All posts tagged baltimore orioles

The 2012 Yankees: A Successful Season

In my 20 years religiously following the Yankees, I have never seen the end of season be so incongruous to the season itself. Watching the Yankees go down meekly to the Tigers in the ALCS, the circus surrounding A-Rod’s in-game flirting and inability to hit right-handed pitching, and the resulting outcry from the fans and the New York media vultures (that’s you, New York Post), you’d have thought the 2012 Yankees were the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. And if you subscribe to the belief that anything less than a World Series championship is a failed season, well then this season was a failure.**

**This school of thought is ludicrous, by the way. Yes, the goal of every team is to win a championship, and in most cases the zenith of being a fan is watching your team win a championship. But if you subscribe to a binary model of fandom where winning a title is a “success” and anything else is a “failure” — well then you’re a masochist and I feel sorry for you.

The avalanche of negativity this week speaks to the absurd proposition of being a Yankee fan, this idea that because we out-spend everybody and make the playoffs seemingly every year, making it to the de facto semifinals of the postseason and getting swept by a superior team somehow qualifies as a catastrophe. Let me be clear: Given the laundry list of injuries to key Yankees, the advancing age of the team, and the expectations of most fans coming into the season, the 2012 New York Yankees season was an unqualified success. In fact, it was an enormous success. After Mariano Rivera tore his ACL in a freak fly-shagging incident in early May (this after Michael Pineda and Brett Gardner were lost for the year before the end of April), what would the average Yankee fan have responded if you told them that the team would win 95 games, fight off the hottest second-half club in baseball to win the division title, and advance further than the 2011 Yankees did in the playoffs? They’d have said you were crazy, right? And yet many of those same fans are now bitching and moaning about A-Rod, or Cano’s putrid postseason, or a team “filled with a bunch of losers,” to quote a family member. Newsflash: Making it to the ALCS is not losing. I’m aware that the Yankees have different standards than most team, but COME ON. Here’s a list of the last time every American League team reached the ALCS.

Tigers: 2012
Yankees: 2012
Rangers: 2011
Angels: 2009
Red Sox: 2008
Rays: 2008
Indians: 2007
Athletics: 2006
White Sox: 2005
Twins: 2002
Mariners: 2001
Orioles: 1997
Blue Jays: 1993
Royals: 1985

And even with the heightened expectations for every Yankee season, this year’s club was beset by injuries like no other Yankee team in recent memory. Of the Yankee’ putative offensive players as of mid-March, here’s how many games they played:

Brett Gardner: 16 (suffered elbow injury in April, missed rest of regular season)
Nick Swisher: 148 (no notable injuries)
Curtis Granderson: 160 (no injuries)
Raul Ibanez: 130 (no injuries, but unable to play field regularly)
Andruw Jones: 94 (no injuries, but thank God we got Ichiro to play left field)
Mark Teixeira: 123 (missed a month from late Aug.-late Sept. with a calf injury)
Robinson Cano: 161 (no injuries)
Derek Jeter: 159 (no regular season-injuries)
Alex Rodriguez: 122 (missed six weeks with a broken hand in July/August)
Russell Martin: 133 (no notable injuries)
Eric Chavez: 113 (no injuries BUT couldn’t play more than 3-4 days in a row due to bad back)
Eduardo Nunez: 38 (demoted to minors because he couldn’t field)
Jayson Nix: 74 (no injuries as backup infielder)
Chris Stewart: 55 (no injuries as backup catcher)

On the pitching side, Rivera missed all but a month of the season with the torn ACL, Andy Pettitte missed two months with a broken leg (from a relatively freak line drive-off-the-leg play) and even the indestructible C.C. Sabathia had two stints on the DL, the first time he’d missed a start due to injury since 2006. And Pineda, of course, didn’t pitch a single regular-season inning. An aging team with that level of injuries should significantly underperform expectations — instead, the Yankees finished with the best record in the American League, only two games worse than their 97-65 campaign in 2011. They held the Orioles at bay for five weeks despite never leading them by more than 1.5 games in the standings in the regular season OR the five-game ALDS. Remarkably, not once during that stretch did the Yankees fall into second place, a psychological victory that undoubtedly dampened Baltimore’s spirit over time. After all that tribulation, is it so reprehensible that the Yankees simply ran out of gas after their emotional leader came up lame like a wounded horse in Game 1 of the ALCS?

