People talk about the great A.J., the good A.J., and the bad A.J.; tonight each made an appearance.  But unlike that winless August, Burnett hung tough, finishing strong in his final inning and, in the process, gave the Yankees some length from their starter.  Had it not been for a rested bullpen, Girardi said he most likely would have sent Burnett out for the 7th inning. Burnett said afterwards he can’t worry about “What the manager is saying/doing concerning the rotation.  I just need to go out and do my job.”

Burnett got an early boost from the Yankees offense.  Mark Teixeira drove in three runs on the night, putting the Yankees on the board in the 1st inning with an RBI double off A’s starter Brett Anderson.  Up 2-0 an inning later, Tex ripped a single through the left side to plate a pair of runners for a 4-0 lead.  Texeira single handedly has destroyed the A’s in the first three games of the series, going 8-10 with a walk and a hit by pitch in 12 plate appearances.

The A’s chipped away and cut the lead to a single run in the 6th when Burnett left a fastball up to Kevin Kouzmanoff with a man aboard.  The third baseman deposited it into the seats in right-center and suddenly it was a ball game.  Daric Barton came within inches of tying the game in the 5th when he narrowly missed the left field foul pole with a long drive, before adding to his American League lead in walks. But Burnett got Kurk Suzuki, who had two hits on the night, to fly out to end the inning.

Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera finished off the night, with Rivera earning his 28th save, but this game was all about Burnett.  Afterwards, Girardi was quite pleased with his starting pitcher.

“I thought he had good command tonight, for the most part.  His curveball was excellent tonight; he threw some really good changeups.  He had a couple of strikeouts with them..at times they looked like hard splits.  And when he gave up some runs, he went out and got some big outs.  That’s the main thing. I liked his approach and I liked what he did.”

Girardi also called the victory, “a personality win”, paraphrasing an old Don Zimmer adage about a “personality hit”.  Pitching coach Dave Eiland added, “This is a good win to build on.”

Derek Jeter, who reached on a hit and an error and scored two runs, knew how big Burnett’s start was.  ”It goes without saying that A.J. is a big part of this team.  He’s a guy who is capable of going out there and dominating games.  I thought this was a step in the right direction for him.”

Jeter’s teammates certainly hope he is right.

Notes

In addition to activating Lance Berkman from the disabled list, the Yankees added Jonathan Albaladejo, Greg Golson, and Chad Moeller to the expanded 40-man roster.  In addition, Damaso Marte was moved to the 60-day DL.

Austin Kearn’s snapped an 0-19 skid with a single in the 3rd inning.

Curtis Granderson’s season continues to improve.  Prior to the game he said, “I feel good about my swing.  I just want to continue to contribute down the stretch”.   The Grandy man had two hits off left-hander Brett Anderson tonight and is hitting .409 (9-22) against lefties since August 12.

Teixeira’s hot hitting continued despite a sore foot sustained when he was hit by a Vin Mazzaro pitch in Tuesday’s game.  Prior to the game Tex told me that the foot was sore, but manageable and that his thumb felt good as well.

Moeller’s call up came just in the nick of time.  Though he might not have pinch-hit Jorge Posada for Francisco Cervelli had the third catcher not been there, it was crucial when Posada was ejected after arguing a called third strike in the 8th inning.

Boone Logan struck out the only batter he faced, Jack Cust, and has retired 27 of the last 31 left-handed hitters he’s faced.

Last weekend the Giants played a crucial series against the division leading Padres, hoping to gain some ground and take over sole possession of first place. The series took on a life of its own when Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez guaranteed that they would sweep the Padres. Unfortunately for the Giants this did not happen and it helped drop the Giants to four games off the pace at the time and they are now five games behind the Padres in the race for the pennant.

The question everyone seems to be asking is how come when everything seems to be going right for the Giants, one series changes everything. The answer is they play 10 games below .500 when facing teams within their division. If you separate their stats to only include teams outside their division, the record speaks for itself at 57-33.

Twenty-five games over .500 is a sure sign of a great baseball team. Finish that many games over .500 and it gets you into the postseason, unless of course you reside in the A.L. East. So why can’t a team that is obviously talented not match up well against teams in its own division? The answer may be familiarity.

Due to baseball’s unbalanced schedule, teams within one division play against each other 18 times a season. This breeds a certain familiarity with each other that allows teams to exploit one another. Even the best players fall victim to the unbalanced schedule.

For all the things Mariano Rivera has accomplished during his career, being dominant over the Red Sox is not one of them. They see him more often than any other team and thus know how t0 beat him. This is what could be happening to the Giants.

Yes the Giants do have a fearful rotation consisting of power pitchers that at times can be throughly dominating, but they can each be beaten. Take Jonathan Sanchez’s start against the Padres last weekend.

The Padres obviously having faced Sanchez enough before, knew that if your patient he will have a huge pitch count. This proved to be the case as Sanchez struggled to get through four innings and put his team in a hole they could not recover from.

The Giants have about another fourth of the season yet to be played and if they can exploit the weaknesses of teams within their division, they can find themselves playing into October.

Ryan Lazo covers the Giants for Baseball Digest. You can email him at Lazorm09@sbu.edu, follow him on twitter here or visit his personal blog here.

Season Record: 72-45

The Yankees completed a six game road trip last week with stops in Arlington, Tx and Kansas City, Mo.  The results were mixed, but the Yankees managed to remain in first place, one game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The opener in Texas was a case of David slaying Goliath.  In this case it was outfielder David Murphy who almost single handedly beat the Yankees.  Despite one of A.J. Burnett’s better outings (7 IP 3 ER), the Yankees trailed Texas 3-2 in the 8th.  But Alex Rodriguez stepped up and slugged career home run 601 onto the grassy knoll in center field for a tie game.

The game went to the 10th where Michael Young and Josh Hamilton immediately reached on singles against Mariano Rivera.  A-Rod temporarily saved the day when he robbed Vlad Guerrero of an RBI single, but both runners moved into scoring position with one out.  The Yankees decided to intentionally walk Nelson Cruz to face Murphy, who had earlier smacked a 2-run home run.  Murphy came through again with a game winning single.

The Yankees looked like they would be swept in the two game series when the Rangers and Cliff Lee jumped out to an early 6-1 lead the next night.  But the Yankees chipped away cutting the lead to 6-5 before Marcus Thames homered off of Neftali Felix to tie the game.  One inning later it was Thames who came through again with a go ahead run scoring single.  The game didn’t end without drama though as Elvus Andrus led off the home half of the 9th with a triple off of Rivera.  But the greatest closer of all time lived up to his reputation and escaped the jam to preserve the 7-6 victory.

Going to Kansas City; Kansas City here I come.  The Yankees had taken 3 of 4 from the Royals back in July at the Stadium so they were naturally looking forward to a four game set with the Royals at the revamped Kauffman Stadium in KC.  Only the Royals weren’t such welcoming hosts.

The Yankees appeared to be toying with the Royals in the opener.  Starter CC Sabathia allowed KC base runners, but allowed just a single run through eight innings.  The Yankees bats put four runs on the board and looked like they would break things open at any minute.  But the game stayed tight and the Royals cut the lead to a single run off Sabathia in the 9th.  With Rivera unavailable, David Robertson struck out out Jason Kendall with two aboard to pull out the 4-3 win.

