MLB 2009 Season

[Matthew]

OH. HECK. YEAH!!! Utley is the man!

[ghost of miles]

Well, that decision to start A.J. with three days' rest on the road isn't looking so hot right now. Too bad, too, because Lee looked strangely nervous and very hittable in the top of the 1st... with a 3-run lead (and Burnett yet to get a single out!), I can't help but think Lee will settle down now. If only A.J. could too and stop the bleeding... we might be able to stay in this game. (At least keep it close enough that we might get to the Philly bullpen if Lee's pitch count goes high enough. He threw 20 in the 1st.) Bad odds, though--the bottom of the NY lineup is particularly weak tonight

[TimMc]

I'm torn. If the Yankees are going to win, I'd rather they win tonight so I don't have to endure a Yankee Stadium love fest, though any Yankee loss is a joy to my soul. What, of course would be best, is the Phillies winning the next three games.

Good point....but I still hate the Yankees.

[Patrick]

Apologies for the expletives in advance.

Tim McCarver is a fucking moron. [...I hope you're not a fan TimMc.] The diarrhea that just came out of his mouth included a statement along the lines of AL hitters are not used to Cliff Lee. Then after realizing that Cliff Lee has pitched in the AL for a very long time, including half of th e current season, he says that Cliff Lee is a different pitcher in Philly. How? Recall that he won the Cy Young in the AL last year. Remember that Tim? It's flyover country, but come on! What an idiot. Joe Buck, to his credit, moved right along to some other topic.

[ghost of miles]

If the Phillies keep this up and win tonight, there'll be bigtime second guessing about starting Burnett on 3 days' rest on the road. I'd normally feel really good about having Andy Pettitte on the mound at home for Game 6, but he's 37 and he'll be going on 3 days' rest as well. We might as well have started Gaudin...he couldn't have gotten hit much harder than Burnett's been hit so far.

Martyjazz may scold me, but with Burnett collapsing and Philly staking a 5-1 lead, I just can't see NY getting back in this game...even with Lee just a bit off tonight. This is turning into a slaughter, and it'll breathe a lot of life back into the Phillies for Game 6 and a possible 7.

EDIT: hell, put Phil Hughes in there! It can't get any worse...

Edited November 3, 2009 by ghost of miles

[Patrick]

Ghost,

I'm appreciating your doses of unease/pessimism while rooting for the Yankees. A refreshing change from the Yankee fan stereotype that is out there (especially in the AL ballparks that I visit). Makes me almost sympathize with some fans of the pinstripes. Perhaps it's a bit of that Indiana sensibility shining through.

But this comment about not buying the Series is a bit ridiculous. Yes, ultimately it's more than just dollars. Every team needs a fair amount of luck (not too many injuries, not catching too many rival teams when they are especially hot, etc). But please. Dollars matter a whole lot. The Yankees, Red Sox, and a few others can afford to contend every single year. Yes, there are Cinderellas (and more often than not, I find myself rooting for them), but where are the Rays this year? Are they going to contend next year? Exactly.

Have there been any recent Yankee players who were good and who left via free agency because George didn't want to pay big $$$? I don't remember any examples. Wanna hear about the reality in second and third tier markets? I didn't think so.

The fact that Jeter, Rivera, Pettite, and Posada came up through the organization is a credit to the farm operation of that time. But how long ago was that? Could any/all of those guys walk now? Yes. So the fact that they are still Yankees is much more a testament to George's willingness/ability to pay big bucks. Little or no "home town discount" for those guys I suspect. $13.1MM for a good but not great Posada?

The more telling info would be whether the NYY rely on young (pre-free agency eligible) guys at key positions. Who would that be, Melky, Cano, maybe some parts of the bullpen? Some nice players, but not really that key.

If your team is not in a big market, you have to go for it with mostly young guys and only a few big $$ guys. Thus, the Cinderellas, if their organization is expertly managed and they time everything perfectly, get super lucky, etc. can have some taste of success (however small) every decade or so. That is not the Yankee situation. They just get the checkbook out.

