So the ALCS goes back to the cold and rain of New York -- where there's a 90 percent chance of showers and the Yankees are suddenly and nervously trying to ward off the ghosts of 2004 after Thursday's did-you-see-that 7-6 loss.
New York Daily News columnist John Harper says you can blame it on A.J.
Joel Sherman of the Post says you can blame it on Joe Girardi. Here-here. The Yankees were coming off and off day and had another one scheduled today. Once they took the lead, I would have gotten Burnett out of there and tried to get the last nine outs with some combination of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. Yes, Hughes got hit. But he came into the game with men on base. I would have started the seventh fresh with Hughes.
Still can't figure out which was the more bizarre move: The Angels walking A-Rod with two out and no one on in the ninth -- or the Yankees pinch-running for A-Rod with Freddy Guzman. A-Rod runs OK and were you really going to go into extra innings without him in the lineup after all that he's done this October?
You still have to like the Yankees' chances. They have Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia lined up for Games Six and Seven. In 2004, they had Jon Lieber and Kevin Brown in 6-7. The Red Sox, remember, had bloody-socked Curt Schilling and Derek Lowe.
I know one guy probably rooting for a Game Seven: Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro. If Sabathia needs to pitch in an ALCS finale, Shapiro won't have to endure the indignity of a Sabathia-Cliff Lee matchup in Game One of the World Series, featuring the back-to-back Cy Young winners that cheapo ownership forced him to trade away the last two years.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
AP Photo: Bobby Abreu and Reggie Willits celebrate after the final out.
tagged
ALCS | Bisons/Indians | World Series | Yankees
