyn continue voicing their opinions on the Post’s story and you would think the Yankees asked them to pay to get into the Stadium on Sept. 7 with as angry as they are about it.

Hamilton flies out to the track and his long out had me worried as John’s voice began to pick up steam and I thought it was going to be 2-0 Reds.

“And did you know that Santiago didn’t tag?” John asks. No, I didn’t know because I’m listening to the game on the radio and I all about what happens in the game know is what you tell me.

Schumaker walks to put two on with two outs for Frazier, who struck out looking in the first. It’s never good when there is a game-changing and potentially game-ruining at-bat in the second inning, but that’s what the Yankees face with the Reds’ best hitter at the plate and best pitcher on the mound today.

The 0-1 pitch is driven to center field where Ellsbury evidently makes a diving catch after John nearly gives me a heat attack thinking the chances of a three-game Yankees sweep were over.

“He’s (Ellsbury) fabulous. He really is fabulous.”

BOTTOM 3RD
Brian Roberts leads off the inning with a base hit on a 2-1 pitch and here comes the legend to the plate.

“Now batting for the Yankees … Number 33 … Kelly Johnson … Number 33.”

Suzyn is quick to announce, “Kelly Johnson had a good afternoon yesterday,” which only makes me wish even more I was the third man in the booth to rebut her happiness. Because I have been so vocal about wanting Johnson designated for assignment, whenver he does something even remotely good, I get emails and texts and tweets from people saying, “So do you STILL want Kelly Johnson DFA’d?” The answer is “Yes” and always will be “Yes.” I’m wondering if Suzyn sent some of those emails or texts or tweets. And now I’m wondering if John has sent some too after he says, “Kelly Johnson can do some damage.” Damage? What damage? The man has two home runs since May 3! It’s July 20. May 3 was 78 days ago. Kelly Johnson has two home runs in over 11 weeks. That’s essentially half the season.

But back to Suzyn’s point … If anyone is given enough chances they will eventually come through. Whether it’s Johnson now or Randy Winn in 2010 or Nick Swisher in the playoffs … well, never Nick Swisher in the playoffs. But most players when continuously put into the lineup will eventually do “something,” but doing something once every couple weeks isn’t good enough when there are better options on the bench.

Johnson walks and I check my phone to see if anyone from the Kelly Johnson Fan Club has tried to contact me asking if I would like to rethink my membership and there are two on with no outs for the top of the order. Two on and no outs.

“Would you bunt?” John asks. “I would, by the way. I don’t think you get many runs off Cueto.”

No, I wouldn’t bunt with two on and no one out in the SECOND inning of a 0-0 game at Yankee Stadium. This isn’t Johnny Cueto against pre-July Masahiro Tanaka. This is Johnny Cueto against Hiroki Kuroda, who while good, can lose it at any moment in a game. Cueto’s pitch count is climbing rapidly and you have one of the team’s best hitters up. Why would you want to give Cueto a break and give away an out?

Gardner flies out for the first out of the inning. I told you he should have been bunting!

Jeter grounds out to third to put runners on the corners with two outs and you know John is thinking in his head that if he were the Yankees manager they would be 10 games up in the division with his decision making. (And I’m not so sure they wouldn’t be with some of the decisions Girardi has made this year.)

Suzyn takes the chance to throw in, “Kelly Johnson is a terrific baserunner,” in her bid to keep him on the Yankees forever.

Ellsbury walks and the bases are loaded with two outs for Teixeira, who I have zero confidence will do anything in this spot.

Teixeira swings at the first pitch and fouls it off because why wouldn’t you swing at the first pitch following a walk to load the bases against an elite pitcher, who clearly isn’t on top of his today game? Teixeira works the count to 2-2 and Cueto is now at 63 pitches, having recorded only five outs.

John reminds us of what’s at stake with the 2-2 pitch and why Teixeira is likely to see a strike.

“You go 3-2 and then you HAVE to throw a strike.”

Cueto throws a strike and Teixiera looks at it to end the inning.

TOP 4TH
“Scoreboard Update!”

Bruce grounds out to Teixeira for the first out as Suzyn continues to run off the scores from around the league.

Ludwick doubles to put another runner in scoring positions and after the Yankees missed a chance to open up the game in what might be the only chance they get against Cueto in the bottom of the third, I’m now just waiting for the Reds to take a lead they won’t relinquish. And with Brayan Pena, who hit two home runs against David Phelps on Friday night, coming up, I’m beginning to think he would be the perfect person to ruin this Sunday.

