HANGING,
it has been said, concentrates the mind. So does embarassment.
Tonight the Yankees were dealing with both. The embarassment of the immediate past, a 16-0 shellacking from the Tigers, and the execution in their immediate future, the likely loss of the last available playoff spot. If the embarassment is forever, the execution grew a little less likely, thanks to one of their better played games of the season, an error free, bullpen supported,
Pet(t)ite gem, against the so-called best team in baseball, in, most importantly, a very close game.
And it was one of those weird nights when all the relevant news was good. The Tigers lost to the Royals, putting them 2 games back of the Yanks, the Mariners lost to the Angels, cuttting thier wild card lead to just one game (the Mariners have the misfortune of yapping at the Angels heels in the AL West, as a result of which the Angels are really focused on crushing them, and that reduces their chances in the one race, the wild card, where they might be viable). The Phillies beat the Mets, for the second straight game, on a Rhino walk-off; Chase Utley is back; and Cole Hamels will return for his next start (well, it matters to me!). And Manny Ramirez pulled his back out, ensuring that he will not play tomorrow night and probably for the rest of the series. Bobby Kielty hurt himself as well, so the Boston outfield for the next game and maybe 2 is Crisp, Drew, and someone I've never heard of (who is undoubtedly better than Drew).
Of the three games, I always liked the Yankees' chances best in the finale. They figure to rake the Bloated Windbag, whose just a few peglegged strides behind Mussina in the race down hill, and Wang typically pitches well with good run support (and of course everyone pitches better when Manny sits). The game I liked next best (and I figured the Yanks to win two out of three, which of course wouldn't help all that much) was tonight. Pettite has been so good and Dice K is, as I have been saying for so long, so overrated. I know he hasn't gotten a lot of runs in some of his losses, but he was 2-0 against the Yankees despite having a Mussina like ERA of almost 7.00 aganst them. I think he's a little better than his 13-11, but no better than 14-10: he walks too many, gives up too many homers and his prone to abrupt blow-ups, particularly against good offenses. Pettite meanwhile is better than his 12-7--remember all those no-decsions he had early on. I would say he should be more like 16-8. Tommorow night's game I figured for a loss, especially considering how good Beckett has been on the road this season (ERA, 2.00). But now things are interesting. Rocket knows that he hasn't earned his money, or anything like it, but this is the kind of game in which he can simulate having done so. Maybe he'll take the combined inspiration of his friend's success and the never-ending quest to prove Dan Duquette not just wrong, but the stupidest man in GM history. Despite Manny's decline as a home run hitter this season, his absence makes Boston so much weaker, because it greatly reduces the cost/risk of pitching around Ortiz. If they follow him with Drew, you have the opportunity of etching the $70,000,000 fiasco he has become into the long Red Sox lore of futility. If they back him with a single/doubles hitter like Lowell, Ortiz himself becomes more likely to clog the bases than to score, particularly since there are no good hitters in the Sox lineup after Lowell (Drew, Crisp, Varitek, Lugo, the nameless outfielder) these are all people you shoud be able to get out in a pinch. And with the recent struggles of Youkilis, this line-up just doesn't scare good pitching if Manny ain't in it. Whether Clemens can represent "good pitching" of course remains to be seen. But they do have a puncher's chance at home with this match-up and these line-ups and if they manage to win, I think the pressure in the finale switches to the Red Sox, a Ramirez-less Red Sox for sure. Becasue if the Yankees did manage to sweep, the lead would be down to five games, and while I continue to believe the Yankees are not good enough to surmount that handicap--certainly not with Boston's schedule-- everyone will once again start speculating that they might, and Boston will be given another chance to go in the tank, you know like last year, the year before that, the year before that etc, etc going back to 1978, if not 1941. At the very least it will put the last 3 game set in Fenway back in play--a five game lead is only a two game cushion towards making that series irrelevant. There are a good number of games in between, and if the Yankees manged to pick up 3 during that span, then even a 2-1 series win would ensure that both teams would be playing for the division down to hte last week, or game. All of which would, I think, make it more likely that the Yankees would get the wild card, the only prize worth expecting at this point.
Oh but the news is still better. Mussina apparently doesn't rate up there with Tanyon Sturtz in Torre's affections. He's out on Saturday in favor of Kennedy. What makes this great, beyond the simple fact of being spared a Moose-outing, is that the opponent is the Devil Rays. The chances of Kennedy being successful are accordingly maximized, and if he is I don't see how they can deprive him of another start.
Well, well, you know it's a charmed night anytime Joda actually does the right thing, but when the right thing involves replacing a trusted if cooked veteran with a young player, well that's like one of those comets that cycles around on a millenial basis. Or is it, could it be, that Torre has now decided to handle his personnel in the manner we, the inexpert fans, have been demanding for the past year or more? See, I don't call him Slow Joe for nothing. What's next a suicide squeeze in a truly decisive situation? We should all live so long.
