-The offense came alive in the nick of time, though that most certainly is not a Swisher pun.  Although a loss, game 5 played out nicely in that the early blowout kept the top shelf Yankee relievers from being pressed into service, yet the Yanks built a rally late in the game that they seemed to carry into the clincher.  Jumping on Pedro early, this game had the earliest evident outcome in the whole Yankee post-season.

-From game 6, all those fans hanging over the RF fence on Matsui's double nearly cost the Yanks a run.  Again... the wall should be thicker to create that slight buffer to discourage interference.

-Arod's newfound patience paid off as Matsui drove him in twice.  This was even the case in the regular season when, at times Arod's stats did not look particularly gaudy; he maintained productivity all year long, getting on base a lot even when his average was low.  His regular season OBP was .402 to Jeter's .406.  Plus, the avg, HRs and RBIs would eventually come.

-Marte's performance in this series is reminiscent of the Yankee pen in '96.  Need that surprise hero to show up, and Marte played that role nicely.  His accomplishment should get him work doing off-season signings where he can scribble "surprise WS unsung hero '09" after his name.

-The overlooked storyline in the post-season this year was the Yankee defense.  Going hand in hand with mostly superb pitching, they made only one error and played better D than each of the teams they faced.  They also made fewer oddly spastic baserunning errors.  Real head-scratchers, but the opposition made even weirder mistakes.  Strange post-season, indeed.

-I've not generally been firmly on board with Pettitte-as-savior.  I've always appreciated him, but did not see him as a #1 guy, nor as a hugely clutch performer that is often alleged.  Well, at 37, he put in some great grind-it-out performances that this team absolutely needed to win.  And I didn't even realize using him on three days rest was an option.  Suddenly I'm having the epiphany that was obvious to everyone else years ago:  the Yanks win in 2004 if Pettitte hadn't pettily skipped town.  Turns out bringing him back was an exceptional move, as these last couple weeks have demonstrated.

-Mo must have no soul because he has clearly made a deal with the devil.  His mph is down, he was heavily leaned upon for the entire post-season, the bar is so high that at times he appeared to struggle slightly, yet the whole thing ended with him giving up one earned run the entire post-season.  He truly makes no sense.  As a fan, no small reason to root for the Yanks this year is because one day he'll wake up and the cutter won't cut.  I keep thinking that's right around the corner, but there's no real indication of that yet.  This won't last forever, but enjoy it while it does.

-Another big reason to relish this one is how well the rest of "the core" performed along with Rivera.   Seeing so many newer Yanks struggle in this entire post-season, you can't help but hope some of the new guys can learn the ways of the Jedi from Rivera, Jeter, Pettitte and Posada.  Lost in an 11-4 post-season record was a collection of tight hitters who are new to this whole thing.  If they didn't pull this off, there would be blood on Teixeira's and Burnett's hands.

-Girardi outmanaged Manuel in this series (the latter's glaring misdeeds: not setting up Cliff Lee for 1,4,7; going too long with Pedro Martinez in both his outings; and not being prepared for a what proved to be a devastating two base steal with 3^rd base abandoned for the Teixeira overshift).  But why was Girardi so maligned for going with Hairston over Swisher against Pedro in game two?  Sure the Hairston-can-hit- Pedro stats were old, but the Swisher-can't-hit-anyone stats were quite fresh.  And Hairston had a huge hit in the rally that knocked out Martinez.  All that said, Girardi went back to Swisher in game 6 against Pedro.  This isn't a no-brainer, but still: Why, Joe?  OK, OK, no more nitpicking.  I can relax now.

-It somehow seems like months since the Yanks clinched the pennant vs Angels.  Is that a sign of withdrawal?

-If the Phils make it back to the WS next year, you think Charlie Manuel will run Cliff Lee out there three times?

Notes from the parade:

-For the parade through the Canyon of Heroes, did Reggie and Arod coordinate their outfits?  If Arod wants to imitate Reggie, no one is going to stop him.

-Tough to do a very revealing interview during a parade or clubhouse celebration, but is there something they can ask besides "how cool is this?" (apparently it's all "unbelievable") and the condescending "do you have anything like this back in [insert hayseed town where you are from]?"  

Kim Jones to Brett Gardner "Have you ever been on a float before?"

