The New York Yankees won game one of the American League Championship Series 6-5, defeating the Texas Rangers at home in dramatic fashion.
After looking stymied by the pitching of CJ Wilson throughout the first seven innings, the Yankees staged a ferocious comeback, scoring five runs in the eighth inning to take the lead.
How did the Yankees perform? I’ve graded the performances of CC Sabathia and other contributing factors to the Yankees victory.
It’s down to two teams for the title of American League Champion. It appears it’s down to two players for the title of American League MVP. The two players will square off throughout the next week as the New York Yankees battle the Texas Rangers for the right to play in the World Series.
This series could go a long way in determining which player wins the MVP award, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano or Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton.
Cano has been a force with the bat as well as the glove this season for the Yankees. The second baseman has developed his game so much that people are starting to talk about him as the future face of the franchise.
The 27-year-old second baseman batted .319 during the regular season, belting 29 home runs and driving in 109 runs. The home run and RBI totals were career highs for Cano.
Back in spring training, manager Joe Girardi announced that Cano would hit fifth in the star-studded Yankees lineup. While being a free swinger, many were unsure how Cano would handle the very important lineup spot behind Alex Rodriguez.
Continue this article at Double G Sports.
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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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Going into Saturday night’s Game Three, the Yankees had to be feeling very confident of their chances to sweep the Twins.
They were up 2-0 on the Twins and they had history on their side since Minnesota had not won a playoff game against the Yankees since 2004.
Now back in the Bronx at the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were sending up Phil Hughes to pitch Game Three. This would be the first time Hughes was making a start in the postseason for the Yankees, although he has pitched in relief for them in the past. Going up for Minnesota was left-hander Brian Duensing, looking to keep the Twins’ playoff hopes and season alive.
All it took was the second inning to realize Minnesota’s season and their chances of staying alive were all but done, because the Yankees had total control of this game from start to finish.
In the bottom of the second, Robinson Cano led off the inning by hitting the ball over Denard Span’s head in center and got a lead-off triple.
One batter later, Jorge Posada drove in Cano for an RBI single and the Yankees were quickly on the board 1-0.
In the bottom of the third, Nick Swisher crushed a two-out double to right center and Mark Teixeira drove him in with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, after Cano got an infield single, Marcus Thames crushed a Duensing fastball to right field for a two-run home run and the Yankees were now ahead 4-0.
As the Yankees were scoring runs, the Twins were being left off the scoreboard by Hughes as he was just mauling the hitters at the plate.
After Matt Guerrier relieved Duensing, the Yankees continued to add onto their lead.
Curtis Granderson walked, then stole second with Brett Gardner batting and then was able to get to third on Joe Mauer’s error and Gardner drove him in with a sac fly to left and it was now 5-0.
Hughes finished his final inning of work in the seventh as he polished off Delmon Young, Jim Thome and Michael Cuddyer.
Hughes pitched seven great innings, allowed four hits, no runs, walked one and struck out six. In his first playoff performance, he pitched a gem, which is exactly what the Yankees needed.
In the bottom of the seventh, Nick Swisher hit a solo home run to right field to add onto the Yankee lead as it was 6-0 now.
After Hughes, Kerry Wood came in and did struggle in the eighth inning. Danny Valencia led off with a double and Denard Span hit a single, setting up first and third with only one out.
Orlando Hudson singled up the middle to make the game 6-1. After Joe Mauer walked to load the bases, Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled Wood and put in Boone Logan.
Logan was able to get Kubel to pop out in the infield for the second out and Young flied out to center for the third out and the Yankees were able to shut down any attempt for a Twins rally.
In the top of the ninth, despite it not being a save situation, Mariano Rivera came into the ninth looking to close out the ALDS and end the Twins’ season.
Rivera got Thome to strike out for the first out, Cuddyer to fly out to right for the second out and Valencia to fly out for the final third out and just like that, the Twins season was over.
The Yankees win Game 3 6-1 and sweep the Twins 3-0 right out of the ALDS.
Hughes picked up the win for the Yankees, while Duensing took the loss.
In the series, the Yankees hit better than the Twins, pitched better than the Twins and overall, were just a better team than Minnesota. The Twins looked lost, couldn’t get big hits when needed and were over-matched.
Most of the Yankees lineup had a pretty good series. Granderson may have stood out the most as he hit .455 against the Twins.
The Yankees now advance to the American League Championship Series and will await the winner of the Rays-Rangers series, where currently, the Rangers have a 2-1 lead going into Sunday.
So far, so good for the Yankees.
Three down, eight to go until No. 28 for Yankees Universe.
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Statistics can prove anything, but more often than not, they mean nothing. I enjoy bits of trivia, not because I want to win a bet with my friends, but because they can shed light on trends and highlight new things. As a baseball fan and sports junkie, I love hearing something and saying, “Wow, I never knew that.”
