Past World Series Rematches

2010 marks the fourteenth season of interleague play, and the seventh time in those fourteen years that the Yankees are the reigning American League champions. When the Yankees and Phillies start their three game interleague series tonight, it'll be the fifth time in those seven years that the Yankees face their opponent from the previous Fall Classic.

In 1997, the inaugural year of interleague play, the Yankees hosted Atlanta from June 30th through July 2nd. Just as they had in the previous year's World Series, the Braves took two of the three games played in the Bronx. All three games were pitchers' duels, with the Braves taking games two and three with scores of 3-1 and 2-0 respectively, while the lone Yankee win was a ten inning 1-0 victory in the opener.

Three years later the two clubs met in Atlanta, in a rematch of the 1999 World Series. This time the Yanks took the series, winning two of the three games. This series was far more offensive than the 1997 rematch, as each of the three games matched or exceeded the seven total runs from '97 series. The Yanks took the opener 5-2, dropped the middle 7-11, and took the rubber match 7-6.

The six Subway Series games between the Yankees and Mets in 2001 were one more than number of games the teams played in the 2000 World Series. The Yankees took the first two at Shea in mid-June before dropping the series finale. Two and half weeks later, they met again at Yankee Stadium. Once again the Yanks took the opener, then dropped the middle game, before winning the series finale.

2002 was the last time the Yankees played an interleague series against the previous year's World Series opponent, as they hosted the Diamondbacks from June 10th through 12th. In the series opener, New York did what they couldn't do the previous fall: beat Randy Johnson. The Big Unit surrendered five runs through seven and two thirds, two of them coming on the home run hit by Marcus Thames in his first Major League at bat. The Yankees won again the following day, behind the pitching of David Wells, who had walked away from a handshake deal with the Snakes to rejoin the Yankees the previous off-season. The Dbacks avoided the sweep in the finale, as Byung-Hun Kim exacted some measure of redemption, pitching two scoreless innings for the save and fanning Bernie Williams, Jason Giambi, and Jorge Posada in working a flawless eighth inning.

Over those four years, the Yankees went 9-6 in interleague World Series rematches, scoring 65 runs and allowing 62. They dropped two of three to Philadelphia in an interleague series last Memorial Day weekend, but are 11-10 overall against Philly in seven interleague series.

Maddux, Glavine, And Smoltz Would Have Tanked In NY Too

Oh, Joel Sherman, what are we going to do with you? In his 3UP blog post this morning, Sherman says that the Yankees "cannot be overly encouraged" by Vazquez' start last night. And to an extent, Sherman's right. It wasn't a great start, but it was a helluva lot better than his first two. And he's still just three starts into the season.

But going off on another pro-Javy screed isn't what I intend to do today. Instead, let's take a look at Sherman's parting shot:

However, keep in mind that Vazquez is the fifth high-profile pitcher to move directly from the Braves to the Yankees since the turn of the century. The first four were all free agents and all pretty much disasters as Yankees: Steve Karsay, Chris Hammond, Kyle Farnsworth and Jaret Wright. Denny Neagle and Mark Wohlers were one-team removed from the Braves, when they also came with some fanfare in trades to the Yankees, and then tanked in New York.

So maybe there is a trend here that the Yankees need to beware of ex-Brave pitchers.

Wow. Just wow. So that's why Boone Logan pitched himself into that bases loaded jam in the seventh. It's the curse of the Braves!

I don't know where to begin with this one. How about Sherman's generously broad definition of "high-profile"? Chris Hammond, really? He's high-profile? The guy was out of baseball for two full years, and out of the Majors for four, before parlaying a single comeback season in Atlanta into a deal with the Yankees. And by the way, though I was no fan of his, he posted a 2.86 ERA over his one season in pisntripes. Some disaster.

How about Steve Karsay? Karsay was very effective in 2002, his first year with the Yankees. In fact, he was so effective that Joe Torre rode him like a rented mule and essentially ended his career, missing all of 2003 and tossing only 37.2 IP over the remainder of his career.