Starters Dustin Moseley and Kyle Davies were both shaky early in game 2, resulting in a 3-3 tie heading towards the middle innings.  Billy Butler put KC ahead with a solo blast in the 5th, but the rains came before the inning ended.  Play would resume, but not before another even longer delay turned the game over to the bullpens.  The Royals shut down the Bombers the rest of the way for a 4-3 win.

Saturday night was home run derby in Kansas City.  Especially for the active home run leader, Alex Rodriguez.  Tied 1-1 in the 6th, A-Rod crushed a Sean O’Sullivan pitch to dead center for a 2-1 Yankees lead.  Jorge Posada followed that with an even deeper blast to center and the Yankees were rolling.

Rodriguez slugged career home run 603, with a man aboard to center again for a 6-3 lead.  Then in the 9th, it was another 400+ ft. home run, this time to left for an 8-3 victory.  It was the fourth 3-home run game of A-Rod’s career and made Phil Hughes a 14-game winner.

The finale saw the Yankees bats silenced by Brian Bullington, a veteran that had kicked around the minors and majors for eight years.  On Sunday he would finally pick up his 1st career major league win. 

Bullington baffled the Yankees with a mix of fastball and numerous off-speed pitches.  He retired the first 12 men he faced, losing a perfect game in the 5th on Robinson Cano’s single.  He would allow only one other base hit, a single to Brett Gardner (who was erased on a steal attempt) in eight innings of work.

Burnett threw another gem for the Yankees, throwing a complete game 4-hitter, but a 1st inning RBI single by Butler stood up.  Joakim Soria picked up his 33rd save by retiring the Yankees in order in the 9th.

What’s Ahead

The Yankees returned home to start a seven game homestand on Monday, with the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners coming to town.

Injury front

Al Aceves threw a rehab assignment at Double-A Trenton and said afterwards that his back felt good.

The news was not so good for Andy Pettitte, who felt extreme sore hipness prior to his simulated game and may not be as far ahead as he had hoped.

Lance Berkman was listed as day to day after rolling his right ankle in a collision at 1st base on Sunday.

Drew Sarver is the Yankees content editor and contributor  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and followed on Twitter.

There have been other great closers who have come along that have given that “lights out” feeling to a game.  Mariano Rivera is perhaps the most memorable postseason closer of all time with his 39 saves and counting.  Eric Gagne was astounding in 2003 closing 55 games in 55 tries while striking out 137 in 82 innings.  There are many more names that come to mind that solidified their pens serving the role of dominant closer.  Having a cornerstone shut-down arm seems vital to bullpen to make a postseason run.

It’s been a long time since the St. Louis Cardinals have had anything close to a dominant closer or even a guy who comes into a game throwing b.b.’s.  On the 2010 Cardinals, Jason Motte is the only one that comes close to bringing the fire from the pen but with his inexperience at pitching and his still developing secondary pitches, he allows hitters to sit on his fastball and has not become a pitcher that legitimately scares an opponent in the box.  He may be on his way to becoming a fearsome foe but simply has not attained it yet.

Ryan Franklin has converted 19 saves in 20 opportunities this season and did a good job last year converting 38 out of 43.  While Franklin relies on his control and is stingy with the free passes and does make a nice piece to a bullpen, he makes no one truly cringe when they are facing him.  He simply does not have overpowering stuff.

The bullpen pitchers this season for the Cardinals have punched out 223 batters in 313 innings, that’s good for 28^th place in the Majors.  Their opponent’s batting average is .252, which ranks them 18^th.  There strength, not allowing walks, is at 115 and is good for 7^th in baseball.  We are not looking at a team who has a shut-‘em-down pen.  If you run through the list of arms to come out of the pen, is there anyone who gives you the “lights out” kind of feeling?  The bigger question is, “Who do you really trust in the bullpen with the game on the line?”

What has been covered up in the quandary of the offense of the 2010 Cards is the one factor that will ultimately make or break this team this season.  That issue is the bullpen.  Last offseason, this spring, and through the trade deadline I have expected the Cardinals to deal for a bullpen arm, a real difference maker.  While the Cardinals may make the postseason, the simply truth is once they are in the playoffs the starting pitching they face is solid.  No matter your offense prowess, there will be times when you are in 1 or 2 run ballgames in the playoffs. It is crucial to have a bullpen that can come in throw strikes and mow through the opponent.  We saw what a difference it made in 2006 to have Adam Wainwright dominate the end of games and we have seen the same results watching the champions who are crowned from year to year. Even most teams who lost the World Series in these seasons had reliable bullpens that flashed strong arms.

2009 – Mariano Rivera

2008 – Brad Lidge

2007 – Jonathan Papelbon

2006 – Adam Wainwright

2005 – Bobby Jenks

2004 – Jonathan Papelbon

A route the Cardinals could take is going to Josh Kinney, Fernando Salas (permanently), or Eduarado Sanchez (likely not to be rushed to the big show) to firm up the pen.  The more likely route, now that we are in waiver wire mode, is to try and snag an arm in a waiver deal.  Here are some of the possibilities: Brad Lidge, Brian Fuentes, Fernando Rodney, Scott Linebrink, and Bobby Jenks.  While each of these have different question marks surrounding their likelihood to go to a contender in a waiver claim, it would be beneficial for the Cardinals to work the wire to see if they can land someone who might bring a little more punch to their pen.  St. Louis has a pen that is a far cry from being nasty so it will most likely take a surprise performer or an addition from the outside to bring this bullpen some added strength.

The Yankees celebrated Steinbrenner’s accomplishments by doing a video montage of him. After the montage, the fans gave a heartfelt standing ovation. Mariano Rivera put roses in home plate to honor Steinbrenner, and Derek Jeter spoke about the bombastic Yankees owner and the soft-spoken public address announcer.

Steinbrenner would have been proud of the festivities, and he would have been proud of the way his team played in their 5-4 victory over the Rays. Steinbrenner always talked about how he is proud of his team when they don’t give up. That was the case of last night’s game. The Yankees trailed for the early part of the game, but they managed to cut the deficit, tie it, and win it in the end.

The Rays helped pave the way for the Yankees to make this comeback possible. The Rays could have put the game away if they did not strand runners at third several times during the middle innings. It proved to be costly in the end.

There was a feeling the Yankees were going to make Rays pay for not maximizing their opportunity, and it proved to be true. They tied the game at 3 in the sixth inning on solo home runs by Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada. After the Rays took a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning, the Yankees tied it at 4 when NIck Swisher homered off Rays setup man Joaquin Benoit in the eighth inning.

From there, the Yankees were not going to be denied. David Robertson and Mariano Rivera shut down the Rays hitters, and the Yankees celebrated with a victory on Swisher’s single in the ninth inning.

Here’s what the Rays or any baseball team must understand when they play the Yankees. When the opportunity is there to end the game, the Yankees opponent must finish off the Yankees. They are only asking for trouble by not getting it done. That was the case for the Rays last night.

Give CC Sabathia credit for pitching his team out of a jam several times, but championship teams know how to end it when the opportunity is there. As good as the Rays are,  they are not ready to be a championship team just yet. The Rays fail whenever it’s time to execute with runners in scoring position.

Too many times, the Rays tend to let the opposing pitcher off the hook whenever he is in a jam. Friday night’s game was a typical example of that. This may work against the bad teams, but against the Yankees and the Red Sox, it becomes an epic fail.

The Yankees are the opposite in this situation. Let’s say the Yankees took a 3-1 lead and they had a chance to end the game in the fifth inning with runners at second and third or with the bases loaded. Know what they would have done? They would make the pitcher pay for his mistakes, and end it right there.

