Aw, hell. It’s never fun once the season is over, though in some ways it is a relief.

Here are some final thoughts via the intrepid Chad Jennings.

Over at Grantland, Jonah Keri has a thoughtful take on what happened and what’s next for the Bombers.

And here’s our man Cliff.

Thank you guys for hanging around for our 10th season here at the Banter. Don’t go away, we’ll be here, as usual, all day, every day.

[Photo Credit: Hiki]

It was already 1-0 when I got on the train to come home this evening. It was 2-0 when I went out of cell service deep beneath Harlem. I held my breath as the train climbed up from 191st St to Dyckman, 6-0 and the season was over before I even got to my stop.

The Yankees completed their crash out of the ALCS with a loss to the Tigers, 8-1. Swept for the first time since 1980. They had only two hits to finish the series batting .157 as a team. If justice prevails, this will not be remembered as Arod’s Waterloo but rather as lineup-wide systemic failure.

The roots of this sweep are buried in Game 4 of the ALDS when the Yankees failed to finish the Orioles. They could have started CC Sabathia in Game 1 of the ALCS and then who knows? Some will say it doesn’t matter, that the Yankees didn’t hit enough this series to bother entertaining “What If” scenarios, but for three games out of four, they were one hit, or one call from an umpire, away from winning.

CC Sabathia pitched a whale of a game in Game 5 of the ALDS, but he didn’t have anything left for this one. For the first time in nine games, the Yankee starter didn’t give the lineup a chance to win. CC came up small, no way to sugarcoat that. I think his two games against the Orioles probably speak louder than this stinkifesto, but we’ll see how the fans react.

I know Alex Rodriguez was bad in this postseason. He looked incapable of hitting a right handed pitcher and I don’t fault Joe Girardi for seeking other options. Eric Chavez pinch hit for Alex Rodriguez in Game 4 of the ALDS. He replaced Alex for 12 at bats in total in the Postseason and went 0 for 12 with six strikeouts.

As disappointing as this series was, from Jeter’s injury to the Alex-drama to today’s drubbing, I refuse to be crushed about this outcome. The Yankees played a very gutsy series with Orioles, and won even while hitting like shit. They played three tough games with the Tigers and lost, while hitting even worse. They have been playing playoff-tension-level baseball since early September and have answered every must-win game with a win until the ALCS. They have earned a lot of respect.

I refuse to be crushed because I am part of a household that is just learning about baseball and if you can’t take losing, you can’t enjoy this game. I am part of a household, that for reasons that will never be entirely clear, cares as much about the Pittsburgh Pirates as the New York Yankees. In this environment, disappointment is allowed but rending of garments is exposed as self-centered silliness.

I rarely felt like I was watching a World Champion when the Yankees played this year, but they were the best team in the American League for 162 games and they own as much claim to the “best team in baseball” as anybody. Admittedly, 2012 didn’t feature a truly great team, but hey, maybe that means 2013 is wide open, too. The Yanks don’t have that much to do to be right back in it again next year.

Photo via Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

Game Four, Take Two:

Ichiro Suzuki LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez SS

Never mind holding back: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Jeremy Geddes via This Isn’t Happiness]

Despite historic postseason performances from Raul Ibanez and CC Sabathia, the Yankees find themselves on the brink of being swept in the ALCS.

How would you describe the Yankees’ offense this postseason? Awful? Atrocious? Abominable? Arod? How about Above Average? Believe it or not, the Yankees’ postseason line of .200/.265/.317 adds up to an OPS that is a tick above the American League’s combined output of .573.

2012 American League Postseason Statistics

Source: ESPN.com

On an individual basis, the Yankees can actually boast having three of the league’s best hitters in terms of postseason OPS. Among all players with at least 10 plate appearances in October, Raul Ibanez’ OPS of 1.308 is easily the best mark. And, ironically, it doesn’t even begin to explain just how impactful he has been this October. In addition to Ibanez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira have also earned a place atop of the A.L.’s postseason leader board, albeit at much more modest rates of production.