Keeping that in mind, here are a collection of stats, facts, and notes about your American League playoff teams, thanks to Elias Sports Bureau, SABR, press officers, and media reps. Enjoy the information overload.
New York Yankees
Sweep Dreams
The Yankees enter postseason play as a Wild Card team for the fourth time (also 1995, 1997 and 2007), but they have never advanced to the ALCS when entering the playoffs in this fashion. However, if they sweep the Twins, it is pretty good news for Joe Girardi’s men because the Yanks have won the World Series each of the three times they have swept in the division series.
The Men With the Golden Gloves
The Yankees led the majors with a .988 fielding pct., their best mark ever for a season. 2B Robinson Cano (.996) and SS Derek Jeter (.989) became the first set of teammates to finish a season as the fielding leaders at SS and 2B (in either league) since Omar Vizquel/Roberto Alomar for Cleveland in 2001, and the first Yankees to accomplish the feat since Phil Rizzuto/Jerry Coleman in 1949.
The Yankees’ primary infielders in 2010 (Teixeira, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez) combined for a .994 fielding percentage. Their 27 combined errors were the fewest or any Major League team at those positions.
Home Field Advantage
The Yankees became the second team among baseball’s current 30 franchises, to advance to the postseason in each of the first two seasons in their current stadium, joining Atlanta (1997-98 at Turner Field).
Rising to the Occasion
Derek Jeter has reached base safely via hit, walk or hit by pitch in 48 of 53 career Division Series games, and 122 of his all-time record 138 career postseason contests.
Slap Happy
Lance Berkman owns a .321 (34-for-106) career postseason batting average, the fourth-highest mark among all active players, and he has hit safely in 11 of his 12 career postseason games, including 10 straight from Game 3 of the 2001 NLDS through Game 4 of the 2004 NLCS.
Backstop Longevity
According to Elias, Jorge Posada is the first player to catch at least one game with the same team in 16 straight seasons, since Johnny Bench with Cincinnati (17 consecutive seasons, 1967-83).
Minnesota Twins
Starting off on the Right Foot
Manager Ron Gardenhire is the first manager to guide his team into the postseason in six of his first nine seasons as a Major League Manager. Sparky Anderson and Earl Weaver did it in five of their first eight seasons.
New Ballpark, New Fortunes?
The Twins are the 13th team to go to the playoffs in their first year in a new ballpark. They join the 2009 and 1923 Yankees, 2006 Cardinals, 2000 Giants, 1997 Braves, 1995 Rockies, 1989 Blue Jays, 1970 Pirates and Reds, 1912 Red Sox, 1911 Giants, and 1909 Pirates.
Elite Club
Francisco Liriano is making his first career postseason start Wednesday night, and he becomes the fourth different Twins pitcher to make a Game 1 start in the ALDS following Brad Radke, Santana three times, and Brian Duensing. Speaking of Liriano, he did not allow a home run in 96.1 consecutive innings pitched from May 20-Aug.18. It was the second-longest streak in Twins history, behind Bert Blyleven’s 99.0 innings from 1974-1975.
Tampa Bay Rays
A Bizarre Playoff Rule Change?
On Monday the American League approved a change to the Tropicana Field ground rules, effective for the 2010 postseason. Under the new rule, a batted ball that strikes either of the two upper catwalks, lights or suspended objects above fair territory, is a dead ball (and no pitch). Previously, balls that struck the upper catwalks, lights or suspended objects above fairground, were in play.
SI Stardom
David Price is featured on the cover of today’s playoff issue of Sports Illustrated. He is the third Ray (first by himself), to be featured on the magazine’s cover – Carl Crawford was on the cover as a cartoon with the Yankees on May 26, 2008, and Rocco Baldelli shared the cover with Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies on November 3, 2008.
Statistically Speaking
The Rays became the second Major League team since 1900 to score 800 runs (802) while hitting .250 or less (.247). The other team was the 1991 Tigers (.247, 87 runs). In addition, the Rays 1,292 strikeouts were the most ever by an AL or NL team that advanced to the postseason. Want more junk? How about the fact that the Rays were the only Major League team in 2010 to have five pitchers qualify for the ERA title (minimum 162 IP).
Crawford is That Good
No player in the modern era since 1900 has matched his combination of homers (19), triples (13), batting average (.307) and stolen bases (47).
Rookie Dropping the Signs
Rookie John Jaso batted leadoff in 45 games, 41 as catcher. According to Baseball Reference, only two players in history have started as many games catching and batting leadoff in one season since 1901. Jason Kendall and Rollie Hemsley are the others.
Pena’s Mendoza Line Power
Carlos Pena’s .196 average was lowest among all hitters who qualified for the batting title in 2010. It was the lowest by a player since Rob Deer hit .179 in 1991 for Detroit. His 28 homers rank third all time among players who hit under .200 in a season, joining Mark McGwire (.187/29 in 2001) and Mark Reynolds (.198/32 in 2010.)
