Kuzul

Normally, a visiting team would feel pretty confident bringing a best-of-seven series back home tied 1-1.  They would have beaten one of the opponent’s best pitchers, and they would have the chance to wrap up the series at home with all of their fans behind them.

However, this is not a normal situation by any means. The Yankees will head back to the Bronx for Game 3 and face a probable Cy Young winner in Cliff Lee, who almost single-handedly pitched this Rangers team through the ALDS with two stellar starts in which he sported a 1.13 ERA and a nasty 0.69 WHIP.  Lee also rung up 21 batters, tying an MLB record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a series.

Lee is 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA in the postseason for his career, including two wins over the Yankees in last year’s World Series.

Starting for the Yankees will be Andy Pettitte, who is known for coming up big in postseason starts.  Yet big might not be good enough against Lee, who may only need one or two runs to seal the deal.

A loss in Game 3 could be devastating for the Yankees, as they will send A.J. Burnett to the hill for Game 4.  Burnett has been anything but what the Yankees were hoping for since he arrived in New York, sporting a 23-24 overall record in pinstripes. 

Burnett has been up-and-down all season, but mostly down, as he finished the season with six losses in his final 10 starts, ending the season with a 10-15 record and a miserable ERA of 5.26.

The Yankees chose not to use Burnett in the ALDS and instead went with a three-man rotation.  The decision to employ the four-man rotation was made in order to prevent using ace C.C. Sabathia twice in a row on three days rest, but C.C may get the entire offseason to rest if Burnett cannot control his command in Game 4.

Sabathia, who has not been at his best this postseason (7.20 ERA over two starts), will start Game 5, hopefully not with the series on the line. 

Supposing the Yankees enter Game 6 down 3-2, they will have to rely on Phil Hughes, who got roughed up in Game 2, surrendering seven earned runs in only four innings pitched.  Game 7, if the series were to come down to it, would be a rematch of Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte.

Needless to say, it is going to be a tough road to the World Series if the Yankees cannot take both games from Texas this weekend. The Yankee bats are going to have to do a lot of talking if they want to chase Lee out of the game early and then support the struggling Burnett in the next game.

However, it would be naive to count the Yankees out after only two games, especially in a sport where anything can happen.  After all, the Yankees did get to Cliff Lee in Game 5 of the World Series last fall, scoring five runs in seven innings.

Perhaps Girardi will reconsider his decision to use Burnett in anything other than long relief in this series, especially after A.J. hit two batters in a wild simulation game yesterday.  If not, this club could see its season end slightly sooner than expected.

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It’s no secret that the New York Yankees will be throwing big money at Texas Rangers’ ace Cliff Lee in the offseason. Lee, who came to the Rangers via trade from the Mariners earlier this season, has already became a fan favorite in Texas, leading them to their first playoff series win. Lee is now 6-0 in his career in the postseason with a 1.44 ERA.

Lee will have plenty of teams lined up at his doorstep in the upcoming offseason, but it realistically comes down to two teams: the Yankees and Rangers.

“I enjoy it here in Texas,” said Lee. “It’s been a good ride so far, and yeah, I could see myself being here in the future. But only time will tell on that. I’m not going to corner myself into anything with that.”

Lee has every right to leave his options open, and there’s no reason for him to commit to anything before the season is over. He needs to be 100 percent focused on the task at hand, and that is beating the Yankees.

One thing we know for sure is that the Rangers can’t pay Lee near what the Yankees will offer him. The Yankees have the highest payroll in baseball in 2010 at $206,333,389. The Rangers have a 2010 payroll of $55,250,545. However, due to a new ownership group, it is speculated that the Rangers payroll could be as high as $100,000,000 next season. Lee will probably be worth at least $20 million per year.

As you can see, the Yankees have a lot more to work with in luring Lee away from Texas. We’ve seen them do it time and time again, most recently with C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. There’s no telling what kind of ridiculous contract the Yankees will offer Lee, but if one thing is for certain, it is that it will be more than what the Rangers can offer him.

