Sat It Ain't So, Joe

In my Enter Sandman? post, I stated that this year's ALCS would be remembered for the absent bats of the Yankees. I would like to take this moment to detract that statement.

As the thoughts of this ALCS and the Yankees humbling loss to the Rangers in game 6 continue to swirl in the mind of the Bomber faithful, what will be remembered, and discussed, and recounted to the point of nausea will be the "questionable" management of Joe Girardi.

For a second, critical game in this series, Girardi opted to overuse a struggling, starting pitcher and both times, it cost the Yankees the game. Phil Hughes, who to his credit pitched far better last night in game 6 than his efforts in game 2, gave up a game-ending, series-ending 2-run double to Vladimir Guerrero in the fifth inning after walking Josh Hamilton with a man on for the second time. The move worked in the second inning, as Guerrero popped out. But the second go-round, he made the Yankees pay.

If you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

No one can argue that Hamilton continuously burned the Yankees in this series. But what will baffle fanatics from now until the fresh excitement of Spring training, is why Hughes was left in to face Guerrero with CC Sabathia available in the bullpen.

Again, Hughes really pitched a decent game, but it was obvious that he was winding down. As a manager, isn't it your job to know when your pitcher has had enough? Aren't you suppose to make critical decisions based on the present situation? Wouldn't you want your absolute best pitcher on the mound at this point?

And why did it even have to get to the point of walking Hamilton? Sabathia was available in the bullpen. Girardi said himself that if they used CC it would probably be to face two batters. And yet when the opportunity came for him to do so, he opted to stick with Hughes.

"Hughesy has had success off Vlad Guerrero and got him out twice, and that's why he stayed there," Girardi explained.

No. No. No. No. No.

Sabathia was brought over to the Yankees for moments like this. He was the ONLY pitcher at that moment who was supposed to face Hamilton and shut down Guerrero. If he couldn't, at least you knew that your best was out there. But Girardi never gave himself or his team their best chance to stay in the game.

So went the game, so went the series.

"You have to give some credit to their pitchers," Girardi said. "They obviously made some good pitches when they had to."

You have to also give credit to Ron Washington, who out-managed Girardi and optimized his pitch staff because he had to.

Enter Sandman??

So we've reached the crossroads, fanatics. The Yankees have lost their third straight game in this ALCS; a 10-3 rout by the Rangers, and are now down 3-1.

For the second straight night in a row at Yankee Stadium, the New York faithful exited the park early; unwilling to further watch the Bombers sink deeper into the dark abyss, aka early winter.

If there is anything positive that can be taken away from last night's game 4 debacle, it's that AJ Burnett pitched a quality game. The AJ of old was in full force for the first couple of innings of a game, that many fanatics--myself included--believed would go their way. He retired the first six batters he faced, with a fierce fastball that averaged 95 on the radar gun. Things got a little shaky for Burnett in the third inning when he walked Rangers left fielder David Murphy after being ahead in the count, 0-2, and then followed that with a hit to catcher Bengie Molina's left elbow. Shortstop Elvis Andrus scored Murphy on a ground-out, and third baseman Michael Young scored Molina on a tapper that Alex Rodriguez couldn't handle. But AJ recovered well and allowed the game to remain close until he gave up a 3-run moon shot by Molina in the 6th inning, which put Texas up 5-3. The Bombers would never recover.

I for one was proud of Burnett. I thought he was aggressive, confident and unnerved by the obvious pressure of a big game that would probably make-or-break the Yankees in this series. He did his job, albeit the mistake to Molina cost them the game, but he did his job nonetheless.

With that said, however, there are some questions that have to be answered about the sequence that lead to Molina's 2-run homer, and they need to be answered by Joe Girardi.

Why was Burnett kept in the game after allowing a lead-off single to Vladimir Guerrero in the sixth inning? At that point the Yankees were leading 3-2; Burnett had already given the Yankees what they needed from him, so why not pull him and perhaps bring in Dustin Moseley, who pitched a two-inning masterpiece in game 1 and hasn't seen action since?


Rangers top Yankees in Game 4
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Why in the world would you have Burnett walk Murphy to pitch to Molina, essentially putting the go-ahead run on base that late in the game? Typical Girardi wanting to play the "numbers" game; realizing that Murphy hit well against Burnett. Instead of a walk, wouldn't this have been the right time to call in a reliever? YOU DO NOT WALK THE GO-AHEAD RUN IN A POTENTIAL DO-OR-DIE GAME IN LATE INNINGS. Can anyone say baseball management 101?