Jeter’s injury broke the Yankees, but they were never going to beat the Tigers. Detroit matches up incredibly well against the Yankees because they have a strong rotation that gets a lot of strikeouts and gives up few home runs, and because they have a plethora of strong right-handed hitters who can go the other way and threaten Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right field. Having Delmon Young, who’s inherited the “Yankee Killer” mantle from Manny Ramirez/Edgar Martinez/et al, doesn’t hurt.

Before the playoffs started, my father and I both picked the Tigers to win the World Series. At no point during the last two weeks did I doubt that prediction. The Yankees won their division, won a playoff series, and produced several unforgettable moments along the way (Game 3 of the ALDS, the win over Boston in Game #161, the four-run comeback against Oakland in the 13th inning in mid-September). I watched almost every game this season, from 10 starts by David Phelps to regular appearances from Steve Pearce and Casey Freakin’ McGehee, and I can tell you that a division title and ALCS appearance is undoubtedly a success. Even after the grisly last six days.

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by jfs360 on October 19, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 19, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/19/the-2012-yankees-a-successful-season/

ALCS: Diagnosing The Offensive Horror Show

Through the first eight innings of their seven 2012 postseason games to date, the Yankees have scored nine runs total. That comes out to 1.45 runs per game, a stupefying total for a team that averaged 4.96 runs/game in the regular season. Raul Ibanez’s playoff-long Babe Ruth impression and an onslaught of ninth-inning runs (10 in seven games, which you’ll note is more than in the first eight innings of each game combined) have masked a historically horrendous postseason for the Yankee offense.

And the Yankees are actually getting worse at the plate as the postseason goes on. I’ve been to a lot of playoff games over the last 17 years, including Game 2 of the ALCS Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. And I’ve only seen two other games where the Yankees hit that poorly in the playoffs, both shutout losses: Game 2 of the 1996 World Series (Greg Maddux: 8IP, 6H, 0R, 82 pitches) and Game 6 of the 2003 World Series (Josh Beckett: CG, 5H, 2BB, 0R). Anibal Sanchez is no scrub, but he’s no 2003 Josh Beckett and he sure as hell is no Greg Maddux.

The loss of Derek Jeter and a razor-thin bench (sorry Eric Chavez and Eduardo Nunez, but one of you is too decrepit and the other doesn’t have what it takes — you know which is which) is part of the problem. But Jeter wasn’t knocked out until the 12th inning of Game 1 of the ALCS, and the Yankees were nosediving at the plate long before The Captain’s ankle snapped.

(more…)

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by jfs360 on October 16, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 16, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/16/alcs-offensive-horror-show/

ALDS Game 4: Ugh

25 innings of live playoff baseball in two nights has broken me. I know that sounds like a humblebrag, but I assure you it’s not.

What’s there to say at this point that hasn’t been said on this blog 100 times? The Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, tied for third-worst in team playoff history. The fans booed A-Rod lustily, especially when he struck out with runners on second and third and one out in the eighth inning, with the score tied 1-1 (any ball in the outfield here most likely wins the series for the Yankees). The Orioles’ bullpen absolutely dominated the Yankee hitters — no Yankee reached second base after the eighth inning. A piece of a broken bat smashed into Joba Chamberlain’s elbow, forcing him out of the game and forcing David Phelps to come in cold, literally and figuratively. Not once did the Yankees get the big hit/productive out they needed in an important spot late in the game. Not once.

So it’s winner-take-all in Game 5, with C.C. Sabathia on the hill against Jason Hammel. A-Rod may hit third, he may hit fifth, he may ride the pine, he may be exiled to the moon — who the hell knows. We need a great game from C.C., and we need to score a couple runs, either on the longball or on a rash of unlikely clutch hits. That’s the formula. As Vince Lombardi might say: “Sounds great. Go do it.”

