Managing the Yankees

Yes! The Yankees is in the World Series once again. Wow! Up until now I am still struck and amazed on the Yankees recent accomplishment.
The Yankees all season long have provided a powerful pitching rotation leaded by the recent 2009 ALCS MVP CC Sabathia.
A reliable bullpen with the future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera leading the crew.
A feared line-up with the resurgence of Alex Rodriguez, an excellent hitter and considered as the most valuable baseball player in the league today.
This is a also a tribute to all Yankee fans out there who waited for so many years to experience another World Series.

And since this is an awards night, let me give a couple of awards and distinction to our beloved Yankees. Here it is:

D-E-F-E-N-S-E!:

The Yankees defense has been tremendous through out the ALCS.
Our Ace CC Sabathia dominated in both Games 1 and 4. CC completely shut down the Angels offense. This gave enough breathing room for the Yankee sluggers to score just a few runs. Sabathia automatically gave the Yankees 2 convincing wins.
Although their bullpen has been a little bit of shaky as of late, the Yankees relied on the great Mariano Rivera to come out safely on those freaky innings. Rivera played extra innings just to make sure that the Angels will stay at bay.
Infield defense superb. Especially to the stretchable arm of former Gold glover Mark Teixeira. How many times have we seen Teixeira saving an error by catching the baseball almost everywhere.

Comeback wins and Pies:

This season the Yankees have been popular for comeback wins. And they are credited with a smash of Pie in the face.
In the ALCS, We've seen that in Game 2. Jerry Hairston Jr. made the winning run to place the Yankees up 2-0. In Game 5, they almost came close of making another come from behind win. The Yankees have so much fire and tenacity that they didn't even notice that Comeback wins is like just ordinary feat to them.
With the way that they are going, there's no team in baseball that can defeat them.

The New Yankee Stadium:

The Angels committed countless errors in the ALCS. Majority of which are encountered in the New Yankee Stadium.
I really don't know what made the Angels suddenly being afraid and tense to face the Yankees. Was it the Ghost that came from the old Yankee Stadium? Or the Antartic cold weather that freezes their Run and Gun style of play? Or the Yankees hostile crowd? (New Yorkers are pretty good at intimidating visiting teams). Or combination of the three? Either way, the New Yankee Stadium might bring back the glory days of the Yankees.

A-Rod:

Alex Rodriguez is simply amazing!
In the ALCS alone, A-Rod produce .429 batting average, 6 RBI's, and 6 nerve breaking Home runs.
His presence alone intimidates the Angels pitchers. They simply don't know how to pitch to A-Rod. With feared sluggers Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada batting 3rd and 5th respectively, it gave A-Rod some protection. The Angels are clueless if A-Rod is at the plate.
Somehow, A-Rod's performance ignited his slugging team mates. Now the slugging batters from the ALDS like Damon, Tex, Cano, and Melky suddenly became alive in the ALCS and gave a spark to the Yankees offense.

Post-season experience:

Give credit to the Yankees who have won several World Series titles.
The Yankees' veterans Team Captain Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada gave some advice to their team mates on how to handle the pressure in playing in the play-offs. This gave them confidence and found a way not to be rattled in close games. They were able to produce in the clutch.

Indeed the New York Yankees are having a special year. Are they building another dynasty? It's to early to say.
For now let's us enjoy this fruitful moment. And let me be the first one to say congratulations on winning the ALCS. My hats off to you Yankees!

See this picture? What is the first thing that comes into your mind? Yes, you're right. World Series Champions! 3 of them has won four World Series rings in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 (Only Posada has won 3 in 1998-2000). This 4 Yankee greats are at best in their positions and played consistently throughout their careers. They are pressure players and are known to excel in the post-season. They are tremendous leaders and great role models. Certainly the Yankees has truly find a worthy investment in these 4 Yankee gems. Here is a list on their contributions to the New York Yankees dynasty:

Jorge Posada (Catcher):

Yankees prized catcher. The switch hitting Posada is the only Major League catcher to ever have hit .330 or better with 40 doubles, 20 home runs, and 90 RBIs in a single season.
Since 2000, Posada had more RBI's, Home runs, and hits than any other catcher in baseball. Although Posada's catching skills is diminishing because of age, He is still dependable especially in the clutch. He is one of the most durable catcher in Major League Baseball.