Pena strikes out and Heisey grounds out to short on the first pitch to strand Ludwick at second and for now I can breathe easily.

“At the end of three-and-a-half, no score on the New York Yankees radio network driven by Jeep.”

I’m not sure why Sterling always says “no score” when it’s 0-0 since there is a score and the score is 0-0, but not even that minor pet peeve can upset me after Kuroda leaves another runner in scoring positon and is at just 57 pitches through four.

BOTTOM 4TH
Brian McCann opens the inning with a base hit to right field, and according to John, McCann has been hitting .316 since June 29. Even with 80 percent of the Opening Day rotation on the disabled list, the Yankees don’t have a chance in the “second half” if McCann and Beltran don’t start hitting the way they were expected to when they signed $80 million and $45 million deals respectively. And if they do, in this year’s AL East, I think the Yankees could very well get by and reach the postseason with a makeshift rotation as long as their offense is in order.

Beltran hits a 3-2 pitch into a double play to erase McCann and Ichiro turns his 0-for-17 into an 0-for-18. The Yankees might have missed their chance to get to Johnny Cueto.

TOP 5TH
Cozart hits a ground ball to second, which Roberts boots for his ninth error of the season. Sure, it’s only his ninth (which is a lot when you’re coming from seeing Robinson Cano every day) and that means he obviously doesn’t make an error every game, but it does feel like he makes an error every game.

Santiago wastes no time laying down a sacrifice bunt to move Cozart to second as Dan Martin of the New York Post monotones his way through the fifth-inning segment reminding everyone why he went into print media and not broadcasting and why this segment should also be cut from the broadcast.

Hamilton pops up in foul territory for the second out and Kuroda is one out away from stranding another runner at second and bailing out Roberts, who is unlikely to make up for mistake at the plate if Cozart does score.

Schumaker makes Roberts pay with a two-out hit to score Cozart and give the Reds a 1-0 lead and even with the sun shining on my face, a beer in my hand and baseball in my ears, my mood has suddenly changed into the day-after-Labor Day depression.

Frazier grounds to short on the first pitch, but the damage has been done.

BOTTOM 5TH
Roberts makes up for his costly error by striking out to lead off the fifth, but fan-favorite Kelly Johnson walks following a seven-pitch at-bat. Gardner walks on six pitches and with just one out in the fifth, Cueto is now at 94 pitches, which makes me at least a little happier.

The crowd start to get loud as Jeter walks to the plate and Sterling tells us what’s at stake if the Yankees can’t tie the game or take the lead before the late innings.

“You don’t want to go to the ninth inning down,” John says by alluding to the fact that Aroldis Chapman would be waiting in the bullpen and is well rested, having not pitched all weekend. But do you

Jeter delivers on a 1-1 pitch and Sterling is jacked up.

“Here comes the 1-1 .. swung on and lined to right field … there is a base hit … Kelly Johnson rounding third … Bruce fell down … the throw into the infield … and all the way to third goes Gardner. It is a base hit and an RBI for the Captain! EL CAPITAN!”

Before John said “… and an RBI for the Captain” how was I supposed to know that Johnson even scored on the hit? Oh well. Tie game!

“That was worth the price of a ticket for most people here,” Suzyn responds.

With Gardner on third, Jeter on first and one out, John goes over every possibility and I mean ever possibility for Ellsbury to get the go-ahead run in from third, and Ellsbury takes the easy way with a base hit on a 3-2 pitch. Gardner scores, Jeter goes to third, the Yankees take a 2-1 lead and there’s still just one out for the heart of the order.

Unfortunately the heart of the order beats like that of someone who has lived off the McDonald’s value menu, Slim Jims, hot dogs, and Mountain Dew for 16 years as Teixeira and McCann strike out to end the inning.

TOP 6TH
“Scoreboard Update!”

John recognizes that other AL East teams are winning today after they all won on Saturday and says, “The Yankees would be smart to win today.”

Kuroda needs 10 pitches to eventually strike out Bruce and I’m beginning to think we are at the end of the line for Kuroda’s day after watching last Sunday’s game slip away because of a tired starter (Chase Whitley) before the rain came. If there’s ever a day to go to the bullpen early, it’s today. But I know Girardi wont.

Ludwick strikes out and swinging and Pena grounds out to end the inning. I guess Kuroda isn’t done after all.

