Hopefully the Pies Combat Karma

Buster Olney has a very interesting stat on his blog about "walk-off karma" from Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Information:

It took until Game 3 of the ALCS, but there's finally a stat that some might call a bad omen for the Yankees. In the past eight postseason series during which the Yankees suffered a walk-off loss, they lost the series.

A quick review:

2007 ALDS: Travis Hafner's walk-off hit in Game 2 (the game when the midges attacked Joba Chamberlain) gave the Indians a 2-0 lead in a series they went on to win 3-1.

2004 ALCS: David Ortiz beat the Yankees with a walk-off home run in Game 4 and a walk-off single in Game 5 as the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Yankees in seven games.

2003 World Series: Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez evened the series at 2 with a walk-off home run off Jeff Weaver in the 12th inning, a series the Marlins later won in six games.

2001 World Series: A season-ender: Luis Gonzalez beat Mariano Rivera with a bases-loaded hit in Game 7, as the Diamondbacks rallied in the ninth to win both the game and the World Series.

1997 ALDS: In Game 4, Sandy Alomar Jr. hit a tying home run against Rivera, and Omar Vizquel got a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth as the Indians tied their series with the Yankees at 2. They later beat Andy Pettitte to clinch the series in Game 5.

1995 ALDS: Another season-ender: Edgar Martinez's two-run double in the 11th inning of Game 5 gave the Mariners a 6-5 win and series win. Martinez is one of three players to hit a walk-off double against the Yankees. Jeff Mathis and Cookie Lavagetto are the other two.

1976 World Series: "Baseball Tonight" analyst Eduardo Perez's father, Tony, beat Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter with a walk-off hit in Game 2 on the way to a sweep for the Big Red Machine, the last NL team to win consecutive World Series titles.

1960 World Series: A history maker: Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski found his way into baseball immortality with a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series. It was the first series-ending home run in postseason history.

The last time the Yankees won a postseason series in which they lost a game via walk-off was the 1958 World Series, when they beat the Milwaukee Braves in seven games despite losing Game 1 via walk-off.

Wow, that was a painful list! Let's hope the Yankees strike gold every 51 years and the pies are anti-karma.