A baseball season is a novel. At its heart is a cast of characters–guys with hopes, goals, ambitions, problems, flaws, things to prove. The characters individually create a character that is a team, and over the course of the season, as the individuals succeed and fail and as the team succeeds and fail, dramas are …
Let us now praise Johnny Damon, the ballplayer’s ballplayer, the crucial man in last night’s 7-4 Yankee win. In the first, he doubled and scored; in the fifth, he doubled and drove in a run; and in the ninth, he won the game. With two out in a 4-4 game that the Phillies had just …
Last night was a tale of two ballgames. After three innings, Cole Hamels was working on a no-hitter and Andy Pettitte had given up three runs and looked like the Bad Andy from years ago who occasionally showed up in a big game and exploded. But then Andy found his groove, A-Rod homered, Nick Swisher …
After Cliff Lee and Chase Utley got the World Series off to a memorable start for the Phillies on Wednesday, the Yankees evened things up with a crisp, methodical 3-1 victory last night. Like Game One, the game was well-pitched on both sides, and just as C.C. Sabathia was a smidge worse than Lee, the …
After Monday’s long, exciting, over-managed and ultimately exasperating loss to the Angels, the Yankees finally played a complete game last night, and thoroughly beat the Angels 10-1. If L.A. woke up Tuesday feeling cheerful about having won a big game and about having on the mound on Tuesday Scott Kazmir, a top starter with a …
A very tough-minded Yankee team won a marathon 13 inning game that began at 7:57 PM and ended sometime after one AM. Played in miserably cold conditions, the game featured excellent pitching by both the Yanks and the Angels. A.J. Burnett pitched seven strong innings in which he gave up only two runs, although he …
On a cold, damp evening, C.C. Sabathia pitched brilliantly, giving up just one run and four hits in eight innings, and completely covering up the fact that the Yankee hitters have not exactly been tearing the cover off the ball. In fact, had the Angels’ infielders not botched a simple pop-up, Game One of the …
Andy Pettitte, adding to his glowing resume, and Carl Pavano, finally pitching the game he was always meant to pitch, locked last night in a tense pitching duel that was playoff baseball at its best. The Twins broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth, but the lead didn’t last a half inning, …
The walk-off has become the by-word of the 2009 Yankees. Fifteen times the team won in its last at-bat, enjoying implausible theatrics at the hands of Melky Cabrerra (3 times), Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, and even Francisco Cervelli and Jose Miranda. Last night, in a terrific Game 2 of the ALDS, the heroics …
Even before I liked the Yankees, even when I still cheered my beloved Baltimore Orioles, I knew that for someone who lived in New York, it was important for the Yankees to win. Their success changed the psyche of the city. People here are happy if the Mets, Giants or Jets win, and a certain …