Kuzul

Do I really need to say anything or can I just SMILE!

I’ll touch on a couple things:

Yankee “Home Runs”

In the second inning—easy one first—Berkman’s was not a home run, no doubt about that. Not sure what the umpire was watching there, but whatever. It was a foul, and instant replay clearly showed it. However, two batters before, Robby Cano hit a deep fly ball that Yankee “bleacher creatures” assisted out for the home run. 

Here’s my problem—and I can quote the MLB Official Rulebook, if necessary—that play should have been reviewed. Not a doubt in my mind on that. And had the umpires reviewed it and still decided to call it a home run, I would not have been happy, but I would have been “cool with it.” 

My opinion is that the fans obviously interfered with it, but I have watched it too many times. From my vantage point, if you completely remove the fans, the ball might have just been out of Cruz’s reach. However, we will never know, and if that’s what New York needs to keep “home-field advantage,” so be it…because I know for a fact had that been Arlington and a Rangers home run, it would have been reviewed. 

Unsung Hero of the Game

Derek Holland!!! Hello, 3.2 innings pitched in relief of Hunter. He allowed one hit, three Ks, zero runs and only the one inherited runner scored. Very impressive with the young man, even with the TBS announcers telling us he had a “nervous smile,” obviously y’all were wrong…again! 

So happy that Dutch was in the game for all the run-pounding and able to maintain long enough to be the winning pitcher. Before the game there was talk of starting Holland over Hunter in Game 4. If Texas moves on to the World Series, we may very well see that now.

Texas Offense

Apparently the Yankees are slow learners. In Game 3 on Monday they intentionally walked David Murphy to face Bengie Molina—righty vs. righty. Bengie thanked them for that with an RBI single amidst the six-run ninth inning. Last night, they did the same thing in the sixth with two outs. And almost as though on cue coming back from the TBS highlights of his HRs in Games 1, 2 and 3 in the 2005 ALDS against the Yankees, BENGIE goes yard. 

To wrap up another offensive explosion we got to witness DOUBLE BOOMSTICK (not Double Rainbow) from the soon-to-be 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton and then a shot from NC-17, none of which were fan-assisted.

In the end the bullpen pulled their weight in a game that we all knew they would have to be strong in for Texas to have a chance. In his 3.1 innings Hunter allowed three runs, in the remaining 5.2 innings the bullpen threw zero after zero after zero. Though the eighth inning got a little nerve-racking, no runs came across. The Rangers slammed the door for good by adding three runs in the ninth behind home runs from Hamilton and Cruz.

Media Bias

I will say that I am getting quite annoyed with the constant attempts by the TBS announcers to justify the pitching performances by Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. I have heard quite enough comments about Pettitte and that he was one pitch away (Hamilton two-run home run) from matching Cliff Lee’s performance. 

NO HE WASN’T!!! 

Look, Pettitte pitched a very good game and more times than not his performance would have been good enough to get a win. But his final line was seven IP, five hits, two runs (both earned), zero walks and five Ks on 110 pitches—again solid numbers. 

BUT…

Cliff Lee: eight IP, two hits, zero runs, one walk and 13 Ks on 122 pitches. Sorry, that is not one pitch away from matching performances. 

And then in Game 4 the announcers tried to justify that Burnett pitched a good game except for one mistake. Through five innings he did pitch well and kept the Ranger bats at bay, but this is a nine-inning game, not five. And in the sixth he didn’t make the pitch he had to make and Bengie blasted a three-run homer.

New Yorkers and a bulk of the East Coast media may not want to admit it, but face facts: the Rangers are one game away from moving on, and the Rangers have outscored the Yankees 30-11 (30-6 if you take out the eighth inning of Game 1). If it weren’t for that eighth inning, this series would now be over in a four-game sweep. Right now the Rangers are flat-out pummeling the Yanks in every aspect of the game, no ifs, ands or buts about that. 

Enjoy it, love it and now store it in your memory because the party ain’t over and the excitement we feel right now is all for not if the Rangers don’t finish the job. Yes, we are up three games to one, we have C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and then Cliff Lee all going on regular or extra rest. But the Yankees are still the defending champs and until we polish them completely off, I will not allow myself to celebrate even the slightest. Finish the job!