Andy Pettitte (Starting Pitcher)

Through 2008, Pettitte is 10th among active major league players in win-loss percentage (.629); 8th in wins (215); and 10th in strikeouts (2,002).
He is also one of only three players that have pitched so far in the 2009 season with at least 200 wins, 2,000 strikeouts, and a winning percentage at or above .600.
Pettitte was the 2001 ALCS MVP and he has never had a losing season in Major League Baseball.
Pettitte has one of the best pick-off moves in the history of the game and owns tremendous movement on all his pitches, especially his cutter that moves in on righties.

Mariano Rivera (Closer)

Enter Sandman, Exit Opponents!
Known as the best closer in baseball history. Rivera has been effective by primarily throwing just one pitch, a sharp-breaking, mid-90s cut fastball that has been called an all-time great pitch. Rivera is a ten-time All Star, a five-time American League Rolaids Relief Man Award winner, and a three-time saves leader. He has recorded the second-most saves in Major League history. This year, he surpassed 500 career saves.
Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera is recognized as an exceptional post-season performer and holds Major League post-season records for saves and earned run average (ERA).
Rivera has 1999 World Series MVP Award, 2003 ALCS MVP Award, and 3 times DHL Deliver Man of the Year Award.

Derek Jeter (Shortstop)

The Yankees Team Captain. Captain Clutch is phenomenal in pressured games and has delivered when needed. Jeter's superb performance got a lot of awards:

• 3× Gold Glove Award winner (2004, 2005, 2006)
• 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (2006, 2007, 2008)
• 1996 AL Rookie of the Year Award
  
• 2000 World Series MVP Award
  
• 2000 Babe Ruth Award
  
• 2000 All-Star Game MVP
  
• 2006 AL Hank Aaron Award

This awards speak for itself that Derek Jeter is a tremendous athlete!


Why have they been successful? Well they know what it takes to win. They know what it takes when it comes to taking care of their health and being on the field every day, being physically healthy year after year after year, taking care of their selves. These four players have had their fingerprints on every Yankees season for close to a decade and a half. (Pettitte did leave for three years, pitching for the Astros from 2004-06). These guys define the Yankees.

This year, A-Rod and CC Sabathia gave a big boost to the Yankees post-season games. But if the Yankees wants to grab their 27th World Series ring, they should rely on the Yankees 4 horsemen and let them bring the team to glory.

The Rally Monkey is an icon and an important figure of the LA Angels. Her role is to show up in the big video screen in the Angel Stadium and holds the banner "Rally Time". She bounces up and down to the House of Pain song "Jump Around". And in some unexplainable way, the Angels managed to come back from those games. The Rally Monkey was so effective that since her arrival on June of 2000, Katie, a white haired capuchin monkey, was hired by the Angels administration to star in original clips for later games.

What is this got to do with the Yankees? Although the Rally Monkey is not even close to shut down the Yankees offense, the monkey can get the crowd and the Angels pumped up. We don't want that. As much as possible shut down the Angel batters as early as possible. Easily said than done I know, but the Yankees should be aware that the Angels are capable of comeback games (Games 3, 4, and 5 if necessary will be at the Angels Stadium).

Through out the years, the Yankees have not been known to have a team mascot. They use to have a mascot named Dandy but he doesn't exist anymore. Mascots makes sense to a team that have few spectators. That doesn't apply to the Yankees (a team that won 26 World Series championships). Yankee fans don't come to view their mascot, they come to watch their team play.

How about Pie? Pie is not a mascot but a trophy or reward that the Yankee pitcher AJ Burnett gives to their winning team-mate. It became a habit whenever the Yankees had a walk-off win. They have 17 walk-off wins this year. 15 from the regular season and 2 from the post-season. That's a lot of pies. This is just to show how big the heart of the Yankees when it comes to winning games and coming from behind wins. The "Pie" will be a hot commodity not only this year but to the following years to come.

If the Angels are known for their running game and "Rally Time" from their prized monkey. The Yankees are proud to have a powerful team with a ton of homers and RBI's. Their specialty: Walk-off wins, Their prize: Pie.

So would you go for the energetic monkey or the famous pie?

Mr. Fantastic is a fictional comic character from Marvel's The Fantastic Four. As the leader of the group, Mr. Fantastic has the ability to stretch, expand, and elongate. He can stretch his limbs to incredible lengths.