-I'm in the mode where I am thinking I will not ask the baseball gods for anything ever again.  That'll change probably about a month from now. 

-My appetite has returned. 

-Arod might just be sending a Christmas card to Selena Roberts this holiday season.  The Aaaaa-bomb that she dropped on Aaaaa-rod seems to have set the wheels turning on an effort at a psychological makeover by the formerly beleaguered slugger.  Seems that Rodriguez's decision to not do what almost every other steroid cheat did - i.e., lie about what prompted the positive test - has paid dividends in some weird fashion.  Perhaps we'll enjoy an off-season of David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and countless others changing their minds on the cock-n-bull excuses they used for being tied to steroids?  Or maybe they'll just start dating blonde starlets and see if that works.

-Lest I give the Yanks all the credit for winning the World Series, yours truly did have a small hand in it by not shaving during the post-season and changing my desktop wallpaper every time the Yankees lost.  Note how they never lost two games in a row...  You're welcome.  I can also claim responsibility for the 1996 game four victory when the Yanks were rallying from being down 6-0.  As they started to put big innings together, then tied it, I refused to go to the bathroom until they won the game.  I didn't know it would go extra innings, but I think I made the right decision.

-For whatever negatives there are to the new Stadium (nice joint, but crazy ticket prices and thus more tranquil clientele), it sure had a good year.  All the entertaining comeback and walk-off wins was iced perfectly with the WS victory and gives the joint a nice dallop of mojo.

-Farewell for now from LA, where you go to a ballgame, and the view is this: 

  .

HBP!  I'll take that!  Loaded for Arod.  I was about to say "this could be the game right here".   Which it could.  But it's still too early for that kinda talk.  The best that happens is he hits a grand slam, in which case I'll still be edgy for another six innings in hopes they don't let the Phils back in it.   I know this is only baseball and these guys don't even know who I am, but I must admit, I've been as testy as someone trying to quit smoking.  The past few
weeks, if you cut me off on the road, you'll get a taste of Evil Matt.

Bases loaded K and we just got a taste of Evil Arod.  Foot, meet
television.  How does Pedro back himself into a corner like this and come out throwing strikes like this?  Too much drama.  I want a light, fluffy comedy tonight.

Thank you Matsui!  Arod is off the hook (like he didn't buy enough
indulgence this post-season).  What a backbreaker for the Phils, but I doubt the mental letdown will result in them just going down in order the rest of the game.  Like any post-season team, win or lose they need be able to use the cliche "there's no quit in this team".

Wow.  How great has Damon been and how painful is it that he's just been replaced by Hairston.

After 61 pitches - 31 strikes 30 balls.   Boy is Pettitte sneaking by without his best stuff.  How long can this last?  He and Pedro don't look wildly different through 4 innings, but thanks to Matsui it's the Yanks with a 3 run lead.  I want more!  If they hold on, I can go back to my breathing not being labored.  I'm starting to think if I was on the mound for these tense games that I wouldn't fare very well.

This is the AB I've been looking for from Swisher all post-season.  After down 0-2 the count went full.  Of course he ended it with a strikeout, but laborious ABs against Pedro are a small victory.

OK. three more innings before Rivera.  That's a long three innings.

The Yanks bottom of 4 was limp as they went down in order.  But if they get two guys on next inning... Matsui!

Meanwhile, Pettitte faces the 8 and 9 hitters in top of 5, which I'd like to think are easy outs, but that's just not the way it's been going.

...and the #9 hitter walked with the top of the order coming up.  How long can Pettitte hang in there?  Four walks through 4.1.   Yanks have GOT to tack on.  We all know the magic pitch count threshold for Pedro is 100, but Pettitte's must be lower than that tonight.

For all my concerns about the overuse of Rivera, the 7^th inning was awful close to the real save situation.  I think Rivera should have been available to pitch to Ryan Howard if Utley had reached and brought up the tying run, but he wasn't even warming up.

Like the just concluded game 5, I don't like the match-up in game 6 (assuming this is a fully rested Pedro vs. a short-rested Pettitte).  On the up side, if the Yanks do win, it can be by beating Pedro, which always makes for good television.