The mindset is right so far, and the players are still saying the right things, so we need to go into today’s game expecting to close it out. We need to act like the series is tied. And we need to continue to play like this Yankees team can come back. Because if the eighth inning of Game 1 taught us anything, it’s that if you give this Yanks team the opportunity, they will come back.

I’ll leave you now, not too far away from Game 5, with the quotes that have been constantly on my mind throughout this entire postseason run:

“It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares about who gets credit.”—Blanton Collier

“When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.”—Joe Paterno

“Even when I went to the playground, I never picked the best players.  I picked the guys with less talent, but who were willing to work hard, who had the desire to be great.”—Earvin “Magic” Johnson

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The Texas Rangers are—can you believe it?—but one win away from their first-ever trip to the World Series. They are one win away from sitting down the Mighty Yankees, the Bronx Bombers, Baseball’s Bullies. One win away. Just one.

“It’s time.”

This has been the slogan, the mantra, the battle-cry all season long from this club.

“It’s about time.”

This has been the thought in the back of my mind and on the tip of my tongue this entire MLB postseason. I do not mean that in any sort of bitter sense, or in any form of exasperation. I am not rolling my eyes or wondering what took them so long.

Truth is, I never much minded that my Rangers were seldom serious contenders for anything. They gave me a major league baseball team to follow and cheer and reverence when I was discovering the pure joy of playing the sport myself.

As a little leaguer in Mineral Wells, Texas, I would listen to those Rangers baseball games in my bedroom at night. The AM station WBAP was scratchy, but the signal was strong, especially at night. The smooth, dulcet tones of Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel against the backdrop of crowd noise made the game come alive in my mind. I could see every pitch, every swing of the bat, every stare-down, every scratch and spit. I was there.

And it was glorious.

The World Series never entered my mind back then. I didn’t have to fret over whether my team would in the Fall Classic or not the way fans in places like Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Oakland and Chicago did.

Heck, I knew my team wasn’t going to any World Series. That was fine with me, because they might win this game tonight. Jim Sundberg might throw some poor slob out who tried to steal second. Gaylord Perry might give some hapless batter jelly-leg with that nasty curve ball of his. Bump Wills might swipe another base. Toby Harrah might flag down an uncatchable ball deep in the hole, whirl about, and from his knees, throw out the batter.

The big picture hardly mattered when the little picture was so exciting.

“It’s about time.” But when I say that, I mean it like this: “Time is what it’s about.”

Time is the one commodity you cannot horde or save for a rainy day. It won’t stand still for you. It won’t go in the bank so you can withdraw it with interest later. Time keeps marching on…and on…

Time is what we have. Maybe not much time, who knows? You can do plenty of things with your time:

• You can waste time
• You can “spend” time
• You can mark time
• You can invest your time

People talk about doing things if they “ever find the time.”

You hear someone in a hurry say, “I haven’t much time.”

I have wasted plenty of time and invested some of it. I wouldn’t mind having a second shot at the way I used some of the time I’ve had.

I do not, however, regret a moment of the time I spent following the Rangers. I learned plenty of lessons about hope, disappointment, patience, achievement and effort. I learned from my transistor radio to imagine a game in my mind so well that it is a wonder my first real trip to the ballpark to see a real game was not a disappointment.

It wasn’t.

I do not resent the time spent cheering for a team that was always going nowhere, but taking me somewhere special in the meantime.

But this time it’s time.

And it’s about time.

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When Texas Rangers catcher and eighth-place hitter Bengie Molina turned on an inside pitch from New York Yankees starting pitcher A.J Burnett in the sixth inning, all Alex Rodriguez could do was hang his head.

Catcher Francisco Cervelli was similarly dismayed, and Burnett was also in disbelief, with a “What have I done?” reaction.

Molina and his teammates in the dugout watched the ball’s flight, a majestic curvature into the left field seats, and after taking the few minutes necessary to run the bases, Molina pumped his chest and yelped a jubilant cry as high fives awaited him in the dugout.