BOTTOM 6TH
Beltran strikes out to start the sixth against left-hander Manny Parra, but Ichiro singles to break his 0-for-18 slide, which brings a smile to my face. Ichiro isn’t supposed to be an everyday player, but with Beltran unable to play right field or throw a baseball and Brian Cashman deciding Alfonso Soraino should be designated for assignment over some other players, Ichiro has been put into a regular role. And like Soriano, Ichiro might be playing a role he is destined to fail at. He is now 40 and showed earlier in the season how effective he can be when used as a fourth outfielder, but some more intelligent general managerial and managerial decisions have made Ichiro the everyday right fielder.

Roberts singles to left field in an attempt make up for his earlier error (it doesn’t) and there are two on and one out for the immortal Kelly Johnson.

Nevermind. Johnson gets called back to the bench for Zelous Wheeler, who should have been starting the game to begin with (or Solarte). Suzyn tells John how Zelous says his mom just made up his unique name and John sarcastically responds, “His siblings are Joe and Bob and Frank.” Wheeler strikes out looking.

Gardner hits a grounder to third, which is booted by Santiago (I guess were are now even on errors) to load the bases with two outs for Jeter. Parra won’t be allowed to face Jeter and Bryan Price brings in right-hander Sam LeCure.

“The bases are F.O.B.,” John says coming out of the break from the pitching change. “Full of Bombers.” (I actually don’t mind this acronym from John. It’s not as good as David Cone’s “the bases are drunk,” but it’s not terrible.)

Jeter grounds out to short on a 2-1 pitch to keep the score the same: 2-1.

TOP 7TH
Heisey flies out to left to open the inning with an out for Kuroda and Cozarts pops out to second. Two outs and no one on and Joe Girardi is taking out Kuroda for Dellin Betances. I like this move because if Kuroda were to give up the game-tying run this inning, after I thought he was tiring last inning, I would crush Girardi for waiting too long. It’s never too early to bring in Betances.

Kuroda’s final line: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K and 99 pitches. A great start to the “second half” for Kuroda after what happened at the end of his second half last year.

“We knew that Betances would come in in the eighth,” John says. “I’m a little surprised two outs and no one on for Santagio.

“This is the only thing I can think of, John,” Suzyn says. ” He had just hit 100 pitches and Joe maybe is thinking ‘What if it’s a 10-pitch at-bat?’ Maybe it’s 10 more pitches. They’re being very careful with Kuroda. They don’t want him to lose his stuff by the end of the year. Maybe that’s it.”

There’s just so much here I don’t know where to begin. If Suzyn thinks that Girardi took Kuroda out because of the fear of a 10-pitch at-bat then I don’t even know what to say. And if Girardi actually did take Kuroda out for the fear of a 10-pitch at-bat then I think I need to go off the grid and the Yankees need to find a managerial replacement today. How often do 10-pitch at-bats happen? What’s the chance of a 10-pitch at-bat happening? Is there a place that offers odds on something like this because I have a lot of money that needs to be made.

The part about the Yankees not wanting to burn Kuroda out is sadly 100 percent true. Kuroda is 39 and is on a one-year deal and likely will retire or go back to Japan after this season. The Yankees should be using his arm up until it’s hanging from his body. Not only to get the most use out of him, but because they are trailing in both the division and wild-card races and need to win games. We don’t need Girardi not using Kuroda the way he didn’t use Mariano Rivera, so he can now play catch with his kids or the way he is giving Derek Jeter rest with only now 65-plus games left in his baseball career.

“No,” John responds, “I think you’re on to something.” (He sounds sarcastic. I’m hoping he was being sarcastic.)

Betances gives up a single to Santiago (once again the 9-hitter) and Suzyn offers the closest thing to “You can’t predict baseball” that we have heard all day.

“Strange game this baseball.”

John starts to think about what Suzyn said some more.

“I really think you’re onto something, Suzyn,” John says. “I think that was it.” (Please tell me you’re just effing with Suzyn, John. Please tell me you aren’t serious.)

Hamilton strikes out on a 1-2 curve and the Yankees are six outs away from sweeping the Reds.

BOTTOM 7TH
Hamilton loses an Ellsbury fly ball in the sun as John screams, “He lost the ball! He lost the ball!” and Ellsbury coasts into second with a “double.”

Teixeira flies out to right field as John gets excited and the Stadium gets excited, but Ellsbury moves to third with one out. McCann grounds out to first for the second out and Ellsbury is held at third as “the heart of the order” continues to barely beat.

Beltran walks with Ichiro on-deck and Suzyn gives us LeCure’s thought process.