So, it comes down to what Lee truly wants. Is he willing to leave some money on the table to return to Texas, where he has became the main attraction, or does he take the money and play for the best franchise in the history of baseball? It’s definitely a tough choice, and it will ultimately come down to whatever Lee wants and that’s how it should be. He has went from Cleveland to Philadelphia to Seattle to Texas without any say in where he ended up. He deserves to pick his next destination.

If the Rangers want to keep Cliff Lee, they must win this series against the Yankees for two reasons.

First off, for their own sake. It would be a huge slap in the face for the Rangers to lose to the Yankees in their first-ever ALCS and then turn around and lose one of the best pitchers in the game to the Yankees a short time later. The Yankees would quickly become much more hated in Texas than they are now.

Most importantly in the decision process, if Lee sees that this Texas team is already in a place where they can compete with and beat the Yankees, it makes his decision a lot easier. Money matters, but trust me, there are still guys out there who want to win and Lee definitely seems like one of them.

Here’s what Lee had to say about winning in the postseason and staying with the Rangers, “But yeah, I definitely enjoy it here, and it looks like it’s going to be a good team for years to come. And that’s what I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of a winner, and that’s what this team looks like it’s going to be for a little while. Hopefully we do some damage here in the postseason, win the World Series, and that will make things a lot easier for me.”

You can take a lot from that quote. Lee realizes Texas has a lot of young talent and should be a good team moving forward. The Rangers can make things easier on Lee and themselves by winning. That starts with beating the Yankees, the team who will be trying their damnedest to pry Lee away from Texas.

The Rangers would probably still have won their division without Lee this season, but there is no way they win the ALDS. Lee gets credit for about 75 percent of that series. With Lee, they are division favorites and serious contenders for a ring. Without him, they’re simply a slightly above average team with a chance to make the playoffs.

Rangers players and coaches know this better than anyone, and they are playing just as hard to keep Lee as they are to win the World Series. Here they are, at a crossroads. They’ve got six games to beat the Yankees four times and make a huge impression on Cliff Lee’s decision. Lucky for them, they’ll have Cliff Lee himself, who will pitch two of those six games, helping them make that impression.

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I had a thought just now. Cliff Lee is controlling the Texas Rangers. Last night, in Game 1, Rangers manager Ron Washington was quick on the hook with starter C.J. Wilson. After Brett Gardner beat out that ground ball to first with a headfirst slide and Derek Jeter drove him in with a double down the left-field line, Washington yanked Wilson and went to his bullpen.

You know the rest.

The Rangers ‘pen would go on to cough up the lead and give away Game 1 to the Yankees. At the time of the Gardner play, Wilson was cruising. He did give up a home run to Robinson Cano to bring the game to 5-1 but hadn’t really been in trouble much before that point. He had only surrendered four hits, and the lone run came from Cano’s homer.

So why pull him so quickly?

One reason: Cliff Lee.

With a victory in Game 1, Ron Washington knows his team has a good chance to go up 2-1 or even 3-0 with Lee pitching Game 3. Either way, they’d most likely be facing AJ Burnett in Game 4 and it’s not as if Washington is unaware of Burnett’s struggles. Washington managed the game last night like a man afraid to lose. Of course he wants to win. But he didn’t want to win just to make a statement—he wanted to win for a chance to hand the ball to Cliff Lee with a series lead.

With two incredible starts during the ALDS against Tampa, Lee has already cemented himself as one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all-time. When Lee hits the free-agent market at the end of the season, whether the Rangers make it to the World Series or not, we’re going to follow his every move until he signs somewhere (and don’t be so sure about the Yankees).

But until then, Lee is influencing what the Rangers do and how Ron Washington manages, possibly to a fault. Yes, giving Lee the start with a series lead should be the goal, but not if that goal ironically caused the Rangers to lose Game 1.

Washington needs to manage to win each game without looking ahead to the next game. If not, the Rangers will see the ghosts of championship series’ past return.

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The look on Nolan Ryan’s face toward the end of the top half of the eight inning said it all. What was happening was shocking, unfathomable and frustrating. Couldn’t any pitcher get a gosh darn out?

