Thursday, November 05, 2009
What it came down to, finally, was the fact that the Phillies almost never use the exaggerated shift that was created originally to counter the late Ted Williams, the apotheosis of the left-handed pull hitter, with the third baseman taking over at short, the shortstop playing second, the second baseman playing a short right field so that the right fielder can more or less literally back up to the right field wall. After Williams retired, nearly 50 years ago, the shift disappeared until it was resurrected against Barry Bonds during his enhanced era. Now it gets done by a lot of clubs on a number of hitters. But it’s not a great move and if the pitcher doesn’t know that he needs to cover third on any stolen base attempt or play that sets on-base runners into motion, it can lead to disastrous consequences.
So that when Yankee Johnny Damon stole second base, Chooch, the Phillies catcher (given name Carlos Ruiz), was throwing to a “shortstop” unfamiliar with the position and nobody covering third. When the throw pulled the displaced third baseman, Pedro Feliz, to the right side of the bag, the quick-thinking Damon hopped up from his slide and ran to third before anyone could get there to cover the bag.
And with the runner on third in the ninth inning of a tie game, Phillies closer Brad Lidge was afraid to throw his slider, a ball that drops into the dirt and can squirt away from the catcher. This left him in the position of throwing only fast balls to Mark Teixeira, the American League home run champion, & Alex Rodriguez, who will eventually hold baseball’s all-time home run mark. In short, batters who live off the fastball. Very quickly the Yankees were ahead 7 to 4 and it took Mariano Rivera just eight pitches to retire the side, putting the Bronx Bombers up three games to one.
From that point forward, the Phillies’ weaknesses – leaving men on base, hitting solo homers, and a pitching staff that was questionable once you got past Cliff Lee – became too apparent. The Phils held on to what had been a six-run lead in game five to eke out a two-run victory, but didn’t look especially good doing so. The Yanks twice had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning.
Back in New York for game six, the Phillies looked like a composite of their weaknesses all year. Starting pitcher Pedro Martinez couldn’t bluff his way past Yankee designated hitter Hideki Matsui. After Matsui had driven in four runs, the Yanks tacked on three more (two of them driven in by Matsui) off the bullpen. Only one of the seven Phillies who walked off not-great Yankee pitching managed to score. Pedro Feliz failed to drive in any of the five men who were on base when he came to bat. And the Phils two biggest bats in this series coming into the last game, Chase Utley & Jayson Werth, were a combined zero for five at the plate, albeit with three walks. Jimmy Rollins & Shane Victorino, the two hitters who have to get on base for the power hitters to have runs to drive in, were a combined one for eight.
So the New York Yankees – who spent over $400 million (not a typo) in the off-season last winter to sign Teixeira, and starting pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett – have won their 27th World Series, having made the post season in 40 of the 106 years the majors have had one. Until baseball has some kind of true spending cap, those kinds of numbers will be pretty typical. All I can say is congratulations.
Labels: Sport
and
we-the-people recentlyn went into great hock to buy 4 failing greedy banks, 3 pharmaceuticals, a cpl of auto companies,
AND just look what "we" got!
ZILCH. Heck, "it s not
the economy, stupid," It s our Stupid Kulchur,,
stupid.
No, but it sure guarantees you that your team will have more shots at it than anyone else...
Another victory for big corporate money....
Also, didn't Utley have a memorably great series. Reggie-level great.
And, yes, Utley was everything he could be, one of the three best second basemen in history (the others being Rogers Hornsby, the only 2B with a higher OPS than Ut, and Joe Morgan).
There should also be a rule that requires baseball to use Jon Miller & Joe Morgan (now the best baseball color guy in broadcasting), rather than the very minor league team that Fox used when it wasn't splicing in previews for Avatar into its opening credits. Bush league network, and yes I do mean George.
Me too. (Steinbrenner's some large percentage responsible for my preference to watch games in Queens.)
Can you recommend any literature on how to grant rights to the suppliers of labor without ahem tilting the playing field to the undue advantage of any part of those who demand labor. (Please restrict the ratio of 19th century Germans on that list to one-half or less -- I can only read post-enlightenment texts as guides to compulsory weight loss.)