Top-10 A.L. 2012 Postseason Performers, By OPS

Note: Minimum of 10 plate appearances.
Source: baseball-reference.com

Unfortunately for the Bronx Bombers, the standout performances by Ibanez, Jeter, and Teixeira have been canceled out by the rest of the lineup. Six other regulars in the team’s postseason lineup have posted an OPS below the league average, including five players with a rate below .426. Although Alex Rodriguez has received the brunt of the criticism for the team’s offensive struggles, his OPS of .333 actually ranks higher than two other teammates. Robinson Cano’s microscopic line of .083/.108/.139 in 37 plate appearances is easily the most shocking performance of the postseason, but the most amusing line belongs to Eric Chavez. In 14 plate appearances as Arod’s replacement, the lefty swinging third baseman has produced absolutely nothing.

Bottom-10 A.L. 2012 Postseason Performers, By OPS

Note: Minimum of 10 plate appearances.
Source: baseball-reference.com

There’s no consolation knowing that the Yankees’ offense has been as good, or as bad, as the rest of the league, but it does provide some perspective. Granted, the Bronx Bombers weren’t put together to be just an average offense, but the degree to which the league’s hitters have struggled, or pitchers have excelled, does mitigate some of the lineup’s culpability. Scapegoats are a postseason essential, but before leading too many to the slaughter, fans, and team executives, would be wise to look at the big picture first.

Beauty of a story by Matt Tullis over at SB Nation’s Longform site.

Diggin’ in the crates, here’s Pat Jordan’s 1988 GQ profile on Jaco Pastorius.

Who Killed Jaco Pastorius?

You got the job, kid.

“You know those junkyards along the highways in Jersey? Well, they have scrap heaps just like that for athletes..Athletes are cattle. They’re raised, fed, sold and killed…. Baseball moved me toward the front of the bus, and it let me ride there as long as I could run. And then it told me to get off at the back door.” –Larry Doby, Sports Illustrated

Earlier this year the Yankees were shopping for a DH. The rumored candidates included Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Vladimir Guerrero. Raul Ibanez got the job and the Yanks made the right pick. Damon and Matsui eventually signed minor league contracts and were cut well before the season ended. Guerrero, a possible Hall of Famer, didn’t even get a sniff from a big league team.

Now, none of these players faced the hardships confronted by earlier generations of ballplayers like Doby–they’ve all been paid millions of dollars for their efforts. But the truth remains, once you old and can no longer produce, you’re a piece of meat. Yesterday’s meat.

And so we come to Alex Rodriguez who has been publicly shamed by the Yankees over the past week. They’ve pinch hit for him and they’ve benched him. There was a New York Post story about him flirting with women during a game and yesterday rumors had it that the Yanks may try to dump him on the Miami Marlins this winter.

I think he’s done in New York. And I believe the Yankees are toying with him now in order to get him to agree to a trade this winter. One that will be costly for them but rid them of his presence. He is being punished for their mistake. When management signed him in 2007 it was before his PED case broke but they had to know he was using. Don’t get that twisted, they knew. And they made a terrific mistake signing that deal. Now they are punishing him for their mistake.

And since this is Alex Rodriguez they may figure it won’t reflect poorly on them. Maybe they believe other free agents still won’t think twice about coming to New York even if this is how they treat one of their big ticket players (and yeah, I don’t think it’s a leap to imagine someone in the front office planting that story in the Post). But right now, the way the Yankees have handled Rodriguez in this series smacks of a panic that’s been unlike them for the past few years. This isn’t about winning games. You can rationalize it all you want and yes, if Rodriguez was playing well this wouldn’t be an issue, but this is about running him out of town.

He’s a goner.

Tonight’s game will be played tomorrow afternoon.

