I threw that last picture in because it's the coolest f*cking picture I've ever seen. 

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This write up will be really simple.  Hideki Matsui won the WS MVP and while I think Mo was more deserving for his overall World Series performance, you can't argue with what Godzilla did in the three games he played.  Especially tonight.  3-4, 6 RBI.  He single-handedly beat the Phillies.  Then you have Andy Pettitte, who at 37 years old took the mound on 3 days rest to close out our season in style.  What a gamer.  There's no doubt in my mind he went out there knowing they were going to win and that if the Phillies were going to stretch it to 7, they'd have to bloody him first.  I wanted at least 5 innings of 2-3 run ball from him and that's what we got.  That core group of players now has 5 rings....something I don't know we'll see for a while. 


Also, allow me to say good showing to the Phillies.  They made it tough and while some of the players ran their mouths off (gonna win in 5, eh Rollins?), they are a good team and they put up a good fight.  When you can say you beat the defending champs to win the whole thing, that's great.  So to all the Phillies fans that have posted here and read my blog over the last season, congrats to you.  See you next year.  :-)


For me though, the best part of all this was seeing Alex Rodriguez a World Series champion.  I fought for him, I defended him, I dealt with a lot of crap from people because of him and I never turned my back on him.  Never.  I may have been angry at times, but I never walked away.  And seeing him with that trophy.....I'm not afraid to admit I cried.  I could not be prouder of him.  He finally dumped the shackles of being called a "choker" and that the Yankees would never win a ring with him.  He hit .365 this postseason, 6 HRs, 18 RBI....he carried the team to the World Series.....I'll never forget the image of him crying on the field when it was over.  Thank you for being a Yankee, Alex.  Thank you. 

"Tell them, it wasn't easy. When they look back and see one-hundred fourteen wins, tell them we never took a single one for granted. Teach them about our passion and our patience. If they ask who was our star, give them twenty-five names. And if you forget our names, just tell them we were YANKEES. And in the season of our lives, we became a team. A team that made people believe that baseball could be magic, and men could be perfect."

Stars of the Game™

Well damn. 


Just....


Damn. 



I'm not going to argue the merits of whether AJ should have started or if Chad Gaudin should have started because honestly - Chad Gaudin wouldn't have been much better.  That much I am sure of.  He's thrown one inning of playoff baseball and it was garbage time in a 10-1 game.  Hardly meaningful.  I don't know if Girardi made a right choice or a wrong choice because the chances of us winning this game were 50/50 no matter who started it.  There was a better than average chance we were going back to New York up 3-2 even if Cy Young came back from the dead to pitch.  That's just how good Cliff Lee is and we should all be thankful we won't have to see him anymore this series.  I hope. 


Now, on to some positives.  We got some great offense tonight, hopefully that momentum will carry into Wednesday.  Alex is now the Yankees all-time playoff RBI leader.  How the worm has turned for him.  We showed a lot of fight in this game.  Kept going right to the bitter end.  If anything it shows that we play for all 27 outs and we're never out of a game until it's physically impossible for us to win.  Phil Hughes showed some promise tonight.  Hopefully that too can continue.  We didn't use Mo, so he should be available for 2 innings on Wednesday.  If Andy can pitch 6 solid innings, we give the 7th to Marte and the last two innings to Mo.  I would be comfortable with that.  Andy won't be on full rest, but he will be on 4 days rest which is better than 3.  We've hit their bullpen, so it's not invincible.  If we knock Pedro out early, we have a better than average chance of taking this thing.  We're playing at home, where we're 6-1 this postseason. 


So there's a lot to not be happy about, but a lot to hang our hats on at the same time.  I think we can do this and in front of our fans, which we haven't done in 10 years.  My confidence level is at a 7 right now.  Remember The Power of Positive Thinking™.  We can do this.  We're the Yankees, damn it.  :-D

That was a phenomenal, phenomenal game.  LOL to Brad Lidge, BTW.  LOL.  Just LOL.  I cannot stop LOLing, someone help me.  Okay, okay, okay.  First of all, I can't believe we won this game.  I can't.  We did everything possible to NOT win the game, pull victory from the jaws of defeat is just something out of this planet.  Our Magic Number is now ONE.  1.  Uno.  All that stands between us and #27 is one more game.  I don't know whether to throw up or cry.  Maybe I'll do both.


CC Sabathia once again had to answer the call and pitch on 3 days rest, and while he wasn't as dominant this time as he was during the ALCS, he hardly pitched a bad game.  I think our offense didn't really help him out much and made him pitch thinking he had to be perfect.  He went 6.2 IP, gave up 3 ER on 7 H and struck out 6.  A very gutsy performance considering what the conditions were.  Marte came in to finish out the 7th and did well.  Joba came in for the 8th and gave up a game-tying HR to Pedro Feliz, which necessitated our late-inning heroics.  Then Mariano Rivera had to come in AGAIN to get the save and did so with 8 pitches.  The man is a God, there's no two ways around it.  It's great to see the contrast between Brad Lidge and Mariano Rivera.  I'm so thankful we have him. 