Optimism:

SOME of the Yankee bats are warming up and with a second look at Pedro, maybe they'll show a bit more of a heartbeat.  Also, if Pettitte can hang tough even through five, the bullpen should be in decent shape if Girardi tries to stitch Joba, Hughes, and Rivera together to get this done.  Not that the sequence I mention is a sure-fire recipe for success, but it's conceivable they can hold it together.

Agita:

If it goes 7, is CC (who will be seen for the third time in a little over a week by these Phils) near the end of his rope or already at it?  As big as he has been (ahem), it is still not outside the realm of possibility he would come out and just plain not have it.  And there would go the season.  Plus, maybe the Phils can squeeze two innings out of Cliff Lee for this game.

Optimism:

Cole Hamels (if that's who is slated) hasn't had it all post-season.

Perceived momentum from game 4 aside, folks, this is anybody's series.  At this point in the war of attrition, the bats are going to have to decide this WS champion.

Utley's HRs have become so expected, I might start a pool at work to pick which inning he launches one next game.

I don't mean this in quite the ominous manner in which it may sound, but this series reminds me of the 2004 ALCS.  With the Yanks up 3-0, I still felt the Sox should have won each of the four remaining games when looking at it as each game individually.  But I figured the Yanks would still win the series simply because weird things happen.  In this series, games 5 and 6 clearly have the Phillies favored -- I'm just hoping for something goofy to happen to win it for the Yanks.  The curious managerial move, the ball that hits a bird and drops in between three fielders, the star player accidentally scratching his cornea with a salad fork...

Coke is Hit.  Well, at least he got some work in that did not have to go to Rivera.  I would like to see Hughes get some work in tonight to see if he can be observed not through fingers being screened over ones eyes.  Ah, thank you Skip, Hughes is a-comin' in.

Wait a sec... Why is Charlie Manuel running Cliff Lee out there with a 6 run lead over 100 pitches if Lee is someone who can be hugely valuable to them in game 7?

The game tying HR by Feliz in the 8^th screamed of being a series turning point.  Instead of Rivera coming in to close out a close lead, it appeared Phil Coke was coming in to lose it.  Damon looks like he has laid claim to a different turning point altogether.  But that can change six more times before the series is over.

Mo Holding Steady

Mo is still efficient.  So far, he still is Superman™, rather than the pitcher who looks like he's been overused weeks before his 40^th birthday.  Knock on wood, he's the only stopper left who is essentially untainted this post-season.  He's looked shaky once or twice and in the process of this post-season all's he's done is improved his already preposterous lifetime post-season ERA.  In closing out the game tonight, even he showed emotion.  Good, gameface emotion, not histrionics emotion.  This one could be a back-breaker for Phils, and Charlie Manuel's post-game testiness is a good sign.

Legacy Clinched?

          Arod has been a funny cat in this series.  His strike zone still looks too big, he still looks a bit too anxious, yet his hits have been huge.  The two out double to drive in Damon defined clutch and was sweet poetic justice for a guy who looked like he was plunked for the fun of it.  I know it's the WS, but his HBP early in the game was suspicious.  Blanton was clearly going to pitch around him and in all likelihood put him on 1B (should Arod have chosen to not expand his strikezone), so plunking him high and hard on a fastball that was not targeted for that general area is very curious.  The HBPs yesterday did not seem dodgy.  Tonight's definitely raised an eyebrow.

          Still, somebody explain to me the significance of an umpire warning both benches.  They are allowed to use their judgment to kick someone out without warning, yet they can also use their judgment to not eject someone after there's been a warning.  So the point is...?  

Jorge, Come Back!

So Posada comes up with a clutch 9^th inning hit himself.  And... then where is he going?  In getting thrown out by 97 feet trying to get to 2B, I considered that maybe he was sacrificing himself by drawing the throw to ensure Arod scores from second, but... on a ball hit to the gap, Arod scoring is a no-brainer.  When and why did Posada magically morph into Manny?

Incoming 

It's moot, but Ryan Howard obviously never touched home on the run that scored early in the game.  Ump missed it, but so did the Yanks.  They may have deserved to have that run score after giving up a stolen base to Howard. Maybe shame is why they didn't protest. 

Also...