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by jfs360 on October 12, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 12, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/12/alds-game-4-ugh/

RAAAUUUUULLLLLLL!!!!!

Every time you go to the ballpark, you hope for something you’ve never seen before, something truly special that survives in your memory long after the principles of the game have hung up their spikes. You hope for someone special to share the moment with — hell, you hope for 10 special people at your side. You don’t expect it, and you may not even dream about it. But every time you go to a baseball game, that hope goes with you.

And so I watched, incredulous, deliriously happy, believing it only because I was seeing it, as Raul Ibanez did something no Yankee has ever done in a playoff game, despite the team’s exhaustive postseason history. Pinch-hitting for Alex Rodriguez (the first time A-Rod’s been pinch-hit for since high school, he said after the game), Ibanez crushed a 1-0 breaking ball from Orioles’ closer Jim Johnson deep into the Bronx night, five rows back in the right-field seats, to tie the game at 2-2 with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The hit was the rarest of things — a gutsy Hail Mary of a late-game managerial decision going absolutely perfectly. To put it bluntly, manager Joe Girardi had the balls to pinch-hit for A-Rod, a move that made absolute baseball sense but was sure to be second-guessed ad nauseum had Ibanez not come through. The men in my row, Section 320B Row C, including a man who defines what it means to be a Yankee diehard, unanimously agreed before the ninth inning that Ibanez should pinch-hit for A-Rod, but we were unsure if Girardi would actually do it. Not only did he do it, but it paid off as well as it possibly could. It’s a rare thing in life that the storyline of a moment plays out exactly as you hoped in your wildest dreams.

Or maybe it’s not so rare. Because the man I mentioned before, an attorney named Rich Greenberg who has seen maybe 1,500 Yankee games in person in his life, said as Ibanez prepared to bat in the 12th inning, “Could you imagine if he hit one out right now?” That was the sentiment another of our merry band, sitting it in front of me, had been expressing since the 10th inning, even pooh-poohing a bad inning in the 11th by saying that it was all a setup for a game-winning home run by Ibanez. “Fastball, dead red,” I responded to Rich. “First pitch home run.”

Not five seconds later, Ibanez annihilated a first-pitch fastball from Brian Matusz. Dead red. At soon as it left the bat we knew, and we rose and came together in an ecstatic mass of hugging humanity. I didn’t see the ball land in the second deck in right field. I didn’t have to.

Singing “New York, New York” with the rest of the delirious crowd a few minutes later, I snuck a look at my Dad, who had gone berserk as soon as Ibanez’s game-winning home run left his bat. He’s something of a stoic man, but I could tell how overcome he was by the historic dream of an ending we had just witnessed (as I alluded to earlier, no Yankee had ever hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and then a game-winning home run in the same playoff game). Not since Game 4 of the 2001 World Series had my Dad and I enjoyed a Yankee moment in person like that together. Who knows how many more of those truly great live experiences we will have at Yankee Stadium. I’m barely coherent at this point, so I’ll just say this: I’m glad I got to experience that with my father at a time in my life when I know just how special it is.

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by jfs360 on October 11, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 11, 2012

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Enough With The A-Rod Nonsense

Joe Girardi is reportedly considering dropping Alex Rodriguez in the lineup for Game 3 Wednesday night. Sportswriters and fans alike are urging Girardi to do so. The boo-birds will be out in full force at Yankee Stadium tonight if A-Rod should have the temerity to make an out.

Enough.

Because of his massive salary, outsize personality and general dislikability as a baseball player, A-Rod is always the focal point of any late-season or postseason struggle by the Yankee offense. Despite the fact that the New York lineup consistently includes nine players, A-Rod, win or lose, is considered a bellwether for the entire offense. An unlikable hero even when he’s mashing the ball, A-Rod is the $30 million-a-year bum every time he fails in the playoffs.

