If you want to go to Heaven, you'll have to Slay some Angels...
By Matthew Storey
The mood this morning, in Manhattan, amongst Yankee fans I have spoken with so far is pleasure.
For sure.
But not ecstasy, somewhere between 'Good Job, Boys' and ''Bout Fuckin' time!' is where I'd peg it.
And, of note to those of you not of this Nation, I have yet to speak with a Yankee fan (not saying they don't exist) who mentioned the Red Sox demise in either a gloating fashion or as a pleasurable on-field result.
The Yankees and fans would have preferred the Red Sox to play, on the East Coast in familiarity with 9 of the last 10 providing confidence. Failing that, it would have been nice to see Boston extend things a couple of games, use up Angel pitching and soften up a touch.
Yankees rooting for Red Sox didn't work out. Unsurprisingly, and, to be genuine, if they want to be World Champions they need to defeat the Angels, who have owned them like no other team. They spotted Boston 8 games and blew past them to win the AL East by 8, they have nothing to prove there.
So, the Yankees play the Angels best of 7, in the American League Championship Series.
Oh, well.
So we aint jumping up and down over here, but we are pleased. Its been five years since they won a Postseason series and the pitching was sensational, as was the power and the clutch. They were at no point playing their best ball and still swept a terrific Twins team who only need a power starter to be right back again.
Still, outside of the rotation, Alex, Derek and Jorge - this team did not play especially well. Those three stalwarts managed a combined 13/32 (.406) with 2 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI and 9 RUNS. The rest of the lineup was a combined 10/70 (.143) in the three games facing honest, but modest pitching, with the notable asterisk belonging to critical HR hitters Mark Teixeira, Game 2 Walk Offian and Game 1 Godzilla BOMB.
Outside of them, however...
Johnny Damon is clearly struggling with his eyes (check him out when he steps out and blinks), he lost a flyball when his eyes freaked on him earlier in the year and wasn't right for weeks. He was in a career year back in a torrid August, with a career tying 24 HR and 77 RBI. But he closed with no HR and only 5 RBI for the Month of September/October and managed 1 for 12 in the ALDS, with 4 strikeouts. Ouch.
Nick Swisher had a big, game winning 2B in Game 1 only to fade to Damon's level at 1/12, 4 K's. Melky had 5 K's to go with 2/12 and Matsui, Teixeira and Cano were ALSO 2 for 12.
So this Offense was carried by Alex, Derek and Jorge and the pitching was CC, AJ and Andy. Joba was OK, Mariano was just OK and Phil Hughes was his shakiest since joining the Bullpen.
Plenty of room for improvement there, and they will need everybody on board to challenge the Angels who are a similar scrappy, competitive, risk taking sort of team to the Twins but healthier (Morneau is a huge loss for Minnesota, obviously), more experienced and with far superior pitching.
We'll look to the Specifics of Yankees/Angels later in the week, before Game 1 on Friday night in The Bronx.
Until then, we'll savor this one and relax for the first October in longandlong.
It aint yet time to drink. It certainly isn't time to have a Parade, all that is still available however and dreaming is permitted all around. A noble season has certainly been crafted and a deeper pool of playoff teams has never been assembled in my memory, the vanquished Cardinals and Red Sox could easily have been World Champions in another year, the Phillies are deeper on the hill, weaker in the pen, better with Ibanez than Burrell. The Dodgers and Yankees look magical, and the story lines for Manny, Torre and Mattingly are too delicious...you can see how these two teams might reprise '77-'81 and play multiple times for the prize.
Or not.
Because the Angels are formidable and so are the Phillies. Work to be done (heck even the Phillies have not yet cast off the Rockies....), so the work here?
It can wait.