That’s what the Yankees do. They find a way to win even if it looks like they are out of it or if a pitcher overpowers them with stuff. They are the only team that knows how to beat elite pitchers in baseball. It’s no wonder why they won a championship last year, and why they can do it again.

Talk about buying talent, but it takes a special team to come together and know how to win games. The Yankees have a knack of doing just that. They did that during the mid-to-late nineties, and they discovered that magic back last year.

Let’s tell it like it is. The Yankees outsmarted the Rays. They knew how to get the home runs, and they knew how to put the runners in a position to score.

This was a disappointing loss to say the least. When the Rays have their worst pitcher starting in this series and he pitched well until he lost it  in the sixth inning, this is one the Rays should not have let get away. It’s easy to go blame James Shields for giving up home runs to Cano and Posada in tying the game, but it’s not Shields’ fault that he had to pitch with no room for error in the sixth inning.

Maybe Shields go eight innings if this game was a 5-1 game. The Rays had an opportunity to pick Shields up when the game was tied at 3. They did, but they should have gotten more than one run in that seventh inning.

Whenever a team wins the first game of the series, they have a better chance of winning the series. Now, the Rays need to find a way to win today or else they could be in a position to get swept on Sunday. If the Rays get swept, the Yankees don’t have to pay attention to what the Rays are doing anymore with a nice cushion lead in the division.

The Yankees talk about how they respect the Rays publicly, but privately, they look at the Rays as a cute little team. That’s not meant to be a compliment. The Yankees don’t respect anyone. Why should they? Champions never pay attention to other teams. They are arrogant to think if they play their game, they are going to win.

The Yankees earned the right to act that way. When a team wins many championships, there’s no reason to fear the other team. Until teams figure out a way to beat the Yankees consistently, the Yankees will go use that approach.

It’s up to the Rays to change that perception. So far, they are 3-3 against the Bronx Bombers, but it’s not going to make the Yankees fear them. Even if the Rays went 6-0 against the Yankees so far this season, the Yankees will not change their approach.

For that to change, the Rays need to beat them more often than not. Last night was winnable. A message could have been sent that the Rays are a team the Yankees need to take seriously.

Just like that, the Yankees have a chance now to take the series or get a sweep. That team is finally healthy, and most of their players are peaking at the right time. The second half is where a team distance themselves from the competition in the division.

It’s up to the Rays to make it a race. They get two more cracks at it this weekend.

Here’s hoping the Rays know how to pad in some runs in case they have a lead. No lead is ever safe with the Yankees.

The Rays had an opportunity to show they can be in the Yankees’ level, but on this night, they showed the Yankees they have ways to go until they reach that level.

The news was revealed by the NY Daily News’ Mark Feinsand and the Star-Ledger’s Marc Carig via Twitter tonight.

Rivera has been pitching with injuries all season and has been bothered by a sore side that kept him out of action earlier this year.  He’s also been plagued of late by an inflammed right knee.

Rivera is hoping not to miss any time in the games leading up to the break.

I thought was Rays closer Rafael Soriano would be in the midsummer classic, but it did not happen. AL All-Star manager Joe Girardi decided to go with with White Sox setup man Matt Thornton  to complement Joakim Soria, Jose Valverde, Neftali Feliz and Mariano Rivera.

If Joe Maddon was managing the American League, there’s no question Soriano would be there. After all, most All-Star managers select guys from their own team to play in the All-Star Game. It’s the way it is, and it’s the way it’s going to be.

Of course, if baseball ended this silly rule about all baseball teams being represented, maybe Soriano makes the roster. The Royals needed a representative, which is why Soria was selected.

It is hard to argue about Soria’s qualifications, but Soriano is an integral part of the Rays’ success when one looks at the fact the Rays blew 22 saves last year. Soriano has been perfect in save opportunities until June 24th when he blown his first save of the year.

It’s one thing to go close for a bad team with no pressure, but it’s another thing to go close for a team that has to compete with the Yankees and the Red Sox. A great team needs a closer who can finish the deal, and that goes a long way from making a difference between playoff team and a non-playoff team.

The Tigers are not contending with the Twins without Valverde’s contributions this season. This is why he made the roster. The argument can be made the same for Soriano.

If one wants to question Girardi, it’s the selection of  Thornton. It is commendable the Yankees manager wants to value the role of a setup guy. He has always been known to favor any type of pitcher that can help him win games, but one can make a case Soriano could fit the setup role well for an exhibition event.

Unless setup guys have an excellent year, there’s no reason to pick them. Thornton has not been spectacular for him to earn a spot. In fact, there has not been one setup guy that has not been phenomenal to earn a spot. Thornton’s selection was a waste of a roster spot.

Besides we are not talking about a closer who gets lucky. Soriano is not in the level of Twins closer Jon Rauch. Unlike Rauch, Soriano does not put runners on base, and he does not give up runs frequently. He does not force Joe Maddon to prance around the dugout in the ninth inning.

It is bad enough he was not selected, but how did he not qualified for the final vote?

Outside of Soriano’s snub, it’s hard to nitpick the rest of the Rays selections. Price was a bet to be pitching in the All-Star Game. It was hard to snub him. When a pitcher leads the American League with wins and have 90 strikeouts, he’s going to be there.

Price will be a candidate for the AL Cy Young year this season. Good chance he might be the favorite if he keeps pitching as he has all season. A playoff team requires an ace to win every fifth day, and Price is that guy. He went through a little rut several weeks ago, but overall, he pitched well enough all season.

Look for Price to start in this game. He’s the best pitcher in the junior circuit. Watching him pitch, it’s hard to make a case for any other American League starter to start.

Longoria and Crawford were going to be All-Stars one way or another.  The fact they were voted in should be a testament to their playing abilities. The Rays are rarely televised nationally, and they rarely get any attention on sports networks.  They don’t draw attention like their AL East rivals. It’s a credit to baseball fans for knowing how good the Rays stars are.

It’s a treat to see Longoria start at third base instead of perennial starter Alex Rodriguez. Longoria is everything Rodriguez is not. Unlike Rodriguez, Longoria loves playing the game of baseball. He does not let money influence him to like the sport or not. He comes of genuine when it comes to his passion for the game. He is easy for baseball fans to relate.

Ever since Longoria entered the scene in 2008, he became a star. All he does is just hit home runs and come up with key hits with runners in scoring position. The Rays trust him to deliver when he is at the plate.

Longoria played a role in Sunday’s Rays’ 7-4 victory over the Twins. He drove in three runs, including the two-run single to give the Rays a 5-1 lead in the seventh inning.  He fell short of a cycle by not hitting a home run.

He may have 12 home runs, but he shows he can be productive without hitting home runs. His knack for hitting every pitch is incredible to watch. The underrated part of his game is his ability to steal bases. He stole 12 bases so far this season, and there’s a good chance he can get to 25 this season.

Don’t forget what he does defensively. He plays well at third base. He knows how to make great grabs at the hot corner, and he has a good throwing range. Last year, he won his first Gold Glove, and he could be primed for another one.

His best moment may have came last week when he approached B.J. Upton for not hustling. Sometimes a star has to go after his teammate to get the message across. It can’t just be the manager. Longoria took it upon himself to take care of it. Stars needs to take charge, and Longoria demonstrated that. It’s not a coincidence the Rays played better since.

He will always be penciled in as an All-Star every year for the next 10 years, and he might usurp Rodriguez as a starter for good every year.