Is Matt Stairs really Charlie Manuel's best PH when he does not represent the tying run?  He's come up the last two games in instances where he can go ahead and launch a Broxton type 500 ft HR and the Yanks would still have a lead, so there's not been much drama to his ABs.  His OBP has been decent considering how low his average is, but when he's not representing so much as the tying run, no pitcher should be walking him.

Tex

Teixeira is still not hitting well in this post-season, but with the occasional big hit and stellar defense, his post-season is reminiscent of his early struggles in the regular season with the team this year.  He at least brings something to the table when not fully on his game.  Still, if Teixeira v.May-September shows up, the Yanks may be able to win without the smoke, mirrors and whatever voodoo they've been doing.

By the Way

Considering the way Joba is throwing vs the way Hughes is throwing, I liked Joba pitching the 8^th.  Temporarily heartbreaking HR to Feliz aside, he may yet loom large in this series.

Lee Waits

CC is clearly laboring, but tonight he displayed the type of performance I figured Cliff Lee could have provided, if not better.  When running your #1 out there three times in a series, it's a bit much to assume he'll be lights out each time, but if he's steady enough to keep it tight, that could be a huge boost.  We are left to wonder if Lee has been coddled too much. 

Short Rest

Always the Centaur of Controversy

It's from the Who Cares files, but still a mildly funny story that has been blurbed about an anonymous former girlfriend of Arod saying he had two paintings of himself as a centaur.  If the Yanks were playing Boston, it might have prompted some very craftfully done banners to the park.  But if Rodriguez takes a cue from his game three and continues hitting and getting on base, there might be a lot of commissions for other pinstriped centaurs in the works. 

It sure was a surprise to no one that, of course, the controversial video-replayed HR came off the bat of Arod.  It seems the proper call was made (chalk that up as a "yay" vote for video replay), but I was prepared for the umps to not overturn the initial call because I did not think the video evidence was 100% definite.  What is 100% definite is that it was asinine to have a camera actually hanging over the wall into the field of play.  It's like having an automatronic Jeffrey Maier erected right at the home run threshold just to confuse the umps.

So This Was Nice

Swisher's double and HR were huge in game three, so it was nice to finally get production from him.  Perhaps tonight will show whether that was an aberration.  Meanwhile, I see that Matsui has been practicing in RF.  This is a novel idea, but one that I'd like to think might have occurred many weeks ago.  Considering how he has had a few big hits of recent and that RF has been a vacuum for the Yanks, putting him in right (if he is in game shape to play it) could have paid off.  Not sure if the Yanks were having him cram at the last minute, but if so, that kind of reduces that as a viable option.  Would be nice to get his bat back in there.  We still don't see Swisher drawing any walks.

All Hands On Deck...Already

          I wholly appreciate Girardi seeing the gravity of game three, but with a four run lead and six outs to go and no major signs of trouble, I would have loved to see him work the bullpen to avoid using Rivera.  For certain, the World Series is not the time to coddle pitchers for a more important game that may never come, but could Chamberlain, who pitched an efficient, perfect 7^th, not come out for the 8^th?  OK, I guess Marte was able to faces two lefties.  But how about the 9^th - could Hughes not face just one more batter before Joe picked up the red phone?  A three run lead with two outs to go I would hope is just enough wiggle room to not potentially compromise the effectiveness of your stopper.  And the fact that Girardi gave Hughes NO room for error made it all but certain he was going to go to Rivera.  The good news was Rivera only threw five pitches for the last two outs, but the process of warming up in the bullpen is essentially as demanding as coming into the game -- and this after Rivera was taxed for two laborious innings just two days before.  With two more consecutive games in Philly, the next two days might show just how human or superhuman Rivera is. 

Is this the kind of thinking that made Billy Martin tick?

Meanwhile, Pedro was still the same old Pedro.  He pitched a great game, but labored exactly when he should have -- at around 100 pitches.   Which is to say, he labored after he should have been lifted from the game by Charlie Manuel.  Pedro's a great pitcher, but he's not a horse.  Thanks to some goofy umpiring, the Yanks would only cash in a run after Pedro tired and left to the usual chorus.