But stepping back from the vitriol and hyperbole for a minute, has A-Rod really been the weak link in the Yankees’ postseason failures since he arrived in 2004? To be honest, the stats don’t bear that out, at least not recently. Below are A-Rod’s numbers for each postseason series he’s played in a Yankee uniform:

2004 ALDS: .421/.476/.737 with four extra-base hits and 3 RBIs in four games
2004 ALCS: .278/.358/.516 with four extra-base hits and 5 RBIs in seven games
2005 ALDS: .133/.435/.200 with one extra-base hit and 0 RBIs in five games
2006 ALDS: .071/.133/.071 with no extra-base hits and 0 RBIs in four games
2007 ALDS: .267/.353/.467 with one extra-base hit and 1 RBI in four games

FREEZE IT HERE. It’s easy to see where A-Rod’s reputation as a postseason choker came from. Beginning with Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox, A-Rod posted an anemic .148/.312/.208 stat line with one double, 2 homers, and 3 RBIs in 17 playoff games through the ’07 ALDS. The Yankees lost all four of those series, posting a combined 4-13 record in those games. A-Rod was the unquestioned offensive leader of the team in those years, winning the MVP in ’05 and ’07. It’s completely fair to say that through the 2007 playoffs, A-Rod had been a nightmare in the playoffs for an increasingly pissed-off Yankee fan base.

OK, back to the rundown. Here’s A-Rod in the playoffs in ’09:

2009 ALDS: .455/.500/1.000 with two extra-base hits (both HRs) and 6 RBIs in three games
2009 ALCS: .429/.567/.952 with five extra-base hits (3 HRs) and 6 RBIs in six games
2009 World Series: .250/.423/.550 with four extra-base hits (1 HR) and 6 RBIs in six games.

Holy shit, people! That’s six HRs and 18 RBIs in 15 playoff games with five doubles to boot. And the stat line doesn’t begin to explain how big A-Rod was. The two-run, game-tying HR off Joe Nathan in the bottom of the ninth inning of ALDS Game 2 to start a comeback win that essentially clinched the series. The game-tying HR off Angels’ closer Brian Fuentes in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 2 of the ALCS that spurred another critical come-from-behind extra-inning win. The home run off the TV camera in Game 3 of the World Series that changed the momentum of the series in the Yankees’ favor and rattled Cole Hamels beyond repair. The game-winning double off Brad Lidge in Game 4 of the World Series, when for once everyone expected A-Rod to come through AND HE DID. Simply put, the Yankees don’t come close to the ’09 World Series title without A-Rod. He put the team on his back that October.

What about since then? Unsurprisingly, A-Rod’s production has decreased as his physical condition has deteriorated.

2010 ALDS: .273/.308/.273 with no extra-base hits and 1 RBI in three games
2010 ALCS: .190/.320/.286 with two extra-base hits (0 HRs) and 2 RBIs in six games
2011 ALDS: .111/.261/.111 with no extra-base hits and 3 RBIs in five games
2012 ALDS: .111/.200/.111 with no extra-base hits and no RBIs in two games so far

Again, easy to see on the surface why the boo-birds are back. Just like ’05-’07, the Yankees have lost several postseason series in which A-Rod hit poorly. But here’s the rub: Unlike the earlier playoffs, A-Rod is no longer the focal point of the offense. He may be paid like he is, but he’s just not. Hell, he’s probably not even the second most important hitter in the lineup at this point — Robbie Cano is the unquestioned offensive leader and Derek Jeter is more important as the leadoff guy/table-setter. People are getting on A-Rod the same way they did in the mid-2000s, but while he’s paid more now than he was then (and blame for that should fall solely on the shoulders of Hank Steinbrenner), he’s less important to the team and concomitantly should receive less of the credit/blame.

Should Cano be hitting ahead of A-Rod in Game 3? Yes, if only to avoid a repeat of Monday night, when Cano stood impotently in the on-deck circle while A-Rod made the last out of the game. But dropping A-Rod to fifth or sixth overvalues Nick Swisher (1-for-33 with RISP in his playoff career) or Mark Teixeira (a liability on the basepaths because of his calf injury and a double-play threat every time he comes up in a big spot). The Yankees may not have the hitters to win the World Series this year. But that’s the fault of the Yankees as a team — from Jeter to Cano to Teixeira to Swisher and on down — not just A-Rod. Hopefully the smart Yankee fans recognize that, even if the majority of Yankee diehards don’t.