And since when were set-up men and back-of-the-rotation starters high-profile? Who could possibly have framed these middle-of-the-road type players, who alredy had checkered histories upon arriving in the Bronx, as high-profile acquisitions? I know; the New York tabloid media, of which Sherman is a part, could.

For Sherman to even refer to this foursome as Braves pitchers is tenuous as well. Karsay spent half of one season in Atlanta, throwing 44.2 innings. Hammond was there for a year, tossing 76 frames. Farnsworth was in Atlanta for just a half season, throwing all of 27.1 innings. Jaret Wright is the most-tenured member of the group, spending a whopping 13 months in Hot Lanta and pitching 195.1 innings.

All four had brief stays in Atlanta, just as Vazquez and Logan did. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe the Yankees shouldn't acquire pitchers who spend less than two full seasons in Atlanta. Or maybe the Yankees just played a late game last night, Sherman was tired, and decided to throw some garbage at the wall to see what sticks. Or maybe Sherman was being facetious, and I'm just too dumb to figure it out.

Just to be on the safe side though, if Frank Wren calls Brian Cashman offering Tommy Hansen, Cash should just hang up. It's probably a trap.

Why I'm Rooting For Vazquez (Aside From The Obvious)

The fate of Javy Vazquez is certainly one of the more intriguing Yankee storylines coming into the 2010 season. We've discussed him in-depth multiple times here because he's about as polarizing a player as there is on the Yankees. In one camp, you have those who are encouraged by his record of above average performance and durability, along with his standout campaign in Atlanta in 2009. And in the other camp, you have those who cling to one half of a season that took place 5 years ago and one pitch thrown in that ALCS. Let's see where ESPN fantasy analyst Christopher Harris pitches his tent:

But the main reason I feel secure saying Vazquez won't repeat his 2009 season in 2010 is simple: I've seen this movie before. Vazquez has done this. In 2004, at age 28, Vazquez played a full season for the Yankees and did little to erase his reputation as a soft pitcher. Set free from the non-attention he enjoyed in six years as a Montreal Expo, he put together a blazing first half (10 wins, 3.56 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) and an All-Star Game appearance as a Yankee, then went belly-up when the pennant race got tight, posting a 6.92 ERA and 1.49 WHIP after the break. Plus, he famously allowed Johnny Damon's Game 7 grand slam in the Red Sox's improbable playoff comeback. (Remember ol' gutsy Vazquez relieving ol' gutsy Kevin Brown, Yanks fans?) And after posting a sub-4.00 ERA his each of his final three seasons in Montreal, Vazquez would go on to post a 4.00-plus ERA in four of his next five with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and White Sox.

Did you see the movie about Vazquez with the Braves too? Because that one came out just last year and he was pretty damn good in it. That'd be like saying "Sure Brad Pitt was great in Inglorious Basterds, but do you remember how shitty he was in Oceans Twelve!?!" And Harris even concedes that the first half of that movie was pretty good.

Apparently, pitching in New York doesn't carry real pressure until after the All-Star break. Nevermind that Vazquez might have been pitching with an injured shoulder during that stretch, let's just assume it was the pennant race that sunk him because that fits the narrative. Kind of like neglecting the fact that Kevin Brown loaded the bases for Vazquez, and blaming the whole grand slam on Javy. He can't handle the pressure of October!

I think it's also the bright lights. Vazquez has a 10.34 career playoff ERA, and in his four career playoff appearances, has never posted an ERA better than 8.68 in a single game.

Single game ERAs? Four postseason appearances? Are you familiar with the concept of statistical significance, WriterBoy? How about confirmation bias?

Sure he was terrific in Atlanta, where it's mostly Bobby Cox's close friends and relatives watching home games.

Atlanta drew an average of 29,304 fans per game last year. Bobby Cox must have a huge family.

I'm not going to go through the process of explaining why it's foolish to predict how someone will perform based on the intangible pressures for playing for once franchise or another, because I've already done that. There are people who buy into rational analysis and people who just want to think with their gut.

Unfortunately, there will be never be a shortage of those who insist on labeling Vazquez as "soft" and take smug joy in predicting that he won't be able to perform in New York based on 14 starts and one pitch 5 full seasons ago. Because of that, he's one guy in particular that I'd love to see prove his doubters wrong. Not only for the benefit of the Yankees, but for the principles of objective analysis.