The occurrences of that inning were a reminder to the Texas Rangers, their fans and their gregarious owner and erstwhile pitcher of just what they were up against.

In an inning when the Rangers used five pitchers before an out was recorded, the Yankees showed the mettle that makes them the owners of 27 World Series Championships.

Having all that money can’t win championships. It helps, but money can’t go out on the field and perform. And for all the multi-million dollar studs that take the field for the Yankees each night, it was the only non multi-millionaire that made the hustle play that started off the five-run rally in the eighth.

No, Brett Gardner is not the personification of everything the Yankees stand for. Anyone would be foolish, and most likely crazy, to try and make such a sweeping, grandiose statement.

But Gardner does stand to remind those who are not Yankees fans—the people that will damn all logic by declaring that the Yankees only win because they spend money in one breath and with another say, “money can’t buy championships,” when they lose—that the commitment to excellence from the Yankees organization extends past opening up the coffers for big name free agents and onto the field.

And now the Texas Rangers are left aghast at the destruction the Yankees talent and determination has wrought on their playoff momentum.

However, it isn’t completely crushed just yet.

The Yankees saved that for this afternoon in Game 2.

A win today and the Yankees will have locked up the ALCS before it really got started, before Cliff Lee takes the mound.

In their entire history, the Rangers have never won a home playoff game. Imagine the demoralization the Rangers would undergo if the Yankees take the first two games of the series in Arlington before sending the series back to the Bronx?

If the Rangers hope to get a second home playoff victory this season, they better get their first this afternoon, because if the Yankees head to the Bronx for Games 3-5 with a 2-0 lead in the ALCS, they will not have to leave the confines of Yankee Stadium II before they get to pop champagne and celebrate their 41st AL Pennant.

Some will be quick to object, “but the Rangers have the indomitable Cliff Lee pitching in Game 3 and the Yankees have abominable A.J. Burnett pitching in Game 4.”

In Game 4, the Ranger will match up Tommy Hunter, and his 5.37 career road ERA, with Burnett.

And the psychological effect on Cliff Lee of dropping to 2-0 in the series against the Yankees cannot be discounted. Before the Rangers swooped in to steal Lee out from under the Yankees at midseason, it was said that Lee’s wife had contacted Amber Sabathia about potential houses in the New York area.

If the series is 2-0, nobody can deny that the little imp in the back of Lee’s mind will be telling him that it’s better to join them than face them, that if the Rangers are going to win this series it’s going to almost be by his efforts alone, that he is supremely jealous of the way the Yankees picked up CC Sabathia after he struggled in Game 1.

The Yankees recruit free agents harder than any other team. This ALCS, on top of being a series for the AL pennant, is a recruitment battle between the Yankees and Rangers for Lee’s services.

Last night was a statement in the battle, a clear unintentional message to Lee about the support the Yankees give their aces. An opening salvo in what will be contentious winter bidding that said, “not only do we have the money, but we have the legacy and mystique to confound even the greatest swings of momentum.”

If the Yankees win this afternoon in Arlington, Cliff Lee will have the weight of the Rangers’ season on his shoulders going into Game 3 in a hitter’s ballpark. He will also have the nagging thought that the dugout on the first base side of the stadium is the best place to be.

This is not to say that Cliff Lee won’t come out and pitch well, but all of this has to weigh him down. The Rangers can do their ace a gigantic favor by getting a win today.

However, that’s a tall order, because 31-year-old journeyman Colby Lewis is 0-2 with a 6.89 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees, while Phil Hughes has dominated the Texas Rangers, going 2-0 without surrendering a run in 15.1 innings of three-hit ball.

Unless Lewis is able to shut down the Yankees lineup, Ranger batters will have to respond with some run support against a pitcher who has completely owned them.

Much to the chagrin of the Rangers and the rest of Major League Baseball, the Yankees have to be favored in this game, they have to be favored for the rest of this series and they have to be favored in the race for Cliff Lee.

