What was perhaps most interesting about last night’s Game Six was the feel in the Yankee Stadium in the late innings. In Philadelphia Monday night, the Phillies took a 6-1 lead in the third, pushed it to 8-2 in the seventh, but when it was cut to four, you could feel the tension. You could sense the fear in the ballpark. With an incredibly unreliable closer, and a shaky bullpen in front of him, Phillies fans sweated the final outs of what would be their team’s last win of the season. They never got comfortable, never got to treat the game like a party. It was nail-biting time until a few seconds after the final out.
In the Bronx, it was completely different. A 2-0 lead became 4-1, then 7-1, and even after a Ryan Howard homer cut the game to 7-3, there was an air of inevitability to the process. There was no fear, no worry, no sense of impending doom. Even with two runners on and two outs in the seventh, the ballpark never felt the way Citizens Bank Park had 48 hours prior. That, as much as anything else, is the difference between Mariano Rivera and anyone else. Every fan, every media member and nearly every player in that ballpark knew how the game was going to end once the Yankees pushed their lead to 4-1 in the third: with #42 on the mound, 50,000 people out of their minds, and a very happy dog pile.
They won! My god, they won and I’m here for it! This place is crazy, the upper deck is shaking… and oh my God, they won! The Yankees are the champs! The Yankees are the champs! Mariano!!! Hideki!!!! A-Rod!!! This is amazing! Number 27, baby! The first one in The House That George Built! Don’t clap! Don’tclapdon’tclapdon’tclapdon’tclap! [one small clap]
The Yankees’ win was as workmanlike as a May victory over the Indians might be. Andy Pettitte worked quickly through his first six outs on 24 pitches, getting a double play out of Chase Utley-it was very tense in the park during that at-bat-along the way. In the bottom of the second, Hideki Matsui hit an 89 mph fastball into the right-field second deck that lit up the building, his first of three big hits on the night that would, in the end, make him the World Series MVP.
Martinez never looked as good as he did in Game Two. He didn’t crack 85 mph in the first inning, and he didn’t get above 90 mph in the game. What had made Martinez so effective in his two postseason starts was the constant change of speeds along a range from the mid-70s through the low-90s. He didn’t have that top-end velocity last night, maxing out with three pitches at exactly 90 mph, so he didn’t have the Yankee hitters as off-balance as they’d been in Game Two. This was obvious from the very start, and if there was a point where Charlie Manuel might have been able to save the game, it came in the third inning, when Martinez loaded the bases with one out. He managed to strike out Alex Rodriguez, but that moment-a 2-1 game, bases loaded, two outs, a struggling pitcher unable to break 90-called for reinforcements. Manuel had J.A. Happ up in the bullpen, and some deft stalling might have provided him enough time to make a change that seemed necessary. He elected to leave Martinez in, and when Matsui hit a 0-2 fastball that wasn’t as high and away as it should have been into center field, the World Series was essentially over.
I’m standing on the field. I’m standing on the infield! I’m standing at second base at Yankee Stadium!!! I had this dream once, I think it was from 1977 to 1986. I feel light-headed. I should take some grass. No, take some pictures! No, get someone to take a picture of you! I have to take the credential off! Don’t take the credential off! God, I must look like amateur hour. Who’s that guy hugging his dad?
Nick Swisher, who was benched the last time the Yankees faced Martinez, was back in the lineup last night. Swisher had been to the postseason in 2006 and 2008 and had had exactly one good series in six shots with the A’s and White Sox, bounced back from a Game Two benching to have two big hits in Game Three’s comeback win in Philadelphia, the game that swung the series to the Yankees. Last night, decked out in World Series gear and carrying a banner, that night off seemed like it was a million miles away.
“This is a dream come true,” Swisher said after a long hug on the infield with his father and some pictures with his family. “I could not be more honored.”
Rodriguez didn’t have a big game, just a pedestrian single and two walks, coming home twice on Matsui knocks. Perhaps no player gets as much from the championship as does Rodriguez, who presumably sheds any number of labels that have been unfairly slapped on him. Rodriguez didn’t just go along for the ride; he was a devastating force in the Yankees’ 15-game run, their best player during the postseason, who combined overall performance with the kind of signature moments that will be central to his career highlight reel. Rodriguez has rarely engendered sympathy, but his role in bringing a championship to the Yankees changes the narrative around him, and should, if nothing else, cut off one line of criticism forever.