Have Damon And Boras Lost Their Collective Mind?

Good morning Fackers. I know Johnny Damon's endless search for a contract is well beyond played out at this point, but I'd like to take a moment to call attention to the lunacy of the recent and rather pathetic attempts at public relations and spin that Scott Boras is attempting to execute on behalf of his client. They fly in the face of all rational thought. I'm not sure if these two are crazy like foxes or just plain crazy, but I'm fairly certain it's the latter.

Nearly two weeks ago, I questioned whether the recent misplays of Scott Boras are indicative of the super agent losing his touch. Monday, Tim Dierkes at MLBTR questioned whether Boras has failed unsigned clients Johnny Damon, Jarrod Washburn, and Felipe Lopez this off-season.

Boras has been reduced to an embarrassingly transparent PR blitz in Detroit, one of a few remaining potential landing places for his client. Boras has had success in the past duping Detroit into overpaying for convincing Detroit to sign his clients, so he's really turning on the charm here. He's largely bypassing general manager Dave Dombrowski and appealing directly to owner Mike Ilitch.

In an advertisement interview with the Detroit Free Press yesterday, Boras stated "Johnny came to me about Detroit. He told me, 'If I can't play for the Yankees I want you to let the Tigers know I want to play for them. I can make that team a winner.' " He further explained that Damon has long been a fan of the Detroit Red Wings, who incidentally are owned by none other than Mike Ilitch. If that weren't enough, Boras went on XM yesterday afternoon to hammer his talking points further; Jason tweeted most of the details.

Meanwhile, Damon appears to be working an angle with his other remaining suitor, the Braves, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Braves "are definitely at the top of my list". Is that the top of the list next to the Tigers, above the Tigers, or just below the Tigers?

Yet according to Boras, Damon has passsed on "four or five" offers since it became apparent that he wasn't re-signing with the Yankees. If this is true, it's apparently because he's holding out for a two year deal.

To which I say: are you out of your minds?!?! Look, I understand that Damon and Boras are trying to get the best deal possible. I understand that Damon will likely be forced to sign a contract that pays him less than what he'll be worth next year. I understand that there's pride involved here, and that Damon's assets were frozen for a time last year as the result of some bad investments, so maybe he does need the extra money he's holding out for.

But at some point these two have to wake up and smell the coffee. As much as they try, they cannot create the market they want for Damon's services. Spring Training starts in a week and Damon's suitors are limited. The Reds apparently have bowed out, and aside from the two teams listed above, the Rays are the only other possible landing spot. They're trying to outwit GMs who aren't likely to be outwitted. We're not talking about the types of guys who would hand a job to Mike Jacobs.

Damon should just take his best offer and sign. He's already cost himself millions by refusing the Yankees' offers. There's no way he's getting a two year deal now, and given how badly his market crashed this off-season, he's probably better off signing a one year deal and having another go at it next year anyway. Boras can't seem to handle more than one client at a time this off-season, so the sooner Damon signs, the sooner Boras might be able to salvage what little interest is left in Jarrod Washburn before he decides to retire, and the sooner we'll be freed from the siege of daily Damon updates.

History Of MLB Franchise Movement & Expansion

As I said this morning, I don't think the Rays are going anywhere. That the Rays need a new park isn't news; they first floated a proposal for a new St. Petersburg park nearly two years ago. They'll either get a new park in the Tampa/St. Pete area, or move a couple hours up the road to Orlando.

But using Tampa Bay, one of the two most recent MLB expansion franchises, as a jumping off point, it's interesting to look at the history of franchise movement and expansion in Major League Baseball, and see really how interconnected it is.

• Tampa Bay was awarded an expansion franchise in 1995 as part of the fall out from MLB blocking the San Francisco Giants from moving to St. Petersburg after the 1992 season.

• The Giants, of course, moved to San Francisco from New York after the 1957 season. That same year the Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. As a result, New York was awarded a National League expansion franchise for 1962 to replace the departed teams. If the Rays were to move to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut it would give metro-NYC three MLB clubs for the first time since the Giants and Dodgers called New York home.