Our offense was dead until the 9th inning.  It's frustrating when you know you can hit like that but don't until it's almost too late.  We have a very talented offense, we have a very powerful offense and it is amazing how they string us all along for innings at a time and then BAM!, they kick you in the onions.  Let's start with Johnny Damon.  He's the MVP of this game for sure.  Heads-up base running in the 9th changed the game.  He stole two bases because the shift was on and there was no one to cover 3B.  Mark was HBP and then Alex had an RBI double off Brad Lidge.  None of that happens without Johnny Damon getting on base and running like hell.  Then you have Jorge dumping a little more dirt on Lidge's head with a 2-RBI single to score Alex and Mark.  There's our big 3-run 9th.  We need more of this all night tomorrow because WE ARE ONE WIN AWAY FROM THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP.  Let that soak in. 






Stars of the Game™

Girardi says Burnett is starting Game 5


Can't say I disagree with this and anyone who does is missing the bigger picture.  If we win tonight, that means we can win the World Series Monday night.  Why would you punt that game and start Chad Gaudin?  You don't give away games in the playoffs.  This isn't like beating the Royals 12-1 and 15-0 in April and then starting the D-lineup for the 3rd game.  Not that giving away games is ever a good idea, but in April against the Royals.....there may be extenuating circumstances.  There are none in October.  If you can clinch, you put the best team you can on the field to achieve that end.  AJ, much like CC, has done well on short rest in the past, both with Florida and with Toronto.  Yes that means we have to pitch Andy on short rest for Game 6 if we lose Game 5, but I don't see what Girardi is supposed to do.  We have only 3 viable starters.  Gaudin has thrown 1 inning of playoff baseball, and that was in the 9th inning of a 10-1 shellacking of the Angels. 


Winning tonight has now become EXTREMELY important. 

So Charlie Manuel decided to take a page from I don't know whom and throw us all a big, fat loop.


Joe Blanton will be starting Game 4, with Cliff Lee pitching Game 5.  I know what you're thinking......WTF?!  I was thinking that too.  See, we're pitching CC Sabathia in Game 4 on 3 days rest.  So that means he's going up against Joe Blanton.  Who is not, and never will be, Cliff Lee.  Apparently Lee threw just a teeny, tiny bit too many pitches during Game 1 and won't be available on 3 days rest.  This would be like Girardi starting Joba Chamberlain in Game 4 rather than CC Sabathia.  Is there a Yankees fan alive who would defend that?  Probably not.


So yeah, here's what the match-ups look like for the near future:


Game 3: Pettitte vs. Hamels
Game 4: Sabathia vs. Blanton
Game 5: TBA vs. Lee


I like our chances in the next two games.

Thank God.  So at least one positive we can take away from this is that we will not get swept.  So Yankee Haters™ can check that off their Christmas wish lists.  I'd be lying if I said that after last night's game, I wouldn't be watching this one with trepidation.  It's not that I don't have faith in my boys, because I do.  It's just that sometimes my nerves get the best of me and override my common sense.  Thanks in part to this sorely needed victory, our Magic Number drops down one spot to 3. 


AJ Burnett was our starter tonight and truth be told, he's been more than solid this postseason.  Our offense though, never gave him much to speak of, so he hadn't recorded a win before tonight.  With the whole of Yankees Nation with their collective stomachs in their throats.......AJ proceeded to crap all over Philadelphia and it was truly marvelous.  7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 K.  He was sick nasty filthy dirty.  When we signed him, this is what we were expecting.  Mo came in for the 2-inning save, did his job.  Yankees win.  Hallelujah. 


Our offense is still dead or presumed dead anyhow, but fortunately we were able scrape up 3 runs from the bottom of some barrel somewhere and slap them up on the board.  Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely overjoyed that we won this, it's just that I'm not exactly sitting at 100% on the confidence scale right now.  Pedro Martinez, while dominating back in the late 90s......is not that Pedro anymore.  He's a shell of the guy Boston shoved up our a$ses all the time.  He was throwing 88 mph and we were swinging through it.  If there's anything I DON'T like, it's making mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young and God knows we've done it enough.  Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui got our offense off the ground with a couple of solo shots that tied the game and then gave us a lead, and Jorge Posada got a single in the 7th to give us a little extra insurance.  I hope we come out strong on Saturday because frankly.....another game of this and I'll go bald from pulling my hair out. 







Stars of the Game™