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by jfs360 on October 10, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 10, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/10/enough-with-the-a-rod-nonsense/

ALDS Game 2: The RISP Nightmare

Playoff narratives are rarely cut and dried. October baseball is usually complex and unpredictable in a way that beggars prediction or pigeon-holing. But the 2012 Yankees managed to meet expectations to a T in their 3-2 loss to the Orioles in Game 2. The loss, which evens the series at 1-1 with the remaining three games at Yankee Stadium, was a carbon copy of so many frustrating Yankee defeats this year, save for a gritty performance by Andy Pettitte.

I’ve typed this so many times this season that I need a shortcut key, but I’ll type it again: The Yankees failed to get the job done with runners in scoring position.

In 17 of 18 innings so far this series, the Yankees have been a Dennis Green punchline: “They were who we thought they were!” Yankee fans dreaded a continuation of the team’s lackluster performance in clutch situations this season, and that’s exactly what happened. The Bombers were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and the Orioles were 3-for-6. In a related story, the Orioles won.

At this point, it’s not enough to wearily note that the Yanks are 3-for-13 with RISP for the series if you take out their five-run ninth inning in Sunday’s 7-2 Game 1 win. It’s not enough to mention in passing that the Yankees again had a runner on third with one out and failed to score, or that they went 0-for-4 with RISP and two outs in Game 2, or that Nick Swisher is 1-for-34 with RISP in the playoffs in his career. No, let’s break down each at-bat in Game 2 where the Yankees had at least one RISP.

FIRST INNING
A-Rod (runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs): A-Rod falls behind 1-2 but battles to stay alive, then lines a shot up the middle that is stabbed by a diving Robert Andino, who doubles Jeter off second for a double play.
Good At-Bat? Yes. Hard to quibble with a hard-hit ball — just a great defensive play by Andino.

Swisher (runner on 2nd, two outs): The aforementioned anti-clutch Swisher also falls behind 1-2 and grounds out weakly to shortstop to strand Cano at second.
Good At-Bat? No. Swisher was never in this at-bat, despite the fact that Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen had given up three hard-hit balls to the Yankees’ first four batters.

THIRD INNING
Cano (runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs): Cano falls behind 0-2 (fouling off a very hittable 0-1 fastball) and eventually taps weakly back to Chen for the third out.
Good At-Bat? No. Cano had a 93-mph fastball in the middle of the zone teed up for him on the 0-1 pitch and missed it. Some would argue that he juuuust missed it, which is true. But as my old basketball coach used to say: “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

FOURTH INNING
Granderson (runners on 1st and 2nd, one out): Granderson gets ahead in the count 2-0 for a change and serves a 2-1 pitch back up the middle for a single that loads the bases.
Good At-Bat? Yes. Great approach by Granderson here — took a strike on 2-0 because he knew that even in a 2-1 count, Chen would have to challenge him for fear of walking the bases loaded. Only Teixeira’s bum calf kept him from scoring on the play.

Nunez (bases loaded, one out): Falls behind 1-2 after getting jobbed on a 1-1 offering from Chen that was three inches inside, eventually pops out weakly to short, no runners advance.
Good At-Bat? NO NO NO. Ugh. I get that the at-bat was dramatically altered by the strike call on the 1-1 pitch, but if you’re Nunez you cannot, CAN NOT pop out. Your speed on the bases makes a double play unlikely, so the two worst things you can do is strike out and pop up in the infield. Mission (un)accomplished, I guess.

Jeter (bases loaded, two out): Grounds weakly to third on a 1-1 pitch, inning over.
Good At-Bat? No. Chen successfully pounded Jeter inside, inducing one foul grounder and one groundout. Instead of laying off the 1-1 pitch and forcing Chen to give him something over the plate or outside (which he could hit to right field), Jeter rolled his hands over and ensured that the Yanks would roll over in another clutch situation.