• The Giants considered a move to Toronto in the 1970s, but eventually backed out, and Toronto was awarded the Blue Jays as an expansion franchise for 1977. In the early 80s the Giants investigated a move to the south Bay. As a result, San Jose became considered part of their territory. That decision is currently blocking the A's, the only other club currently actively seeking relocation, from building a new a ball park there.

• The A's of course, started out in Philadelphia. They moved to Kansas City after the 1954 season, then left KC for Oakland after the 1967 season. As a result, KC was awarded the Royals as an expansion franchise for 1969.

• The AL's other expansion franchise in 1969 were the Seattle Pilots. After just one season, they moved to Milwaukee where they became the Brewers. The original Milwaukee Brewers played in the AL in 1901, then moved to St. Louis, where they became the Browns. The Browns left St. Louis for Baltimore after 1953, and became the Orioles. The original Baltimore Orioles played in the AL in 1901 and 1902, then left for New York where they became the Highlanders, and later the Yankees. Meanwhile, Seattle received a new club in 1977 when the AL added the expansion Mariners.

• In between the two Brewer ball clubs, Milwaukee was home to the Braves from 1952 to 1965. Prior to that the Braves played in Boston and have now called Atlanta home for fourty four seasons. Atlanta's current Spring Training home is in Orlando, which of course is a potential new home for the Rays, and according to a completely baseless rumor, the Brewers.

• If the Rays or the A's were to move, it would be the first time an MLB club relocated since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals for the 2005 season. Not only did that move return Major League Baseball to our nation's capital for the first time since 1971, it was also the first franchise relocation since the Washington Senators left to become the Texas Rangers in 1972. Those Senators were a 1961 expansion franchise to replace the original Washington Senators, one of the AL's founding franchises, who left after the 1960 season to become the Minnesota Twins. The Twins will open brand new Target Field for the start of the 2010 season, and it will be MLB's newest ballpark until either the Rays or the A's get a new home.

If history is any indication, if the Tampa Bay area or Oakland were to lose their club, they stand a good chance to get another at some point in the future.

How Good Is Too Good?

Good morning Fackers. Yesterday, when I first heard about the Javier Vazquez trade, I had an inescapable, reluctant sort of a feeling. I knew the trade was one that would make the Yankees a better team next year without question, but I wasn't excited about it by any stretch.

It was unfortunate to see Arodys Vizcaino get sent to Atlanta just days after he been placed in the top half of the Yankees' top 10 prospects by both FanGraphs and Baseball America, but that wasn't what was bothering me. I had no particular attachment to Mike Dunn, so his loss certainly wasn't it. You don't want to part with a homegrown switch-hitting center fielder like Melky Cabrera who is only 25 years old and has already put in four years for the Yanks, but I don't think I'm going to miss him that much either.

Who we got back wasn't the issue. I don't expect Vazquez to have a year that in any way resembles his dominance in Atlanta, but he'll go a long way towards rounding out the Yankees rotation. What happened during his previous tenure in Pinstripes doesn't bother me at all.

The Braves were looking to unload payroll and the $11.5M Vazquez was making was the next best thing to dumping Derek Lowe. Regardless of what Mark Feinsand's source told him yesterday, this trade was a salary dump to some extent and I think that's what made the deal seem so uncouth. It's not to say that it wasn't a move that made sense for both teams - the Braves had six starting pitchers and the Yankees had four center fielders - but something still feels wrong about it.

The Yankees just won the World Series and they added a pitcher who was among the four or five best in the National League last year to be their third or fourth starter. With CC Sabathia making $23.5M, A.J. Burnett $16.5, Andy Pettitte $11.5, and now Vasquez another $11.5, their top four starters will make $62.5M in 2010, or more than the A's, Pirates, Padres and Marlins spent on their entire teams last year. Sure, the Yanks' total payroll bill for next year will probably come in somewhere near $200M, but staying close to that massive, arbitrary number isn't exactly something to be proud of.