It might be a preposterous statement, but Crawford may be underrated by folks who don’t know the Rays well. He is a complete  player. People talk about him being a fast runner, but there’s more to his game than that. He always get on base via base hits, and he plays good defense. He is capable of hitting home runs.

There is a good reason the Yankees are going to pull all the stops to sign him next season. He does this consistently every single season, and it does not look like he is going to fade anytime soon despite playing for eight years.

One look at how good Crawford is came on Thursday night. Minnesotans blamed Rauch for blowing a save, but give Crawford credit for running first to home in tying the game on Longoria’s single with two outs in the ninth inning. It’s hard to run from first to home on a single. The highest a runner can do is get to third at best, but that shows Crawford’s ability to take the extra base.

Here’s another good example of what he can do. He stole six bases against the Red Sox last year.  It may not be a big deal for him, but it’s a tremendous feat. Crawford is a throwback in a way. There are not many guys who can steal bases anymore. During the steroid era, it’s been more about the home runs.

Crawford’s another guy the Rays can count on him to perform on a yearly basis. He has been one of the best players this franchise ever had. There’s a reason why he is an four-time All Star, and odds are he will have more All-Star appearances before his career is done.

When a team has many All-Stars, it says a lot about how good a team is and how the organization is run. The Rays have been producing good players over the years, and now, they have been rewarded for their work.

It wasn’t a long ago where it was tough to come up with a Rays representative. Besides Crawford, not many Rays players offered a reason to be selected. Most of their young players did not do good enough to warrant an All-Star selection. Truth be told, managers dreaded picking a Ray.

Times have changed. Winning makes it easy. If anything, it should give other Rays an opportunity to be there.

It’s a beautiful situation to have when people can say the Rays should have had more. It’s something to be proud of.

In this installment, we’re tapping into the New York Times website for James Traub’s breakdown of what makes Yankees closer Mariano Rivera so good.  Enjoy the article and the brilliant video that breaks down his cut fastball, and check back with BaseballDigest.com for more insight in the future.

Mariano Rivera, King of the Closers

Before the seventh game of the 2003 American League Championship Series with the Boston Red Sox, Mariano Rivera, the New York Yankees star who is widely considered the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball, said a prayer. Rivera, a deeply religious man, prays with his family before every home game. But this was a special prayer, which he delivered within himself, because the two teams, so evenly matched, had fought their way down to this final contest.  Rivera’s prayers remained unanswered until the bottom of the eighth inning, when, in one of the great comebacks in playoff history, the Yankees scored three runs against Boston’s ace, Pedro Martinez, to tie the game. Before heading for the mound, Rivera, the most stoical of athletes, had to leave the bullpen for a little shed nearby, where he proceeded, astonishingly, to weep.

Read the rest of the article here

Mr. Hillenbrand played for six different teams over his seven year career including the Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers and Anaheim Angels. He was a two-time All-Star making the squad in 2002 and 2005. You can read his stats from his career here on ESPN and join his Facebook page here.

Tim Danielson, BaseballDigest.com: Did you play other sports in High School or College?

2010 Season Record: 47-28

After a very mediocre and at times scary week, the Yankees did what great teams do best…they got right back to their winning ways.

The Yankees returned to form against two NL West rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Yankees went 4-2 despite being outscored 34-33 by the two former World Series foes.   The last week of interleague play was full of great defensive plays, tense moments, great hitting, timely pitching and of course a familiar face in Joe Torre.

The Yanks opened up the week in Arizona with a disappointing 10-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.  However they got right back on the saddle and won Game 2  9-3 behind the dominant pitching of Andy Pettitte.  Pettitte won his 9^th game of the season with a seven inning performance in which he allowed two earned runs and struck out seven.  Pettitte got some help from Alex Rodriguez who went 2- 5 with a home run and three RBI.

In the final game of the series Mariano Rivera took the spotlight as he did in the 2001 World Series.  However, the conclusion was a little more fitting this time around.  Mariano gave Yankee fans a scare as he loaded the bases with no outs in the 10^th inning.  But in true Mariano style he remained unshaken and then proceeded to get three straight outs without allowing a run.  As a result Rivera picked up the win with the help of Curtis Granderson who went 3-5 and hit the go ahead home run in the top of the 10^th.

After the Yankees took two out of three from the D’backs they traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers and their former manager Joe Torre.  The first game of the series was a pitcher’s duel that pitted CC Sabathia against an unlikely counterpart in Vincente Padilla.

Padilla went strike for strike with Sabathia, but in the end Sabathia’s one run performance over eight innings was too much for Padilla and the Dodgers who lost 2-1.   Alex Rodriguez’s 593rd career home run was the difference maker.

The Dodgers came right back and won the 2^nd game 9-4, by pounding the struggling AJ Burnett.  However the Yankees had the last laugh by winning the exciting series finale.  The Dodgers jumped all over Andy Pettitte tagging him for five runs, four of them earned, in five innings and then added one more in the 8^th against Joba Chamberlain

The Dodgers went into the 9^th inning with a 6-2 lead but the Bombers dug in their heels and rallied to tie the game.  The comeback against closer Jonathan Broxton included Chad Huffman’s first major league hit which drove in two runs.  After Mariano Rivera held the Dodgers scoreless in the 9th, Robinson Cano smashed a long two run homer off George Sherrill in the 10th to put the Yanks ahead for good, 8-6.  Rivera then tossed a scoreless bottom of the 10th as the Yankees stole the game and the series away from their ex-skipper.

The good news for the Yankees and their fans is that the Rays continued to struggle and are now 3 GB. The Rays also slid into third place in the AL East after being in one of the top two spots for much of the season.  The bad news is that the all too familiar Red Soxs are red hot and are right on the Yankees’ tail in 2^nd place with only one game separating the two heavyweight contenders.

Pinstriped Positives:

Derek Jeter showed some signs of heating as he went 8 for 25 (.320) for the week.  He also tallied three multi-hit games and as a result raised his batting average six points from .280 to .286.

Alex Rodriguez’s power appears to be back on the rise.  He went 8 for 21 on the roadtrip with three home runs, 10 RBI, and three multi-hit games.

Negatives:

Robinson Cano is human after all.  Over his last 10 games the star second baseman is hitting .278.

Mark Teixeira continues to struggle and there is definitely a need to be concerned.  Though Teixeira hit .263 in his last 10 games, he’s still hitting just .230 for the season and his OPS of .752 is well below his career average.

What’s Next:

The Yankees are heading back to the Stadium for a six game stretch where they will take on the Mariners and Blue Jays.  The Yankees better keep playing good baseball if they want to hold off the red hot Red Sox.

John Fetter recently joined Baseball Digest as a New York Yankees contributor.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com.

When I was young I used to collect Star Wars action figures.  When I came back from the store with a new one, I would treasure it.  I’d usually keep it in the original packaging for a while before I let it join the other toys in the drawer.  Until one day it dawned on me, I was wasting time.  I had made a wonderful addition to my collection but I was preventing myself from reaping the benefits.  It was at this point (age 7, to be exact) that I decided to rip open the package as soon as I got home and make sure that I enjoyed this mini statue just like the rest.

This story is not just a trip down amnesia lane.  I am reminded of this experience every time I see Jenrry Mejia (the extra “r” is for “rookie”) sitting in the bullpen.  You rremember Jenrry rright?  He’s the kid with the electric fastball with great cutting movement.  The kid that was the only source of Mets fans hope throughout most of the offseason.  This is the same kid that was projected by many to be a top of the rotation guy.  Top of the rotation!  Unless you’re Darryl Strawberry, in which case you felt his stuff was strong enough to earn a comparison to closer Mariano Rivera.   But, 66 games into the 2010 season, this same kid is spending his time sitting in the bullpen.