The three-run blast with two outs gave the Rangers a 5-3 lead and capped off a nightmarish half-hour of baseball for New York.

In the fifth inning, everything appeared to be in the Yankees’ favor. Burnett had thrown five solid innings, and New York, ahead by one, was threatening with two on and none out. Mark Teixeira was up, their struggling power hitter who has made up for his misgivings at the plate with stellar defense at first.

On a 2-1 pitch from a laboring Tommy Hunter, he grounded a ball to Michael Young at third, who stepped on the bag and fired to first. Teixeira sprinted down the line as the ball closed in on Mitch Moreland’s glove, but then not 10 feet from the bag he reached for his hamstring. He fell into a slide, yelping in pain.

Accompanied by the team doctor and manager Joe Girardi, he hobbled off the field. Yankees Stadium was silent, as they would remain for most of the final four-plus innings.

Though he was safe, and though the Yankees were putting together quite a promising inning with two on and one out, the life was sucked out of the stadium when he went down. A strained hamstring was later the prognosis, and New York is considering adding Eduardo Nuñez to the roster, thereby making Teixeira ineligible to return, not only in this series, but also in the World Series if they advance.

Texas added insult to this injury just by putting runners on against Burnett in the sixth. The crowd groaned; the little confidence they had in Burnett was fading. Vladimir Guerrero led off with a single but was erased on a force-out grounded into by Nelson Cruz. Cruz made amends, changing the game with one play that will most likely be under-appreciated in some recaps.

Ian Kinsler lifted a deep fly ball to center, and what does Cruz do? The 6’4″, 240-pound, deceptively quick right fielder (who was the victim of Jeffrey Maier-esque interference in the second inning) tagged up and headed to second. This forced an odd decision out of Girardi, who elected to intentionally walk Burnett’s nemesis, David Murphy, to pitch to Molina. The move clearly backfired.

Derek Holland, the Rangers’ prized 24-year-old left-hander who had relieved Hunter much earlier, proceeded to add to the Yankees’ misery by pitching two scoreless innings. Despite his excellence and the depressing atmosphere, New York still had a shot to come back. Their chances, though, were hurt severely by a case of déjà vu for their bullpen.

Last night, the Rangers broke a two-run game wide-open in the ninth by scoring six runs, five of which were charged to David Robertson. On this night, Robertson was the only Yankee reliever not to allow a run.

Before Holland pitched his second straight perfect inning, Josh Hamilton continued his ALCS brilliance. Their best power hitter, who managed to swing weakly in Game 3 and still hit it out to right, put together a much more powerful swing against Boone Logan, a high drive that landed a few rows up in the same vicinity.

It was his third blast of the series, it darkened the Yankees’ outlook and it wasn’t even close to being the final run Texas would muster.

Joba Chamberlain, who may not be with the team next year given his performance this season, followed Logan and continued to pitch ineffectively. His outing began by allowing a ringing double by Guerrero, and then he walked Cruz and let the seventh Rangers run score as Michael Young proceeded to single. The boo birds were out. Some fans had already left. Others were now joining them in the streets of New York.

Texas just wouldn’t quit. After escaping a tough bases-loaded, one-out situation in the bottom of the eighth, their bats made the Yankees pay for not coming through as they did in the same inning of Game 1.

Hamilton was once again in the middle of it, smacking his fourth homer of the series, this time off Sergio Mitre and this time into the bullpen in right—his fourth homer in as many games. Then, after Guerrero socked his third hit, Cruz crushed a lifeless fastball into the second deck in left. It was now 10-3. The couple thousand fans who were left could go home now.

The Yankees players may join them soon enough. In losing, New York fell behind 3-1 in this series; they need to win their next three to move on. But just like a miracle is needed for Teixeira to return, the Bronx Bombers need a miracle if they want to prolong this one-sided battle—and just as Teixeira’s immediate future is in doubt, so are New York’s chances of accomplishing their yearly expectation.

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The ALCS has not been good for the New York Yankees thus far, but blaming the pitching is just a mask for the real issue.

The issue is not hitting, which means runs don’t score. With zero or two as a team’s score, it forces the pitching into having to be almost perfect to get a win.

