Déjà vu all over again (as
ESPN's Rob Neyer said: "this is what these Yankees do"). The Yankees seem to have a formula against these Twins: get behind, come back when the starter tires, add some insurance against the bullpen if possible, and then hand the ball to Mariano Rivera for the save.
Jay had some great statistics earlier on how great Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte have been, but let's look at some of the rest of the Yankees:
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| The hands of Lance Berkman and A-Rod form a "V" for Victory (ABC) |
- Sir Lancealot. The debate about whether Lance Berkman is now a "true Yankee" will continue, but last night was sure a nice way to stick it to all those Berkman haters with a defining moment. Berkman hit a monster home run into the Twins bullpen and followed that up with a monster double into centerfield. With Marcus Thames hitting against lefties, they needed Berkman to step up against righties and going opposite field with that much authority was his way to announce that he has arrived. Acquiring fading stars at the trade deadline is a hit-or-miss sort of thing, but Brian Cashman's three this year (Berkman, Kerry Wood and Austin Kearns), have each played a roll in the 2010 team. Rebecca Glass of TYU says that Cashman was made to look like a genius last night. As Nick Swisher said last night: Pettitte and Berkman was the "Texas Two-Step".
- Was that Frank Dreblin behind the plate? I kid about the Naked Gun umpire, but, really, the strikezone last night was just as bad. People point to what should have been a strike three call to Lance Berkman before his double (and they would be right), but the second pitch of the at-bat was called a strike when PitchFX shows that it was clearly outside. Yahoo's Jeff Passan says that the Twins misgivings are justified, but Joe Pawlikowski of FanGraphs says that the umpire was crappy no matter who you were rooting for last night. The Yankees got a rough call in the first game which seemed to signify to some that the postseason had truly begun, but the truth is that for all those calls for replay, things like strikes and checked swings (the bugaboo for Joe Maddon and the Rays) wouldn't be reviewable (though the only run from the San Francisco-Atlanta game last night that was a clear out would have been). Here's my solution to improving the blown calls: hire better umpires who adhere to a real strikezone. The rest of America had layoffs and streamlining and became more efficient--it's time that Major League Baseball did the same with its umpires.
- Nasty, Knee-buckling Wood.
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