The stadium looks so very big from down here. The lights are incredibly bright. How can you play like this? How do these guys do it? It feels like the fences are a million miles away, but I can hit a sand wedge into the bleachers. OK, a pitching wedge. Who are… oh, the wives and girlfriends. They’re so excited! One of them just asked another, “Is this your first?” I guess that’s a club, too, maybe with even bigger rings. Am I shaking? I’m never going to be able to read my notes. I’m standing on the field at Yankee Stadium after the Yankees have won the World Series!!!!
Any losing team in the World Series becomes something of an afterthought, but the Phillies deserve a bit more than that. They went 9-6 this year on the heels of 11-3 last year, a 20-9 run over two seasons that stands with any team’s two-year performance in the decade. It’s a testament to the talent assembled, first by Mike Arbuckle, then Pat Gillick, and now Ruben Amaro Jr., that a six-game loss to the best team in the baseball in the World Series can leave a bit of a bad taste in their mouths. The Phillies’ talent base is such that a stretch like this doesn’t necessarily have to be a peak. With one of the best cores in baseball, a reasonable payroll and some top-tier prospects set to make their debuts in the next two seasons, the Phillies have some chance to become a perennial playoff team along the lines of the Braves of the 1990s.
On November 4, 2009, though, they had to watch as a different team ended their season, as they had a year ago, celebrating a title in front of their hometown fans. The Yankees are the World Champions.
The Yankees are the World Champions!!!!
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As much as I dislike the Yankees, I appreciate this at least a little because it's going to make A-Rod critics seem that much sillier in the future: "But he only had 1 hit in the clinching game - THAT is when it REALLY counts!"
First World Series in the old Yankee Stadium (opened 1923):
Yankees win Series. In 6 games. Lost Game 1 at home. Game 6 is won by a veteran left-hander (Pennock).
First World Series in the new Yankee Stadium (opened 2009):
Yankees win Series. In 6 games. Lost game 1 at home. Game 6 is won by a veteran left-hander (Pettitte).
Cue eerie music.
of course, rooting for sports teams is like casual nationalism and tribalism, but unlike nationalism, it is harmless and fun.
indeed. since when is failing to capitalize on an enormous financial advantage from 2000 to 2008 a reason to consider 2009 some sort of unexpected and/or amazing achievment? We're supposed to congratulate the franchise for getting out of their own way by buying CC Sabthia instead of buying another Carl Pavano? Please.
Having a dominant team with a payroll that's within striking distance of the other teams like the 90s Yankees is one thing. Having a dominant team only because you can out and outbid every other team on the best two or three free agents every year is bad for baseball.
I don't know though... I guess it's amazing and wonderful and feel-good that an all-star team beat a normal team to win the World Series.
Yankees payroll was $88 million higher than the Phillies at the start of the 2009 season. Phillies was $77 million higher than the cheapest team, the Marlins. Why is Yanks>Phillies=a heinous crime while Phillies>Marlins="a normal team"?
Here's a better example to see why people think it's a "heinous crime." The Yankees have a payroll so high, the next highest payroll is $52M less than them. Want to know how many teams are within $52M of the Phillies? 19. Only 4 teams fall below that threshold for the Phillies compared to 29 teams for the Yankees.
Congrats to the Phillies on buying their National League Peannant, lol.
Then again, the divisional competition for those 90s Yankees clubs wasn't (IMO) the same as it is now. The Red Sox are a real force now. The Rays have gotten really good, finally. Toronto would be a real contender in many divisions. The Os, well they have been bad.
I know this won't make it all ok for a Yankee hater, but the Yanks and Sox are in a massive arms race. If the Yankees stumble but a little, the Sox overtake them (and now the Rays can too). The Yankees missed the playoffs last year, so I guess they can't always buy a playoff appearance, can they?
That said, there is quite a bit of truth to what you say. And just as soon as I see a comprehensive restructuring plan that makes sense and is really fair (as opposed to a "screw the Yankees" plan, which is not the same thing), I'm in. Either way, I'll root for my team.
It was interesting to feel the difference that a competent and focused umpiring crew meant over the last few games, as opposed to those prior. But it did become clear that at least some additional use of replay is necessary going forward.
Last night, here in LA, I had a friend visit our home during the game who is a long-time Yankee fan. Fortunately, I have brainwashed my kids into hating the Yankees (I am a long time Orioles fan) and he was a little surprised at our vehement hatred of "his" team.
Graciously, my 12 and 16 year olds explained to him that while Jeter and Rivera were great players (and CC for that matter) and had nothing negative to say about them, the rest were "creeps".
Then, my wife asked me why do so many people dislike the Yankees.