Spending a ridiculous amount of money is nothing new to the Yankees - in 2005, they paid out $85M more than their closest competitor - but it's not as much the dollar amount as it is the players. Now that the Bombers are allocating those resources efficiently, it's hard not to understand how much money $200M actually is. Throughout the middle of this decade, the Yanks were continually paying the likes of Jason Giambi, Randy Johnson, Gary Sheffield, Jose Contreras, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano and Hideki Matsui far more than they were worth. Now survey the current roster. It looks pretty damn lean by comparison.

I know that it's borderline irrational for a Yankees fan to feel any sort of guilt about the amount the team spends. They make a ton of money - some of which comes from me - and if they don't spend it on players, it's just going to be sucked up into a corporate vacuum, never to be seen again. The more they spend on payroll, the more enjoyable it is going to be to watch them on any given day during the season.

And perhaps that's the issue. Maybe this is just an offseason problem. As the summer moves along and the season develops, it's likely that the Yankees won't actually be as good as they are on paper right now and it won't seem as unfair that they have assembled an absolutely ridiculous collection of current and former All-Stars and future Hall of Famers. Even if they win 110 games next year, they are still going to lose at a 32% clip. Given that a 94 win team loses 42% of the time, it doesn't seem all that different over the long run - one game out of every 10.

Everyone wants their team to be awesome. But I think people want to see their team come together and exceed expectations rather than attempt to live up to impossibly high ones. Ideally, you'd like your team to be better than others by virtue of something other than their relative willingness to shell out tens of millions of dollars. Being a bona fide Goliath doesn't take away from the satisfaction of winning a World Series, but it tempers the enjoyment of every step along the way.

As it stands, the 2010 season will end in one of two ways: an expected victory or a major failure. So while the moves the Yankees have made this offseason have ensured they have a better chance to win a World Series coming into the season than they have had in quite some time, they have also guaranteed that they will have more to lose than ever before.

Bruney To The Braves? Nats

[UPDATE 1:50 PM: According to Joel Sherman, Bruney has been dealt to the Nationals for a PTBNL. Makes more sense than the Braves; Yanks realize the same benefit. h/t: TYU]

According to George A. King III, the Yankees are close to sending Brian Bruney to the Braves for prospect(s).

Putting aside for a second that this rumor is coming from The Post, it still makes no sense. The Braves have already signed Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito for more than $10M guaranteed in 2010. They're about to get blindsided by Rafael Soriano accepting arbitration for around $8M next year. Why in the world would they acquire another reliever - with a spotty track record at that - when he's arbitration eligible and due to make anywhere from $1.5M to $2M next year? The Braves desperately need and want an OF bat and need to free payroll from their starting rotation to acquire one. Why then would they accumulate $20M worth of relief pitching before the Winter Meetings even wrap?

From the Yankees standpoint, I think this would be a good deal. Bruney was initially thought to be a non-tender candidate, but all recent indications have been that he will be offered a contract. By moving him now, the Yankees free an incremental amount of payroll - not a major issue for them - but also give themselves some 40 man roster flexibility. Furthermore, it gives them some latitude with next year's bullpen as it takes an optionless pitcher out of the mix. Bruney would likely have been a candidate to be the "7th inning guy" or even "the 8th inning guy", but we've seen that movie before. The club has enough options with David Robertson, Mark Melancon, Damaso Marte, and potentially either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain to cover the late innings.

I'm not buying this one yet, but it'll be interesting to see where it goes.

The Many Facets Of The Billy Wagner Signing

As was reported this morning, the Atlanta Braves signed Billy Wagner to a $7M deal with a $6.5M option that vests if he finishes 50 games in 2010. Wagner is no spring chicken - he'll turn 39 next July - and he only pitched 15 2/3 Major League innings since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2009. Granted, he was effective in those innings, but signing him carries a great deal of risk. It's not the deal itself that makes the Braves acquisition interesting, though; it's what it took to get to this point and what will also change hands as a result (and the fact that the Mets screwed themselves).

