Comfortably Numb.

After witnessing game 7 at the Stadium last year, my Yankee related anger and depression has subsided a bit. (of course I'll still be in a rather foul mood at work tomorrow, especially when my boss will inevitably stick is head into my office and tell me "They stink.") This was a tough loss to take. But after a season of mediocrity (by NY standards) I was just happy they made it this far.

And hey, hockey's back. At least I know that the Rangers disappoint in the end.

Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali.

Sunday, October 9, 2005
ALDS Game 4
Yankees 3 Angels 2
Subway Race Winner: 4 train
Cap Game: WW



That was absofuckinglutely awesome. So much for all the "an extra day's rest will be bad because that will help the Angels bullpen" crap. The offense did what it needed to do to win the game. And that was score one more run than their opponent. Sure, they had chances to break the game open and they didn't do it. But I really don't give a shit. Sure, Joe made some questionable moves. But I don't give a shit. They Yankees won tonight. They were facing elimination and they won.

They won behind yet another solid outing by Shawn "I love him so much it hurts" Chacón. I had a good feeling about the night when he had a 1-2-3 first inning (including 2 strikeouts.) He was perfect through 3, then in the 4th Figgins reached on an error by Matsui. After nearly getting picked off by Chacón, Figgins took off on the next pitch and was gunned down by Posada. With 2 outs, Vlad reached on an infield single. Cano nearly made the play, as he ranged far to his left, onto the outfield grass to snag the ball, but his throw was late. The first pitch to Anderson got away from Jorge and he looked at first like he had trouble finding the ball. Vlad took off for second. Posada was able to find the ball, pick it up and gun down Guerrero at second. Jorge saved what could have been a very ugly inning. Chacón had a 1-2-3 5th, but ran into trouble in the 6th inning. A leadoff walk (his only of the game) would come back to haunt him. 2 runs scored that inning. The joint was jumpin' up until that point in the game. With the Yankees having only one hit in the game, falling behind took some wind out of us. But the Yanks came back with a run in the bottom of the 6th. ARod walked (hey, if he's not hitting, at least he's taking his walks and getting on base), moved to second on a ground out, and came home on a Sheffield single.

I thought that if Chacón could get through 7 with the score close, that would be ideal. Mo was well rested and could probably go two. Well, Shawn almost made it. He got one out in the 7th and then gave up a single to Molina. At this point, Leiter and Gordon (I think?) were warming in the pen. With Erstad at the plate Joe came out to take the ball from Shawn and everyone booed. We didn't boo Chacón (in fact he got a rather nice standing-O), we just didn't want to see the sketchy bull pen. Erstad has been Al Leiter's bitch this series, but I was still nervous with him coming in. But Al got him to ground into an inning ending double play. The bottom of the 7th saw the Yankees put up 2 more runs to take the lead. Cano reached on infield single. Posada walked. Rueben got a HUGE pinch hit single to score Cano to tie the game. Jeter hit a chopper to third scoring Posada (who got lucky since Molina tagged him with his glove, but the ball was in his hand.) That was all they got and that was all they needed. As predicted, Mo came in for the 8th for the last 6 outs of the game. I think I held my breath on every pitch. Leiter got the win. I heard it was his first post-season win since game 1 of the 1993 world series. If this ends up being his last appearance in the big leagues, it was a nice way for him to go out. But, this is no time to be talking like that.

When Reuben hit for Bubba, we were speculating about who Joe would put in center. None of us considered the double switch with Bernie in center (thus losing the DH) and Tino at first. Actually we were too stupid to realize there was a double switch and thought Mo may have to bat in the 8th. Once we saw Tino on deck it hit us and we felt pretty stupid. I guess we were too delirious with joy over the comeback. Bernie, once again, got much love from the crowd. He got another curtain call after his last at bat in the 8th. This (again) could be his last appearance in pinstripes. But, this is no time to be talking like that.

The Yankees won tonight. They live to play another day. And that's all that matters.