End of rant. Glad CC is making big bucks and performing well. Cliff Lee appears to have settled down nicely.

I just want to say re: "best team money can buy"--the Core 4 are still powering NY to a large extent, and they are all farm-grown--Jeter, Pettitte, Rivera and Posada. A-Rod came to the Yankees in a trade. Of the Big 3 free agents that came to NY this past year, Tex has been MIA for just about all of the postseason, save a hit here or there, and CC has lost one game and given up 3 runs in a no-decision in the WS so far. I'm not denying the power or positives of NY's high payroll, but they're not just a collection of bought players. In the 35 years that I've been following NY (good Lord!), I think the only time NY might have "bought" a championship successfully was with Reggie Jackson in 1977...even then that team was so much more than Jackson. I wouldn't deny that Steinbrenner's tried to do it, but he failed miserably for years! And the legendary late-1990s team was built almost exclusively on farm players and shrewd trades (as has been said before, in large part because the Boss was out of commission for a couple of years and Jeter/Pettitte/River et al weren't traded away for aging stars past their prime).

[Dave James]

Last night McCarver said that Girardi had the option of bringing Joba Chamberlain back to pitch the bottom of the eighth even though Matsui had already pinch hit for him the top half of the inning. He's kind of like Jerry Coleman who I think may still broadcast for the Padres, except he's not loveable. Known as the "master of the malapropism", Coleman is famous for saying things like, "The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It's ball one. Low and outside."

Up over and out.

[Dave James]

Major, major, major mistake to pitch Burnett on three days rest. When you're up three games to one, you have the luxury of taking chances to position yourself for a game six and even a game seven, if necessary. That means you start Gaudin and cross your fingers knowing that you have Burnett and Pettitte ready to go, each with four full days of rest. This is the kind of chuckleheaded decision making that can wind up costing you big time. I think Girardi's problem is that he manages with his head and and not his heart.

Up over and out.

[Matthew]

Last night McCarver said that Girardi had the option of bringing Joba Chamberlain back to pitch the bottom of the eighth even though Matsui had already pinch hit for him the top half of the inning. He's kind of like Jerry Coleman who I think may still broadcast for the Padres, except he's not loveable. Known as the "master of the malapropism", Coleman is famous for saying things like, "The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It's ball one. Low and outside."

Up over and out.

Plus Coleman is a 100% American Hero in my book. Classy guy, war veteran, never bad mouthed anyone. I feel lucky to have grown up listening to him broadcast all those truly terrible Padre games. Tucker Asford, now that is really a name from the past, next you'll be mentioning Ivan Murrell.

[Dave James]

Last night McCarver said that Girardi had the option of bringing Joba Chamberlain back to pitch the bottom of the eighth even though Matsui had already pinch hit for him the top half of the inning. He's kind of like Jerry Coleman who I think may still broadcast for the Padres, except he's not loveable. Known as the "master of the malapropism", Coleman is famous for saying things like, "The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It's ball one. Low and outside."

Up over and out.

Plus Coleman is a 100% American Hero in my book. Classy guy, war veteran, never bad mouthed anyone. I feel lucky to have grown up listening to him broadcast all those truly terrible Padre games. Tucker Asford, now that is really a name from the past, next you'll be mentioning Ivan Murrell.

Here's an interesting piece on Ivan Murrell. Were you aware that he passed away in 2006?

Up over and out.

[TimMc]

Apologies for the expletives in advance.

Tim McCarver is a fucking moron. [...I hope you're not a fan TimMc.] The diarrhea that just came out of his mouth included a statement along the lines of AL hitters are not used to Cliff Lee. Then after realizing that Cliff Lee has pitched in the AL for a very long time, including half of th e current season, he says that Cliff Lee is a different pitcher in Philly. How? Recall that he won the Cy Young in the AL last year. Remember that Tim? It's flyover country, but come on! What an idiot. Joe Buck, to his credit, moved right along to some other topic.