Here is what I told her --
"Hon, if at next year's 11-12 year old Little League draft, I got the first five picks in the draft before any other coach got a pick, how do you think the coaches, parents and even kids on the other teams would feel about our team?"
Isn't that the point, Commissioner Selig?
$435 million to 3 guys in the space of 10 days last winter -- isn't that the "first five picks in the Little League draft"?
The lack of a real outcry is as sad as the inevitability of the Yankees' winning last night.
I do not know a fair and equitable solution to get to a salary cap. But, I would think the goal would be for teams to win/lose on their skills in selecting, developing talent rather than who can write the biggest checks.
KC splurges on a f/a bust- they are done for a few years. NYY can miss on 4 or 5 EVERY year and not miss a beat.
Talk of how a salary cap would screw the players is ridiculous. Simply negotiate a fixed percentage of the revenue to the players. If revenue tanks- players share the cost, if it grows- they share in the growth.
You must be living in a dreamworld. Yeah, because there is NO incentive in that system for ownership to lie about and hide revenues from the players...which, you know, won't cause labor discord or anything like that. How could the union possibly get screwed? I mean, it's not like these things are already happening without a cap in MLB or in other leagues with a cap...
Say hi to Bud, Bob Costas, and the rest of the Flat Earth Society for me.
It sounds like your goal is not fixing any economic issues in baseball.
It appears that your priority is simply to keep every last dime out of those "evil owners" pockets. Wow- that is a noble goal. (insert sarcasm emoticon).
My "dreamworld" is better than your jealousy-world.
What I do know for certain is that a salary cap isn't the answer. The NBA, NFL, NHL and--yes--NCAA are living proof.
And if I'm not mistaken, Happ was already warming at that point. If you wanted to stall the game for the minutes he needed to get fully warm you could have. A la the yanks earlier this postseason: send out the pitching coach, throw over to first three times in a row, have the catcher come out and then have Manuel come out. "He didn't have enough time to get warm," cannot be an excuse there.
In the rest of the park, it's about having more places to go. The HOK concourses encourage walking around, because you can track the game from almost anywhere.
It took me a while to get used to, but I think the empty seats we see are a side effect of the design of these ballparks.
However, I'd feel a lot less antagonism toward the organization if it had produced ONE player in the last decade that made any difference at all this post season. Cano is forever on the cusp, Melky is decent, Joba and Hughes show signs of maybe becoming something significant in the future, Gardner still can't hit enough. All of the significant contributors in the post season were big-dollar free agent signings or trades (some of which no other team could have afforded), or products of the last era of organizational talent (Jeter, Posada, Mo, Pettitte).
In an era where there is general agreement that there is a "right" way to put together a successful MLB team (mix young organizational talent with the right blend of veterans), it's irritating to watch the Yankees manage to get out of their own way enough to put the lie to it. It's also supremely irritating to watch a fan base that feels like a 6-year absence from the WS is a "drought", like they're owed a certain percentage of championships as a birthright.
They were and are a big reason why the Yankees won the title.
Don't forget that the Yankees had more homegrown talent on their roster than the Phillies in the world series - this is the way it goes for many contenders, they often trade upper tier minor leaguers for the final pieces during a championship run.
The Yankees may have had more homegrown talent on the roster than the Phillies, but the starting lineups don't compare - Philly has recent homegrown talent starting at C, 1B, 2B, SS, and (arguably) CF. Yankees have C, 2B, SS, and CF, but half of those are 90s guys, and none of the recent guys are huge contributors.
The Yankees are in no way representative of a team that "traded upper-tier minor leaguers for the final pieces". They always have strong teams on paper, but baseball is unpredictable enough to ensure they don't win every year. They threw a fortune at the two top free agents (and another of the top 10) this year, and it worked out, but they are the only team in baseball that operates this way, and are the only team that can afford to.
I'd call a 50 VORP a "major contribution."
A more telling indicator would be the percentage of ABs and IPs racked up by those home-grown players. I don't have those numbers handy, but since none of the Yankees starting pitchers (Pettitte is a free-agent signing) are home-grown, I'd have to think that an unbiased observer would say that the Phillies put considerably more of their organizational talent out there on a daily basis than the Yankees.
That said, the Yankees have deep pocket competition from the BoSox, the Phillies don't have to split a fan base in their geography (which is the 4th largest in the U.S.), and the amount of freely-available AND enormously-expensive talent is finite, so you still have to do the job right. This year at least, the Yankees did that. This Phillies' season ticket holder's tips his cap to them.
Philly's #1 (Lee) and #2 (Pedro) are mercs just like New York. Philly's bullpen got innings from Happ and Madson but that's it, the rest are mercs. New York got their innings from Rivera, Hughes, Chamberlain, Coke, and Robertson - all organizational products. Marte is the lone wolf.