Some brighter news, as I mentioned in the previous thread, The Banter was singled out in this week’s “Best of NYC” issue of The Village Voice:

Sportswriting, whether in print or online, has become awfully balkanized to name a single writer as above the rest. That said, Alex Belth is good both in his long free-association pieces on his website, Bronx Banter, and reviewing books for Sports Illustrated. But as a website host, he truly excels. Bronx Banter goes far beyond the Bronx and baseball with all kinds of terrific interviews (Pat Jordan, Pete Dexter, the late George Kimball) and a terrific array of great reprints from writers of the past like W.C. Heinz, Murray Kempton, Roger Kahn, etc. No one cares more about the history of New York sportswriting or does more to preserve it. In an age when past memories are fading without new ones coming along to replace them, Bronx Banter offers a wonderful mix of past and present with an eye on the future. It’s a New York treasure.

Happy to share this with all of you guys. Y’all keep the Banter fresh. I love doing this, man. We’re coming up on our 10th anniversary and I enjoy this joint as much now as I did when I started. Nah, scratch that, I like it even more.

Ya heard?

[Photo Via: Chillwalker]

Season on the line.

Ichiro Suzuki LF
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez DH
Eric Chavez 3B
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner CF
Eduardo Nunez SS

Never mind the mishegoss: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Thomas Prior]

Giants, Cards: NLCS Game 3.

We’ll have the lineup once it’s posted.

Go Baseball.

[Image by Matt Duffin]

From My Modern Met.

Is Ben Affleck the new Clint Eastwood? Over at Salon.com, Allen Barra gets into it.

Kobe Bryant spoke with Alex Rodriguez the other day. According to Ramona Shelburne at ESPN:

“I just say to him, ‘You’re Alex Rodriguez. You’re A-Rod. You’re one of the best to ever do it,'” Bryant said. “I think sometimes he kind of forgets that and wants to try to do the right thing all the time. Which is the right team attitude to have. But other times you really have to put your head down and say, ‘Hell with it’ and just do your thing.

“Hopefully the next game they’ll kind of give him a chance, maybe put him back at third and let him respond to the pressure, which I think he’ll do.”

Although both are among the best to ever play their respective sports, Bryant and Rodriguez would seem to be very dissimilar.

“We’re different,” Bryant said. “But you’re talking about, ‘He’s one of the best to ever play.’ I think really the difference is, sometimes he forgets he’s the best….Where, I don’t.”

And here’s Doug Glanville in an insightful piece, also at ESPN:

In spring training of 2003, Alex’s locker was next to mine. We talked every day and I appreciated that he took the time to do that. I saw a super hard-working, talented player at that time. He was in the cage hitting curveballs, and he was one of the best shortstops to go with his amazing offensive capability. I also saw someone who tried hard to fit somewhere, to fit in, which for most mega-stars is unusual. They usually expect everyone to bend around them. He sought the statesman status of a Cal Ripken Jr. He worked to command an aura of baseball to emulate the most respected in the game but, probably frustratingly, he mostly found people unmoved.

It was hard to imagine someone so good being so worried at the same time, but I came to understand that he was a star with the same insecurities of a player fighting for that 25th roster spot. Knowing that in the end we were all renting time in the game, taking out a lease from the great history and future of the game.

Just as success leads to more success, lack of confidence in your performance breeds more lack of confidence, and if you do not find a way to turn it around quickly and regain the decision-maker’s faith in you, you could find yourself in a new role permanently. Or on a new team.

Keep in mind Alex Rodriguez is learning these lessons at the tail end of his career, in front of the world. Lessons that were usually reserved for the typical player, who would have long since learned them along the way. So many players break in this way, starting out as the pinch hitter, the emergency outfielder. Then without the coverage of a long-term deal, your struggles are rewarded with learning all the non-starting ways to be a team player — the fourth outfielder, the double-switch guy, the utility infielder — and without the contract coverage or the cheapness of being a young player, there is less incentive for a team to let you work out your kinks.

[Photograph by Hengki Koentjoro]

The Yankees need another big game from CC Sabathia to avoid embarrassment of an ALCS sweep. (Photo: AP)

If the Yankees had brought tonight’s starting lineup on the road in Spring Training, the other team might have complained to the commissioner. It wasn’t March and the Tigers weren’t complaining.  With the season hanging in the balance, the Yankees were playing a pivotal postseason game against the best pitcher in baseball with a batting order no one could have imagined even one week ago.

