Good morning, good afternoon or good evening to you my friends - whatever applies. Welcome to the post-Division Series/pre-ALCS edition of The Gospel According to "L". Happy Columbus Day to my American viewers and a Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian viewers (if you are viewing this very day.) We're going to go a simple route for this Gospel - we will simply recap the Division Series win over the Twins, and we will preview a very big ALCS with the Boston Red Sox. It's like Yogi said - it's deja vu all over again! All right, let's get this party started!
Let's begin with the Division Series win against the Minnesota Twins. I will tell you this friends - I am glad this series ended as quickly as it did. I'll be brutally honest - I didn't think the Bombers would either 1) win or 2) have an easy time winning - but they did. Let's break it down game-by-game:
GAME ONE
I wasn't surprised with the outcome - yet I was surprised. Huh, what are you talking about? Johan Santana was more than hittable in this game than one thinks - all you have to do is look at the boxscore for proof. Nine hits in nine innings yet not one single run? I don't care who is on the mound - that is unacceptable! I actually switched between this game and the Vice Presidential debate - and I don't know what made me want to sleep more? Watching the Yankees hit made me sleepy! They hit into five double plays (that's one every other inning,) and they were robbed on some occasions - especially by the "soul patrol" in the outfield. Talk about evolution - we go from "We Are Family" in 1979 in Pittsburgh to "Soul Patrol" in 2004 in the battleground North Star State. One question I ask myself - why was A-Rod running so blase in the first on that hit-and-run? You're facing the possible Cy Young award winner in game one of the postseason, your batter (Bernie) strikes out with one out, and you're going to jog to third! Did the Twins replace the refreshments in the Yankee clubhouse with crack? I don't get it, I just don't! But that was game one, and now the Twinkies have a 1-0 lead.
GAME TWO
I can't even begin to tell you how I was feeling. When the game started, I actually thought this was it - the season was going to end in this series. Once the Twins took that 3-1 lead in the second, I had no idea what to think! Jon Lieber was beginning to get smacked around, and Brad Radke wasn't pitching badly. Then Sheff takes one over left and evens it up at three, and A-Rod homers and singles in a run, and now the Bombers have themselves a 5-3 lead after seven. Then comes the eighth inning - Shannon Stewart strikes out - so now we're five outs away from tying it up. Then Jacque Jones comes up - and he strikes out - but! But the pitch gets away and Jones is safe on first. Then Torii Hunter singles to make it first and second with one out, and now this is giving me a heart attack. Well now Joe has to use Mariano to get the final five. He faces Justin Morneau and Morneau drives in Jones while Hunter goes to third - so now we have first and third with one out and Hunter is the trying run and Luis Rivas is pinch-running for Morneau. Somebody tell me this is just a nightmare and I'm about to wake up! Then up comes the other Canuck: Corey Koskie. He hits one down the line - and fair! It goes into the stands, Hunter scores, and Rivas goes to third, and we're tied at five with only one out! I can't even remember if I reacted - you know as a Yankee fan you're not exactly used to Mariano blowing a save after the regular season, especially at home! After that, the rookie Jason Kubel struck out and Cristian Guzman (the only player left from the Knoblauch trade) grounded out back to Mo to end the inning tied. Well they couldn't do anything against Juan Rincon or Joe Nathan from the eighth till the eleventh - the same story against Mariano and Tanyon Sturtze. Now we go to inning number 12 at about 11 o'clock. Well two-thirds of the Soul Patrol make an out, and then comes the final third: Hunter. He hits one deep, deep and into the box seats in left by left-center! Great, so after all that we're now down by one. Then Matt LeCroy comes in to single and Koskie walks, so we have first and second with two outs, and Torre brings in Paul Quantrill to face Kubel. It works - Kubel grounds out to end the inning - but the damage was done...or was it? Well we go to the bottom of the twelfth with Nathan still on the mound. John Olerud leads off by fanning, and then Miguel Cairo draws ball four. Oh Captain, my captain does the same thing, so now we have first and second with one out. Now that's what I'm talking about! Then up comes A-Rod - who couldn't drive in runners in scoring position to save his life since coming over for Alfonso Soriano. Well he hits one deep to center (please go out, please go out) and it's over the head of Hunter in left center and then over the wall - that brings in Miggy while putting Jeter and third. We now have second and third with one man out and a tie game. All we need now is a non-shallow flyball and we win the game! Well Gary Sheffield came up, and of course, he was put on intentionally. So now they're juiced with one out - a base hit or flyball wins it, but a groundball could send it to the thirteenth! Ron Gardenhire comes out to bring in the lefty: J.C. Romero - he'll face Matsui. Well he pulls it and hits it right at Jones, but Jeter's coming home, the throw comes in, and Jeter just barely beats it out! Thank you Lord - Yankees win 7-6 in 12 and we're all tied up at one! Later I heard Jones say he wasn't thinking about Jeter at third - apparently the crack changed clubhouses tonight! You're not thinking about Jeter at third? Then what are you thinking about Jacque? I know your father just died, but that didn't stop you from homering the night before now did it? Anyway, now they go back to the Metrodome to try and finish off the team formerly known as the Washington Senators.