Also, I think for this discussion Andy Pettite does not count as a free agent. He's not on his first contract but he's a product of the Yankees farm system who has spent the majority of his career playing for New York. Technicalities aside, I think the analysis is who has more "bought" players contributing to the team and Pettite doesn't seem like a merc for that purpose.
Sure, the US wins more medals than Austria, Italy and Turkey, but that has absolutely nothing to do with American athletes being better or trying harder. It's our competitive advantages, we have more people and more money so we send many more athletes to the games and have more chances to win medals.
Getting excited because the Yankees won the World Series is just silly, they are playing a different game from everyone else. It's that simple. No other team, in any sport, can go out in one season and sign the 3 best free agents available. Until MLB remedies this, it is a joke. For the past 10 years MLB has been lucky that the Yankees incompetence has obscured their advantages. My fear is that the Yankees will probably have to practically destroy baseball before it wakes up and saves itself.
Like 'em or hate 'em, the Yankees are good for business. Everything else is sour grapes.
Just sayin'.
The Yankees advantage vs the rest of baseball is no different, just less obvious. I actually want to feel bad for Yankees fans in a way, their tremendous advantage robs them of much the joy that one would normally experience when your team wins a championship, and when they don't win it all the failure is just exaggerated by their advantages. However, so many of their fans are so clueless and ignorant about their advantages and arrogant about their "excellence" that it's hard not to hate them.
But, it has to be hollow.
Like my kids varsity team scrimmaging the jv team, winning and then bragging about it. LOL.
The advantage is such that the Yanks can be considered chokers each year they do not win.
The people get excited about NY being successful because they make NY the city that it is.
Do you think if the Phillies reload or fix the bullpen that is enough to bridge the gap with the Yankees? Or should they take another step to improve the lineup as well by replacing Pedro Feliz with an improved right-handed bat at 3B?
Any other thoughts on what they should do?
In all seriousness, I think they really need another starting pitcher. Bullpens are extremely random and the Phillies have the resources to grab a few of the guys who are non-tendered a month from now and see what they can come up with to fill those roles. Behind Lee, the rotation really wasn't that strong. Happ is a nice piece but is likely a future 3-4 sort of starter. Blanton does not exactly inspire confidence. You can't count on Moyer or Martinez (if he's resigned) next year. And who knows which Cole Hamels shows up next year, the '08 monster or the supposedly unmotivated show-up-to-spring-training-fat-and-out-of-shape '09 model. If I'm the Phillies I throw my resources at John Lackey...
And has there ever been a six-game series with less real drama than this one?
Baseball is the most beautiful and fascinating team game ever invented. But the business/sport that is MLB is seriously broken, which is why leagues with vastly inferior products (see NFL, NBA) continually clean their clocks in terms of popularity, revenues, and fan interest.
I love baseball but that's as much from following it in print as it is from watching games on TV.
The relationship between viewership, public interest, media coverage, and ad dollars is far more complicated than simple TV ratings could ever illustrate. TV ratings without context are like unadjusted player statistics.
The bullpen needs to improve, but I think the holes in the Phillies' offense have been overlooked for too long.
Surely, people aren't actually upset about an owner spending on free agents, but rather that some owners/organizations can't. But if that's the case, why attack the people who actually spend the money instead of the people who could, but choose not to. The owners that choose not to are almost certainly worse for mlb because they are failing to reinvest earnings back into the sport. While the Yankees are still at (or near) the top of potential, there's no reason for that to always be the case. In fact, many analysts think that the Red Sox have more potential for spending power, with being able to draw from a regional fan base comparable to NY and more sports enthused fans. There are many teams that have the potential to spend like the Yankees if they choose to. What are we really upset about? That some teams have owners Willing to spend more than others? or that some teams have locations that Enable them to spend more?
Personally, I'm more concerned with the latter.
Take the analogy of a farmers market (mlb) where different farmers (teams) are all given plots of land of varying sizes and quality (market size and fan enthusiasm). Winning it all could be compared to a farmer earning the most money in the market. But all people seem to be doing is becoming enraged about the farmer who has cultivated all his land and worked the soil well. That's not going to fix the problem guys. Arguing that no farmer should be allowed to spend more than x amount on seed (players) isn't the best thing for the market (sport). Be concerned about and try to fix the actual problem, not the symptom that shows when one farmer with lots of land does it right.