A fan? Pssh. No way.

Why the yutzes at Fox insist upon allowing Tim McCarver to be the [ahem] "color" man behind Joe "I cannot believe he has this job" Buck is completely beyond my comprehension.

McCarver suffers from constipation of the brain and diarrhea of the mouth.

Nice post, Patrick.

[ghost of miles]

Patrick, the reasons for my long-running Yankee fandom are a bit off the wall--I actually posted them on the NY Times Bats blog a few days ago (they asked readers for accounts of how they came to be lifelong Phillie or Yankee fans). I was 8 years old in 1974, starting my first season of Little League, in search of a team to follow. I was obsessed with the Civil War and militantly pro-North... I'm sure I'd heard the name "Yankees" before, there was probably a team in our league with that moniker, but I saw it one day in the AL scores round-up of our local paper and thought, "There's my team!" Later that afternoon I went down to the corner drugstore to buy a pack of baseball cards (I'd just started collecting) and when I opened it, Horace Clarke was on top of the deck. I've been a fan ever since, and I've followed them through some pretty crappy years...not to compare such a lot at all to folks who've followed teams for decades without ever seeing them land in the WS. And I'm very sympathetic to the smaller markets...I wish baseball could devise a better way of giving them more opportunity. The Yankees do pay a hefty luxury tax for the payroll that they carry. Short of a more radical redistribution of the baseball wealth, I'm not sure what the answer is. I guess I get a bit irked that other teams have long since jumped into the free-agent market and tried to buy themselves championships as well (I remember Gene Autry trying to do it with the Angels in the late 1970s), and yet it's NY who continually gets vilified for it.

Part of the pleasure of following NY for the past 15 years has been the presence of Jeter, Rivera, Posada and Pettitte (w/Pettitte gone for several years, and Posada not coming aboard until the late 1990s). I think all of those guys are worthy of the great, classy Yankees of the past. I'd love to see them win one more WS before they start to call it a day. None of them were free-agent signings...neither was Bernie Williams, another player I just loved to watch. Brosius and O'Neill were incredibly scrappy and likeable players who came to NY via shrewd trades. The late-1990s team had an incredible chemistry that had little or nothing to do with high-paid guns for hire. There's such a sense of history and greatness with NY, which is one big reason why so many players DO want to play there, and that again doesn't have anything to do with money.

But I don't begrudge anybody their animosity towards NY, really. I mean, it's baseball, and there's a long-running narrative of "damn Yankees." All I can say is that NY, when their teams come together--particularly with Jeter leading them--gives me a little-kid-like sense of being in love with baseball all over again.

One last thing--I think this year is their best shot at winning it all. They are starting to age a great deal...and nobody will be able to replace the spirit of Jeter, Mo, Pettitte and Posada after they're gone, no matter how many $$$ the Yankees are willing to spend.

Edited November 3, 2009 by ghost of miles

[Chalupa]

Chase Utley just tied Reggie Jackson'e WS HR record.

[Chalupa]

Utley's record immediately followed up by Ryan Howard setting the all time WS strike out record.

EDIT: that should read something like, "As Utley ties Reggie Jackson's record for most home runs, Ryan Howard ties Willie Wilson for the record for most strikeouts in a World Series.

Edited November 3, 2009 by J.H. Deeley

[ghost of miles]

Chase Utley just tied Reggie Jackson'e WS HR record.

Yeah--one hell of a WS performance, and if the Phillies end up winning it all, he'd seem a cinch for MVP, even over Lee. Take away Utley's hits tonight and it would be a 3-2 ballgame. Maybe we should start walking him to get to Ryan Howard, eh?