Tonight finally felt like the post-season at the Stadium. The crowd was taken out of the game early on Friday. But Chacón was strong from the get-go tonight and the crowd responded accordingly. There is something special about hearing 56,000 people saying "Oh!" on a close pitch. I hope we get a chance to do it again real soon.

U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi.

Friday, October 7, 2005
ALDS Game 3
Angels 11 Yankees 7
Subway Race Winner: WW
Cap Game: #2



#!@*?!

That was absofuckinglutely brutal. The night started with so much optimism. But the life was sucked right out of us in the first inning. Chants of "Aa-ron Sma-all" started in the third inning. Small finally came into the game (which was 5-0 at that point) in the 4th, with no outs, runners on the corners. He struck out the Kennedy and got Figgins to ground into a double play. Cano made a nice snag to prevent a single up the middle, flipped to Jeter for one, who then threw to first for the final out of the inning. It was a nice play that got the crowd out its funk. It seemed to wake up the Yankees' bats as well. They came back with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning and tacked on 2 more in the 5th to take a 1-run lead. But it was short lived as Small gave up 2 runs in the 6th. Still, I thought he did a pretty good job. The Yanks could easily overcome a 1-run deficit. But the bats went cold again. And the Angels tacked on 2 more in the 7th and 2 in the 8th. All the Yankees could muster was a solo shot by Jeter in the 8th. A miserable ending to a miserable night.

Before the game I met up with my friend Phil and we hit Billy's Sports Bar across from the Stadium to grab a beer and watch the last 3 innings of the Sox² game. The place was packed as usual. Actually the entire block was crowded as people tried to watch the tiny TVs that the beer stands had up. The crowd at Billy's was pretty pumped, watching El Duque turn in another fine post-season performance. When he struck out Ortiz chants of "Du-que Du-que" rose up. If the Yankees don't make it to the next round I'll be pulling for Chicago, if only because of him and Contreras. Sure, it would've been great if Jose made it in NY, but I like to see him do well (as long as it's not against the Yanks ;-)

During post-season games they have additional press boxes set up in the Loge seats in right field (the ones that over-look the bleachers.) They set up a speaker there so they can hear the stats and updates as they are read by Rick Cerone, the Yankees PR guy. (I'm pretty sure that's him that does it anyway.) I couldn't really make out much of what he was saying. I did hear the updates on Molina, who got nailed in the elbow by a Gordon pitch. (At that point in the game the Stadium was pretty quiet.) He has a contusion and was getting precautionary x-rays. Later they said that the x-rays were negative. I wonder if those press guys can hear what we say down there. Guess I'll have to scan the papers to see if anything was mentioned.

Well, it's now up to my man Chacón. I just hope he can keep them close and go as late into the game as he possible can. Mo is well rested and may be able to go a couple innings if need be.

I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today.

Twenty hours from now I may or may not be watching the first pitch of Game 3 of the ALDS. The weather forecast doesn't look too promising. Just in case they're able to play through it, I've packed my plastic garbage bags and towel. The key is to have a bag to sit on as well as one to cover your legs. There's nothing worse than sitting in wet jeans for 3+ hours.

I've been to 5 post-season games (2 ALDS and 3 ALCS) with 3-2 record. One division game in 1998, one in 2004, and three league games in 2004 (I won't bother linking to those. Let's just say that 1 was very good and 2 were very bad.) Hopefully my post-season record will remain over .500.

Thought today would be as good a day as any to get my tat fixed.

That which does not kill us...

Maybe, just maybe, the fact that the Yankees had to fight their way to a division title this year is a good thing. They weren't able to coast into the playoffs. And because of that I like their chances in the post-season. Starting off the season 11-19, it was all doom and gloom. They strung some winning streaks together, but would then fall on their asses again. But they finally got their shit together (thanks to some unexpected heroes) and finished strong. If this was all reversed, if they started strong and finished crappy, just squeaking out enough wins to make it, I don't think I would be as optimistic.