Demand better revenue sharing based on market size, not a salary cap. And don't complain about the one large scale guy who spends well when you're letting the ones who don't off the hook. That just sounds like sour grapes and isn't addressing what you're actually concerned about.
Unless you actually do think that organizations should spend less than they're capable of to field worse teams than they should. In which case, by all means, keep on going.
The Yankees have capitalized on their market, and they've invested heavily in their product. As a fan, I love it. But they do have a built-in advantage. So lots of revenue sharing sounds good to me... and yet you have to get owners who will spend it. But FORCING them to spend it is stupid, because teams need the flexibility to plan for rebuilding cycles. So the solution, it seems to me, is to make sure you get good owners who you trust to try to win. And that, in the end, is the real problem. Baseball is a cartel, and Selig & friends can keep out whomever they wish to keep out (imagine Steinbrenner buying a club today. Not a chance in hell!).
Ask Tribune.
Nothing brilliant to add-you wrote an outstanding column. I've been a Yankee fan since 1955,but your comments while you were actually on the field is something every Yanke fan will appreciate. I must say, my admiration for the Phillies grew as we got deeper into the Series. Really not much difference between these two ball clubs.
Best Regards
Joe, I can't believe the Yanks won the Series and all you could think about was getting stoned.
If you believe that the league needs better revenue sharing, fine, I agree with you. But the logical leap to "Yankees fans shouldn't be happy they won, since they bought it" just makes you a petty asshole.
What really annoys baseball fans west of the Hudson River (and east of the Connecticut state line) is the sheer inconsistency of many Yankee fans on this economic argument. Yankee fans, it seems, want it both ways: they want a free market to spend media revenue and purchase player contracts but a not so free market for franchise relocation.
The argument, as I understand it, is that the Yankees should be able to spend what whatever revenue their team generates, even if their payroll dwarfs the league average. Fair enough, if MLB was truly a free market. But MLB is not anywhere close to a free market. If Tampa Bay or Minnesota or Florida have poor attendance, can they move to a more desirable location? No, they can't because a team, such as the Yankees, can exercise theit territorial rights to block relocation into their designated area. If the poor teams could move, we would have at least three teams in the New York market. I suspect that we would have four or five: the current teams in Queens and the Bronx, one in Northern New Jersey, one in Long Island and maybe one in Brooklyn. The upshot of such relocation is that the Yankees and Mets would have no choice but to charge more competitive prices for tickets. An actual free market would not only promote competitive balance but would make attendance at actual baseball games more affordable for the consumer.
MLB is, for the most part, against frnachise relocation and I don't have a quarrel with that policy. Stability is good for baseball and franchise relocation disappoints and frustrates fan bases that have supported teams through good times and bad. But if MLB is not going to let Kansas City relocate to Jeresy City, then they have a responsibility to provide an economic structure that gives all teams a chance.
The luxury tax and revenue sharing have made the game more competitive, as shown this decade, but the economic system is still a problem. Because of their disproportionate share of media revenue, the Yankees went on a half-billion dollar spending spree last winter to sign Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett and essentially buy the World Series. Every other team had to scale back because of the economic downturn in the U.S.
In sum, what we have now is the New York Yankees and their $200 million payroll and 29 Washington Generals. Outside of Yankee fanatics, does anyone else really want that?
It seems like you missed the point of the italicized segments, eighteen.
It's pure excitement when in 2008 we had to sit through the mediocrity that was Molina as catcher (Posada only played in 51 games in 2008 due to injury), Giambi at first base, a forgettable, weak bench and a starting staff that featured a mediocre Andy Pettitte, the rascal Darrell Rasner, the immortal Sidney Ponson and a mediocre Chien Ming Wang, plus a mediocre pen outside of Rivera with the forgettable Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and Kyle (the gas can) Farnsworth and, finally, the waste that is Kei Igawa tring to remember how to pitch in the minors.
Is it any wonder the brass went hard after C.C, Tex, and to a lesser extent, Burnett? Tex could have signed with Boston, but didn't, going all out for C.C. was a foregone conclusion (it was no certainty that he would sign with an east coast team) and Burnett was a big gamble as Cashman kept his fingers crossed that Burnett wouldn't get injured (again).
Then Cashman added bits and pieces for the bench and then some of the Yankee prospects blossomed enough to put them to good use in the pen.
The Yankees went for it this year, using money (wisely), brains and the talent on hand. It wasn't all about the money--the least paid Yankee starter, Pettitte, was the pitching star for them while C.C. didn't dominate, Burnette only had 1 good game out of 2 and Teixeira was almost a non-factor as a hitter (though his defense was outstanding--but they didn't get him for his glove).