Wrap It Up!

Well, while the Yankees aren’t totally out of the playoff hunt yet (there’s about a 2% chance that they’ll still make it if they go on an unbelievable tear), after seeing today’s game and after watching the Yankees limp through the most crucial series of the year, I would have to say that it’s a wrap for the 2008 season. Sadly, this series reminds me of the following video, which is quite hilarious. At the end of the day, you can’t pin the loss on A-Rod, as this was certainly a team effort. If you had to blame anyone, you know, in the heat of the moment, maybe at this junction it’s Brian Cashman’s turn. After all, it was he who constructed this pitching corps (the starters, in particular, have been brutal).

Game 132: Yanks VS. Red Sox

Here’s the lineup, via PA:

YANKEES (70-61)
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
I. Rodriguez C
Ponson RHP

RED SOX (76-55)
Ellsbury RF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 1B
Bay LF
Lowrie 3B
Varitek C
Cora SS
Crisp CF
Byrd RHP

PAUL BYRD — In his last start against the Yankees, Byrd went 6.1 innings, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits (3 of them were homers). He’s got a 4.90 ERA against the Yankees (career) in 60.2 IP, with 72 hits, 15 BB, 29 K, and 15 HR given up. The Yankees are basically .290 hitters against Byrd (career), and they should be able to break out, offensively, with him on the mound. He’s a total junkball pitcher, meaning he’s not going to K a lot of guys, but he won’t walk them either, leaving the pressure on the Yankees to put the ball in play. Jeter, Matsui, Giambi and Cano all have nice numbers against Byrd, so I’m sure they’re eager to step into the batter’s box today and lead the attack.

A-ROD’S DILEMMA – A-Rod doesn’t have strong numbers against Byrd, hitting only .222 in 18 AB’s, but he does have a home run off him. Those numbers can easily change with a big game today and I feel as though he’ll be up to the task after last night’s memorable (for all the wrong reasons) performance. With Giambi not hitting well and offering little protection, a lot of pitchers have been jamming A-Rod inside and soft tossing him away. He seems too eager because of his month-long slump (.238 BA this month), and it looks like he’s been diving out over the plate and getting jammed inside due to a lack of patience. A-Rod is easily the best player in the game and if the guy behind him isn’t hitting much, why throw him anything over the plate? Too bad A-Rod is swinging those bad pitches, but I’m sure he’ll change his approach a bit tonight. Paul Byrd won’t walk him (he’s done that only once) so it’ll be up to Alex to pick his pitch. Byrd may even feel comfortable attacking A-Rod a bit since he hasn’t hit him well (some hittable pitches), while Giambi actually has (4 HR vs. Byrd).

PREDICTION – While Byrd isn’t the toughest pitcher around, the Yankees are sending Sidney Ponson out there and the Sox have always hit him well (career 6.92 ERA against the franchise). The Yankees are going to have to strike early and often in order to keep Ponson afloat. If he can give up 4 ER over 5 or 6 innings, the team would gladly take that against Byrd. For whatever reason, I have a feeling that Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui will all have a big game. Maybe I feel that way because the team needs it, more then ever.

Say It Ain’t So

From the NY Post:

The Red Sox fan who paid $175,100 for the tattered David Ortiz jersey buried in the foundation of the new Yankee Stadium had the best seats in the house at last night’s game: The Boss’ box.

Massachusetts car dealer Kevin Meehan rooted for the hated Sox from the Steinbrenner box after snapping up the luxe seats in a charity auction. Boston won 7-3.

He bought the seats months before the jersey was found buried in two feet of freshly laid concrete.

“I suppose I could have worn the shirt, but it would have caused a bloodbath,” Meehan said. But he called his first ever trip to the Stadium “a great experience,” adding, “Everyone was really friendly.”

The Ortiz jersey was jackhammered out of the concrete in April after Sox-loving Bronx hardhat Gino Castignoli buried it behind home plate in an effort to curse the Yanks. Proceeds from its sale went to a cancer-research charity.

Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable influx of Red Sox fans at Yankee Stadium. But, who knew that the proud owner of a now infamous David Ortiz jersey that cost the Yankees a lot of grief, pride and money, would end up enjoying a Sox-Yanks game in one of the best seating areas that the current stadium has to offer. Meanwhile, Yankee fans are having trouble getting past the Tier Reserve section. Couldn’t someone at least heckle the guy (oh yea, he was sitting in some box seats).

Figures.

Wakefield Gets His Piece Of The Stadium

From Jack Curry (NY Times):

Tim Wakefield has occupied the first locker on the right-hand side in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium for 14 years. So Lou Cucuzza, the clubhouse manager, is doing something special for him. When Wakefield and the Red Sox leave the Stadium for the last time on Thursday, he plans to give Wakefield the black and silver number 49 that has long been above his locker.

“He’s been in that locker longer than anyone,” Cucuzza said.

After Wakefield floated knuckleballs for five innings Tuesday to help the Red Sox defeat the Yankees, 7-3, he was in a nostalgic mood about the Stadium. Wakefield asked Cucuzza to get him some dirt from the mound and also saved two game balls.

“It’s a cathedral of sports,” Wakefield said. “It’s pretty special.”

Despite the Boone homer from a few years back, Wakefield still enjoys pitching at Yankee Stadium. Although he got to keep some dirt from the mound, 2 balls, and the 49 from his locker, Wakefield also took home the win last night, which, I’m sure if you asked him, was the most important thing. Hopefully the Yankee ghosts that have made the stadium feel so special to both players and fans alike will somehow come alive as the team attempt to win this series. After this and then the Toronto series, the Yanks have an important road stretch (10 games), facing the Tigers, Tampa Bay, Seattle (yay), and the Angels.