GAME THREE
It's a funny thing - the Red Sox had the chance to finish off the Angels before the Bombers played game three - yet I didn't even think about that. When I did turn it on - I saw that the Halos & Sox were tied at six in the tenth. What I was worried about was whether Kevin Brown would shut down the Twins or get bombed like he did in Boston a few weeks before. Well he gives up a homer to Jacque Jones while I change the channel to check on the other game, and it's 1-0 in a flash at the loudest building in baseball during the postseason! Other than that there was no problem at all. The Sox did eliminate the Angels that night - like I told you last week Sox fans - better you than us to face the Angels. Back to this game - second inning the Yanks single five times in a row against Carlos Silva and score three times. Then the Bombers score four times in the sixth and once in the seventh to basically put it out of reach. Ninth inning it's 8-1 with Felix Heredia on the mound. He hits Corey Koskie and Lew Ford to start the inning! Does anybody deny he has control problems? So now Joe brings in Sturtze - he gives up a single to Cristian Guzman and now the bags are juiced with nobody out! Then Mike Cuddyer singles in Koskie to make it 8-2 with nobody out! At this moment I'm beginning to wonder if a seven-run lead will actually be blown! Well Joe now has no choice but to bring in Mariano, and that is a disgrace! Well here's the bad news and the good news, first the bad - the Twins score two runs. The good news? They make two outs in the process. So now it's 8-4, but the Twins only have one out to work with against Mariano Rivera. Well, finally Jacque Jones hits a grounder to A-Rod and the game is finally over and the Yankees are one win away from a rematch with the Sox. Even though Johan Santana's pitching the fourth game, you still have to feel confident that you have Mussina in game five against somebody other than Santana. Remember you can't spell Santana without Satan - ok now to be serious.
GAME FOUR
Well now we have the fourth game on a Saturday afternoon - unfortunately on FOX. Then again - FOX, ESPN - what's the difference? They're both a source for evil! You have to now think that Javy Vazquez is going to come out of the abyss he's been in - instead; he's looked like a right-handed Kenny Rogers. He was responsible for every single run the Twins scored on Saturday. He had his team down 5-1 to the potential Cy Young Award winner in the fifth inning. In a way, Johan Santana was to us what Mike Scott was to Met fans back in 1986. You Met fans who watched the '86 NLCS remember how the Mets couldn't hit him at all in games one or four - and they would have had to have faced him in game seven. Santana was un-freaking-real! Gardenhire only left him in five because he was pitching on three days' rest - and their bullpen seemed to be dependable. Well then comes the eighth inning with Juan Rincon on the mound and the Twins beating us 5-1. Esteban Loaiza had kept the Twins in check - amazingly, and Grant Balfour was blowing the Bombers away from the right side. Rincon came in the previous inning to get one batter - and now he was going to set it up for Joe Nathan. He set it up all right - first batter is Gary Sheffield, and he reaches on an infield hit and then he goes to second on a wild pitch. Then Hideki Matsui walks to make it first and second with nobody out. At that moment I actually had a feeling something big would happen - don't ask me why, it was just one of those feelings. Then Bernie slashed one into right field to being in Sheff and put Godzilla at third with nobody out and now a 5-2 deficit. This is getting good my friends! Jorge Posada comes up and he hacks at strike three for Rincon's only out. Now up comes Ruben "El Indio" Sierra. This is what we call foreshadowing. I said to myself if Ruben hits a homerun here, I will go insane. Well he gets the fastball and drills it up over the football seats and ties it up! Kinda reminded you of Jim Leyritz in the '96 World Series didn't it? Oh baby all of a sudden the decibel count at the Metrodome reached the level of safe. I'm thinking we're going to have to see a game five, and now it's anybody's game! That's mystique for you! I will say this - I just wished at the time that John Olerud's deep flyball had gone over the baggy wall - this way there would have been no need for extra innings. But it didn't and once Joe Nathan came in to relieve Rincon, Miggy struck out and Jeter hit the grounder to Guzman to end any threat to come. Thankfully Flash Gordon and Mariano took care of the Twinkie lineup in the eighth, ninth and tenth innings, and then we come to inning number eleven. Here we have Kyle Lohse pitching (again foreshadowing), and Jeter strikes out with A-Rod to follow. Well Alex hits one beyond the reach of any of the "Vanilla & Chocolate" patrol (I call it that since Lew Ford was in left with Hunter & Jones) and stands on second. Then he steals third without a challenge, and then while Sheff is at the plate - Lohse bounces one and A-Rod comes in to score and put the Bombers ahead 6-5. I don't know about you, but I thought that was the end right there. Then we get to the bottom of the eleventh - Mariano still pitching. Jose Offerman comes up to hit and he hits one sharply to Miggy for out number one. Matt LeCroy's pinch-hitting for Pat Borders now and from what I saw, he swung at that pitch for a homerun. But it didn't go that far and Hideki was right there for out number two. All righty - one more out to go, but it's the Yankee killer himself: Shannon Stewart. Well he just bounces one to Cairo, he throws to first and that's it! I haven't felt this relieved to see a series end since the 2000 Division Series against Oakland.