For example look back at CC Sabathia’s start in Game 1 of the ALCS. Sabathia, who is an ace in all terms is human at times and that CC was on the mound against the Rangers that night.

Sabathia posted his shortest outing of the season, leaving the game after four innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs, one a home-run, while walking four and striking out three. To say he imploded would be correct, but guess who won that game?

The Yankees did in one inning, being down 5-1 entering the top of the eighth the bats scored the five runs needed to take the lead. Then it was over because Mariano Rivera in the ninth is a postseason God.

So, the reason behind the Yankees losing ALCS Game 4 is not AJ Burnett’s fault, as he pitched much better than Sabathia.

In the sixth inning Burnett threw one bad pitch, which turned into a Bengie Molina home-run. Molina scored the two Rangers on base and turned the Yankees 3-2 lead into a 3-5 New York deficient and an eventual Yankee loss.

Whatever is not happening on the mound is also not happening at the plate and that is the Yankees or any other team’s recipe for disaster. This holds even truer in the tough postseason.

Philadelphia Phillies seem to be following in the Yankees footsteps in the NLCS, as the Giants 3-0 shut out the Phillies. A post-game quote from Phillies Shane Victorino sums up my point:

“If you don’t hit, it doesn’t matter how good the pitching is,” Shane Victorino said. “So you can’t blame our pitching right now. We need to find a way. Cole gave up three runs today and we scored nothing.”

It is crazy that the two best teams can’t seem to hit the ball and it is a shame for baseball. A rematch of a Yankees-Phillies World Series make for an awesome series, ratings would be through the roof.

Without question, MLB will see it’s worst ratings if the Giants-Rangers both make it into the championship ever! No one in the northeast (huge sports media market) will even care to watch, which only hurts the game itself.

A rematch is still possible but surely cutting it too close.

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Going into Game 4 of the ALCS, the New York Yankees were down 2 games to one to the Texas Rangers.

So, it’s understandable how hesitant Yankees fans were to trust the decision of starting AJ Burnett in the most important game of this postseason for New York.

Burnett did okay, better than expected but once again the Yankees couldn’t hit the baseball and once again stranding runners on base.

Things hit rock bottom in the fifth inning when Mark Teixeira grabbed the back of his right leg trying to get to first. What might have seemed like a slide into the base was actually Tex in pain that was so bad Tex needed help off the field.

Skipper Joe Girardi said that it would be a miracle if after the MRI Tex would be cleared to play. So, season is over for Mark Teixeira and that will hurt the Yankees at first-base big time. Regardless of Tex’s recently ice-cold bat, he was bound to warm up if the team went on to play more games.

The Yankees are not themselves, and handing the Rangers the wins. It is due to lack of production and not playing to their established potential.

Fact remains if both ALCS teams were playing at the top of their game, the Yankees would prevail.

Well, that is not reality for the Yankees but it still can be. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but if the Yankees want to win they have to play.

The Rangers are playing ALCS-worthy baseball right now and deserve to move on to the World Series. It would be a first for the Rangers franchise and nothing is standing in the way of that happening as of now.

If the reigning World Champions want to keep that title, than winning Game 5 on Wednesday afternoon is the perfect and last chance to start playing New York Yankee baseball.

With CC Sabathia on the mound the Yankees should be able to get this series back to Texas.

In sports, you simply aren’t considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best. ~ Althea Gibson

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In 1996, a snot-nosed brat named Jeffrey Mair reached his hand into the field of play during the American League Championship Series. He grabbed a ball destined to be caught by Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco, thus allowing it to be called a home run hit by Derek Jeter because right field umpire Rich Garcia was out of position and uncertain of what exactly happened.

Instead of being ejected from Yankee Stadium, or vilified by the press, he was called a hero. Soon he was on televised talk shows and being given seats behind the Yankees dugout. The mayor even gave him a key to the city, telling the youth of New York City that cheating was heroic, acceptable, and rewarding.

The Yankees have spent most of the 2010 ALCS getting their butts kicked by the Texas Rangers. If not for a bullpen meltdown for an inning in Game One, the Rangers would have closed the series with a sweep tonight after their 10-3 win.