The Evil Umpire

It's all fab that the Yanks held on to win the game, but the Yanks having the bases loaded with one out in the 8^th with Teixeira and Arod coming up while aiding a two run lead seemed like a good recipe for not requiring two innings out of Rivera.  But that didn't happen thanks to a very evidently wrong call by the first base ump.  I don't assume it was an easy call, though it was easy for Posada and even easier for Ryan Howard who played it like a grounder by throwing to 2B instead of just stepping on 1B.  Most damning: on the radio Joe Morgan said he thought it was a caught in the air and not a short-hop.  Apparently he brings the same what-game-are-you-watching perspective to radio as he does to television.  So the result of this botch is Rivera was required to labor through two innings, which can absolutely rear its head later in the series because he's more taxed and may not be as sharp on Saturday, and also it's greater exposure to the Phillies lineup.  That call may well haunt them.  But then again, Chase Utley was safe at 1B in a huge DP in the top of the 8^th, so if you screw up enough times things can even out.

DVRs Sure Are Permanent About Deleting Things

I'm having trouble pinpointing nuanced moments during the game because apparently "cancel a recording" is code for "delete a recording forever", so I ended up not seeing as much as I'd like.  This was an interesting development because A) for the first time ever I discovered and used the "keep" function, and B) any time I intentionally delete something it makes me jump through hoops and warning messages along the lines of "are you sure?" and "don't do something you'll regret".  Yet this time, without the word "delete" ever being used, it very cavalierly went VFWOOOP.  All I was trying to do was stop the recording process since it was going to record a couple more hours of Fox television and I don't want to accidentally have TMZ on my television.  Did Challenger the Eagle make an appearance and carry Arod's bat away into the night?  Did Morgana the kissing bandit make a return appearance and run out to right field to kiss Jerry Hairston just because he's not Nick Swisher?  If such moments existed, I'll never see them because my DVR went all "sorry pal, you'll have to fake your way through the water cooler conversations tomorrow". 

Picket Fence

The home runs are nice, and apparently necessary, but they are not being preceded by the single, the bloop, the walk, the catcher's interference - nothing.  It's just been the occasional solo blast and cling to the lead by the skin of your teeth.  Might have to diversify the offense a bit - and no that does not mean let Jeter bunt with two strikes on him.

Maybe the Steinbrenner Family Will Recruit Jay-Z to Play Before Every Game...

...in the same vein of the honorary batboy who followed the team around for the '98 World Series.  Keep your schedule clear Mr. Z!

Take Arod to the Video Room

No crime to lose a game to Cliff Lee, but the alleged best offense in baseball should have been able to do to him what the Phils did to CC - make him look just remotely human and hope you can get a whiff of their bullpen.  Especially since it's the Yanks that have actually seen live pitching a few times in the past week.  I'm going to go ahead and assume the Phillies are not going to spontaneously start running the bases like their minds are on picking up their laundry from the cleaners, so it will actually take a little offense to win this thing. 

The requisite spastic baserunning play in this game was the double play cooked up by Matsui and Cano.  It's a tough read for Matsui to see that the bloop was caught on a fly, but if Cano hustles out of the box then Rollins catches the ball in the air rather than an inch above the dirt and Matsui would then know to hold first base.  If Cano doesn't want to run hard in a 2-0 World Series game, then when does he?  Should we release Mothra to chase after him every time he makes contact?

Backbreakers

Oh, all those two out RBI hits by the Phillies.  When trying to chip away to get to an unsteady bullpen, keeping the score 2-0 would have been peachy.  Maybe some time this October it'll be the Yanks who rack up a few 2 out run-scoring hits.  The only string that jumps to mind was that one game against the Angels in Anaheim in a losing effort.  Then it was back to their new version of normal.

Two Hands, Meat

Buck and McCarver may have enjoyed Cliff Lee's casual catch of Damon's pop-up, but that's just plum not smart.  If the Phils want to be that relaxed the rest of the series, they are cordially invited.  Maybe they'll start to look as sloppy as the Twins and Angels.

Game Six Backfire?

You would never want to send up a sacrificial lamb to go out and lose to Cliff Lee, but CC being spared of pitching a game 7 against the Angels may have backfired in that the Yanks lost what would have been a matchup of their big guy against a pitcher who does not make the Yanks look like a AA team.  Sabathia held it together, but seeing him labor makes you question if he has it in him to pitch three games of this series.  Watching the Yank bats, I don't think he has it in him to defeat Lee once, let alone thrice, should that match-up repeat itself.  Obviously sending someone like Gaudin up to face Cliff Lee is a recipe for disaster.  But I'm just rappin' about the baseball fates here.