Coming out of Spring Training, it almost made sense to bring Mejia up with the team.  He had impressed scouts, management and other players in the Grapefruit League games, the Mets were in need of a good strong arm in the bullpen (who isn’t?), and giving him a go against Major League hitters during games that mattered seemed like a good enough justification to have him on the team.

After the first month, the idea appeared to be panning out.  Mejia appeared in 11 games in April, yielding just 2 runs (a 1.64 ERA) and looking pretty comfortable on a Major League mound.  He was a little wild, as he had been in the minors and winter ball, but his stuff was effective and he helped the Mets bullpen get off to a strong start.  The Mets looked pretty smart for ignoring the naysayers who said he would be better off developing in the minors at this point in his career.

You may be able to guess where this is going.  Mejia’s May experience was not as good as his April.  Batter made adjustments, Mejia’s wildness became more of an issue, and his 4.50 ERA for the month raised a few eyebrows.

However, the real story has been the development so far in June, and it has little to do with his stats for the month.  As of  the Mets’ win on June 17^th (their 7^th straight win), Mejia has pitched in only 5 games this month.  More importantly, he’s only amassed 3.2 innings during June.  This comes after an 11-inning April and a 12-inning May.  He’s on pace for just around 7 innings this month.

And that, to me, is where we have the issue.  Mejia’s performance was never supposed to be his justification for being in the big leagues; it was more or less an added bonus.  Sure, the Mets were counting on him whenever he stepped on the mound, but having up with the team was painted as an experiment.  After his successful April, the experiment almost made sense.  Sure, he wasn’t being groomed to be a starter, nor is he in line to be a closer any time soon, but he was getting hitters out, so it seemed like a fine idea at the time.  After his rocky May, returning Mejia to the minors to work on a more regular basis would have been appropriate.  Some fans, writers, etc., presented this idea any way they could, but Mejia remained with the Mets.  At that point, some figured, if the kid’s going to pitch then we can convince ourselves that it makes sense to have him up here.  But, now that he’s not pitching, what is he doing here?  Why are they risking wasting Mejia’s potential?

It’s at this point that I would like to present the answer to these questions.  I would like to, but I can’t.  At the beginning of the season, the idea was floated that Mejia could be a strong candidate for 8^th-inning setup man.  He’s not being used that way.  If he comes into the game, it’s generally in a low-pressure situation, and as shown in Wednesday night’s game, as soon as he gets into trouble (2 batters, 2 walks) he is pulled.  Unless you’re a friend or relative of Jenrry Mejia, chances are you’re not coming to the game just to see him pitch, so that’s not it.  I rarely see fans wearing a Mejia jersey (or those jersey-like t-shirts), so I doubt that he’s a money-maker for this team.

There are some good arms with Major League experience available in the minors.  These guys could be brought into the game in the same situations in which we currently see Mejia; the results would be similar and the Mets wouldn’t be sacrificing potential in the process.

During the last couple weeks of the Mets’ strong play, they haven’t had to rely on the bullpen as much as they had earlier in the year.  It’s not just Mejia who is pitching less, it’s virtually the entire pen.  This is usually a pretty good indication of a team’s success; starters are going deep into games so the team must be doing pretty well.  Ideally for the Mets, this trend will continue, and as it does, the Mets resistance to send Mejia down will continue to confuse.

An arm like Jenrry Mejia’s only comes around so often.  It’s so rare, that when it happens the franchise should really take the proper steps to ensure the best results, because those “best results” could one day help a team to the postseason.  If Mejia isn’t going to pitch in the Majors, then he should take a regular spot in the rotation with the Buffalo Bisons.  Keeping a prized possession in a neat package away from the games is not the right way to get the most out it.  I came to this realization when I was 7 years-old.  Fans are hoping the Mets figure this out before they waste a potentially prized commodity.

It in fact turned out to be the perfect title, but not for the original reason I expected. Sometime during the 3 o’clock hour on Sunday, there was a blood curdling scream heard throughout the Metropolitan area. You know, the kind of scream you hear in movies. The kind of scream that scares all of the pigeons from their perches in Central Park.

The kind of scream you hear from Yankees fans when Mariano Rivera gives up the rarest of rares, a game losing grand slam. Rivera may have been screaming inside, but he did his best not to show it. Working for only the third time since April 30, Rivera was asked to protect a 3-1 lead by recording the final four outs of the game.

But after the Twins loaded the bases with two outs against Joba Chamberlain, Rivera walked pinch-hitter Jim Thome to force in the tying run. While fans and the media scrambled to figure out when it was that it had last occured, Jason Kubel then became the first major leaguer since Bill Selby (in 2002) to go deep against the Yankees closer with the bases loaded. A sure fire Yankees win turned into a 6-3 defeat before a stunned Bat Day crowd.

It was the Twins first win in the Bronx since 2007. Oh, for the record, May 6, 2005 was the last time Rivera issued a bases loaded walk. The A’s Keith Ginter was the lucky recipient on that day.

By now the pigeons should be back in the park.

Where have you gone Vince Coleman?

In what seems like a blink of an eye, the stolen base has become a lost art.  The last memorable stolen base was the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS when Dave Roberts took off and safely stole second off Mariano Rivera to send the Red Sox on their way to coming back from a 3-0 series deficit.  It was a stolen base of epic proportion.  After a lead off walk to Kevin Millar, Roberts was chosen to pinch-run.  Rivera threw over attempting to pick-off Roberts three times, the second and third being close picks.  On the first pitch, Roberts took off.  Without that steal, Bill Mueller’s hit does not score Roberts and the Red Sox might have had to wait to break their curse.  Some call it the single most important moment in Red Sox history.  Click here to watch a fan video of it from left field.

So, what has happened in the game that has changed it so much?  Well, nothing really.  Everything is cyclical.  The stolen base was popular back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s at the conception of the game at nearly 1-2 stolen bases per game.  However, once you hit the 1920’s the stolen base average of the league per game began to drop into the .30 steals a game range.  It did not begin to rise up again until 1970’s climbing back into the .60 to .70 ranges.  Reaching its peak in the early 90’s (.80-.90), the stolen base has hovered at the same level for the past decade (.50-.60).  (Thanks to Baseball Reference and their grand resource of historical stats)

Still, since we have lived through the “chicks dig the long ball” era, it just feels like the stolen base has lost its significance.  The tendency for managers seems to be to sit back and wait for the big hit.  It makes sense to let the game happen in that regard.  However, the stolen base is an aggressive move that can have sway on the outcome of a game.  Why is it that we have seen a decline since the late 90’s?

While we cannot give a definitive answer, the statistics suggest that it just seems to be the swing of the game. Baseball goes in and out of phases.  If you think about the walls being moved in and the removal of Astro Turf across the league, the ballparks have changed.  Finding speedsters who can roam a big outfield and hit the ball on the ground are not a priority.  Instead, teams want someone who is beefy and can drive the ball out of the park.

Major League baseball has finally begun to do something about performance enhancing drugs.  Certain players’ power numbers have declined and we speculate that it’s the effects of them no longer being juiced.  While home run numbers are slightly declining, stolen base numbers have slightly increased but  I would not go as far as to say that one is the result of the other.  Yet, it would make sense that stolen base numbers would increase as teams find ways to produce runs without the long ball.

