The Yankee Clipper: Same Song, Different Verse in Game 2

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:

The hands of Lance Berkman and A-Rod form a "V" for Victory (ABC)

1. 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".
2. 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.
3. Nasty, Knee-buckling Wood.

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What They're Saying: Umpires, The Overmanager, and ALCS Recaps

If you were out of the country since the playoff started and just read the media coverage of the playoffs, you'd probably think the umpires were the reason we are about to watch the Yankees and Phillies in the World Series, while the Yankees are here despite Joe Girardi. While that has been overblown quite a bit, the umpiring has been quite awful this postseason and Joe Girardi has been a little, um, anxious. And other people played in a part in the ALCS besides Girardi and the umpires. Let's see what the media has been saying about it:

• Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN says yes to increased instant replay...for the World Series. Buster Olney agrees.
  

• ESPN.com looks at the men who will be calling the games in the World Series and Baseball Prospectus rates them.

• Joe Girardi was not treated kindly at times. Jon Heyman says that Girardi "seemed to suffer from temporary insanity or incompetence at times in the ALCS". Slate seems to agree and calls him The Overmanager. Keith Law says his #1 key for the Yankees is to "hog-tie Joe Girardi and leave him in a clubhouse locker". Almost makes you yearn for the days of this overrated guy.

• Rob Neyer takes them all to task and says that most teams would loved to be overmanaged to within 4 wins of a World Series title.

• The ALCS: Ken Davidoff recaps the clinching Game 6 and so does Shysterball. Baseball Musings looks at what went wrong for the Angels, while David Pinto congratulates the Yankees. Steven Goldman congratulates the Yankees as well with some great analysis with one very true fact: "at least there were no umpiring controversies in the last game".

• The biggest controversy at the end of the ALCS? That CC won the MVP over A-Rod. Please, people. There are more important things to worry about. I think that A-Rod and CC were both great. CC won two games for them; Alex, maybe one. That's why I give it to CC, though I would have been fine with Alex winning or them splitting. Who cares? It's a meaningless award! And A-Rod not winning gives him extra motivation in the World Series (you know he must have some sort of bonus if he wins the World Series MVP).  

• Big League Stew votes for the split of the MVP. Mark Feinsand says that A-Rod was great but not as great as CC. Dugout Central gets their panties in a bunch over A-Rod not winning.

A few other articles that I couldn't fit elsewhere: Rob Neyer breaks down Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu and asks if either or both are Hall of Fame worthy. Joe Posnanski breaks down his Top 10 Hitters Ever (A-Rod is not in the top-10 if you're curious, but Albert Pujols is). MLBTradeRumors is reviewing the trades of the past decade (there's surprisingly not really any Yankees ones on there, yet). Jonathan Papelbon is a weird motherfucker according to Deadspin. Lastly, a former Yankees prospect, Ross Ohlendorf, is headed for an internship in Washington. I know that the trade looked good at the time, but the Yankees could have sure used Ohlendorf in 2009.