Tonight the Yankees were dealing with both. The embarassment of the immediate past, a 16-0 shellacking from the Tigers, and the execution in their immediate future, the likely loss of the last available playoff spot. If the embarassment is forever, the execution grew a little less likely, thanks to one of their better played games of the season, an error free, bullpen supported,
Pet(t)ite gem, against the so-called best team in baseball, in, most importantly, a very close game.
And it was one of those weird nights when all the relevant news was good. The Tigers lost to the Royals, putting them 2 games back of the Yanks, the Mariners lost to the Angels, cuttting thier wild card lead to just one game (the Mariners have the misfortune of yapping at the Angels heels in the AL West, as a result of which the Angels are really focused on crushing them, and that reduces their chances in the one race, the wild card, where they might be viable). The Phillies beat the Mets, for the second straight game, on a Rhino walk-off; Chase Utley is back; and Cole Hamels will return for his next start (well, it matters to me!). And Manny Ramirez pulled his back out, ensuring that he will not play tomorrow night and probably for the rest of the series. Bobby Kielty hurt himself as well, so the Boston outfield for the next game and maybe 2 is Crisp, Drew, and someone I've never heard of (who is undoubtedly better than Drew).
Of the three games, I always liked the Yankees' chances best in the finale. They figure to rake the Bloated Windbag, whose just a few peglegged strides behind Mussina in the race down hill, and Wang typically pitches well with good run support (and of course everyone pitches better when Manny sits). The game I liked next best (and I figured the Yanks to win two out of three, which of course wouldn't help all that much) was tonight. Pettite has been so good and Dice K is, as I have been saying for so long, so overrated. I know he hasn't gotten a lot of runs in some of his losses, but he was 2-0 against the Yankees despite having a Mussina like ERA of almost 7.00 aganst them. I think he's a little better than his 13-11, but no better than 14-10: he walks too many, gives up too many homers and his prone to abrupt blow-ups, particularly against good offenses. Pettite meanwhile is better than his 12-7--remember all those no-decsions he had early on. I would say he should be more like 16-8. Tommorow night's game I figured for a loss, especially considering how good Beckett has been on the road this season (ERA, 2.00). But now things are interesting. Rocket knows that he hasn't earned his money, or anything like it, but this is the kind of game in which he can simulate having done so. Maybe he'll take the combined inspiration of his friend's success and the never-ending quest to prove Dan Duquette not just wrong, but the stupidest man in GM history. Despite Manny's decline as a home run hitter this season, his absence makes Boston so much weaker, because it greatly reduces the cost/risk of pitching around Ortiz. If they follow him with Drew, you have the opportunity of etching the $70,000,000 fiasco he has become into the long Red Sox lore of futility. If they back him with a single/doubles hitter like Lowell, Ortiz himself becomes more likely to clog the bases than to score, particularly since there are no good hitters in the Sox lineup after Lowell (Drew, Crisp, Varitek, Lugo, the nameless outfielder) these are all people you shoud be able to get out in a pinch. And with the recent struggles of Youkilis, this line-up just doesn't scare good pitching if Manny ain't in it. Whether Clemens can represent "good pitching" of course remains to be seen. But they do have a puncher's chance at home with this match-up and these line-ups and if they manage to win, I think the pressure in the finale switches to the Red Sox, a Ramirez-less Red Sox for sure. Becasue if the Yankees did manage to sweep, the lead would be down to five games, and while I continue to believe the Yankees are not good enough to surmount that handicap--certainly not with Boston's schedule-- everyone will once again start speculating that they might, and Boston will be given another chance to go in the tank, you know like last year, the year before that, the year before that etc, etc going back to 1978, if not 1941. At the very least it will put the last 3 game set in Fenway back in play--a five game lead is only a two game cushion towards making that series irrelevant. There are a good number of games in between, and if the Yankees manged to pick up 3 during that span, then even a 2-1 series win would ensure that both teams would be playing for the division down to hte last week, or game. All of which would, I think, make it more likely that the Yankees would get the wild card, the only prize worth expecting at this point.
Oh but the news is still better. Mussina apparently doesn't rate up there with Tanyon Sturtz in Torre's affections. He's out on Saturday in favor of Kennedy. What makes this great, beyond the simple fact of being spared a Moose-outing, is that the opponent is the Devil Rays. The chances of Kennedy being successful are accordingly maximized, and if he is I don't see how they can deprive him of another start.
Well, well, you know it's a charmed night anytime Joda actually does the right thing, but when the right thing involves replacing a trusted if cooked veteran with a young player, well that's like one of those comets that cycles around on a millenial basis. Or is it, could it be, that Torre has now decided to handle his personnel in the manner we, the inexpert fans, have been demanding for the past year or more? See, I don't call him Slow Joe for nothing. What's next a suicide squeeze in a truly decisive situation? We should all live so long.
posted by joe valente | 12:42 AM
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