In New York there is a realistic human being that has the capability to do what Mr. Fantastic does. His name is Mark Teixeira. The Yankees 1st baseman has been stretching his arms, limbs and legs just to get the opposing runners out in 1st base. That happened in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Angels. Tori Hunter bunted the ball of CC Sabathia's pitch just to have the opportunity to get to 1st base. CC managed to retrieve the ball and threw it to 1st base. The throw was a little wide but Mark Teixeira stretch his arms, legs and even toes to catch the ball and getting Tori Hunter out at 1st.

In Game 2, Teixeira used his super powers again by stretching and catching the balls thrown by Jeter, A-Rod, and Molina. Mind you, all of the the players I mentioned threw the ball to 1st off-line but somehow the former gold glover Teixeira managed to scoop the ball to save an error.

The Yankees infield defense dramatically improve since the arrival of Teixeira. Infield regulars like Rodriguez, Jeter, Cano and Posada has the confidence to throw the ball to 1st even if they knew that sometimes it's a wild throw. They know somehow Teixeira will use his stretching skills to catch it. Last season was different. The Yankees 1st baseman was Jason Giambi back then. There defense was not that exceptional because of Giambi's defensive liability.

Teixeira presence help the Yankees infielders to adjust their defensive positions because they know that Teixeira's range is wide. Teixeira sometimes stay a few meters away from 1st base, something Jason Giambi can't do, and given that he can take away the area what 2nd baseman Robinson Cano is guarding. Teixeira can guard the area at 1st and a some chunk of area at 2nd. Cano then can protect the middle infield. Jeter can help A-Rod at 3rd. It's a chain reaction and helps Girardi's team defense.

The good thing about Teixeira is his fantastic defensive plays at 1st rubs also his team mates. That is one of the reason why the Yankees are winning this season. Mr. Stretchy and his super gold glove.

Do you know why the Yankees are successful this year? It's their much improve bullpen.

On the start of the year, the Yankees envisioned their bullpen to heavily depend on their good old reliable closer Mariano Rivera. The question is who will set-up Rivera. On Opening Day, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras and lefty Damaso Marte were sharing set-up duty. Neither of the three set-up pitchers made an impact this season. All of sudden, Mariano Rivera is left alone in the bullpen with no back-up help.

Fortunately for the Yankees they added a new batch of youngsters eager to show their stuff in the league. Enter the likes of Mark Melancon, David Robertson, Alfredo Aceves, and lefty Phil Coke. Alfredo Aceves and Dave Robertson, who began the year in the minors, are multi-purpose relievers. Aceves can go long or work an inning; Robertson can go for a strikeout or work multiple innings. Coke began the season as the second lefty in the bullpen, but Marte got hurt. Phil Coke suddenly become their "only" lefty specialist.

But the most major impact to the Yankess bullpen this year is the insertion of Phil Hughes. Hughes opened the year in Triple-A, came up to start when Chien-Ming Wang struggled and went to the bullpen when Wang returned. By the time a rotation spot opened up again with Wang on the disabled list, Hughes had almost accidentally established himself as the eighth-inning alternative. The Yankees have found their set-up guy in Hughes. Phil Hughes amazingly fit in nicely as their set-up man.

And when the Yankees advanced to the ALDS, they have found and added another arm in their powerful bullpen: Joba Chamberlain.
Because of the increase innings that Joba had this season, his arm started to wear off at the end of the season. To keep any further damage and avoid any long term injury to their prize asset, the Yankees coaching staff place Joba in the bullpen. Girardi said that since the ALDS is a short series, he will only need 3 starting pitchers (Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte). Joba has no spot in the rotation. Joba went back to the bullpen and provided some spark like he used to do last season. Chamberlain has come out firing 95 mph fastballs right away -- something he wasn't able to do in the first inning as a starter.

Things become easy for the Yankees starting rotation knowing that the bullpen will back them up. In this year ALDS, None of the starters--Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte--finished the seventh inning. Sabathia threw 113 pitches, Burnett 95 pitches, and Pettitte just 81 pitches.

Indeed the Yankees bullpen has come along way this season!

