Daily Archives: October 20, 2009

From Roy Ayers to Teix, Cano (all the hitters, really) and the Big Fella.

It’s on you.

Go git ’em BOYS!

Okay, maybe a ‘lil bit.

I thought I’d find more Yankee fans in a state of fury today. But the ones I’ve spoken to have been reasonable.

One thing is for sure, everyone is placing the blame for yesterday’s loss squarely on Joe Girardi’s shoulders. As Cliff mentioned earlier it was a dispiriting loss. Tit for tit, as Dwight Schrute would say. Yanks won a tough one on Saturday, lost a tough one on Monday.

Still, the Bombers have Sabathia on the hill tonight in a game that feels like Game 4 of the ALCS in 1998–the El Duque game. I was dating a girl in Brooklyn at the time and I was sick that night, my stomach killing me. So I begged out of going to a party with her–she was not pleased or understanding, and the relationship didn’t last too long after that–and went back to her apartment and watched that game in bed, hiding under the covers for most of it.

I have faith in CC though and am eager to see how the Yanks bounce back after a tough loss. Let’s see what kind of onions these dudes really have, eh?

Today’s news is powered by . . . cellos and Metallica:

• CC on 3 days rest? No problem:

. . . And in four career regular-season starts made on three days’ rest, he (Sabathia) has posted a 3-1 record and a 1.01 ERA, averaging nearly a strikeout per inning.

“You know that going on certain rest that you’re not going to have your best fastball,” Sabathia said. “So you’ve just got to stay under control and make sure your delivery is good, and make sure you go out there and throw strikes.”

. . . the Yankees also knew that the benefits would last more than one game. Starting Sabathia on short rest would also allow them to use A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte on regular rest in Games 5 and 6, before bringing Sabathia back on regular rest, if necessary, for a potential Game 7 at Yankee Stadium.

. . . Amassing 230 innings in the regular season, Sabathia fell short of his 2008 regular-season total by 23 innings. And so he entered the postseason fresh.

“You look at everything,” Girardi said. “The thing about CC is he doesn’t have the amount of innings that he had the last two years in the regular season. We slowed him down. He’s been able to have extra rest, and that’s why we feel good about it. We wouldn’t ask him to do something that we didn’t think he was capable of, or that he didn’t have a chance to be successful at.”

• 20 post-season homers for the Captain.
• MLB.com heaps praise on Mo:

Rivera’s 36 saves in postseason play are the most in Major League history. The most remarkable aspect of those saves is that 12 of them have been two innings or more. Rivera’s 0.72 postseason ERA — spread over 81 appearances — is also tops for anyone with at least 30 innings.

Girardi got three rings as a player, largely because of Rivera. Now, he hopes to ride his closer to another as manager.

“I think the Yankees have been very blessed to have Mo over this long run that he has had,” Girardi said. “Obviously, if you blow a save during the regular season, you have a lot of time to make up for that. But if you blow a save during the postseason, in a short series, there’s not quite so much time. He has meant so much to this organization and to the success of this organization in the playoffs.”

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