We Haven't Forgotten About You, Tex

It's easy to say the Yanks shouldn't be swinging at the first pitch when down by six, but seeing Teixeira hack at his first offering in the 9th up at his eyebrows kind of encapsulates the team's offensive woes this post-season.  Teixeira's walk-off against Minnesota has served as a nice camouflage for his lack of punch this post-season, so if the Yanks don't pull this thing off, he might just play the role of scapegoat.  Too early?

Sartorially Speaking

What was previously slight hyperbole is now no exaggeration; there are no hot hitters on this team right now that are not dating Kate Hudson.  Arod is the only guy whom you can say is truly firing on all cylinders.  The bases loaded walk in the clincher was an excellent example of his newfound patience.  If the Fox box is to be believed (not to mention the ump, though that's dubious these days), the ball was indeed inside.  In fact, it was a perfect pitch save the fact that Arod seems to be exercising a perfect knowledge of the strike zone now.  If the count was full, he should probably have given it a hack.  But with only one strike on him, let it pass.  This ain't live blogging, so you may call "malarkey!" on me for saying that my reaction to seeing Arod come to the plate with bases loaded and one out with Posada on deck was not that the Angels should walk Arod, but if they did walk him it might well yield the best possible result. Posada's subsequent first of 36 DPs on the night would support that notion.  You can't go wrong giving the ALCS MVP to CC, but Rodriguez had him edged out in my mind.

Jeter is rock, Rivera is paper
That was a typical Rivera run Sunday night to cut the lead to one.  A bloop and a bleeder, though the hardest hit ball was right at the curiously positioned Cano behind second base.  But Jeter may have passed on another fine post-season moment that would have saved the run and left his detractors nauseous.  The bloop by Figgins looked catchable with a dive, and I'm not talking about a spastic, injurious dive into the stands.  I think it was
close enough that Jeter should get dirty on that.  At least that's how it looked from my really cozy chair, with my feet up, nervously sipping a stout.

I Guess This is Considered Progress
A couple slick defensive plays and the first good AB I've seen from Nick Swisher this post-season.  The good AB didn't yield anything, but his next AB resulted in a grounder in the hole -- a pitch that looked possibly off the plate outside that he pulled for a worm-killer that somehow made its way to the outfield.   Not pretty, but it's a start I suppose.  And it proved to be an important cog in the three-run inning.  I still don't recall seeing him hit a ball hard the last couple weeks.  The reason his prolonged slump looks so bad is it does not seem like the law of averages evening out.  (Evening out what? His April, I guess).  Rather, his knowledge of the strike zone has looked off, so his 3-0 count early in the game was more encouraging than anything, even though it would eventually lead to a weak fly out.

Oops, Book 1 & 2
Kendrick should have held on to the ball he dropped, BUT... Kendry Morales made a bad throw.  The ball almost went into the runner, which hangs the fielder out to dry.  Howie Kendrick is not the first person manning 1B to go all alligator arms on a throw that dances a little too close to the baseline.  And Scott Kazmir, whose presence on the mound ahead of Jered Weaver was surprising considering how shaky Kazmir looked a few nights ago, choked his throw plain and simple.  You think this game ain't mental?
Maybe Met fans felt good watching that.

Wake Up the Babe

As of now, it looks like Charlie Manuel may start Pedro in the Bronx for game 2.  Sure, it'll lead to entertaining "Who's Your Daddy" chants, but it's probably a wise move in that he'll probably need a few innings out of the bullpen, which can rest the next day.  So we fans will be robbed of what we've wanted to see for years: to see Pedro back up his headhunting by stepping into the box.  I admit, I've not seen him in action that much since leaving the Red Sox, but I've not actually seen any video of him throwing at anyone anymore.  Is this an amusing coincidence or have I not been watching closely?

On the subject of pitchers hitting, too bad CC will only have one start on the road in this series.  He could have been the next slugger to call his shot in the World Series.

Beyond that, most of what I saw at the game was the silhouette of those insidious inflatable clappers, evil not just because of the dopey notion of artificial noise they create on par with the stadium stereo system (which itself is on par with takeoffs from LaGuardia), but their very design does nothing but create obstructed views for everyone at the game.  It's like if they have "free banner night" for all fans as a promotional date at the Big A.  Or "free oversized novelty ten gallon hats to the first 50,000 fans".   