Texas Rangers
Winner, Winner, Clinching Dinner
Texas clinched the division in its 154th game of 2010, the earliest that the Rangers have ever won a division title or sealed a playoff spot. The Rangers won the division by a club-record nine games, one game better than the previous largest margin from 1999.
A Long, Long Wait
Michael Young is appearing in his first postseason in his 10th year in the major league. He has appeared in 1,508 career regular season games, second most of any active player without a playoff appearance. The leader is Randy Winn (1,717 games) for those who care.
A First Time For Everything
Today’s game was the Rangers first postseason game on turf, in a dome, or in the daytime. It was also their first postseason game anywhere other than old Yankee Stadium or Rangers Ballpark, and it was the first time the opposing managers were anyone other than Johnny Oates and Joe Torre.
Wanted: Experienced Help
There are five Rangers who have appeared previously in postseason play. Darren Oliver is the only one to do it with the Rangers, when he appeared in the 1996 ALDS. He joins Jeff Francoeur (2005, Braves); Vlad Guerrero (2004, ’05, ’07, ’08, and ’09, Angels); Cliff Lee (2009, Phillies); and Bengie Molina (2002, ’04, ’05, Angels).
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It’s playoff time!
I know fans of the Yankees, Twins, Rays, Rangers, Giants, Phillies, Reds, and Braves are all gearing up with their jerseys, hats, and probably car flags to show their support as the playoffs get underway this afternoon.
What happened during the season means nothing at this point. Every team starts 0-0 and it become a whole new, albeit short, season.
For the teams themselves, there are players that become October monsters at the plate. The struggles of their regular season behind them, there’s always a new feeling when playoff times comes around that makes them swing a hot bat and help the team in big ways.
But there are also those players who were monsters during the regular season that become equally as dangerous come October.
Here are the 10 best hitters when playoff time rolls around.
While the Cy Young debate in the American League is getting a lot of attention, the Most Valuable Player award is not. Although it is discussed occasionally, people are not giving it the attention that it deserves.
The front-runner(s) at this point are Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton. All have had incredible seasons, but can also be easily argued against. If you ask me, this debate will come down to the wire, because no one is running away with it.
Robinson Cano:
Pros: The 27 year-old second baseman has had a season to remember. He is hitting .314, with a career high 28 home runs, 55 walks and 106 runs batted in. He is second in the American League with 193 hits. His cluch stat of 0.77 is the highest of his career, and his time filling in for Alex Rodriguez as the clean-up hitter most likely kept the Yankees in contention.
Cons: After a break-out first half where he hit .336, Cano has declined throughout the entire season, hitting just .287 in the second half of the season.
Josh Hamilton:
Pros: Hamilton leads all of Major League Baseball with 7.9 wins above replacement. His .359 batting average is also the best in baseball, along with his .447 wOBA. His clutch stat of 0.92 is well above average as well.
Cons: Josh has played just 131 games this season due to a recent rib cage injury. Although he would not be the first player to win the MVP with few games played (Joe Mauer won it last year with just 135 games played) he has missed the most essential part of the season, thus reducing his value.
Miguel Cabrera:
Pros: Cabrera has the second best batting average in the league at .328. He has 38 home runs, the most for any candidate. His .428 wOBA is not only a career high, but it is the second best in the American League. Cabrera has a high clutch stat as well, at 0.92, the same as Josh Hamilton.
Cons: Cabrera hasn’t played in a meaningful game since early in the season. Like Cano, he has declined as the season has progressed, hitting 41 points lower in the second half compared to the first half.
Everyone of these players is deserving of the award. However, it will be difficult to vote for any of them, considering their pros and cons are essentially equally weighed. This race is going to come down to sole opinion, because no mathematical or observational data justifies giving the award away to either Cano, Hamilton, or Cabrera.
E-mail me at jess@jesskcoleman.com, follow me on Twitter @jesskcoleman, and check out more at jesskcoleman.com.
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After making my pick for the American League Cy Young, which was an easy decision on my part, I move on to the American League Most Valuable Player, which is a bit more difficult to choose.
Just as I believe that wins should play a minimal role in deciding the Cy Young award, an MVP should not come from a team that has other potential candidates. That erases New York Yankees Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira from the conversation. This isn’t my Boston Red Sox bias creeping in; it is logic. If Cano might not even be the best player on his team how can he get strong consideration for the MVP? The MVP has to be someone who is definitively leading his team–hence the “Most Valuable” part of the award’s title. No one can say that it is just Cano primarily propelling New York.