“I think this is probably a good trade in LeCure’s mind,” Suzyn says. “Ichiro for Beltran.”

Ichiro grounds out and LeCure made the right trade.

It’s been exactly one month (June 20) since I was listening to John and Suzyn and Suzyn was saying how Joe Torre used to like to get above .500 in increments of five games. On June 20, the Yankees were five games over .500. They lost that game 8-0 and are 10-13 since. Six outs to go from getting three games over .500.

TOP 8TH
Schumaker leads off the inning with a single and with Frazier up, Schumaker tries to steal second, but he gets caught in a rundown. And if you think John Sterling calling a home run for a foul ball or a foul ball for a home run is incredible then you have never heard him give the play-by-play for a rundown.

“And there he goes .. and they have him trapped. They have him trapped. A throw to Teixeira … now back to Roberts who runs him back to first … now … back to … Betances … who tags him out. Well, they didnt do it very well, but they got the man. Betances at the end tagged him, who flipped to Jeter who tagged him.” So Betances tagged him and Jeter tagged him? Double play? Real life? The actual play was recorded a caught stealing, 1-3-4-1-6, so John basically nailed it.

One out with Frazier up.

“You see the stat?” John asks. “In Betances’ last 24 at-bats against right-handed hitters, right-handed hitters are 0-for-24.”

Two pitches later, Frazier hits a home run to tie the game at 2. So much for that stat.

“You know what it does, this happens all the time, it takes the win away from Kuroda,” John says angrily. Who cares about Kuroda’s personal record? Yes, he deserved better, but I don’t care about what Kuroda’s record is, I care about the Yankees’ record, as does every Yankees fan and as should John and Suzyn.

Bruce grounds out for the second out.

“You do have to feel bad for Kuroda,” Suzyn adds. “Every single time he pitches his heart out.”

Ludwick flies out to right field to end the inning.

BOTTOM 8TH
The home run was the first Betances has allowed since May 17 and just the second all year.

“I guess Robertson would pitch the ninth” John suggests. I would hope so unless Joe Girardi would like to lose even more games this year without using Robertson because the Yankees DON’T HAVE THE LEAD!

Jonathan Broxton strikes out Roberts and Wheeler singles to left. With the go-ahead run on base, Gardner pops up and Jeter grounds out. The day-after-Labor Day depression feeling has returned.

TOP 9TH
I don’t trust the Yankees in extra-inning games, mainly because I don’t trust Girardi’s bullpen management in extra-inning games, so it would be nice if the Yankees could win it in the ninth because they would have already used their best two relievers if it goes to the 10th.

“Just in case the Reds take the lead,” John says, “They have Chapman up.”

“Isn’t it funny how it works out?” Suzyn asks. “The eighth inning, which is Betances’ inning, he had the big hitters. He had Frazier, Bruce, Ludwick and Robertson has the bottom of the order here. It’s funny how sometimes that works out.”

“Yeah the eighth inning is sometimes more important than the ninth,” John answers. “I agree.”

And I agree too. And that’s why set innings for relievers shouldn’t exist. But that’s a story for another day.

Robertson gets Pena to ground out to second, strikes out Heisey and gets Cozart to pop up to first for an easy 1-2-3 inning.

BOTTOM 9TH
John starts the ninth with his own personal scouting report on Chapman.

“If you’re wondering what does he throw … he throws hard. Really hard.”

Suzyn has left the booth to go down to the field to get the Player of the Game once the game ends and John loves every second of having the booth and the game to himself.

“The Yankees could have avoided this,” John says and he’s right. They were five outs away from not seeing Aroldis Chapman for three games and an entire weekend and now they not only have to see him, but they are faced with possibly going to extra innings without their best two relievers.

Suzyn chimes in from the third-base camera well, which must upset John that she is still on the air.

Ellsbury singles to left field on the ninth pitch of his at-bat after fouling off fastballs at 102, 101 and 100. All nine pitches were fastballs and all nine were between 100 and 102. His single came on one at 101.

I don’t think Teixeira has a chance here, but I hope I’m wrong.

Ellsbury steals second.

“We remarked how many foul homers Teixeira hits because he’s too quick,” John says, “Well, maybe against Chapman he will hit the ball fair.”

John starts to go over all the possibilities of how Teixeira can move Ellsbury over to third, but let’s be honest, none of them are happening.

A WILD PITCH! A WILD PITCH! A WILD PITCH! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! A wild pitch and Ellsbury moves to third with no outs.