And the big A should be really be renamed "The Big C" ("the big clusterflip"), as it took longer to find our car as it did for Burnett to record the first out hours earlier.  After 25 minutes of cursing the lack of marked poles in the lot, circumnavigating all the Hummers and SUVs and finally finding our car, it would be another 45 minutes of inching our way the 40-50 yards to the exit.  You get the feeling they're not used to capacity crowds, especially ones that leave at the game's conclusion.

Additionally, many of the fans seemed to be honoring Nick Adenhart's memory by lifting a few in the backs of their titanic trucks before turning the ignition (clearly a practice not unique to the O.C.).
The whole experience made me wish the enemy territory I was in was Boston.  No monkeys, no cars, no thundersticks, and the drunks don't do much harm to anyone but the pavement.

Girardi May Live

I actually did not have a problem with Girardi bringing Burnett back out to pitch the 7th.  The way he was cruising and as low as his pitch count was, I wanted him to get through the 7th, then hand it over to Hughes in the 8th.  As wrong as I apparently am, theoretically because of the long half inning that preceded Burnett going back out there, Hughes got hit badly himself, so I don't feel like any decision is a no-brainer in this situation.  I still prefer to blame Burnett's fear of success. 

"Here's the ball for the potential pennant clincher", to which he responds by getting pounded while half the stadium is still in line for churros. 

"Hey, we picked you up and scored 6 runs for you - just one more inning and we're sitting pretty", and he coughs it back up with a single and then a walk to the #9 hitter, prompting immediate visions of heading back to the Bronx. 

It's one thing for a .211 hitter like Jeff Mathis to be on fire in the post-season, and good on him for it, but walking Figgins (he of the .067 post season BA) to start his night and later walking Izturis, representing the tying run (after having him 0-2) to end his night, is precisely what sunk Burnett and the Yanks.  See?  AJ can be equally wretched with Molina OR Posada behind the plate.

And speaking of Mathis, this is the equivalent of Jose Molina hitting over .500 --and with authority-- in the post-season.  But Molina is not, which is why Burnett's sketchy work is more galling.  The key AB in the Yanks six-run 7th?  Posada's walk.  Good battle, long, full count, foul-off-a-few-pitches AB.  He earned the walk, then Lackey didn't come close to Jeter and thus got yanked from the game.  That was a huge cog in the rally and I'm confident it does not happen with Molina.  Maybe even the lunkhead sitting in front of me in 523 could see that.

It's a shame the only stream of clutch hitting in the entire Yankee post-season not done by Rodriguez went for naught.  Who knows if we'll see this again the rest of the season, be it two games or nine. 

IF...

...the Yanks clinch in game six, this will probably be a blessing so the bats don't have too much time to get cold...er.  But if they lose CC for game one of the World Series (he says, ASSUMING they at least clinch this thing), things might look pretty good for them Phillies.

These are the thoughts that slip into my mind during weak moments.  But unlike '04, I like to counter them with "Oh thank God we don't have to rely on Javy Vasquez and Kevin Brown", neither of whom, I'm guessing, will have the honor of throwing out the first ball at the Stadium any time soon.

Swisher must sit!
This whole postseason thing seems to be moving a bit too fast for him.  Blame Girardi all you want for the ALCS game 3 loss, but Swisher has been a one man rally-wrecking crew.  Remember way back when Arod used to expand his strike zone in the post-season?  The historically selective Swisher has done the same, except he lacks any other ability to bring to the table to even remotely make up for it.  Maicer Izturis can get a runner home from 3rd with less than two out, but Swisher consistently fails -- his slow, stiff swing belying his relaxed persona, or the facade of a relaxed persona.  In the rare instance that he is on the bases he seems to be making an effort to make Cano and Posada look good.

Roll Call!

Arod?  Present.

CC? Present.

Mo? Present.

Jeter?  Sick, but present.

Anyone else?  Anyone?  Hellooooooo ouuuuut therrrrrre.

"I feel great," Ramirez said. "I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish."

Maybe this time Torre means it when he says he'll retire at the end of his contract.