Before the American League playoffs began, I fretted about the late season slide by New York. From having the best record in baseball, they suffered a near meltdown and had to settle for a wild card berth. Yes, they were up against their foils the Minnesota Twins but never as a wildcard entry. I hoped that the were like their old selves of raising their level of play come October. And they sure did as they swept the Twins 3-0 in the Division Series. And now they're up against Texas who they have beaten in three previous playoffs but this time again without homefield advantage.
I've seen plenty of baseball games where the Yankees were getting shelled only to pull of incredible comebacks. The Yankees of the 90s and early 2000s were a team that played good fundamental baseball. They played small ball, showed great patience in their at-bats, and played great defense. Tonight, well, I was still hoping coz after seven innings they were down 0-7. As their Hall of Famer catcher once famously said, "It ain't over 'til it's over." Who would have thought they'd scored six runs in the eighth?
Even with CC Sabathia having location problems (was he channeling Bad AJ here?), his tag of Nelson Cruz sort of reminded me when Derek Jeter flipped the ball to Jorge Posada (after he fielded the throw from Shane Spencer out from rightfield) who tagged out a hard charging Jeremy Giambi that sparked New York to a series win over the Oakland A's. Incidentally, Oakland's Third Base coach who waved Giambi home was -- Ron Washington who is now Texas' manager! Holy Shit!
Sabathia's tag of Cruz was huge just as was the run down of Ian Kinser that all but killed the chances of the Texas Rangers. And they had their third comeback win of the post-season to go with their 48 comebacks during the regular season.
Who said that aura and mystique are just confined to Yankee Stadium? Three more wins, baby!
No comments:
Post a Comment