“Well, let’s face it,” John says. “If the Yankees don’t win this game now, they’ll have stubbed their toe.” That’s a nice way to put it, John. I would have used a different way of putting it, but we’ll go with “stubbed their toe.”

Teixeira strikes out. Of course he does.

“1-0 to McCann … and the pitch .. swung on … a high fly ball to shallow right … coming in is Bruce … and … the ball is DROPPED! THE BALL DROPPED! BASE HIT! ELLSBURY SCORES! BALLGAME OVER! YANKEES WIN! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!”

After John gave his replay play-by-play of the play (or what every other play-by-play man does as a play is happening in real time) he went on to say, “Isn’t that amazing? I mean isn’t that amazing?”

Eighty percent of the Yankees’ Opening Day rotation is on the disabled list and with 65 games left the division is there for them to win. So yes, John, it’s amazing.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 14, 2012

I Forgive Derek Lowe

Now that Derek Lowe is a Yankee it’s time to forgive him for his time with the Red Sox and Oct. 20, 2004.

In October 2004, I hated Johnny Damon more than any other athlete. If I had made an All-Animosity Team back then, Johnny Damon would have been the team captain the way Josh Beckett has been for the last three years.

Damon was the founding father of the “Idiot” culture of the 2004 Red Sox and he stood for everything that wasn’t the New York Yankees. Aside from Red Sox ownership he played the biggest role as a player in turning Fenway Park into a social scene, attracting pink hats and a crowd whose primary concern seems to be making sure they use the bathroom before “Sweet Caroline” so they can be at their seat to sing along and sway back and forth. Damon became the face of the Red Sox, personifying the change the franchise underwent by transforming the losing mentality the team and its fans exemplified. I hated Johnny Damon.

By stealing Johnny Damon away from the atmosphere and environment he helped create, in the winter of 2005, the Yankees did more than just acquire their rival’s leadoff hitter and center fielder. They acquired the heart and soul of their rival and at that time – outside of winning another championship – it was the next best thing to making the pain 2004 hurt a little less.

I didn’t think I could ever forgive Johnny Damon for Game 7, but I did. And I’m prepared to forgive Derek Lowe too after already doing the same for Doug Mientkiewicz, Mark Bellhorn, Alan Embree and Mike Myers on much smaller scales.

For someone I have hated for the last 15 years of my life and hated a great deal for nearly the last eight, I feel weird rooting for Lowe, who was the bad guy. It’s almost like I’m rooting for Coach Dan Devine to not put Rudy in for the final seconds of the Georgia Tech game or for the puck to roll on end for Charlie Conway and for him to lose control of it during his triple deke on the penalty shot against the Hawks.

Some Yankees fans don’t like Derek Lowe on the team or anyone from that 2004 Red Sox team, and they will like him less if he gets lit up while with the Yankees. But if he pitches the way he pitched on Monday night and he turns into the guy he was from April 8 to June 1 (7-3, 3.06) and not the guy he was from June 7 to July 31 (1-7, 8.77), those fans will like him too. Then again, if the Rangers had rocked Lowe at the Stadium on Monday night, maybe I wouldn’t be forgiving him. Actually I know I wouldn’t be forgiving him.

There’s nothing that will ever erase those four consecutive October nights from my memory even though I have tried. I have never re-watched any of the games from that series, and aside from each game’s starters throughout the series, I have tried to black out what happened from the ninth inning of Game 4 until the final out of Game 7. When I think back to that series now it certainly doesn’t feel like it could have all unfolded over four consecutive nights. Those four nights felt like 40 while they were happening and the months leading up to Opening Day in 2005 (really Opening Night for the Yankees and Red Sox) felt like an eternity.

I watched Games 1, 2, 3 and 4 from my dorm room in downtown Boston, and I remember the hysteria and chaos following the Red Sox’ Game 4 win that felt like a minor speed bump on the way to the World Series. I actually took the Game 4 loss surprisingly well and shrugged it off because no one blows a 3-0 series lead.

For Game 5, I went to the then-Fleet Bank ATM across from the Park Street T stop on the Boston Commons, and withdrew nearly all of the money I had worked for over the summer to use for spending money that semester. I folded it up and put it in the left chest pocket of my fleece and rode a packed T to Kenmore with my hand over the pocket and the money. I had called my friend, Jim, just a couple hours earlier and told him about some guy I found online who was selling tickets to Game 5. Jim was training for hockey at the time and didn’t think he would be able to get to Boston in time, but I sold him on the idea of watching the Yankees win the pennant at Fenway Park. He got off the ice early, skipped taking a shower (there is nothing in the world that can compare to the stench of a post-hockey skipped shower), loaded up on the deodorant and Axe spray in his glove compartment and turned I-95 North into the Brickyard.