If you'll recall, the Mets traded Wagner to the Red Sox after only two appearances following his return from injury for (at the time) two players to be named later. It seemed as though the Red Sox were shoring up their bullpen for the stretch run and postseason, but in retrospect it seems that Theo Epstein had a little something more up his sleeve.

One of those PTBNL was a 26 year old minor league first baseman/outfielder named Chris Carter. In six MiLB seasons, Carter had a batting line of .306/.380/.510, but only sniffed the Majors because of the Fackin' Youkstah occupying 1B and several very capable (and expensive) players taking up the corners of the outfield. However, given the absence of Carlos Delgado and the struggles of David Murphy on the Mets, he would have been a useful piece and figured to get his first taste of regular season playing time in the Bigs.

Carter was on the 40 man roster of the Sox and in order for him to be included in the trade (since it occurred after the non-waiver deadline of July 31st) he had to pass through waivers (one of the reasons teams rarely send back players on the 40 man in waiver deals). Unfortunately for him, the Yankees placed a waiver claim on Carter and denied him the MLB at bats that he must have so badly desired. Since the Red Sox decided they needed that 40 man roster spot for pitcher Dustin Richardson (who pitched 3.1 innings for them this year), they DFA'd Carter, at which point any team could have claimed him - even the Mets, which would have forced the Sox to include someone else an additional player in the deal - but no one did.

So at the conclusion of the season, Carter returned to the Sox and, in addition to Eddie Lora, a 20 year old first baseman still in the Gulf Coast League, was sent to the Mets and the deal was completed.

When the Sox acquired Wagner, he asked them to agree that they would not exercise his $8M option for 2010 in hopes that he could close somewhere else. The Sox agreed to that term, but

were still allowed to offer him arbitration.

In a perfect world, Wagner would have been a Type B or unclassified free agent since he only pitched in 17 games last year, but since the Elias Rankings take previous years into consideration, he attained Type A status. As a result, when the Sox offered him arbitration, he turned it down and now they will likely receive the Braves 20th overall pick in addition to a supplemental rounder. Since the Sox are looking for a second baseman or shortstop (depending on whether Dustin Pedroia actually changes positions) it could lessen the burden of picking up a player like Marco Scutaro, who would cost the Sox a first round pick as our buddy Jason points out.

The Braves are not all that concerned about giving up their first round pick since they actually have two Type A free agents of their own hitting the marketplace - Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez - and figure that one or both are likely to decline the arbitration offers from the Braves and sign elsewhere. They surrendered their first rounder, but signed a pitcher who could very well fill the role of closer and doubled down with a team-friendly option if Wagner performs well this year.

The Sox got one of the highest draft picks you can receive in free agent compensation (#20, since the top 15 are protected) if the Braves don't sign a higher-ranking free agent and a supplemental rounder in exchange for a spare part and a Rookie League first baseman.

And what about the Mets? They ended up with Chris Carter, who could be a somewhat useful piece on their team next year, although at 27 he has limited upside, and Eddie Lora, who is light years away from the MLB.

Did Omar Minaya overlook the draft pick compensation system when he dealt Wagner on the cheap? Did Theo Epstein have it in mind when he acquired him? I can't help but think the Sox made out like bandits here.

Remembering Bobby Cox As A Yankee

Yesterday the Atlanta Braves announced that manager Bobby Cox, who recently had been pondering his managerial future, signed a one year contract extension and will retire as field manager at the conclusion of the 2010 season.

Cox is a fixture with the Braves. He'll have completed 21 consecutive seasons at their helm by the time of his retirment, as well as an additional four seasons as their skipper at the start of his managerial career. He was also the Braves' General Manager from 1986 until returning to the dugout in June of 1990. When he retires after next season he'll have a five year contract waiting for him to serve the Braves as a baseball operations consultant.

But before Bobby Cox became so inextricably linked with the Braves, he had a lengthy history with the Yankees organization. After the 1967 season, Cox was a twenty-six year old with no Major League experience who had already washed out of the Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves systems in an eight year minor league career. On December 7th, the Braves flipped him to the Yankees for two bit players, one of whom would never again appear in the Majors.