SEVENTH INNING
Jeter (runner on 2nd, none out): Again, Jeter fell behind Chen, this time 0-2. But he fouled off two pitches and slapped a single to left to score Nunez and cut the Orioles’ lead to 3-2.
Good At-Bat? Yes. Probably the best at-bat by a Yankee with RISP for the game, as Jeter battled with two strikes, got a clutch hit and opened the door for a potential game-changing inning. Except…

Swisher (runners on 1st and 2nd, two outs): The first pitch of the at-bat was wild, allowing A-Rod and Cano to move up to 2nd and 3rd. Now a base hit gives the Yankees the lead and a potential hammer-lock on the series. Instead, Swisher takes two strikes looking — looking! — and flies out to left to end the inning.
Good At-Bat? ABSOLUTELY NOT. You’re up in the biggest at-bat of the game and you fly out to left on your only swing of the at-bat? Nothing good about that.

For those scoring at home, that’s three good at-bats out of eight, none of which came with two outs. Meanwhile, the Orioles’ two-run third inning came after there were two outs and no one on base and featured four hits and a walk. That’s a good month with RISP and two outs for the Yankees. That’s why the Orioles won despite having 8 baserunners to the Yankees’ 11.

I could go on, but I would be remiss if I didn’t tip my hat to a truly impressive effort by Andy Pettitte. The Yanks’ veteran went seven innings and threw 98 pitches, by far his longest effort since he returned to action in late September. Yes, his hiccup in the third inning proved fatal. But Pettitte did everything he could to keep the Orioles at bay and give the Yankees a chance to come back, and he succeeded. The Yankee offense just failed to pick him up. If this is the last start for Pettitte, who is reportedly torn about coming back for one more year, then it was a performance worthy of the gutsiest postseason starting pitcher I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch. Good on ya, Andy. Hopefully you can show your stuff again in the ALCS.

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by jfs360 on October 9, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 9, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/09/alds-game-2/

Game #162: A Division Title, And Some Awards

I’ll say again what I tweeted around the fifth inning of last night’s division-clinching, home field-advantage-earning, overwhelmingly satisfying 14-2 romp over the Red Sox: If Tuesday night’s epic comeback win over Boston was the climax of the regular season, then Wednesday’s laugher was a pretty damn good denouement.

The game itself was uneventful, save for Robinson Cano’s continuing quest to destroy the psyche of every pitcher in baseball. In the last nine games, Cano’s slash line is an almost incomprehensible .615/.634/.951 with six doubles, three HRs, 14 RBIs and 11 runs scored. I hate to play the “extrapolating for a full season” game, but at that pace he’d have had 54 HRs, 252 RBIs and 198 runs scored — suffice to say he’s made Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera look pedestrian by comparison over the past week and a half. Cano has been solid in the playoffs for the last two seasons, and he is the only Yankee who could go all 2009 A-Rod on us and simply put the team on his back. Otherwise, not much to say about Game 162 — once Curtis Granderson’s moonball three-run homer landed in the right-field seats in the third inning, the game was pretty much over.

(more…)

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by jfs360 on October 4, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 4, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/04/game-162-a-division-title-and-some-awards/

Game #161: Fandemonium

Fandom is…

…staying at the ballpark when it is all but certain your team is going to lose.

…watching in horror as Mark Teixeira bats ahead of Robinson Cano in the lineup and proceeds to go 0-6, stranding nine runners. In his first two at-bats, Teix came up with runners at the corners and one out. Both times, he grounded into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. He ended an ending by stranding two runners in each of his first three at-bats, all with Cano standing idle in the on-deck circle. I know Joe Girardi loves to play matchups, and Red Sox starter Jon Lester was a lefty, but… Teixeira should hit ahead of Cano again when hell freezes over. And not a game sooner.

…appreciating the hellacious week and a half Cano has had. In his last eight games, Robbie is 20-for-35 (.625) with a home run and eight RBIs. He’s had at least two hits in each game. Sure, his hot stretch has come against terrible teams, but a hot Cano is a nearly unstoppable Cano. Now, can he keep it up in the postseason? I say yes. Though his career postseason slash line is just .258/.307/.491, he hit .316 in the 2010 and 2011 playoffs combined, with six homers and 15 RBIs in 14 games.