Jose Bautista is a very interesting case. The Toronto Blue Jays right fielder had never hit more than 16 homers in a season, nor had he driven in more than 63 prior to his ridiculous 2010 season. Currently, Bautista has 54 homers and 124 RBI on the year. That is 41 more homers and 84 more RBI than he had last year with the team. It’s hard to comprehend, but considering Toronto has the fourth most homers in MLB history this season, his sudden power is not mind-boggling.
He credits an entirely renovated swing for his impressive jump, one where he turns into the zone far quicker than during his lowly days in Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Kansas City. His swing is also much flatter and his weight transfer is vastly improved, which obviously helps a hitter consistently make crisper contact. The steroids conversation shouldn’t even be brought up. Suspicion is attached, but players are randomly tested and one would be a complete dodo to chance their reputation and career with syringes this long after the steroid era.
Yet, though his accomplishments this season are remarkable, and though his team has played predominately well despite finishing fourth in the toughest division in baseball, he is not my MVP of the American League.
The MVP has to go to someone who has been most important to their team’s success. Bautista has been for the Blue Jays, but his team isn’t going to the playoffs nor have they ever been in the hunt. And, he’s only hit one homer this season—his 53rd—to the opposite field, which is bizarre. Is the 29-year-old a flash in the pan? Could the Blue Jays have won 85 games with Travis Snider getting regular playing time in right instead?
I know the Texas Rangers couldn’t have done as well as they have without Josh Hamilton; that’s for certain. Texas has always had a fairly good offense, but Hamilton has made it one of the more feared in baseball. They played in an easy division. The division was pretty much won when July turned to August. But they would have had a tougher time holding off the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim if he didn’t produce the way he did prior to getting injured in early September.
That he went down with an injury early last month, fracturing multiple ribs crashing into the center field wall, and still leads the American League in batting average at .361 and has 31 homers, 97 RBI, and a .412 on-base percentage is incredible. Entering his return to the field in tonight’s game against the Angels, he had missed 27 of 158 games. A months-worth of baseball and he is only 17 hits away from 200, has already reached the 40-double plateau, and is nearing 100 runs. He won’t reach 200 hits nor will he reach triple-digits in runs, but that he has put up those numbers—a terrific season for many who play all 162 games—while missing so much time only helps his case for the award.
It is not just coincidence that the Rangers ran away with the American League East during the five months in which Hamilton regularly appeared. And, it’s not as if players who have missed substantial time haven’t won before. In fact, Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer won last year with very similar statistics, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark displayed in his article:
Enough said in arguing for a player who has been to hell and back in his life and is now among the elite in the great game of baseball.
Honorable mention: Cano, Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Adrian Beltre, Paul Konerko, and Delmon Young
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Though the 2010 season in Major League Baseball has not quite ended, most fans have an idea of who they think deserves awards to symbolize their excellence this year.
Some votes should be extremely close, while others may not be as close as expected.
Here are my predictions for the 2010 MLB Postseason Awards for debate and perhaps even ridicule by all the experts out there.
You could make a case for CC Sabathia and possibly Mariano Rivera, but it is clear that Robinson Cano is and has been the MVP of the New York Yankees all year, but will his success at the plate continue when it counts the most, the postseason?
Cano has always been a highly praised prospect and player in the Yankees organization, with even Don Mattingly predicting that he would win a batting title at some point in his career. He was even used as trade bait when the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers. Luckily Texas chose Joaquin Arias to go along with Alfonso Soriano, instead of Cano.
Since his impressive rookie campaign in 2005, Cano has evolved into one of the best, if not the best second basemen in the Majors, both at the plate and with the leather.
I always like to compare how he plays the game to how Mariano Rivera pitches; it just seems so effortless. Mo looks like he’s just lobbing the ball to the plate and it ends up as a 93-MPH cutter. It’s the same with Cano and his side-arm bullets to first base, or how he makes over-the-shoulder catches so easily.
And also like Rivera, he has the numbers to back it all up. Cano has only made three errors all season, which gives him a .996 fielding percentage, and puts him in line for his first gold glove. He also has a .314 batting average with 28 home runs and 106 RBI—both career highs.
It is obvious that he will get some major consideration for AL MVP, but will he be able to replicate his regular season success in the month that means the most to Yankees fans
Statistically speaking, he has been very disappointing in the postseason for his career, and last season was no exception. He went 11-for-57 in the 2009 postseason, with no home runs and six RBI, while striking out 15 times. Certainly, the playoffs are an area in which Cano can improve.
After watching teammate Alex Rodriguez put up monster numbers last year in the playoffs and getting the monkey of his back, it is time for Cano to do the same. No, I’m not asking or expecting a six-home run, 18-RBI postseason from Cano, but the Yankees are going to need him to come through more than he has in the past.
If the Yankees are going to repeat as World Series Champions, the offense is going to have to do some major damage to pick up their starting pitching, which remains a mess after CC Sabathia. So it’s time for Cano to get the monkey off his back and earn his real Yankee Pinstripes.
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