Pittsburgh Pirate, Andrew McCutchen, is off to a hot start with 9 steals through his first 67 PA  but is only on pace for about an 80 steal season.  Houston Astros outfielder Michael Bourn swiped 61 bags last year and looks to be off to another strong season as he’s keeping his OBP% up will give him more opportunities.  These youngsters along with Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford from the American League lead one to believe that the art of the stolen base may resurface as baseball heads into another phase of its history.

While we may not see a guy steal 100 bases in the immediate future, we could begin to see a greater ratio of players who have the ability to steal 50 to 60.  The only question is will the next phase of the game be a time when managers of the game begin to unleash the aggression of a stolen base and give the green light to players to steal?  If everything is cyclical and if the Boston Red Sox do not get a better catcher (the Rangers stole nine bases off the BoSox battery on April 21) then it would not be all that surprising to see the stolen base rise in value in the next few years.

The stolen base may not be a lost art. Instead, it could be that we have had a chance to witness some superior speed in the likes of Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, and Vince Coleman in a phase of the game that allowed their skills to come to the forefront.  It will be fun to see what phase is next.

As these 35 days drag on, I keep reflecting on the magical 2009 season and World Championship. The Yankees didn’t just sneak into the playoffs and surprise everyone, they jumped in feet first and dominated.  A-Rod finally delivered what Yankee fans have been expecting since 2004. The Captain did what he always does, and that’s win. The most underrated hit of this entire postseason was Jeter’s bomb in game one of the ALDS versus the Twins. The Yankees got behind early in that game and the energy in the stadium was nowhere to be found, until Jeter pulled one deep over the left field wall and woke up the fans and his teammates.

The offense didn’t disappoint and neither did the rotation.  Girardi knew the Yankees best chance of winning was to go with a three man rotation and left the world championship in the hands of CC, AJ, and Andy.  He took some undue criticism from fans and media alike following AJ’s second World Series start. In my opinion, there were no three better pitchers to start those games than the aforementioned men.

Nearly every time Girardi made a call to the bullpen, the relief was delivered.  Mariano Rivera did exactly what New York fans have come to expect from him, Damaso Marte pulled a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde act, not impressing anyone for months but becoming a whole different pitcher when it truly mattered, and David Robertson, the unsung hero of these games, took the ball and shut down the best of the best.

David Robertson  quietly put together a fine 2009 regular season:

2-1, 3.30 ERA,  1 Save,  45 Games, 43.2 Innings pitched, 36 Hits, 16 ER, 4 HR, 23 BB and held opposing batter to .216 average.

Not too shabby for a guy who was relatively unknown to the baseball world prior to last season, a fact proven by the opposing teams.  

Robertson dazzled in the playoffs and went about his job like a ten year veteran with fingers full of rings.   

2009 Post Season Stats:  

Division Series: 1-0, 0.00 ERA,  1.0 IP,  1 H, 1 Game

Game 2 –“The Houdini Act”

Robertson entered the game with the bases load, no outs, and left all three runners stranded. Mark Teixeria later won the game with a walk-off bomb.  Game 2 sunk the Twins and made Yankees fans believe that the magic of late 1990’s playoff  games was back in the Bronx.

“Sometimes, I still can’t believe I got out of that jam and won that game. When Mark hit that home run, the momentum just seemed to push us and shove us right through that round,”  Robertson said.

American League Championship Series: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 Games

World Series: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 Games

Game 5–2 shut out innings

In his first World Series appearance at Citizens Bank park, Robertson entered the game following a shaky performance from AJ Burnett who gave up six runs early. He inherited runners on first and third with nobody out, but got Pedro Felix to pop out to Teixeria, and later struck out Jimmy Rollins looking.  In the bottom of the fourth he saw ground outs from Shane Victorino and Chase Utley, and then sent Ryan Howard back to the dugout without a run.

Am I over-hyping Robertson’s performance?  If you think so, let’s re-examine the performances of the rest of the Yankees pen over the course of these playoff games.  

Phil Hughes pitched to a 8.53 in post season play due to the fact that opposing batters were hitting .379 off of him. Girardi gave Hughes the opportunity to straighten himself out, reaching for the bullpen phone nine times during the post season for him with no success.

Joba Chamberlain pitched well. In ten games he recorded a 2.84 ERA, while batters hit .333 against him.  The World Series had a shift in balance when Pedro Felix deposited a Joba fastball into the seats at the Bank.

Alfredo Aceves  success in the regular season didn’t follow him into the playoffs. In four games, Aceves was 0-1, with a 4.15 ERA,  and opposing batters hitting  .313. Regardless, he was the Yankees workhorse all year going 10-1 out of the pen.

Mariano Rivera: 0.56 ERA,  12 Games, 5 Saves,  16 IP,  .175. Do I really need to make a case for Mo?  He is the foundation of all of the Yankees success since 1996. Once he retires, the closer position on the Yankees, and frankly all of baseball, will never be the same.  It scares me to think of a day when I won’t hear the first few notes of Enter Sandman and look up to see number forty-two trotting to the mound.

Damaso Marte makes a case to secure my anointed “Unsung Hero” tag.  In eight games he pitched to a  0.00 ERA in 4.0 innings and held opposing batters to .154. The reason I chose Robertson over Marte is largely because of the aforementioned ‘Houdini Act’ of  game two that sent the Yankees hurtling towards their 27^th ring.   Marte flat out stunk during the regular season and on Opening Day 2009, as the Yankees christened their new digs, he was booed off the mound. Opening Day 2010 he will get a standing ovation.

Jay Ferraro is the Executive Producer of Baseball Digest LIVE and Gotham Baseball LIVE.  He is also a columnist for Baseball Digest ,Baseballdigest.com, and Gothambaseball.com. You can reach him at Jay_Ferraro@Juno.com , follow him on Twitter here and add him on Facebook here.

The Minnesota Twins have called The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome home for twenty-seven seasons. The Metrodome opened its turnstiles in 1982 and the 2009 season was its last.  The Twinkies will now call Target Field home; no more loud home field advantage underneath the dome, no more “baggie” in right field and no more FieldTurf. Will these factors affect the numbers being put up by the home team? I am going to focus on Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer and Joe Nathan.

Metrodome dimensions                          Target Field dimensions

Left field: 343ft                                          339ft

Right field: 327ft                                        328ft

Centerfield: 408ft                                       404 ft

There is no big discrepancy between the dimensions of the ballparks and not enough to affect the likes of Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and Cuddyer. These four hit a combined 118 bombs this past season and their power numbers will not suffer at Target Field.

Grass Vs FieldTurf Vs Dome Vs Outdoors

Joe Mauer could play his home games on the planet Mars and I would still draft him. He has won three batting titles, an AL MVP award, and batted.365 this season – as a catcher! The man batted .388 at home and .345 on the road! You want him on your team, I want him on my team and the whole Fantasy community wants him on their team. Whether it’s the Metrodome, Target Field, or the moon, he will most likely win the batting title again this season.

Joe Nathan is an elite Fantasy closer posting 37,39,and 47 saves the past three seasons. In my opinion he ranks second to his “holiness” Mariano Rivera. Along with those 47 saves last season, Joe fanned 89 batters, issued 22 free passes and rocked a 2.10 ERA.  He will continue to save a lot of games and strike out batters at Target Field. However, we may see his ERA rise this season at his new home. Last season, Nathan’s ERA on turf was1.51 and 3.00 on grass. His ERA could push 3.00 and he would still put up awesome numbers for you.