The Yankees had fallen on hard times by 1968, and Cox was able to break camp with the team. Two weeks into the season he won the third base job, replacing Charley Smith (who incidentally had been all the Yankees received from St. Louis in exchange for Roger Maris just a year earlier). Cox had a fair season (91 OPS+) and the Yankees, who had finished ninth in the ten team league the year before, turned in a surprising 83-79 record and finished fifth.

In 1969 Cox lost the third base job to Bobby Murcer, who was returning from two years lost to military service. When Murcer was moved to the outfield thirty games into the season, it was Jerry Kenney, not Cox, who took over at the hot corner. Cox stuck with the team as a reserve through the year, but that was the end of his Major League playing career.

After spending 1970 at the Yanks' AAA team in Syracuse, the Yankees gave Cox a start on his second careeer, appointing him manager of the single A Fort Lauderdale team for 1971. The next year he moved up West Haven (CT) in the AA Eastern League, and then spent four seasons as the skipper for AAA Syracuse. In six minor league seasons, Cox compiled a 459-387 record (.543), and won the EL Championship in 1972 and the IL Championship in 1976. Cox then joined the Yankees' Major League coaching staff for the 1977 season, picking up his first World Series ring in the process.

Following the season, the Braves hired Cox and save for a four year stint as the Blue Jays manager from 1982-85, he's been there ever since. Cox ranks fourth on the all-time managerial wins list with 2,409, sandwiched between contemporaries Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre. However, LaRussa has compiled his victories with three different clubs, Torre with four. Cox's 2,054 wins as Braves skipper rank third behind Connie Mack and John McGraw for the highest total with a single club.

"The Yankees Are Doomed"

Like we were anticipating, there has been an bloom of ignorant Yankees articles and blog posts of late foreshadowing their postseason demise, and since I don't have anything better to write about, here we go again.

This one comes from a writer who thinks he is blogging because he posts the first thought that comes to his mind on a website. I guess no one ever told Jeff Pearlman that even though it's a "blog" you probably should still be concerned with "reality" and attempt to do some "research" instead of spouting off pitching clichés that Walter Johnson would probably think were outdated and citing irrelevant facts that tenuously fit your argument.

(Headline:) The Yankees are doomed

OK, maybe doomed is too strong.

Then you probably should have changed the headline, huh? You didn't write this on a typewriter, did you?

But, once again, I don’t think Brian Cashman has built a team made for the playoffs. Mainly, the problem is pitching. Starting pitching.

You're right. What the fuck was Brian Cashman thinking when he acquired the two best starting pitchers on the market this offseason and brought back a solid veteran lefty in Andy Pettitte? What a collection of terrible moves that was!

As the Atlanta Braves showed us throughout the 1990s, having a load of B+ starting pitchers is fantastic for 90-plus regular season wins … but doesn’t really work so well in the post-season. Generally speaking, the teams in the best shape have two ass-kicking starters with rubber arms and angry demeanors (think Johnson-Schilling, ‘01).

That's one team. Do you have any other examples? I have one, the 2002 Diamondbacks. Same two guys... how did that work out for them? Oh yeah, they got swept in the NLDS.

In '98, the Yanks best two starters were Cone and Pettitte, not exactly "angry". In '99 & '00, The Yanks were exactly the Braves teams Jeff is talking about, with a bunch of B+ starters and no real standout "ass-kickers". In fact, in 2000, only Clemens had an ERA under 4.00 and their 4th starter was Denny Neagle in October.

How about 2002? The Angels started Jarrod Washburn, Kevin Appier, Ramon Ortiz and John Lackey. Any ass-kickers in there? And 2003? The Marlins had Josh Beckett and Brad Penny, only one of those guys is perceived as "angry" and neither is "rubber-armed".

Schilling and Pedro in '04? Okay, sure. That's two in the last 10 years.

In 2005, the Astros were the ones with Clemens and Oswalt, but they get smashed by the White Sox. Chris Carpenter and Jeff Weaver were the best pitchers for the Cardinals in the '06 WS. Beckett was around again in '07 but by all accounts, Jon Lester pretty mild mannered. Brett Myers beats his wife, but Cole Hamels posed with his lady in these ads with kids that he doesn't even have. He's no ass-kicker.