The Yankees and their fans are only like by them, but they are still respected because the team has won more World Series titles than any other team. Fans feel entitled by all this success, so actions considered barbaric by the rest of civilization are deemed acceptable by them.

In the second inning of Game Four, New York’s Robinson Cano popped a lazy fly ball in right field. In the bandbox known as the new Yankee Stadium, lazy fly balls often reach the wall. This was the case of Cano’s pop up. Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz easily got to the wall in plenty of time, then timed his jump.

He encountered the ghost of Mair, because a group of idiotic fans figured they were Patrick Ewing and decided to block Cruz from having a shot at the ball. Again, the right field umpire was out of position, but now Major League Baseball has reply.

A replay that clearly showed interference, but it did not matter because the umpire’s ruling made the use of replay is not allowed on such judgement call for some reason. Though replay is still being fine tuned by baseball, this play has given them an obvious impetus to refine this rule.

Now with Texas on the verge of knocking out a Yankees team most predicted to win it all, the Rangers need to realize they are still stuck in the Big Apple. A rotten apple of enabling media urging on fans to cheat for their team to keep tradition alive.

A tradition seen on National TV the past two games where 80 percent of Yankees Stadium was empty well before the game ended because these famous fans show themselves to be more fair-weathered than loyal. Leaving the field early cheats the team, but that seems to be the new Yankee Way thanks to their hero Jeffrey Mair.

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Texas Rangers pitcher, Cliff Lee had one of the 2010 MLB postseason’s best performances last night at Yankee Stadium.  He struck out 13 New York Yankees hitters, while only allowing two hits and zero runs in eight innings.

While that seems like an outstanding game, (which it is) a couple other performances have one-upped Lee when it comes down to the final stat line.

2010 is definitely the year of the pitcher (outside of 1968), a couple of hitting performances have been just as important. 

Did the slugger of your favorite postseason team make the list?

Here are the top five performances of the 2010 playoffs (besides Cliff Lee).

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The star-studded staffs of the Giants and the Phillies have been largely dominant in the series so far, despite Roy Halladay’s ho-hum performance in Game 1; but Game 3 has the potential to become an offensive shootout even though a pair of elite pitchers are involved. 

Matt Cain (13-11, 3.14 ERA in the regular season) has to face a veteran Philadelphia lineup that is looking to reverse a growing trend of stranding runners on base. The Phillies can find solace in the fact that opposing hitters are batting, an unusually high, .267 with RISP and two outs against Cain (compared with fellow teammate Tim Lincecum’s .228 in similar situations) and that he has the propensity to give up home runs, a specialty of the power-laden Phillies lineup.

In his only start against Philadelphia this year, the Giants right-hander gave up a three-run homer to Jimmy Rollins that was set up by a Mike Fontenot error three plays prior. Cain would give up five runs (two earned) on the day en route to an 8-2 Phillies’ drubbing at Citizens Bank Park August 18th. 

Though the circumstances may be a bit different this time around for Cain, the Phillies offense has too much firepower to stay quiet for another game. The Giants’ right-hander is prone to the occasional pounding (he gave up six or more runs three times this season) and the middle infielders of the Phillies seem to have his number.

Rollins and Chase Utley have hit .600 and .467, respectively, over their careers against Cain, and the Phillies’ shortstop has had five of his six hits go for extra bases, including the aforementioned blast from earlier this year. 

On the flip side, Cole Hamels has been lights-out this postseason, as he looks to return to form since a rough performance last October

Hamels, though, has been historically sub-par against the Giants, especially at AT&T Park where he sports a 6.12 career ERA.

This year, the former World Series MVP, has been roughed up both times he has faced San Francisco, squeaking out a no-decision in their first meeting (he went 6 IP, 4 ER, but SF went 5 for 21 with RISP) and losing in their most recent matchup after giving up five runs in five innings pitched.

The scorching-hot Cody Ross murders Hamels with four home runs in his 30 at-bats against the lefty, and Buster Posey hit him hard in their first meeting with two doubles and two RBIs in the Giants’ 5-2 win.