This afternoon the Yankees will take the field with a lot on the line, because a win here locks up the ALCS, and by extension, the battle with the Rangers for Cliff Lee’s services in 2011 and beyond.

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Well ladies and gentlemen, the 2010 Major League season has reached its very own Final Four in the form of the two League Championship Series.

The American League will pit the defending champion New York Yankees against the first-time winners Texas Rangers, while the National League will feature the back-to-back National League champion Philadelphia Phillies against the upstart San Francisco Giants.

While the ALCS promises to display power with the slugging offenses of the Rangers and the start studded Yankees, the NLCS plans on displaying the so called “arms race,” featuring the top two starting rotations that baseball has to offer.

While arguments are made between the better coaching staffs, the GMs, and the chemistry of the team factoring into the success of a ballclub, ultimately it boils down to the strength of the players on each team.

From the highly paid studs such as Alex Rodriguez to the rookie sensation Buster Posey, each team will have to properly showcase their power players in order to have a chance at the World Series.

With that said, let’s take a look at the top 25 players that will grace the American and National League Championship Series.

Begin Slideshow

After watching Cliff Lee dominate my Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, and dominate, well, everybody, throughout the playoffs last season, people are starting to rank him as one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time.  The only way to compare them is to put Lee up against the greatest postseason pitcher of all time, Sandy Koufax.

Let’s take a quick look at the pitching lines.

Sandy Koufax: 4-3 record, 57 innings, 32 hits, 10 runs, 2 home runs, 11 walks, 61 strikeouts

Cliff Lee: 6-0 record, 56 1/3 innings, 32 hits, 11 runs, 1 home run, 6 walks, 54 strikeouts

Those numbers are strikingly close.  But Koufax’s numbers are a bit skewed.  Of those 10 runs he allowed, only six were earned (good enough for a 0.95 ERA).  Plus Lee got beat up in Game 5 last year of the World Series when he allowed five earned runs—one less than Koufax did in his entire postseason career—and he STILL got the win.  As good as Lee has been, there’s only one Sandy Koufax.  

In the 1965 World Series, Koufax pitched on three days rest and on two days rest—threw two complete game shutout victories.  Cliff Lee has NEVER pitched on three days rest in his life.

That’s the argument for Koufax being better.  For Lee—he does have the better record (though I firmly believe that wins are as much a team category as a personal category).  He does have nearly half the amount of walks that Koufax did (though both had precise control), and let up one less long ball.  But the big argument would be Lee has had to face the DH in four of his starts, while Koufax never did.  Lee’s best argument of being the best postseason pitcher ever is in the strength of the line-ups he’s had to face—the Yankees (now twice), the Rays, the Rockies, and the Dodgers.  

But is that enough to put Lee over Koufax?  Definitely not.  Sandy Koufax is one of the five greatest pitchers…EVER.  Cliff Lee isn’t.  Sandy Koufax was a two-time World Series MVP and a four-time World Series champion.  Lee has never won a World Series.  His performance in the 1965 World Series is the greatest ever.  Pitching with severe elbow troubles, winning Game 5 (on three days rest) and Game 7 (on two days rest)—with complete game shutouts, nevertheless—is an achievement that is almost impossible to think about today.  

The final argument: Koufax retired when he was 30.  His arm simply gave out on him. Well kind of.  In 1966—his final season, all Koufax did was pitch 323 innings, with a 27-9 record, and a 1.79 ERA.  After the World Series that year (the Dodgers were swept), Koufax retired due to traumatic arthritis in his arm.  Cliff Lee didn’t make his first postseason start until he was 31 years old—or a year older than Koufax was when he RETIRED.  Lee had years of experience in the regular season, while Koufax was thrust into the limelight and spotlight of the postseason at a much younger age.

Cliff Lee is simply filthy, and a guy I certainly don’t want to see in the playoffs.  But Sandy Koufax is the best that ever was, and the best that ever will be.

Michael Perchick is the writer/editor of TheJockosphere, a sports/Twitter site, reporting the top tweets and news directly from athletes.  Follow him on Twitter @TheREALPerchick, and at http://thejockosphere.com/. 

