Daily Archives: October 20, 2003

Veteran baseball writers Charles Pierce and Allen Barra share their thoughts on the Yanks, Sox, Marlins and the World Serious. Their exchange is good for a laugh and worth checking out.

Yankee fans have never been known for their patience, and neither has Alfonso Soriano. ‘Lil Sori has heard the boo birds at the Stadium over the last week as he waves meekly at breaking ball after breaking ball. Bill Madden suggests today that the Yanks should consider moving their dynamic young second baseman:

Going into last night’s Game 2 of the World Series, Soriano was hitting .222 with 18 strikeouts in 54 at-bats (or one in every three). “If the Yankees are smart, they’ll look to deal Soriano now while his value is still high and before he starts to make big money,” one NL scout observed last night.

The Yankee high command has had internal discussions about whether to pursue trade talks with the Royals about center fielder Carlos Beltran.

The Royals have conceded they’re going to have to move Beltran, who is a free agent after next season, and Soriano, who likely will get a bump from $800,000 to over $2 million in arbitration, would still be a cheap alternative whom they could control for three years.

One big problem, however: Beltran’s agent is Scott Boras, whose clients (other than Bernie Williams) the Yankees have steadfastly avoided because of an acrimonious relationship that goes all the way back to Brien Taylor, the ill-fated 1991 No. 1 draft pick.

I don’t think the idea of moving Soriano is a poor one. He is an exciting but streaky offensive player, and a poor defensive one. Maybe he would fare better in the outfield than he has at second base, and maybe he wouldn’t. I certainly buy into the theory of moving a player too early rather than too late. Regardless of how he’s struggled in the post season, Soriano is still young and has a lot of pop in his bat. The idea of Beltran landing in New York seems remote, but it sure would solve some long-term problems.

Tom Boswell has a thoughtful piece today on Hideki Matsui and why he represents everything that is both good and bad about the Yankees:

With his 415-foot blow, Matsui, who signed for $21 million for three years, showed why he is such an excellent symbol of everything that is best about the Yankees as exemplary players, but worst about a Yankees organization that can, to a greater degree than any team in any sport, consistently buy championships.

Like Mike Mussina, Jason Giambi, David Wells and Jose Contreras, Matsui is just the latest offseason prize for which the Yankees outbid every other team. So what if Contreras has been something of a bust? Matsui has more than made up for it. That’s the real infuriating meaning, the true distortion, that the Yankees’ $180 million payroll introduces to the sport. In other words, Matsui embodies the reason so many in baseball resent, and even hate, the Yankees while also admiring and coveting their marvelous players.

On the field, Matsui fits perfectly into the Yankees tradition of classic ballplayers. He looks ideal in any photo that includes Jeter, Bernie Williams, Giambi and Alfonso Soriano — all of whom look like the exact physical prototypes one might create in a laboratory for their respective positions.

…For those who love the Yankees of George Steinbrenner, as well as those who despise them, Matsui showed again Sunday night why the Bronx is still the home of the most elegant, clutch collection of players that bottomless wealth can buy.

What I find upsetting about Yankee fans is the fact that they think the Yankees are actually entitled to win the championship every year. This is the culture that Steinbrenner promotes, I know, but for any self-respecting baseball fan to adopt it, is purely ridiculous. It’s arrogance–“breath-taking arrogance,” as my father likes to say—in its finest form.

The sad part about it is that these fans are missing the point. They don’t “get” what Joe Torre and his players like Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera seem to grasp so convincingly: Winning is hard. What they’ve been able to accomplish since 1996 is incredibly rare and amazingly difficult. I get the sense that Joe Torre appreciates every post season game he manages with the Yankees. You’d think his humility would rub off on more Yankee fans.

At work today, I spoke with a guy who was upset that the Bombers lost Game One only because it will ruin their chances to sweep the Marlins. Oy veh. Sure the Yankees appear to be a better team than Florida, but again, so did the Giants and even the Cubs and look where that got them.

I don’t know whether the Yankees will win the Serious or not, but I’m not shallow enough to suggest that just because they show up, the Marlins will stick their heads in the sand and give up.

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Oh, I have to apologize to my pal Peter Schilling for taking so long to provide a link, but for extensive, and articulate World Serious coverage, be sure and check out the guys over at Mudville Magazine. You’ll be pleased you made the trip.