Hamels’ penchant for giving up the long ball bodes well for a Giants’ offense that hit the sixth-most home runs in the National League and with 26 homers allowed on the season, the Phillies’ left-hander was tied for seventh in the NL, just in front of the WPIB (Worst Pitcher In Baseball) Zach Dukes. 

Game 3 will no doubt be a must-watch affair, whether the offensive fireworks are set off in this NLDS mathcup looks to fall on the shoulders of the game’s starting pitchers.  

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Even knowing the Texas Rangers had Cliff Lee on the mound, the New York Yankee fans arrived at the game ready for a win and made it loud and clear

That dream became a nightmare pretty fast, as Lee brought his A-plus game once again and the Rangers won 8-0.

So, instead fans left confused, discouraged and embarrassed. Below are the three dilemmas I had, after freezing my butt off in the Bronx:

1. Everyone was confused by Joe Girardi’s decision not to use Mariano Rivera for the last three outs. The hope was to hold the Rangers at two runs through the ninth. In turn, that would give the Yankee batters a chance at the bottom of the ninth inning to maybe get back in the mix.

What happened was embarrassing, as Texas scored six more runs mainly off sloppy fielding mistakes by New York. With Texas up 8-0, any hope of a comeback was just too far out of reach.

Up to this point, Girardi had used Mo in all five postseason games and one would think to go with the best you have to offer. Especially considering the Yankees are the comeback kids and Lee’s pitch count was already in the mid-120, which is why it made no sense. Maybe Girardi forgot this was a playoff game?

2. Why the game was so discouraging is that Andy Pettitte pitched solid as a rock after giving up a first inning home run to Josh Hamilton. Pettitte put the Yankees in the position to win posting five strikeouts and walking zero batters.

In order to win, teams have to score runs, and Pettitte got no insurance whatsoever. Pettitte deserved a win, but his performance was not overshadowed by the loss as every fan at the Stadium cheered for the southpaw big time.

3. Did the umpires loss the game for the Yankees? Well, there was definitely one questionable call that might have made the difference. Not taking away from the surreal performance by Lee because with 13 strikeouts and not a run scoring surely can stand on its own.

The call is now a confirmed a mistake made by first-base umpire Angel Hernandez in the bottom of the third inning. Umpire Hernandez called Brett Gardner out when the replay tells a different tale. Gardner hit a blooper and slid into first, which might have been more out of habit for Gardner who might have been safe on his feet too.

Regardless, he was clearly safe and not a whimper from Girardi at all. Pathetic for a manager not to get out there and defend his player.

There was one other call that again favored Texas, when Michael Young was a foot from the bag when Teixeira had already scooped the ball up.

This was not what Yankees fans came too see. Ultimately most fans knew that it was going to take a semi-miracle to beat Lee if his current pitching postseason trend stayed on target, but who knew it would be a bull’s-eye.

Yankees will send AJ Burnett to the mound Tuesday night, which is scary to think about considering how awful Burnett has been. Burnett has an opportunity to become a New York hero in Game 4, as we know he has the stuff to be lights-out, so let’s hope Burnett has found it.

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The New York Yankees crowd rose to their feet, cheering on their team. But what they were cheering was indicative of the start put together by a certain Texas Rangers unflappable left-handed pitcher. The ovation formulated when a Yankees hitter worked a three-ball count—nothing more. This is how dominant Cliff Lee—their nonchalant, modest, 31-year-old ace—was.

He entered this Game 3 start with a  6-0 record and a 1.44 ERA in his postseason career. When the Rangers lost Game 1 I immediately thought if Game 2 was won they would have an advantage entering Game 4.

Considering they proved victorious in the second game, the Yankees hopes of holding a series advantage were slim even though Lee was up against Andy Pettitte, the winningest pitcher in postseason history. Pettitte clearly isn’t chopped liver, but Game 3 was unquestionably Cliff Lee’s to lose.

He received immediate run support, as Michael Young slapped a one-out single then Josh Hamilton followed with one of the more effortless swings ever produce a home-run. The lefty power hitter waited on a 2-1 cutter, stuck his bat out to reach the outside pitch, and poked it into the left-field seats.