…suffering gamely through one terrible at-bat with runners in scoring position after another. At one point, the Yankees had 11 hits and one run last night. For the year, the team’s RISP line is .255/.351/.431, and that’s only after a strong last month in clutch situations. Watching it inning after inning after inning is an exercise in insanity management.

…believing your team can rally in the ninth inning even though it’s 0-59 when losing after eight innings for the season.

…repeating the mantra: “A bloop and a blast” over and over again until you believe it.

…standing in expectant shock as the impossible becomes real. Until Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run in the ninth was halfway to the right-field seats, I honestly didn’t believe it was gone.

…jumping up and down like a maniac, screaming yourself hoarse with the kind of pure, unbridled joy that is all too rare in life.

…trying valiantly to get your heart to stop racing, and failing.

…choking back bitter disappointment when a ninth-inning bid to win fails. Bases loaded, one out, all the momentum on your side, and you can’t get it done?!?! Ugh.

…settling in for the long haul of extra innings.

…believing that a third-string catcher with exactly zero at-bats on the season can find a way to get on base.

…having that faith rewarded. Thank you, Francisco Cervelli. Your season-long angst at being demoted to the minors must have been forgotten a little bit after that critical walk.

…screaming “RAUUUUUUUUULLLLLL!!!!!” like it’s your job.

…raising your arms to the heavens and bellowing (there’s no better word to describe it) as somehow, some way, your team scores the winning run to maintain a one-game division lead with one game left. Do wins get bigger? Sure. Do comebacks get more scintillating? Absolutely. But in this situation, with everything on the line, against your bitterest rival, when the Yankees’ win probability heading into the bottom of the ninth was nine percent? This was damn near perfect.

…croaking “New York, New York” because you have no voice left. And my God is that croak satisfying.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 3. One-game lead on the Orioles with one game to go. Now it’s 5-1 Yankees in the third inning. The finish line is in sight.

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by jfs360 on October 4, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by jfs360 on October 4, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/04/game-161-fandemonium/

Game #159: Love, Hate and the 2012 Yankees

Let’s get this out of the way early — Sunday’s 9-6 comeback win over the Blue Jays was the biggest victory of the season, bigger even than the extra-inning miracle against Oakland two Saturdays ago. This was a classic “get up off the mat” game, as the Yankees were down 5-2 after six innings while Baltimore was cruising to yet another win over the Red Sox. A loss would’ve dropped the Yanks out of first place for the first time since June 10 with just three games to play. Given the massive advantage that winning your division gets in the new playoff format (hosting a divisional series vs. having to win a play-in game for the right to play a divisional series without home-field advantage), every game now has a playoff-like intensity to it. So to come back and win with two straight dominant innings at the plate, in a MUST-WIN game (bigger than a normal “must-win” because of the division title implications) is a huge boon for a Yankee team that has struggled to come from behind.

That said…dear God this team is causing me to age prematurely. I been a Yankee fan since I was old enough to know what baseball was, and I have never followed a team that I loved/hated as much as the 2012 Yankees. And all of it — the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Galling, the Glorious — was on display Sunday.

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1 Comment
by jfs360 on October 1, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Analysis, Game Recaps
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Posted by jfs360 on October 1, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/10/01/game-159/

Game #155: Is C.C. Back?

A rare easy win for the Bombers last night — it was only the team’s second win by more than three runs since Aug. 13, a stretch of 40 games. The Yankees jumped all over hapless Twins pitcher Brian Duensing for six runs in the third inning, including an incredible THREE HITS IN A ROW WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION (the caps lock seems justified given the Yankees’ atrocious hitting with RISP this year). Handed an early 6-1 lead, C.C. Sabathia took care of the rest, shutting down the Twins over eight innings and allowing just two runs. The 8-2 win kept the Yanks 1.5 games ahead of the Orioles, who are idle Thursday.

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1 Comment
by jfs360 on September 27, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Game Recaps, Injury Updates
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Posted by jfs360 on September 27, 2012

http://deadmansalley.com/2012/09/27/game-155-is-c-c-back/

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