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Sports Irreverence and More from the Other Tip of the Goldberg

Being a huge sports fan, I don’t need to bet on games (I’m too destitute these days, anyway) to relish the action.  A rooting interest does help matters, though.

Which brings me to tonight and the start of the Yankees-Rangers ALCS.  I’ve been following the Phillies forever, but I am torn as to which team to support. 

Do I root for the mighty Yankees, even though it’s anathema for most Philly guys to ever root for a New York team?  Make that a New York anything.

Do I cheer for Texas?  They are the underdogs, and I was taught to never root for an overdog, unless my team is an overdog.  And yes, the Phillies are certainly overdogs versus the Giants in the NLCS.

One more note before working out this dilemma in public.  I should not tempt fate by thinking too far ahead and assuming future prosperity, especially in Philly.  Even if some of us were too young to have lived through it, we are still jinxed and scarred by the “Philly Phade” of the 1964 team and other unforgettable collapses by local heroes in all four major sports.

For the purposes of this column—and I’ve already picked the Phillies in six over the Giants—I don’t accept that I may be jinxing them.  I don’t play for or manage the Phils, and indeed, I don’t draw a paycheck from them or from anyone else these days, for that matter. 

Which means, on to my dilemma (other than being broke). 

Reasons to Root for the Rangers:

• The Rangers are the underdogs.  They just notched their first postseason series victory in franchise history on Tuesday, while the Yankees are defending champions and winner of 27 of these championships.  Plus, the Yanks had the better record this year in a better division and boast a much higher payroll.

• The Rangers have my favorite pitcher, Cliff Lee.  Yes, he was only in Philly for a few months and may only be in Texas that long, but many Phillies fans fell in love with the guy.  In a platonic baseball kind of way, of course.  It helped ease the pain when Roy Oswalt came over from Houston, Cole Hamels became the 2008 postseason Hamels and H2O was unleashed.

By the way, to the best of my knowledge, the origin of H2O as the nickname for Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt was right here.

(Excuse the above digression. I just wish I had put H2O on a T-shirt.  Would that make it a wet T-shirt?  Have we saturated the topic?)

• Oh yeah, the Rangers figure to be an easier opponent to beat than the Yankees.

• We would not have to face that ageless, peerless Mariano Rivera guy; we’ll take our chances with the youthful Neftali Feliz.

Four pretty good reasons.  So, why am I tempted to root for the Yankees?

Reasons to Root for the Yankees

• They’re not all that detestable.  Yes, it’s hard to like A-Rod and it’s hard to like the overwhelmingly haughty Yankees fans, but does anyone really hate Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, two of the classiest winners in the sport?

• “W” used to be an owner of the Rangers and is still associated with that franchise.  Not to hold a grudge, but…

• We would not have to face Cliff Lee.  Yes, we have Halladay, who may more than neutralize the guy, but right now Cliff Lee is the best big-game pitcher on the planet.  And, it would be hard to bring myself to root against him.  Not to hold unrequited man-love for the guy, but…

• Revenge.  Simply put, it would be sweeter to beat the “Evil Empire,” which happens to be the team that beat us in the World Series last year.

As of right now, I’m leaning toward rooting for the Yankees, but only because I think it’s the Phillies’ year no matter who they play.  Let’s go out and prove it against the best.

This may all change if there is an injury or if my confidence wanes ever so slightly for any reason.

And it may change when that cool cat wearing No. 33 (I guess Nolan Ryan had dibs on 34) takes the hill for the Rangers.

One thing I do know: I’m psyched beyond reason to see Halladay v. Lincecum kick off the NLCS tomorrow night.  As for those AL pretenders, let them deal with the two-time defending NL champions, H2O, the semi-articulate magical genius that is manager Charlie Manuel, and the Phillies home-field advantage.

I do profess to know the team that Rangers Nation (if there is one) and Yankees Nation would prefer to face, and they don’t play in South Philly.