Jason Kubel( .300 28 103) and Michael Cuddyer( .276 32 94) each had break out seasons and rewarded owners who picked them in late rounds or scooped them off waivers. Both players’ split stats for last season were very similar home and away. The only stat worth noting is Kubel batted .310on turf and .288 on grass. This twelve point difference may lead to Kubel’s average dipping below .300, however, the rest of his numbers, along with Cuddyer’s are ones you want on your roster.

Justin Morneau has launched 163 bombs in seven big league seasons and won the 2006 AL MVP with a .321 average, 34 hr, and 130 RBI. Since that year, Morneau has had a .300 average season followed by a .270 average season. The 2010 campaign would be his .300 average year, however, I think that streak will come on an end.  On turf last year, he hit .284 and .290 indoors, while on  grass his average fell to .260 and a miserable .254outdoors. These splits are sure to affect his overall average now that he is playing all his home games outdoors.  Morneau will still jack 30 bombs and knock in 100 RBI, however, I will not be drafting him as high as I did last season.

The inaugural season at Target Field will not diminish any of the Twins players’ Fantasy value. Even if Joe Nathans’ ERA does rise and Justin Morneau’s average does fall below .300, you still want them on your rosters. I am going to miss the Metrodome, it was a great venue, and the home team always knew how to use the FieldTurf to their advantage.

Would any of our readers think twice about drafting a Twins player this season because of their new home?

Jay Ferraro is Executive Producer of Baseball Digest LIVE and the Fantasy Baseball writer for BaseballDigest.com.  You can follow him on Twitter here.

The Yankees payroll was over $200 million this year, by far the most in baseball. Although the Phillies were 7th overall, the majority of the key Phillies players were homegrown: Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, etc. Whereas, a good amount of the key Yankees players were bought: A.J. Burnett, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, etc.

The Yankees deserve credit for winning this championship and putting this team together, but it needs to be pointed out the way they did it, which is why a good majority of the fans out there do not like them.

In terms of the game itself: Andy Pettitte outpitched Pedro Martinez, and the Yankees powerful offense outperformed the Phillies powerful offense. In the end, even with all the pieces in place, the Phillies were unable to become just the fourth team in the history of the National League to repeat as World Champions.

Don’t be fooled though. Even though this Phillies team got beat this year, they will be back. Ruben Amaro, Jr. will tinker with the pieces in the offseason and try to improve the club before spring training next year, and their core players are all still in the prime of their careers.

Some other game notes, included Ryan Howard finally breaking out of his World Series slump, as he hit a homerun in the game, but it was all too little too late. Give the Phils credit though, because they fought and grinded to the very final at bat, which included Shane Victorino fouling pitch after pitch after pitch off against Mariano Rivera, before he finally grounded out to Robinson Cano to end the game.

Until 2 late inning offensive outbursts by the Phillies during Game 1,  it was a pitching duel between Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia gave up 2 runs on 4 hits over 7 innings to Lee’s 1 unearned run on 6 hits in his complete game victory over the Yankees. That night it was the Yankees bullpen that provided the Phillies with extra runs to seal the win.

Game 2 featured another pitching duel between the Phillies’ Pedro Martinez and Yankees’ A.J. Burnett. In this matchup, it was Burnett who shut down the offense and the Phillies bullpen(or, by decisions made, Charlie Manuel) that failed to keep the game within a run. Burnett was followed up with 2 shutout innings by postseason beast Mariano Rivera.

After two games that showcased dominating pitching for both teams, Game 3 was a more offensive contest that included a comeback win. Following a 90 minute rain delay, the Phillies forced Andy Pettitte to throw a lot of pitches and were able to pull together 3 runs early to go ahead 3-0 after 2 innings. Pettitte recovered and proceeded to mow down the Phillies lineup for 4 innings until a home run in the 6th by Jayson Werth. Meanwhile, Cole Hamels was handling the Yankee lineup until the wheels began to fall off in the 4th inning when he allowed a homerun. The wheels came completely off in the 5th inning when 4 more Yankee hits led to 3 more runs and the early exit by Cole Hamels. The Yankees chipped away at the Phillies bullpen en route to an 8-5 win. The Phillies managed two solo homers in the loss.

Game 4 was, for some, going to be a lopsided win by the New York Yankees. C.C. Sabathia on 3 days rest matched up against Joe Blanton with Phillies manager Charlie Manuel opting against starting the ace, Cliff Lee, on short rest. Blanton(and the defense!) allowed 2 quick runs and Sabathia allowed 1 in the first himself, but both settled down to pitch into 6th and 7th innings. Both bullpens showed their weakness in Game 4.  Joba Chamberlain, playing in his second consecutive World Series game, served up a game-tying home run to Pedro Feliz.  It not stay a tie game for long, as Phillies closer Brad Lidge had what can only be as a meltdown. After two quick outs, Lidge allowed a single to Johnny Damon. Damon quickly changes the entire scope of the inning with headsup baserunning that resulted in stealing second base and taking third when there was no Phillie covering the base due to the shift put on during Mark Teixeira’s at bat. With Damon on third, Lidge hits Mark Teixeira with a pitch, putting men on first and third with no one out.  Alex Rodriguez quickly smokes a double that scores Damon and gives the Yankees the lead.  Jorge Posada follows the lead and cranks a single and is tagged out at second base to end the inning, but not before Rodriguez and Teixeira score to give the Yankees a 7-4 lead. Mariano Rivera came on in the bottom of the 9th to close out another win for the Yankees.

Continuing with the team’s approach of using 3 starters in the World Series, the Yankees sent A.J. Burnett to the mound on 3 days rest to face a fully rested Cliff Lee and the Phillies in an potential elimination game. Charlie Manuel had received criticism for not starting his ace on three days rest in Game 4 and, for at least one night, he proved to have made the right decision. Burnett gave up 3 runs in the first and was unable to record an out in the 3rd inning, on his way to a line that included 6 earned runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. In the 7th, Phil Coke allowed 2 solo shots that made the score 8-2 entering the 8th. As both teams have shown with their pitching problems and lineup power, a 6 run lead is not safe in any ballpark. The Yankees chipped away to score 4 runs and came within 2 in the 9th inning before Ryan Madson shut the door for the save.

The questions remain for these two team as they prepare for an off-day before Game 6 on Wednesday night. Should Gaudin pitch, ever? Should Pedro Martinez start Game 6? What about J.A. Happ? Should Gardner start over Hairston, Jr.? Will Robinson Cano and Ryan Howard come out of their slumps? How will both managers decisions impact the outcome? We can’t possibly answer all of these questions. We can acknowledge one thing, however.

The baseball season continues further into November, staving off winter for at least another day.

The Yankees scored three runs in the 9th inning and beat the Philadelphia Philles 7-4 before a sold out, raucous Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies had gotten off the mat in the bottom of the 8th when Pedro Feliz hit a game tying solo home run off of Joba Chamberlain. But after Brad Lidge retired the first two Yankees in the 9th, Damon lined a single on the 10th hit of the at-bat.

With Mark Teixeira up, the Phillies employed their usual shift with third baseman Feliz positioned more like a shortstop. Damon took off for second, beating catcher Carlos Ruiz’s throw. After a momentary hesitation, Damon broke off for the unoccupied third base and reached it uncontested.