So, they’ll need a lot of home cooked wins.

Excuses, Excuses

Here’s Jason Giambi talking about his mental lapse from last night:

“[The throw] skipped off the grass and I couldn’t get a handle on it to throw it,” Giambi said. “I couldn’t tell whether the umpire called [Bailey] safe or out, but I was looking to throw home. When I reached into my glove I had to stay back to pick it out of the dirt and wasn’t able to . . . make a throw home.”

Didn’t Giambi have the ball in his hand as Coco Crisp was heading home? I could have sworn he did (it’s too sad a play for me to watch it once more). I think Giambi is trying to downplay his mistake here. While A-Rod was seen as the biggest loser in last night’s game, let’s not forget that the guy that’s supposed to offer him protection didn’t have one hit. Talk about pressure. I would probably press too if I had a gaping hole behind me in the lineup. Also, the Yankees were out of it early due to a terrible pitching performance by Andy Pettitte, who, for some reason, has been solid on the road yet awful at home.

The Twilight Zone

From Joel Sherman (NY Post):

We will remember Rodriguez dallied with Boston, didn’t go there, came to the Yankees instead in 2004, and in his time here the nature of the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry has reversed to Red Sox champs, Yankees chumps. Rodriguez is the face of that historic flip-flop. He has bought into that role twice now, first when he forced his trade here, then last offseason when he accepted the largest financial package ever to return through the backdoor. He is all outsized. His greed. His lust for attention. His insecurities.

The big man on the big stage, and so when he comes up small as often as he has this year, he becomes most culpable.

Sherman really hits the nail on the head with his description here. There’s this feeling you get when you see Alex Rodriguez up at the plate and it’s amplified whenever the Yankees face the Red Sox. He’s a symbol, as Sherman said, of the role reversal that has occurred over the last few years (since 2004), a reversal that has Kevin Youkilis, a homegrown Boston product, garnering heavy MVP considerations while Yankee fans wonder why our expensive third baseman can’t hit with RISP. The Red Sox have gone from perennial losers to perennial winners and A-Rod is a symbol of that transition. Of course, what’s ironic is that he is also the face of our franchise, and until he wins a WS ring with the Yankees, he’ll always be the “face of that historic flip-flop” as well.

AHA!

A few weeks ago I wondered whether or not a sore hand was bothering Robinson Cano and hurting his production. There was a brief mention of it in the Daily News, but that was the first and the last time I had heard anything about it. Well, it appears as though Cano has been battling the hand issue since the end of July and only now has it gotten much better (he had jammed it while facing Jon Lester). Hopefully, with his hand fully healed, Robbie can now go on a tear and carry the team a bit. Obviously, we can use all the help we can get.

Hollow Man

While A-Rod is currently sporting a .308/.398/.583 line, when you look at his numbers with RISP, a slightly different story presents itself. With no one on, Alex is hitting .347 with a 1.115 OPS, but with RISP he’s only hitting .246 with an .813 OPS (that dropped from .250 thanks to last night’s 0-for-5). Also, with the bases loaded (a situation that was there for A-Rod last night), he’s hitting .100 with a .282 OPS. In light of A-Rod non-clutchness this year, his season stats seem very empty as there’s not much substance to them. I mean, A-Rod isn’t clutch is something we’ve been hearing for a while now. However, what seems different about 2008 is that A-Rod has seemingly struggled in EVERY situation with RISP. It’s not even just the big games or the playoffs. Instead, it has really been every game (for the most part).

Now, I don’t know what to make of it. In fact, his situational numbers with RISP are the worst that they have been since 2004. That year, with RISP, Alex had a .248/.346/.439 line, which is, believe it or not, even worse than this year’s line. The funny thing is, in 2004, A-Rod hit best with runners on base (.297/.378/.521), as long as they weren’t in scoring position, and he didn’t hit as well with the bases empty (.277/.373/.503). This year, A-Rod is mashing when there’s no one on and hitting “alright” with men on (.273/.386/.469), but only when they’re on first base. If they’re at second or third, judging from the numbers so far, A-Rod simply won’t be able to drive them in (most of the time). It has been a horrible year in that regard, and there’s really no definitive reason as to why this is happening. Since 2004, it’s important to note that Alex has hit well with RISP, every year, and this is a dramatic downturn for him.

So, what does he do after last night’s terrible line? Well, that’s for A-Rod to figure out. He sounded very somber after the game and said that, “when you play a lot, you’re bound to get your ass kicked” and that he “sucked” and that the media and the fans could put the loss on him because he deserved that. This tells me something, or at least I hope it does. What it tells me is something positive. See, what’s good about last night’s performance (the silver lining), is that it was rock bottom for Alex Rodriguez. He’s been battling all year with RISP and, while it’s gotten some play in the media, it hit him hard last night and he can’t escape it anymore. His production is, once again, front and center and everyone is demanding more. To be honest, everyone deserves more from a player of his stature, whether it’s the fans, the writers or the players on his own team. Last night was a wakeup call for A-Rod and I think he’s going to fire on all cylinders, later today. He doesn’t have good numbers against Paul Byrd (.222 AVG), but Paul Byrd is a soft tosser. Those numbers can change with one game, and I do believe that will happen.