Jorge Posada officially announced his retirement today, in an emotional ceremony at Yankee Stadium, the second member of the so-called “Core Four” — Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera being the others — to walk into the sunset. A fiery competitor, a tenacious hitter, and a passionate leader — if not a great receiver, he did [...]
Archive of posts filed under the postseason category.
A Thumbnail Guide to the Dodgers-Yankees Fall Classics
With the Dodgers and Yankees set to square off in L.A. tonight, I’ve got a rant at Baseball Prospectus wondering why Major League Baseball has never brought this matchup to the Bronx in 14 seasons of interleague play:
Tonight the Yankees and Dodgers kick off a three-game interleague series in Los Angeles. The two teams have [...]
Thank Heavens for Angell
Among the numerous things I’m thankful for every year, one of them is the arrival of Roger Angell’s annual recap in The New Yorker, which I sat down and read last night over a bottle of seasonal ale after tiring of discerning the minutiae of various Angels pitching prospects. From Angels to Angell, now that [...]
Empire State of Mind, Baby!
Just before signing off early Thursday morning in the wake of the Yankees’ World Series win, the YES network ran a montage set to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” the song which had become this team’s anthem; the rapper performed it live prior to Game Two of the series, the one I attented. In my [...]
Start Spreading the News
After a night of revelry — I was a one-man dogpile — let’s get straight to the opener of today’s piece at Baseball Prospectus:
Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter may be the Yankees for whom the spotlight shines the brightest, but it was Hideki Matsui who did the dirty work on Wednesday night. Setting a single-game [...]
Laying an Egg
You never know what you’re going to get when it comes to A.J. Burnett, a sterling performance like he gave the Yankees in Game Two of the World Series, or an implosion like he gave them in last night’s Game Five. Through his first four postseason starts this fall, he’d allowed just eight runs, [...]
Chasing Away the Ghosts
Johnny Damon’s mad ninth-inning dash from second to third once he realized no one was covering will go down in the annals of World Series lore, but it was Alex Rodriguez who was the real story last night. From my writeup at Baseball Prospectus:
Last night, in the ninth inning of Game Four of the World [...]
The Trouble With Lefties
The Yankees pulled ahead in the World Series on Saturday night, two games to one. Andy Pettitte survived an awful second inning, while Cole Hamels fell apart like a cheap watch after a dominating three innings, with Pettitte himself contributing to that via an RBI single amid a three-run fifth-inning rally that ultimately chased last [...]
The Man Who Would Be King
Attending a postseason game is always a thrill, particularly the later in October the Yankees’ run goes. I’m lucky enough to have gotten to go to Yankee Stadium twice in one week, first for the ALCS clincher and then for Thursday night’s Game Two of the World Series. It was my first World Series game [...]
A Great Start for Lee, A Rough Start for the Yankees
Well, Game One of the World Series didn’t go so well for the Yankees. From my writeup at Baseball Prospectus:
In yesterday’s chat, Bronx Banter’s Alex Belth asked me, “Is there any particular pitching match-up that you are looking forward to in the series?” I responded that the matchup I was most looking forward to was [...]