Also, Lidge should have finished off Damon when he was at the plate, but then when Damon was at third Lidge still should have thrown the slider anyway and taken his chances. Ruiz had a great series and he's really good behind the plate. At the same time, I'll give the Yankees credit for making some heady plays, like Damon taking third. They didn't make many mistakes, so I guess they didn't beat themselves like they've done sometimes in the past, which is worth some congratulations.
pac, lov and undrstanding (nvr giv up!)
stv ptrmir
no mans land
minnapolis, mn
usa
We had him in San Francisco for eight years, and boy did we get tired of his bush-league hitting. Meaningless home runs, complete lack of discipline at the plate--swinging at balls two feet outside (at least he doesn't seem to be doing that anymore!)--an apparent unwillingness to address the bad habits.
Rollins and Howard and Ibanez--all streak-hitters--fell into slumps during the series (Howard's Texas leaguer in the last game notwithstanding). Did the Yankees discover some new way around Howard, nibbling the outside corner with curves and sliders?
Werth--his career on a lovely rise now--reminds me a little of Frank Howard, another lanky outfielder who started in the Dodgers organization, who had MVP numbers 1968-69-70; he could conceivably surpass Utley and Howard, if he keeps improving.
The Phillies line-up had one of those improbable years where nearly everyone played a little above expectations, but it won't happen again. Next year, I pick them for 2nd in their division.
Man for man, on paper, they looked a little bit better than the Yankees, but the Yanks simply had a better series, bat for bat, inning for inning, and especially in the clutch.
James Salter said once (about lawyers) that half the profession is going up, while the other half is going down. Having achieved their apex, the Phillies now will spend the next five years decaying, while other teams are catching up. Unfortunately, money still rules the game, and next year the Yankees will sign another couple of phenoms to plug the holes of the previous year. Rivera is nearing the end; look for them to sign a new amazing closer soon.
But try telling a group of students who think baseball players make too much money why Flood was a hero. Not easy.
1. Yankees $201M
4. Red Sox $123
6. Angels $114
7. Phillies $113
9. Dodgers $100
13. Cards $88
18. Rockies $75
24. Twins $65
The Marlins are at the bottom with $37M. And for you Met fans, you come in at #2 with #136M. So why not be a Rockies fan like me? Or better yet, a Twins fan or a Marlins fan?
Last year the Phillies payroll was $98M, and the Rays was $44M.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/20/national/main533849.shtml
Headhunters of Arizona captured the head after a lengthy legal battle. One of the good things about poetry is that no one much cares, so the chances of becoming a fetishized object are smaller.
It is out of respect for problems like this that we ought to respect the proprietary rights to the Zukofsky corpus by his son, Paul.
i think the twins are the best team in baseball
they spend less and get more
after the spectacle it's all over but the nausea
how about a rule that says at least one girl has to be on the field in the line-up loosen things up a bit...for one inning they must use a regulation size softball
the game needs some creative change
how about an apple inning where the pitcher reserves the right to throw a nice juicy apple instead of the ball
maybe along with the allstar game there could be a special game set aside or two where the AL fields a team against the yanks and then the NL does the same thing..all the proceeds might go to charity
the yanks have led in salary celery for quite awhile but it's been since 2000 that they've won it all
i also would welcome silent games games with no distraction games with no idiocy games with no commentators....there's a huge intellectual gap in the fact that you don't really have to pay attention to the game there will be a replay...even the study of the game has become somewhat superficial...partly because of the babblemania everyone is subjected to
and tomorrow in NY who cares
bloomberg bought an election
he didn't need
well at least people have things to do and places to go
thanks for the claude levi strauss post
great adventurer into the mystery of being human
jh
Check out this Star Tribune blog commentary from Michael Rand:
http://tinyurl.com/y9zrsje
It's about the Armand de Brignac champagne that the Yankees sprayed all over their clubhouse. Kind of says it all.
pac lov and undrstanding (nvr giv up!)
stv ptrmir
no mans land
minnapolis mn
usa
i couldn't agree more
i'm still hurting
for the loss of santana
maybe if twins management would be as hardscrabble and rough and tumble as some of the players
they would take those risks
i'm still stunned that the twins won the AL central
i was at that game
despite it all ron writes a little history lesson
and i now know the phillies
better
yet
i could not bear to watch the last game
that's a testimony in itself
when a guy makes a sort of moral
decision to not watch
ah well
time to stoke the fire
gittin cold up here
jh
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