And, why was David Robertson, who had excellent command of his fastball, pulled in the seventh after quickly taking care of the only two batters he faced, Andrus and Young? Was it absolutely necessary to bring in Boone Logan for a lefty-to-lefty match up with Josh Hamilton, who has become what A-Rod was to the the Yankees last year?



This kid's face says it all.

 Let's talk about A-Rod and Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher who are 2-for-15, 0-for-14 and 1-for-15, respectively. People talk about how good pitching and defense wins games. Well, what good is good pitching without good hitting to back it up?  When it's all said and done, this ALCS will probably be most remembered for the silent bats of one of the best offenses in baseball.

Can the Yankees stage a comeback? Of course they can. Has it been done before? Absolutely. Will fanatics be sitting on the edge of their seats for this afternoon's do-or-die game 5? No question.

Game Notes:
AJ Burnett: 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs, 1 HR (Molina), 4 strikeouts
Tommy Hunter: 3.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 HR (Cano), 5 strikeouts
Cano: 2-for-3, 1 HR, 1 BB
Jeter: 2-for-5, 1 run
Rangers scored 8 runs innings 6 through 9

Take A Breath Fanatics, The Bombers Are Still In This

Okay, if you're a Yankees fan, you're probably ready to push the panic button after last night's baffling 6-run 9th inning, 8-0 loss to the Texas Rangers in game 3 of the ALCS. You might be thinking that maybe the baseball Gods have decreed that the Yankees domination of the Rangers in the postseason has finally come to an end; that maybe it's the Bombers' turn this time to walk away acknowledging--for the first time in a long while--that they were not the better team.

Let's face it, in this ALCS the Yankees have been completely over matched by the Rangers starting rotation; in all 3 games they've had to play from behind, and in their only win in game 1, the Yankees were only able to get to the Rangers' bullpen. Their offense seems to be asleep, having hit for a .194 AVG. with only 2 homers and 8 runs in the first 27 innings of this series. In last night's game, the Yankees could only muster 2 hits and work 1 walk off of "The Assassin", aka Cliff Lee.




"Bottom line, we just need to swing the bats better," said Alex Rodriguez after the game. "We had...chances to come up with some big hits and good at-bats. Bottom line, two hits and one walk is just not good enough for our offense."

Clearly. But it's not time to push the panic button just yet.

"Yeah, we're down 2 games to 1," Girardi said during the postgame interview. "But we're a very good club. We've been resilient all year. You don't win 95 games in our division without being resilient."

Exactly.

I will be the first to admit that I sat through last night's game feeling every emotion a fan feels when their team is being completely shut down by its opposition: anger, anxiety, sadness, fear, shock, etc., etc. But after awhile, I began to breathe again, and try to remind myself of the "Yogi-ism" the Rangers were forced to learn after game 1: It ain't over 'til it's over.

We've seen the Yankees lose back-to-back games before, only to come out in full force thereafter. Albeit three of the Yankees' all-stars--Jeter, Teixeira and Rodriguez--have not swung the bats well at all in this series, having combined for 3 runs on 5 hits with 12 strikeouts thus far, there's still something to be said for the Yankees only being down 2-1. Add to this sentiment the fact that with the exception of Andy Pettitte, who really pitched an excellent, gritty game 3, the Yankees' starting pitching has been lackluster to say the least. One can argue that this should be a 3-0 series and the Yankees should be preparing for an early exit. But fans know that you can never count the Yankees out in situations like this; that these Yankees are like a cornered gutter rat in New York City: they attack.

Of course, trying to show great face and stay optimistic will be a challenge for fanatics in tonight's game 4, with the unpredictable AJ Burnett getting the start against the Rangers' Tommy Hunter. AJ's "problems" this season have been well-documented, so we don't need to list them here. But, AJ does sport a 2.50 ERA in 3 starts against the Rangers in 2010, so we know that he can certainly come up big tonight.

"If you put [Burnett] out there, his stuff could get nasty," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "One guy who you don't think is going to do anything might be the guy who steps up and has everything fall into place. I'm concerned about him."

Hunter on the other hand has an 0-1 record with a 4.50 ERA this postseason. Another postseason rookie, he boasts a 4.45 ERA for his career, with batters hitting .265 against him. Hunter is a far better pitcher at home with a 3.06 ERA as opposed to .448 on the road. You figure that even if AJ sputters tonight, Yankees batters could fare well against Hunter and get this series tied at 2-2.

"I don't think we're in trouble," Girardi said. 'As I said we're a good club. We're down two to one; we're not down three to nothing losing in the bottom of the 9th."

It is clearly not over for the Bombers. Again, we've seen them in this situation before. Remember the 1996 World Series against the Atlanta Braves?