It was the weakest looking hack, but the testament to Hamilton’s strength silenced a hyped-up crowd and gave Lee some insurance before he took the hill.

Once he did, it became evident those two runs may have been all that was necessary to fuel a victory. He picked up right where he left off against the Tampa Bay Rays, hitting his spots and mixing his pitches as the second-coming of Greg Maddux. Maddux, a future Hall of Famer, pitched where the catcher’s glove was positioned routinely over 23 remarkable years.

Lee did the same on this night, painting the inside and outside corners with such precision. He was just having fun out there, playing catch with catcher Bengie Molina, and executing to perfection. He set up the Yankees with everything from a curveball to a changeup, keeping them off guard with masterful unpredictability.

Three no-hit innings were thrown to start. In the fourth he allowed a walk. A free pass to Mark Teixeira and the popular question was: what’s wrong with Cliff Lee?

It was a sarcastic question, of course, asked by many of whom I follow on Twitter, but there was something to it. How so? Lee just doesn’t walk people. He didn’t in his two starts against the Rays, spanning 16 innings. During the regular season he only walked 18 batters, including two intentional, in 212 1/3 innings.

As the New York Times’ Pat Borzi wrote in his article, “Mission Control: Lee Wins by Avoiding Walks:”

“No pitcher in the last 70 years has thrown so many innings and yet walked so few.” And, on top of that, he was only the third pitcher since 1900 to throw more than 200 innings and walk fewer than 20, joining Babe Adams of the 1920 Pittsburgh Pirates (262 innings, 18 walks), and Red Lucas of the 1933 Cincinnati Reds (219/18). Adams nor Lucas were strikeout pitchers. Lee is, and certainly was against New York.

He had already struck out seven before Teixeira’s walk, including the hitters ahead of the lefthanded first-baseman in that fourth inning. The cheer for that walk was as if a leadoff triple had been hit. Getting a runner on base was a win for New York, according to the crowd. But, nothing could be done to capitalize on the surprising occurrence out of Lee.

A lined shot off the bat of Alex Rodriguez was chased down by a deceptively quick Nelson Cruz in right. That was the only hard hit ball the Yankees had off Lee. Everything else put in play was either a weak pop-up, a lazy fly-ball, or a pathetic groundball.

And when balls weren’t put in play, those in a lineup I consider to be one of the more dangerous in baseball stared at called strikes or swung through changeups, equally well-placed fastballs, or junk intentionally tossed into the dirt. I haven’t seen the Yankees that befuddled in a long time, and it was all because of Lee.

If not for that homer by Hamilton, a pitchers duel for the ages would have been in the works. Pettitte, aside from the costly hiccup, was superb, firing seven brilliant frames in keeping the deficit the same as it was entering the bottom of the first. Lee was just a lot better.

He ran into a little trouble in the sixth, as Brett Gardner, who comically missed the first-base bag on a head-first slide earlier, singled to begin the inning and then stole second. But Lee worked around that, though it took a bit more effort than the previous five frames. He went on to pitch two more dominant innings, with the lead still 2-0.

Having allowed just two hits and the walk to Teixeira while striking out 13 Yankees, it appeared their ace would head out for the ninth despite throwing 119 pitches. There was a catch: he would do so only if the Rangers went down quickly in the top. That was not so, as they read a lot into the term “insurance-run.”

Insurance runs came across, as poor David Robertson came on to pitch after Boone Logan allowed a lead-off double to Hamilton and promptly served up batting practice. He proceeded to relinquish five hits. Four earned runs were attached to his name, then a fifth as Sergio Mitre uncorked a wild-pitch to let in the eighth Texas run. All the fans who remained in the stands were cheering on Texas.

With the once close game transformed into a rout, Lee’s night was done. Handshakes and hugs extended Lee’s way in the dugout, congratulating him on his latest masterpiece. A masterpiece that, whether admitted or not, had to come to the surprise of no one, even those baffled Yankees whose season now relies heavily on the mediocre right arm of A.J. Burnett.

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