It was a cold, hard weekend in Boston, and it proves to be a long winter for Red Sox Nation. The Fenway faithful is still reeling over the Home Nine’s dramatic Game 7 loss to the Yankees last week. I waited until Saturday to call my friend John. After all, what can you say to a mourning Sox fan when you root for the Yankees without sounding like a patrionizing jerk?

He was not a happy camper and I asked him where this loss ranks in Sox history (John is in his mid-’30s, old enough to remember ’78 and certainly old enough to recall ’86).

“This is the worst one ever.”

Worse that ’86? How could that be? The Sox were one out–one strike–away from a championship that year.

“Yeah, but they still had another game to play. There was still a chance. This was worse. This was Game 7, and this was the Yankees.”

Ben Jacobs was too young to remember ’86, so the 2003 team popped his cherry so to speak:

Today, I am finally, truly a member of that great and sorrowful entity called Red Sox Nation. Sure, even before today I had rooted with all my heart for the Boston Red Sox. I had hung on every pitch, lived and died a little with every win and loss. But never, before last night, had the Red Sox made me cry.

…[Yet] despite the fact that the story remained much the same, this was a great season to be a Red Sox fan. This season was a wildly exciting rollercoaster ride from the first game to the last. So what if last night it felt like the ride operator pulled the stop lever before we had reached the thrilling finale to the ride, leaving us momentarily disoriented as we stumbled off the ride and tried to refrain from being ill. When you choose to get on the big, exciting rides, you sometimes get sick. If you know what’s good for you, though, you always come back.

Edward Cossette is moving on as well:

Rumor has it baseball is still being played somewhere in the USA but I can’t really be bothered to verify this.

I should go on record again confessing that I’m a totally myopic baseball fan. Heck, I don’t even think I can call myself a baseball fan at all, at least not in the sense of guys like Dave Pinto and Will Carroll and all the others who love the game for the sake of the game and will watch any two teams on the diamond just for the pure joy of it all.

Me? I’m a Red Sox fan and that’s all I really care about. When the Red Sox season ends, baseball ends and it’s then time to fire up the hot stove and wait until Spring Training.

Meanwhile, Red Sox manager Grady Little is taking a beating in Beantown. Gordon Edes of the Globe is one of the few pundits who is backing Little:

Does anyone really believe that Martinez talked Little into leaving him in the game? Or is it more likely that Little knew, even as he was going to the hill, that he would leave Martinez in the game, that pitching coach Dave Wallace and bench coach Jerry Narron and catcher Jason Varitek had not given him any reason to do otherwise? Varitek, when asked if he expected Martinez to come out for the eighth, said, “No question.”

Call me a Little apologist. That’s still kinder than the incredible array of names being hurled at a man who managed for 16 years in the minor leagues and two seasons in the toughest big-league environment there is, and apparently still knows less about the game than everyone managing from the comfort of their living rooms or their seats in the press box.

In this rush to judgment to banish Little, shouldn’t someone make the case that Little just might have had something to do with the fact that the Sox even made it to Game 7 of the ALCS, that the Sox and Yankees played 26 times and it took extra innings in the 26th game to determine which team was better, and that winning manager Joe Torre, who has four Series rings, ranked outlasting Little’s Sox the greatest achievement of his career, even more than winning it all?

Apparently, all those comeback wins the Sox had this season, all the times they picked themselves up when things looked their darkest, all those times this club didn’t lose faith in itself — even when it was down, two games to none, to Oakland — Little had nothing to do with that. But lose Game 7, and that all falls on Little’s head. He’s Gump, he’s The Idiot, he’s the guy who choked when the spotlight was most intense.

Will management bring Little back? Dan Shaughnessy reports today that:

A reflective Larry Lucchino said yesterday that the Red Sox will have no word about the future of manager Grady Little until after the World Series is over.
“We don’t have any decision to announce,” said the Sox CEO from his home in Boston. “We’re going to take some time this week to review the season. Tom [Werner], John [Henry], Theo [Epstein], and I will talk. That’s all that’s appropriate to say now.

Part of the reason for the delay is the request of commissioner Bud Selig that teams refrain from making major announcements during the World Series. “Having just had issues with Major League Baseball last week [the Sunday night `Three Amigos’ press conference at Fenway], we want to be mindful of baseball regulations,” said Lucchino.

…”After that loss I vowed not to watch the World Series or eat solid food until the World Series was over,” he said. “I have broken both vows. But I can report that every restaurant in Boston was jammed Saturday night. Everyone in town went out. I’ve started to take food orally again. I’m on the road to recovery.