The Twins have a good team - make no mistake about it. But they had no starters past Santana, (I thought Radke would have been lights out) and their bullpen cost them two of the three games. Their defense was another strong point - yet mental defensive errors cost them game two and game four, e.g. the series. If it wasn't for Santana - who knows, this could have been a sweep. I could be wrong on that - I guess that's in the eye of the beholder.
This series exposed the Yankee rotation - Brown and Mussina were good, but Lieber wasn't great and Vazquez was horrific. El Duque's shoulder still hasn't healed - he says he doesn't know when he'll be ready. I just saw the projected pitching match-ups for the ALCS - it's the same as the Division Series: Mussina, Lieber, Brown and Vazquez! If Duque could pitch in the number four slot, I'd have more confidence - and even then it would be low. With that in mind, let's move on to the second and final topic.
All right, now I want to preview the ALCS with the BoSox. Friends I'm not going to lie to you - I will not be surprised if the Sox actually beat the Yankees in this series. This team is far better than the team we beat last season - and even then it took a big rally to win it. The bottom line: the Red Sox offense is still psychotic (I can't find another word to describe it) and now they have Curt Schilling. Remember that Schilling will pitch twice in this series - and even though his ankle is bothering him, he is still practically un-hittable. Even if he still gives up a few runs - remember the BoSox offense is still there.
Schilling is not the only problem the Yanks will deal with - what about their own pitching? Mussina and Brown were the only sure things - and the Moose is going to face Schilling in game one. If Jon Lieber and Javy Vazquez get roughed up by Manny, Ortiz, Varitek, and company, the Sox will take control of this series quickly. Just remember how they took the Angels bullpen apart in game two of that series - and that is baseball's best bullpen (at least in my opinion.) Bartolo Colon, K-Rod and Brendan Donnelly, who the Yanks couldn't hit in '02, got bombed that series! Just imagine what would happen to Lieber, who hitters hit over .300 against, and Vazquez! Pedro can talk about the Yankees being his daddy, but the offense could help him no matter how awful or good he'd pitch. By the way - I was watching the press conference after he won game two in Anaheim, and I was expecting him to say, "I won because the Angels are not my daddy." As you can imagine, I was very disappointed. Moving on - the bullpens don't scare me - either one. Flash Gordon and Mariano can still get the big outs, although if a lefty has to come in, we're doomed! Like I said - I don't have too much confidence in the Yankees winning this series - I'd probably say that even if Andy Pettitte or David Wells was here!
There is one thing I want to say - I don't want you Red Sox fans to giggle with glee over these comments - they weren't designed to make you all happy. I want nothing more than for the Yankees to destroy Red Sox Nation just like God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in the bible. However I'm not going to kid myself - it might not happen. If the Yankees do win and go on to the World Series, I'll be happier than a pig (or a Boston hippie) in mud. However, if they don't I will accept it and I will be a man and congratulate the Sox and their fans - despite the fact that some will not deserve it. But I want you Sox fans to remember this - if you do beat the Yankees, that doesn't necessarily mean the curse will be over. The curse will remain on you until you win all three rounds of baseball's postseason! If you beat the Yankees in the ALCS, and then lose in the World Series - then you will still hear us chanting 1918! The Yankees lost in the ALCS only once - that was in 1980 to the Kansas City Royals. The Royals then went on to lose the World Series to the Phillies that year - just remember that. Beating the Yankees will mean nothing unless you can beat whatever opponent the National League throws at you. But I think we're getting a bit too ahead of ourselves - we'll just have to see what happens this coming week. Take care my friends, even you up in the 617 and the rest of New England - I'll see you after this series is over - hopefully to preview a World Series.