With Jim en route to Fenway, I went from the five-stop T ride to meeting a stranger in his Ford Explorer down a side street near Fenway Park. I was 18 years old and knew Boston as well as I know what Eddie Vedder is saying in “Yellow Ledbetter.” It was 2-to-1 that I would have the money in my left chest pocket taken without receiving tickets and 5-to-1 that the Channel 7 news in Boston was going to lead their broadcast that night with a story about a college freshman wearing a Yankees hat who was last seen trying to buy tickets from a scalper in a Ford Explorer down a Fenway side street rather than the result of Game 5. Actually what am I thinking? A college freshman wearing a Yankees hat in Boston pre-2004 World Series? The Boston Police would have helped cover it up. I probably would have been held captive by a Boston Police Captain like Amanda in Gone Baby Gone.

Jim made it to Boston in record time, but we didn’t get into Fenway until we heard the crowd roaring as Pedro Martinez retired Hideki Matsui to end the top of the first. The Red Sox scored twice off Mike Mussina in the first, but Bernie Williams answered with a solo shot in the second. It remained 2-1 Boston until Derek Jeter hit a two-out, bases-clearing double in the sixth. We were sitting right next to the Pesky Pole in right field (where the Yankees should have won, but Fenway’s short fenced caused a ground-rule double later in the game) and we watched the ball roll into the corner as the Yankees took a 4-2 lead and Jeter ended up on third on the throw. We all know what happened over the next eight innings.

I spent five hours and 49 minutes and 14 innings at Fenway Park that afternoon into night. I spent nearly all of my spending money (who am I kidding with “spending?” … it was for beer and Domino’s, which I still know the number to by heart) on the chance to see the Yankees win the pennant at Fenway Park and for the chance to see the monumental look of devastation on the face of Red Sox fans in their home. I think we can chalk that one up as a bad investment and maybe my worst investment unless we’re counting when I bought the Chumbawamba album “Tubthumper” in sixth grade just for the song “Tubthumping.” We’ll call it a tie.

The next night the Yankees let Curt Schilling shut them down on one ankle and failed to make him move off the mound with bunt attempts. I remember one time in the game when Schilling had to become part of a play at first and he ran like Chien-Ming Wang running home in Houston on the day that changed his career. For all of the great decisions Joe Torre made in his 12 years with the Yankees, not having the team drop downs bunts in Game 6 was one of the Top 5 worst decisions of his Yankees tenure. The other four would be starting Kevin Brown in Game 7 of that series, brining the infield in in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, bringing Jeff Weaver in in Game 4 of the 2003 World Series with Mariano Rivera sitting in the bullpen and not removing the team from the field while the midges attacked Joba Chamberlain in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS.

The night after that, Kevin Brown took the Yankees out of the game before Tim McCarver could say anything nonsensical (yup, it happened that quickly). Torre called on Javier Vazquez to put out the fire and instead he brought gasoline and matches with him by ending the game on his first pitch. Derek Lowe shut down the Yankees and won the game on three days rest, and I have hated him since. Well, until Monday night.

To me, Derek Lowe on the Yankees puts a little dent into what happened on those four nights. No, it doesn’t erase it because nothing ever will, but it helps to cope with what happened. Johnny Damon shaving his head and pointing during Roll Call and becoming a Red Sox killer and stealing third base against the Phillies and getting doused in champagne in the Yankees clubhouse put a massive dent in it.

The only key pieces left of that Red Sox team still in the league are Lowe and David Ortiz, and I don’t think Ortiz will ever put on pinstripes and take a sledgehammer to the 2004 legacy, but I wouldn’t want him to anyway (though it would be a nice way to get some closure). And with those two being the only remaining active key members of that team, I can say my body is filled with joy knowing that Red Sox fans have to watch the guy who clinched all three 2004 postseason series for them pitch for the postseason-bound Yankees while they watch a losing Boston team playing out the string like the Royals, Twins and Mets.

Derek Lowe is 39 years old and might be at the cul-de-sac of his career, but he wants another chance to win. He proved on Monday night for four innings against the best offense in baseball that he still knows how to.