“Before Game 7, I braced myself for triumph or disaster. But it’s become a little more painful as I get a better sense of how unbelievably close we came. I’ve lived with other disappointments in my life and I’ll live with this, too. With a little heartache. The weather outside now feels like the depths of fall, a metaphor for the baseball season — cold and over for us.”

In the long, dark days since the loss, he has heard the voices of an angry Nation.

“Everyone is at their computer e-mailing me and John. It’s inspiring that people feel so strongly about Red Sox issues, and yes, many have offered their opinion on managerial matters and I know the talk shows are having a field day.”

The Red Sox have a host of decisions to make this winter. After next season is over, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe will all be free agents. Boston faces some painfully difficult choices, but fortunately they have a bright, and fearless young GM in Theo Epstein. Their ownership is progressive and has plenty of money. It could be worse.

It may be a harsh winter for Red Sox Nation, but come spring, their hope will spring eternal yet again.

Jon Weisman has a good post regarding the health of Shawn Green, the L.A. Dodgers’ terrific right fielder, who is the best Jewish ballplayer since Sandy Koufax. Green played hurt during the 2003 season and last week he had surgery to repair his left ailing shoulder. But according to Will Carroll, Green—who I used to call “The Jewish Jeter” when he played in Toronto—might not ever return to his old form.

Andy Pettitte pitched another huge game for the Yankees last night, and was an Aaron Boone error away from hurling a complete-game shut out. He would have to settle for a 6-1 victory—Jose Contreras relieved Pettitte for the final out—as the Yankees tied the Serious at a game apiece.

The Yankees have lost the first game of each playoff round this season, and for the third time, Pettitte has won Game Two (It was the 11th straight win Pettitte has earned after a Yankee loss). Pettitte threw a lot of pitches in the first inning against the Marlins last night, but ended the frame by striking out Ivan Rodriguez looking; Luis Castillo, who got a late jump off of first, was thrown out at second to complete the double play.

After that, Pettitte settled down. His cutter was nasty, and the Marlins hitters didn’t stand much of a chance. Florida put the lead-off runner on base for five innings in a row (the 4th through the 8th) but couldn’t capitalize. Pettitte was helped by a bit of good fortune as well:

With one on and nobody out, Miguel Cabrera hit a ball that appeared to carom off the batter’s left leg and into fair territory. The Yankees turned an easy double play since neither Marlin tried to run. Then Derrek Lee lined out on a rocket to right and it was on to the eighth for Pettitte.

The Yankees got on the board early when Godziller Matsui bashed a 3-0 pitch from Mark Redman over the center field fence in the first inning for a three-run homer. According to Mike Lupica in the Daily News:

“We need a dinger tonight,” Reggie Jackson said at the batting cage. “And we need one early.”

Matsui made a Reggie swing in the first. Got himself a Reggie dinger. He only hit 16 home runs during the regular season, but showed from the start that he was the kind of pro who fit right in with Pettitte and Jeter and Posada and Williams, old-school Yankees who have been here the longest.

You know he would have gotten along just fine with Tino and Brosius and O’Neill. He turned out to have an awful lot of O’Neill in him, which means more line drives than long balls. But he hit a big home run early in Game 3 against the Twins, and he hit that bomb last night.

“A good situational hitter,” Torre said.

Nick Johnson–who had three hits on the night—bunted for a single in the second and Juan Rivera drove him in with a double. Redman didn’t last much longer, and Alfonso Soriano—who has slumped terribly in the postseason—added a two-run blast off Rick Helling to give the Bombers all the offense they would need.

Soriano has been showered with boos of late, and his home run came just in the nick of time. Unfortunately for Nick Johnson, he broke out of his slump just in time to find a seat on the bench in Florida. Jason Giambi, who has not played in the field since the playoffs began, will play first when the Serious moves south, and Johnson will come off the bench. It would be hard to bench Giambi, no matter how ineffective he’s been, but I wonder if his glove will cost the Yankees. If it does in Game 3, and he doesn’t hit either, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Johnson back out there again.

The Marlins got the split they were looking for in New York, and return home with their cocky, young ace going in Game 3. Mike Mussina will face off against Mr. Beckett, and the Florida crowd—which is sure to be populated with Yankee fans—promises to be more enthusiastic than the Stadium crowd has been through two games. Maybe then, Mike Vaccaro, and the rest of the country will wake up and enjoy a riveting Serious.