Game Notes:

• Andy Pettitte pitched 7 innings on 110 pitches, allowing 2 runs off 5 hits with 5 strikeouts; walked 0.
• Yankees had 2 hits and 0 runs with 15 strikeouts in 29 ABs; 0-3 RISP
• Cliff Lee pitched 12 innings on 122 pitches, allowing 0 runs off 2 hits with 13 strikeouts; walked 1

Follow Rasheeda Cooper on twitter: @ra_cooper

Incredible!

What happened yesterday in the late innings of game 1 in the ALCS between the Yankess and Texas Rangers can only be described as incredible.

After being down 5-0 into the seventh inning off of a great pitching performance by Texas starter CJ Wilson, the Yankees rallied in the eighth inning and scored 6 runs off of the Rangers bullpen to win the game. Robinson Cano ignited the comeback with a solo homer in the seventh inning. Then, Brett Gardner's hustling slide into first base in the eighth continued the rally, and well, needless to say the Yankees lineup behind Gardner took things from there with big hits from Jeter, Rodriguez, Cano and Thames and two key walks by Swisher and Teixeira.


Yankees take Game 1
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We've seen the Yankees steal games from other teams before. We fanatics know that the Bombers are well equipped to stage comebacks like this when they're good and ready. But what makes this comeback so incredible and exciting, is that it was done in a playoff game against this Texas team who had so much momentum coming in the game, and on a night when Yankees ace CC Sabathia pitched like a postseason rookie, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks.

"He was definitely off today," Joe Girardi said.

"Off" is a mild interpretation of how bad CC actually seemed on the mound last night. But seeing the big 6 foot 7, 290 lb. southpaw dive into home plate to tag out a charging Nelson Cruz, on a flip-throw from Jorge Posada to end the first inning, more than made up for it. Sabathia got major backup from his relievers, particularly Dustin Moseley, who pitched 2 perfect innings and eventually picked up the win.

Of course, this was just game 1. There is still plenty of baseball to be played in this series. Bomber fanatics love to make predictions about the outcome of games and series, because our team makes it easy for us to do so. However, I'm not going to go as far as predicting a winner of this series yet, but I will say this: on a night when Sabathia nearly handed the game to Texas, you have to feel like allowing the Yankees to come back and steal it could mean that the ALCS will be the Rangers' last stop this postseason.

Incredible!

Game notes:

• CC Sabathia pitched 4 innings, allowed 5 runs on 6 hits, walked 4 and struck out 3
• Yankees combined for 6 runs on 10 hits  and 4 walks; Rodriguez scored game-winning run on an RBI single by Marcus Thames in the eighth inning
• Dustin Moseley struck out 4 in two perfect innings; threw 21 of 27 pitches for strikes
• Mariano Rivera picked up his third save this postseason; he's 3-3

It's On To Texas. And???

The Texas Rangers advanced to the ALCS for the first time in their history last night by defeating the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays, behind what could only be described as an all-out assault by pitcher Cliff Lee.

Lee pitched a complete game, striking out eleven without allowing a walk. He befuddled Rays batters with an array of fastballs, cutters and an unbelievable curveball. When it was all said done, Lee had pitched a complete game on 120 pitches; lifting his postseason record to 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA. Impressive.

Too bad for Texas, he won't be their savior in game 1 against the Yankees and CC Sabathia.

The fact that Texas allowed the series against Tampa to get to game 5 was assurance that Cliff Lee would not be available for game 1 in the ALCS. A plus for the Yankees, who could be dealing with another not-so "CC-like" start from Sabathia--if history repeats itself--due to the extra days of rest. The Yankees will face CJ Wilson who in their last meeting, gave up 6 hits, allowed 4 runs and walked 3 batters in only 3 innings pitched. In his last 3 starts for the regular season, he posted a 1-1 record with a 7.20 ERA. And he's only pitched 1 postseason game in his career.

The odds are certainly in favor of the Yankees.

You have to believe that if the Rangers allow the Bombers to take one game of the first two in Texas, they're playoff run might well be over. Without throwing Lee into the mix for the first 2 games, the Yankees are certainly the better team, offensively and defensively. And as far as pitching goes, you'll have Wilson vs. Sabathia and either veteran Andy "Dandy" Pettitte or Phil Hughes facing Colby Lewis, another postseason rookie. AJ Burnett will pitch game 4.

And the Yankees win streak against the Rangers in the postseason is 10.

Sure, Texas goes into the series with more momentum with only two days between games, but the Yankees enter this series well rested both mentally and physically, and with a lineup that has played on the big stage before. The fact that this will be the first time the majority of the Rangers players have ever been in an ALCS could be a huge factor in who takes this series.

And the Yankees not having to face Lee in the first 2 games ain't too bad a deal, either.