Blogs • Yankees

Jan 18, 2012

Goodbye, Jorge Posada

The closest I have ever come to meeting Jorge Posada was on Oct. 17, 2004. How do I remember the date? Because it was the night the Yankees lost Game 4 of the ALCS. I

The closest I have ever come to meeting Jorge Posada was on Oct. 17, 2004. How do I remember the date? Because it was the night the Yankees lost Game 4 of the ALCS.

I was a freshman in college in Boston and my friend Scanlon and I were walking down the street from our Beacon Hill dorm recapping what had just unfolded in the ninth inning and then the 12th inning. The Yankees were staying at a hotel in Downtown Crossing right down the street from our dorm and we were standing on a corner recapping the events of the loss, knowing that it hurt, but that a 3-1 lead was insurmountable for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox tied Game 4 on a stolen base by Dave Roberts, but that night it was just another stolen base among the many other stolen bases in postseason history. It hadn’t become a play that haunts my life or a scene that’s enshrined as you walk down the hall to the Fenway Park press box. Dave Roberts was still just some 32-year-old veteran the Red Sox acquired at the deadline. Sure, he stole second and scored the tying run in an elimination game, but who cared? The Red Sox’ win in Game 4 was just prolonging the inevitable.

Scanlon and I stood on a street corner in Downtown Crossing while he smoked a cigarette realizing that the Red Sox had Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling lined up for Games 5 and 6 and possibly Derek Lowe on short rest in Game 7 if the series had to go that far. But I reassured a nervous Scanlon that the Yankees just had to win one game before the Red Sox won three.

As we stood on the corner and talked, I remember Scanlon’s face growing with shock as he looked over my shoulder and then at me before giving me one nod to let me know someone was behind me on the sidewalk we were partially blocking. I turned around and standing in front of us was Jorge Posada, who had just gotten out of a cab and was trying to walk down the middle of the sidewalk we were occupying. We moved aside and Posada walked past us without saying a word. He didn’t look mad, but he didn’t look happy. He looked serious and determined, but also worried. Or maybe I only remember him as looking worried since I now know what happened over the next three nights. At the time no one could have known what would happen in Games 5, 6 and 7, but that night after Game 4 with Jorge standing dead quiet right in front of us and waiting for us to move, it was almost like he knew the Yankees were on the ropes, the same way Joe Torre described the feeling of nowhere to turn in The Yankee Years.

I knew I would eventually have to write this. And I know I will eventually have to write about the end of Derek Jeter’s career and the end of Mariano Rivera’s career. (I’m holding out hope that they both find a way to play until they’re at least 65. It’s not that unrealistic for Rivera at this point.)

There aren’t any other franchises or fan bases that have ever had the chance to experience what the trio of Jeter, Rivera and Posada meant to Yankees fans for the last 20 years. The three of them first played together in the minors in 1992, and now two decades and five championships later, the first of the three says goodbye to Yankees fans. So, this is my chance to say goodbye to Jorge Posada.

I was eight years old when Jorge Posada played his first game as a Yankee, 17 Septembers ago. I will be 25 for the start of the 2012 season, the first season without Jorge Posada on the roster since I was in fourth grade.

“The only thing that matters is when the team wins.”

Jorge Posada was the pulse of the Yankees during the 15 of 17 years he played a significant amount of games. He wore the team’s recent result on his sleeve and in his postgame remarks. You didn’t need to see the game to know if the Yankees were riding a seven-game winning streak or if they had just dropped a series at home by watching Posada during the postgame or reading his quotes the following day. He wouldn’t give the vanilla and automated answers that Derek Jeter gives or sugarcoat things like Joe Torre did or Joe Girardi does. Posada was in many ways the voice of the fan, and if things were going bad, he let everyone know almost as if he were the most prominent sports radio caller.

That’s what I loved about Posada. He would tell it like is. A win was satisfying, but that feeling would only last until the next game. A loss was devastating and that feeling would last until the next win. Posada always carried the personality of the fans, or at least the fans that give the Yankees 162 days and nights of their attention and then October, and those that live and die with each win and each loss throughout the season.

“Growing up, I kind of liked the way he (Thurman Munson) played. I didn’t see much of him, but I remember him being a leader. I remember him really standing up for his teammates, and that really caught my eye.”

“If I see a problem (in the clubhouse), I say something right away. I don’t wait two or three days.”

Even though he was part of the Core Four, it always seemed like he took a backseat to No. 2 and No. 42 and Andy Pettitte.

Jeter’s the “Captain” and the face of the franchise, the homegrown wonder and the universal symbol of a winner.