EDIT: OK, this game is thoroughly OVER. No 6-run comebacks in the works here, I'm afraid. I just hope NY can get it together again by Wednesday night...not good at all to let a team like Philadelphia bounce back up off the ground so vigorously. Hats off to the Phillies for thoroughly kicking pinstriped butt tonight. At least Mo will be well-rested and ready to throw 2 innings Wednesday night if necessary. Hopefully this shuts down all of the premature celebration/expectation that I saw out there in media/bloggerland today; NY will have their hands full w/Pedro and a revived Phillie lineup come Wednesday (and 37-yr-old Pettitte on three days' rest). I'm just happy to be leaving Philadelphia and its sea of waving towels with a 2-1 split in NY's favor.

Edited November 3, 2009 by ghost of miles

[BERIGAN]

Man, will Utley be pitched to in NY Weds??? I sure hope so!

Mr. November.

[Chalupa]

Looks like Chollie is trying to be the first manager to blow a 6 run lead going in 8th inning during a WS game. Why did he bring Lee back out?

Wow I can't believe this.

Hate to agree w/ McCarver but yeah why didn't he replace Ibanez w/ Francisco? Victorino must be injured from all of those strike outs.

[ghost of miles]

Crap! If Phil Coke hadn't given up those 2 HRs, this would be a ballgame again. NY couldn't ask for more than getting 4 runs against Lee at Philadelphia and chasing him with no outs in the 8th... but they need to score 4 MORE runs just to tie. It would have to be the WS comeback of all-time. Sigh.

[Matthew]

Last night McCarver said that Girardi had the option of bringing Joba Chamberlain back to pitch the bottom of the eighth even though Matsui had already pinch hit for him the top half of the inning. He's kind of like Jerry Coleman who I think may still broadcast for the Padres, except he's not loveable. Known as the "master of the malapropism", Coleman is famous for saying things like, "The first pitch to Tucker Ashford is grounded into left field. No, wait a minute. It's ball one. Low and outside."

Up over and out.

Plus Coleman is a 100% American Hero in my book. Classy guy, war veteran, never bad mouthed anyone. I feel lucky to have grown up listening to him broadcast all those truly terrible Padre games. Tucker Asford, now that is really a name from the past, next you'll be mentioning Ivan Murrell.

Here's an interesting piece on Ivan Murrell. Were you aware that he passed away in 2006?

Up over and out.

Yeah, I found that out when I googled his name to make sure I spelled it right. All those players that I saw as a kid are passing, sad in many ways. The one guy I felt really sad when he died was Darrel Thomas, who was a very feisty player for the Padres and Dodgers, among others. That was one of the things I loved about 1970s baseball, there were a lot of very interesting African-American players who were just cool to me as a kid and teenager. That side of the game seems to be gone right now.

[Matthew]

Wait a minute, it seems as if Thomas is still alive, I was just looking him up. Sorry Darrel, MY BAD!

[ghost of miles]

Hasn't the #/% of African-American players decreased since the 1970s, Matthew?

Well, if nothing else comes of this game, at least Phil Hughes got in 1 1/3 innings without giving up a run.

[Matthew]

Phew, Thank goodness for little dp's!

[ghost of miles]

God--Tex has just been worthless this WS. Killing us with all of those outs batting third.

At least the Yankees put some drama into it there at the end.

[Matthew]

YES!!! Good win for the Phillies tonight. I would experience great and tremendous joy over a Yankee collapse in this World Series.

[Dave James]

YES!!! Good win for the Phillies tonight. I would experience great and tremendous joy over a Yankee collapse in this World Series.

I still like the Yankees chances. Pettitte, pitching at Yankee Stadium with the crowd behind him, certainly has a better shot at getting by on three days rest than did poor A.J. Burnett. Pedro has to get over his Yankee Stadium history and even if he does, the Phillies are stuck between a rock and a hard spot if this goes to seven games. Lee is out unless they need him for an inning, so that leaves them with slim pickings. If Pettitte doesn't have it, then Sabbathia goes and if he doesn't, Burnett didn't pitch enough tonight so as to be completely off the list. Like I said, I still like the Yankees chances. Knock on wood.

Up over and out.

Edited November 3, 2009 by Dave James