It probably didn’t matter whom the Yankees sent to the plate against Justin Verlander, who, despite struggling with his command in the middle innings, limited the Bronx Bombers to two hits, both by Ichiro, over the first eight innings. Any other time, the potent Yankees offense would have made the Cy Young pay for falling behind in the count, but not this postseason.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Phil Hughes couldn’t match zeroes with Verlander. In fact, he didn’t even make it out of the fourth inning. After allowing a solo homer to Delmon Young in the top of the frame, Hughes pulled up lame with a sore lower back and then departed. Over the next six innings, the bullpen did its best to keep the game close, but a double by Miguel Cabrera in the fifth, which perhaps should have been caught by Curtis Granderson, increased the Tigers lead to 2-0. It might as well have been 20-0.

The ninth inning began with all the inspiration of a trip to the gallows. Then, Eduardo Nunez had what Verlander called one of the best at bats he had ever seen. After fouling off six pitches, including a slider, fastball, and change-up, Derek Jeter’s replacement did his best impression of the Captain, golfing a curveball over the left field fence. Maybe a reprieve was in the offing?

Brett Gardner followed Nunez’ battle with one of his own, but after eight pitches, the speedster grounded back to the mound. Although he didn’t reach base, Gardner’s at bat sent Verlander to the dugout and gave the Yankees two chances to tie the game off Phil Coke. They almost made the most of it.

Ichiro greeted Coke with a ground out, but then Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano singled, the latter breaking his nightmarish 0-29 slide in the postseason, setting the stage for Raul Ibanez. Could he do it again? Should he have even been given the chance?

In the regular season, Ibanez hit an abysmal .197/.246/.246 against southpaws, so, once again, under normal conditions, Girardi probably would have used a pinch hitter. However, nothing has been normal this October. Despite having Alex Rodriguez on the bench, Girardi eschewed the opportunity to use one of the league’s best hitters against lefties, something he had done in the ALDS as well. So, while the Tigers pitching coach went over Ibanez’ scouting report with Coke, Arod made no movement toward the bat rack. In fact, he didn’t even take off his sweatshirt. Undoubtedly, a soap opera to be continued, but at the moment, the Yankees had a bigger drama to attend.

Ibanez battled Coke to a full count, but what little life the Yankees had left was dashed by a curve ball down in the zone. The DH had a good swing, but came up empty, just like most of his teammates have for the entire postseason. A victory could have turned the series on its head, but instead, the Yankees find themselves on the precipice of a series sweep. Every Yankee fan knows only one baseball team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit in a best of seven series. Can the 2012 Bronx Bombers make it two? Before even beginning to consider that possibility, let’s see the Yankees score a run.

Here goes:

Brett Gardner LF
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Raul Ibanez DH
Russell Martin C
Eric Chavez 3B
Curtis Granderson CF
Eduardo Nunez SS

Last Chance Saloon tonight.

Never mind the Odds: Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Photo Credit: Steven Siegel]

Tonight…Justin Verlander aka Doom.

“It’s a fun challenge,” Mark Teixeira said. “People think we’re crazy to say that, but it is a fun challenge, because if you’re going to win a World Series, you got to beat the best, and he is the best right now. So we’re going to Detroit, their crowd’s going to be rocking, they’re going to be cheering for their own team, so we have an opportunity to do something special and win a few games out there.”

[Photo Credit: Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images]

Yeah, there’s life beyond the Yankees. I guess. So I’ve heard.

NLCS Game Two.

Have at it.

[Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images North America via It’s a Long Season]

Sticking with the Woody theme, watch this (oh, and to see the marquee for the old Regency Theater, never mind Tower Records, brings back fond memories):

The Yankees are using Jeff Nelson’s blown call–and perhaps Derek Jeter’s injury–to avoid the fact that have all but laid down and played dead when they are up to bat. It’s not the ump’s fault, fellas, it’s your own.