Rivera is the greatest closer of all time, as close of a lock and guarantee that there is in baseball and the king of cool with no emotions and no signs of fading even in his 40s.

Pettitte was the homegrown lefty that won more postseason games than anyone else in the history of baseball, along with Rivera produced the most wins-saves combination for any starter-closer duo in history and was always there for Game 2 of any postseason series.

Posada was the starting catcher for all this time, loved by the fans, showered with “Hip, Hip” chants and the visual leader on the field and in the clubhouse. But outside of the tri-state area it always seemed like he didn’t receive the credit and attention that the other three garnered.

You could make the case that Posada was the most important Yankee of the dynasty since reaching the majors. Think about this: The Yankees have made the postseason every season since 1995 except 2008 when Posada’s season was cut short in July for shoulder surgery.

“I’m a lot older. I’m wiser. I know what to do now, and hopefully, I don’t get in (anybody’s) way.”

“Some of the guys don’t like to come out of the lineup. I’m one of them.”

Eventually people won’t talk or care about Posada’s 2011. Yes, it happened and there were some low points, but it did nothing to impact his legacy with the Yankees or change what he accomplished in his career with the team. His 2011 started great, got bad, got worse, got better, got worse, got better and finished great.

We watched Posada start the year with six home runs in his first 16 games. We watched him go 9-for-72 (.125) in April and 14-for-64 (.219) in May. On June 7 he was hitting .195 before going 22-for-63 (.349) from June 9 to July 5 to raise his average to .241. In August he lost his full-time designated hitter job and became part of a platoon before being benched indefinitely. He returned to the lineup on Aug. 13 against Tampa Bay after a week off and went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs in the Yankees’ 9-2 win at the Stadium. He finished the year by clinching a postseason berth for the Yankees on Sept. 21 in the eighth inning of one of the most emotional moments in the early three-year history of the new Stadium (where he also hit the first home run in the new place in 2009.) He finished his last season by 6-for-14 with four walks in the ALDS, battling every pitch and grinding out every at-bat the way he had so many times before.

No one wants to come to the realization that their abilities are no longer what they once were, especially someone as proud as Posada, who will watch Jeter and Rivera continue to matter for the Yankees along with a new generation. It would be one thing if the Core Four all left at the same time, but for Posada (three years older than Jeter and two years younger than Rivera) to watch his teammates dating back to 1992 in the minors continue to play without him is a lot harder than any of us can imagine coping with.

I’m happy that Jorge Posada took the $117,458,500 or so he made in his career and decided that the only hat he would put on is a Yankees hat. It would have been disappointing to see him with the Indians or the Mariners or the A’s (I’m just naming teams and I’m not sure if any of these teams were actual options), and it would have hurt to see him return to the Stadium to a “Welcome back” ovation before hitting a straight A.J. Burnett fastball into the Yankees’ bullpen.

“I don’t want to be gone. I don’t want to be somewhere else. I consider myself a Yankee.”

I will remember Jorge Posada for his bloop double against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS that tied it all at 5 and gave me the type of sports high that you only get a handful of times in your life, if you’re lucky.

I will remember Jorge Posada for laying the tag on Jeremy Giambi on the “Flip Play” to save the 2001 season and give Yankees fans an unbelievable memory.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the 293 times in the regular season that he walked to the mound to shake Mariano Rivera’s hand after a save. And I will remember him for taking that same walk and doing that same handshake following all the postseason saves as well.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the two emotional games in 2011. The grand slam game in his return to the lineup on Aug. 13, and the game-winning hit in the postseason clinching game on Sept. 21.

I will remember Jorge Posada for standing in the Fenway dugout during Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS and letting Pedro Martinez he wasn’t going to stand for his antics. I will also remember him for the bench-clearing brawl he started at the Stadium against the Blue Jays on Sept. 15, 2009.

I will remember Jorge Posada for the go-ahead solo home run he hit against the Twins in Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS just four pitches after Alex Rodriguez tied the game with a solo shot of his own as the Yankees tried to end the World Series drought.

I will remember Jorge Posada for his .429 batting average and .571 on-base percentage in the five-game loss to the Tigers when it seemed like he was the only guy who didn’t want to go home while those who have guaranteed contracts in 2012 and beyond failed in big spots.

I will remember Jorge Posada for being part of five championships, for building the team into what it is today and for being a major reason why I enjoy baseball and like the Yankees as much as I do today.

I’m going to miss, “Number 20 … Jorge Posada … Number 20.”