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On Monday night up in the Bronx, fans will crowd into Yankees Stadium with pits in their stomach.

The Yankees will be returning from Texas for Game 3 in the ALCS, and for New York Yankees fans it will be the first one played at home.

An ideal homecoming for the Yankees would be a 2-0 lead on the Rangers, before facing the surreal arm of Cliff Lee Monday evening.

Is this realistic?

Yes. The Yankees are the better ball-club. It is the Yankees ALCS to win or lose.

Here are top three reasons why:

1)   The Rangers made it to the ALCS, but Cliff Lee beat the Rays. Game 5 of the ALDS, Lee pitched better than ever. The fact that Lee is slated to start on Monday night in New York is a huge mistake by skipper Ron Washington.

It gives the Bombers an open door to win the first two games and with that newly found Rangers confidence will be squashed upon entering the Bronx. The Yankees know they have capitalized this gift. What the Twins couldn’t do, the Rangers can and that’s to come out swinging with Lee in Game 1.

The Yankees get pretty scary and will shake that confidence right out of Texas that could cost the Lone Star state the series. It’s a lot of pressure for CJ Wilson to carry, considering he was a closer till this season and the Yankees killed him as a starter.

2)   The Rangers have Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, but Hamilton is the team’s leader who has been broken ribs and he sat most of the last two weeks of the season.

When Hamilton is hitting the line-up responds and against Tampa he was a non-factor. This is a problem in games that are not started by Cliff Lee, as the Rangers closer Neftali Feliz has been shaky lately and the Yankees will crush the rookie’s arm.

The Rangers line-up is good, but the Yankees across the board have the most lethal line-up in baseball.

3)   Experience is relentless in the postseason, which the Yankees have more than anyone can swallow. Texas is in its first ALCS in franchise history. Yankees players who are rusty in age know what to expect and how to win, which is a total advantage. Rangers need Vladimir Guerrero and Bengie Molina know the Yankees veterans from when they were Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels were the only team New York feared up until this season, Molina and Vlad were major contributors back then and if they can lead by example. It might help in making up for Washington’s managerial mistakes.

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I’m so sick of Cliff Lee.

It’s nothing personal against the guy, and I’m choosing my words carefully here, since he’s probably going to pitch every fifth day for my team next season.

But the three days separating the end of the ALDS and tonight’s ALCS opener has spawned a level of hero worship not seen since Sully defeated the seagulls.

It’s literally all people can talk about. Roy Halladay throws a perfect game? Who cares. Tim Lincecum strikes out 14 (probably while high)? Big deal. Cliff Lee mows down a pathetic Rays offense twice? American hero.

You could tell the Yankees were sick of hearing about Lee this week, too. The Rangers ace was the main line of questioning for the first two days of workouts at the Stadium, this despite the fact that New York won’t see the left-hander until Game 3.

“Cliff Lee is a great pitcher, but all we’re worried about right now is Game 1.”

I usually get frustrated when players fall back on stock answers like this, but in this case, what other answer could they give?

“Cliff Lee is the best pitcher ever. We’re not even thinking about the first two games of this pennant-deciding series because we can’t stop thinking about how easily Cliff Lee is going to defeat us next Monday. Us guys in the clubhouse actually started the #cliffleefacts Twitter hashtag. He’s hot, too.”

That doesn’t make sense, right? Well, especially the last part.

I’ll get into more when Lee’s turn actually does come up, but the reality is that the Yankees have had some success against him. Everyone knows about his dominant performance in Game 1 of the World Series last year, but few mention Game 5, when he allowed five runs over seven innings.

To quote Duke from Rocky IV: “He’s not a machine, he’s a man, he’s a man!”

As the Yankee Haters amongst you have no doubt told you, this postseason has broken just right for New York thus far.

I love all the ridiculous grassy knoll theories that Joe Girardi tanked the end of the regular season so the Yankees would miss Lee and the Rangers in the ALDS. To me, it was simply a fortuitous twist of fate, like when you blew the opportunity to hook up with the hottest chick at the office Christmas party only to find out later she has a vicious strain of herpes.