The Yankees are strongly considering to start CC Sabathia 3 games in the ALCS if the series reach 7 games. With the four extra days before his next start, Sabathia will be fully rested for Game 1 on Friday night. He could take the ball in Game 4 next Tuesday (the 20th) on three days rest, and (with the extra off day in Los Angeles) still be available for a potential Game 7 on the normal four days in between starts.

Many people doubted if Sabathia can pitch Game 4 on short day rest. They would rather like to see Joba or Gaudin start in Game 4. But if you base it on history, CC Sabathia has pitch effectively on short rest. CC's final four starts of 2008 regular season with Milwaukee prove the critics that he can be effective. He went 2-2 with a 1.88 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 28.2 innings to drag the Brewers into the playoffs. But since the Brewers abused Sabathia's arm by stretching the Ace inning to 253 in the regular season, Sabathia lost steam in Game 2 of the NLDS. CC surrendered 5 runs in 2.3 innings, including a walk to the pitcher Brett Myers and a grand slam to Shane Victorino.

In New York it's a different story. The Yankees didn't abuse Sabathia's arm. The Yankees limited CC's innings to just 230 in the regular season. That's the advantage that the Yankees have. Their Ace pitcher is well rested and is capable to play in short day rest.

The Yankees are facing the LA Angels in the ALCS. A team who has mastered the skill of manufacturing runs. As much as possible, we dont' want to see any runners on base. That is where the Angels made their killing. They are a Run and Gun team. The main factor for defeating the Angels is Pitching. Don't put any Angels on base. And if you do that then we have a good chance in advancing to the World Series. These is the play-offs. There is no time to experiment by starting a pitcher like Joba and Gaudin. Go to your No. 1 guy, your stud, your ace. Every game in the post-season is important and if the Yankees have only 3 dependable starting pitchers to rely on then that is how they should play it.

Baseball isn't hockey. Baseball players do not need a day in between games during postseason play to heal the bumps and bruises of a non-contact sport. Extra days off interrupt the flow of momentum and focus, the two most important factors over a 162-game season. It ruins the game! Like I said these is the play-offs! No time for fooling around.

And besides Joba has proven himself in the ALDS that he belongs to the bullpen. Joba gives another weapon and is more effective as a reliever today than a starter. Gaudin can start but if the Yankees are up 3-0.

Start CC for 3, that's the key to winning and advancing to the World Series.

For those who knows the song "Johnny B. Goode" sang by Chuck Berry. The chorus of the song says Go Johnny Go Go! Well that is most of the Yankees supporters are cheering. Cheering Johnny Damon to go and perform. That seems not to be the case here.

Once known as an establish center fielder and among the premier lead-off hitters during his stay with Boston. Damon was batting .304, with 20 HR and 94 RBI's. Age is finally catching up with him. Although Damon has a good year so far (.282 AVE, 24 HR, 82 RBI), his performance in the ALDS against Minnesota was horrible. Damon's performance went down to .083 batting AVE (just hitting 1 of his 12 at bats). No home runs, no RBI and not even a single base stolen. The only thing Damon has is his 4 strike outs against the Twins. That's bad coming from a player in the 2 hole. Where did Johnny go? We need him especially now that we are facing the Angels in the ALCS.

What is on the mind of the Yankees coaching staff? What are they up to? Is it wise to insert Brett Gardner instead and let Damon pinch run in the late innings if Damon's production is zip? Or do we have to trust our instincts and believe that the veteran left fielder will come out of his slump and will shine in the following games in the post-season? Should we insert another batter in the 2 hole like Cano or Melky? So many questions and predictions. Assumptions and observations. Only time will tell.

What we know so far is we are not getting production from our 2 hole. Something that needs to be improve on. The only production the Yankees are getting production are from their lead-off hitter (Derek Jeter) and the heart of the line-up (Tex, A-Rod, Matsui and Posada).

If Damon continue to decline, there is a big chance that the Yankees might not sign him in the off-season. Damon is Scott Boras' client. Meaning they will demand the Yankees to sign Damon a bigger contract. And with age factor, Boras will also demand a longer contract (3-4 years) before Johnny retires. That is something the Yankees won't do. The Yankees are looking for 1-2 years contract and half the pay which Damon is receiving now (13 million).

Johnny Damon better shape up. Be more aggressive at the plate, steal some bases, and put some element of surprise like bunting. Damon still has some speed behind his old wheels.

Go Johnny Go!