The play was huge. With Damon on third, Lidge would be more reluctant to throw his slider in the dirt. Lidge, who appeared to have turned his regular season struggles around during the post-season, hit Teixeira. Alex Rodriguez then drilled a fat fastball off the left field wall to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. Jorge Posada provided some insurance with a 2-run double and Mariano Rivera nailed down the save.

Damon’s defense had come into question earlier in the game when he play Feliz’s catchable ball on a hop and made a weak throw home as Ryan Howard scored to tie the game at two apiece.

In actuality, Howard never scored as he never touched home plate. It was just part of a bad night for home plate ump Mike Everitt who had a wandering plate all night.

Down 3-0, Alex Rodriguez, hitless to that point, got the Yankees on the board in the 4th when he lined a 2-run home run off a televsion camera near the right field corner.  Originally ruled as being in play, the umpires conferred and went to replay to confirm the call (Fox’s Joe Buck continued to call rhe replay inconclusive the rest of the night).

Pettitte helped out his own cause with a game tying single an inning later and Johnny Damon put the Yankees ahead for a good with a 2-run double in the same frame.

Nick Swisher, who snapped out of a 4-35 skid with a double, added a solo home run in the 6th and Hideki Matsui added some insurance with a pinch-hit solo shot in the 8th inning.

Pettitte started out shaky and the Phillies took advantage.  Jayson Werth hit the first of two home runs  in the 2nd inning and the Phillies added two more when Pettitte walked Jimmy Rollins with the bases loaded and Shane Victorino followed with a sac fly.

But Pettitte settled down through the middle innings.  He dominated the dangerous left-handed trio of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez.  Howard, in fact, has gone 0-8 with seven strikeouts in the last two games.

Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte, of all people, retired all six batters they faced to build the bridge to the 9th.  Joe Girardi decided to go with Phil Hughes, but after retiring the first batter, Hughes gave up a solo shot to Carlos Ruiz to make it a 3-run deficit.  On came Mariano Rivera, who needed just five pitches to close the ball game out and give the Yankees their first series lead.

Series Notes

Pettitte’s RBI was the first game tying RBI by a Yankee pitcher since Jim Bouton during the 1964 series.  Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera became the first trio to play in a World Series together 13 years apart.  Pretty cool.

Hideki Matsui’s home run was ironic in that it was the first one he hit to the opposite field all season.

People are still marveling over the performance by A.J. Burnett in Game 2.  Burnett has heard all the praise – plus fastball, wicked movement on breaking pitches, among the bestcurveballs in the game.  He’s also heard all the negative- no heart, empty head, bad attitude.  Burnett shook off the latter and a slow start and dominated thePhillies hitters for seven innings.  It was actually surprising that Girardi didn’t send him out for the 8th inning so that Rivera wouldn’t have to go for a six out save.

CC Sabathia faces Joe Blanton tonight in Game 4.  Sabathia will be working on three days rest for the second time in the post-season.  Burnett is scheduled to face Game 1 winner Cliff Lee in Monday night’s Game 5.

For perhaps one night only, Red Sox fans became Philadelphia Phillies fans as Pedro Martinez continued his successful 2009 comeback tour with his start against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the 2009 World Series. For 6 innings, Pedro Martinez lived up to the hype of the situation at hand in his first Bronx start in 4 years. He dominated the American League Champions, holding their offense to 4 hits including 2 runs on solo home runs by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui, while striking out 8. Following the 6th inning, FOX cameras showed Phillies manager Charlie Manuel talking with his starter, who had reached nearly 100 pitches.  When the 7th inning started, Manuel had decided to stick with Pedro Martinez and he was facing off against Jerry Hairston Jr., inserted in the lineup for his successes against the pitcher that dated back to 2004. Hairston blooped a single to right, and immediately “Shades of Grady” began to emerge during the tight 2-1 game. Melky Cabrera smacked a single to right before Charlie Manuel made the move to the bullpen. While the non-move cannot be considered as game-changing as the non-move made by ex-manager Grady Little in 2003, it seems almost inconceivable that a manager of Pedro Martinez would allow such a situation to present itself again.

Perhaps Phillies manager Charlie Manuel needs a history lesson in Pedro Martinez  101: Versus New York Yankees, Postseason Edition.

Pedro Martinez’s first postseason start against the Yankees was on October 16th, 1999, Game 3 of the ALCS that featured what should have been a classic pitching duel between Pedro and Yankees starter Roger Clemens. Instead, it was rout of epic proportions as Clemens and Hideki Irabu combined to give up 12 runs in 6 and 2 third innings. For the Red Sox this was their only victory in an eventual 4-1 series loss to the Yankees, who went on to win their second consecutive World Series title.

Pedro Martinez didn’t face the Yankees again in the postseason until Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, matching up against Roger Clemens. This time, Clemens outpitched Pedro in a 4-3 victory for New York. The game included a bench clearing beanball war that resulted in Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer tumbling to the ground(which the NY media vilified Pedro Martinez for) and a post-game interview that included a hilarious quote from Martinez, “Who is Karim Garcia?”.

Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS was the setting of one of the most infamous managerial non-moves in recent baseball history. On October 16th 2003, 4 years to the day of the 1999 ALCS Game 3 matchup with Clemens, the two aces again squared off. In this round, Clemens exited after 3 innings and giving up 4 runs(3 earned). Martinez rolled through the Yankee lineup until the 7th inning, as his pitch count rose and the Yankee hitters grew comfortable at the plate. Despite giving up a home run and a pair of singles, Martinez got out of a 7th inning jam. Many Red Sox fans were surprised when Pedro Martinez appeared on the mound to start the 8th inning, despite the fact that David Ortiz’s home run in the top half of the inning gave the pitcher a 3 run lead to work with.

Until that point in the series, the Red Sox had utilized a near-systematic usage of their bullpen. Namely, Mike Timlin in the 8th inning and Scott Williamson in the 9th inning to close out games where the Red Sox were ahead. For reasons perhaps only ex-manager Grady Little knows, Pedro Martinez was left in the game after a mound visit by Little to determine if Martinez could finish the inning. Pedro subsequently gave up 4 consecutive hits, including 3 doubles, to allow the Yankees to tie the game at 5-5.   Grady Little removed Pedro for Alan Embree and Mike Timlin to stop the bleeding, but the damage had been done. Three innings later, Aaron Boone was christened with a new middle name that starts with the letter F. Ask any Red Sox fan about the 2003 ALCS, and they will tell you the game was lost not in the 11th, but the 8th.

It was during the regular season in 2004 when Pedro Martinez uttered the now famous line, “I just have to tip my hat to the Yankees and call them my daddy.” after a loss to New York. Regardless of the outcome of the game, Yankees fans showered Pedro Martinez with ‘Who’s Your Daddy?” chants during his game 2 and 5 starts and his relief appearance during game 7 in the 2004 ALCS and even later in his first start back in the Bronx with the Mets in 2005. Though the Yankees have a new stadium, this is one of the traditions that made the move, as Yankee fans sang the refrain during Pedro’s warmups and at the beginning of Game 2 last night.

For 6 innings, Pedro Martinez largely silenced the New York crowd, save for the two home runs that gave New York a 2-1 lead. Thanks in part to Charlie Manuel’s inability to recall history, Yankees fans theme song for Pedro Martinez was sung loud as he exited the 7th inning with men on the corners. As the series heads back to Philadelphia tied a game a piece, hopefully Charlie Manuel is considering his options should he be faced with a similar situation later on.