The Rangers and Rays going five games obviously helped the Yankees as well. The fruits of this good fortune is immediate: In tonight’s matchup, CC Sabathia meets not his friend Lee, but C.J. Wilson.

Wilson is a left-hander coming off a breakout season in 2010, two facts that lead you to believe he should have success on Friday night. But his splits tell the story of a pitcher that excelled against most teams, but not against the Yankees.

Wilson was winless in three starts against New York, pitching to a 5.65 ERA over 14 1/3 innings. The Yankees batted .300 as a team against him.

Then you have Sabathia, who received some good fortune himself in the opening round of the playoffs. The lefty wasn’t sharp against the Twins, but still got the win when teammates rallied off Francisco Liriano in the seventh inning.

The Yankees need Sabathia to revert back to form on Friday. When he’s at the top of his game, Sabathia is every bit the pitcher that Lee is, possibly even better. Sabathia proved that at this time last year, when he won twice against the Angels in picking up the ALCS MVP.

Every Game 1 is important, but in a series that seems too close to call, this Game 1 means even more. Time for the big man to stand and deliver.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

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The New York Yankees need a fourth starter for the ALCS. But the one they named was wrong. It should not have been A.J. Burnett, but rather Ivan Nova.

Nova, whom the Yankees refused to trade, was a major reason that they didn’t get Cliff Lee from the Mariners midseason. He has since justified their retaining him. Except for one very bad start that skewed his respectable 4.50 ERA upward, he has been quite a serviceable pitcher both as a starter and a reliever. And he’s only 23, in his first season.

There is a very good reason that Nova was the “not Lee.” Cliff Lee is a very good pitcher in the present. But Nova could be the pitcher for the future. That’s why he was rightly put in the “untouchable” category earlier reserved for the likes of Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain.

The homegrown core of the Yankees rotation is still Andy Pettitte (for now), Phil Hughes and now Ivan Nova. Of the three “hired hands,” CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez, only Sabathia has more or less worked out. Two-fifths of the earlier rotation was a question mark, and it came from the experienced pitchers. 

Some years ago, the future Yankees rotation was something like Chien Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, among others. Of these, only Hughes has become the present, with Wang having collapsed, Kennedy having been traded and Chamberlain been sent to the bullpen.

Besides Kennedy (who pitched well for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year), the Yankees also traded away Ross Ohlendorf (along with Jose Tabata, Jeff Karstens and Dan McCutchen), for a two-month “rental” in Xavier Nady plus reliever Damaso Marte. Ohlendorf could have been a full-time starter, and Tabata a fielder by now (although the other two represented no loss, being players more typical of Pirates than Yankees).

Worse yet, the Bombers traded a promising prospect, Arodys Vizcaino (plus the declining Melky Cabrera) for Vazquez, after a late season surge put him into the Cy Young conversation. He pitched nowhere that well this year, albeit in the American, not National, League.

The core of the Yankees for the past 15 years has been Jorge Posada behind the plate, Derek Jeter at shortstop and Mariano Rivera as a closer. More recently, they were joined by Robinson Cano at second and (until he was traded), Melky Cabrera in center field. At one time, the “backbone” of the Yankees team was “up the middle,” with the corner positions being filled by hired hands.

Some would say that in the postseason, you need your most experienced hands. The flip side of that is that you need to give experience to get experienced players.

And it was T Boone Pickens, the American oil man that defined a veteran as an 18-year-old rookie who has survived a month of campaigning. That said, there is no better month for Nova to become a veteran.

A medieval philosopher once opined that if you must lose a battle, it was better to lose with an army of “native sons” than with an army of mercenaries. The reason was that your (surviving) native sons would fight for you another day, with greater experience, while the mercenaries wouldn’t.

With the ability to buy almost any player, the Yankees have unfortunately overvalued veteran players from other teams and undervalued homegrown players. After having done so too often in the recent past, refusing to trade Nova for Lee was a good first step in reversing course. They should have followed up by putting Nova in the postseason rotation where Lee would otherwise have been.

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