Or he could have just said, "Generally speaking, the more good pitchers a team has, the better shape they are in".

Okay, so I just spent way too long parsing one offhanded remark, but there's more dumbassery, I promise.

CC Sabathia: Great starter. Elite starter. Worth the big bucks thus far—but in five postseason games with Cleveland and Milwaukee, the man has a 7.92 ERA over five starts. Please, read that again—

Five starts?

...seven point nine two.

Oh. The part that can be dismissed as an extremely small sample size.

Can he be masterful? Of course. Will he be? Seems sort of unlikely.

That's some strong language, Jeff. They're DOOMED!

A.J. Burnett: I’d argue (as would many) that, come playoff time, Burnett has the chance to be New York’s stud. He still throws extremely hard, still possesses lightning stuff—plus, he’s already won a World Series with the 2003 Marlins.

Yes, he "won" a World Series with the Marlins in 2003, the year in which he made a grand total of four starts before getting Tommy John surgery and missing the rest of the year, including the postseason. Extremely relevant... the guy knows how to win!

Joba Chamberlain: [...] I mean, seriously, what they’ve done to this kid is, in a baseball sense, criminal. If I’m a Yankees fan, and it’s Game 7, do I want Jona[sic] or Phil Hughes starting?

Me, I take Hughes.

You'd take Hughes, the guy who has been in the bullpen since June and before that had a 5.45 ERA as a starter? So you'd somehow stretch him out in the major leagues over the last 11 games from a one or two inning pitcher and have him make a start in the postseason? If you were a Yankee fan, or knew anything about the team, you'd be choosing Chad Gaudin over Joba because he's the only other viable option.

Winning Against Winners

Perhaps you've noticed that the Yanks have struggled against the better teams they've faced this year. You'd be on to something, because they are only 24-29 against teams with winning records. Maybe you think that is a bad thing since those are the teams they are likely to face in the playoffs. Would you be wrong? (h/t Shyster @ CTB)

This actually isn't a bad sign at all, though. In fact, it's the mark of a champion. In recent years, winning the World Series has had nothing to do with being good against good competition. Five of the nine champions this decade posted losing regular-season records against opponents that were .500 or better, including the 2008 Phillies (43-46).

Conversely, teams that excel against tough opponents tend to flop in the postseason. Not since the 1995 Braves has the team with the best record against .500-or-better competition won the World Series that same season. The Los Angeles Angels keep demonstrating this: They dominated such opponents in 2007 (.594) and 2008 (.605), yet lost in the first round both years.

Our pal Craig goes along with this theory and throws out an admittedly "untestable yet moderately-satisfying hypothesis" comparing baseball teams to marathon runners. He proposes some interesting ideas, but I'm not buying the original premise of the article.

First, let's point out the sketchy logic from the quote above.

1. I wouldn't say winning a World Series has "nothing to do" with how teams play against good competition. Five of the past nine champions is A) a limited sample size and B) only one Game 7 (in 2002) away from saying 5/9 had winning records against opponents that were .500+.
   
   
2. Why would the author, Darren Everson, break it at 2000? What happens when you go back from 1995-1999? Every single World Series Champion had a winning record against winning teams during the regular season. So from 1995-2008, nine out of 14 have fit that mold. Kind of undermines the point of the article, huh? Don't let the facts...
   
   
3. "Not since the 1995 Braves has the team with the best record against .500-or-better competition" - Eight teams make the playoffs and one can have the best record against +.500 competition. Do you know how many times the team with the best record overall has won over that span? One (and a half). The 1998 Yankees (114 wins) and the 2007 Red Sox who, along with the Indians, won 96 games that year.
   
   
4. "The Los Angeles Angels keep demonstrating this..." - By doing it twice in a row? Not much of a trend when looking at 14 years of data, is it?

One further point that I would like to add is that by definition, the entire league plays under .500 ball against teams with winning records.

Starting with 1996 (so as to include only 162 game seasons) 191 out of a possible 386 team seasons have ended with winning records. In total, those teams are 17,321 - 13,611, which equates to a .570 winning percentage. So on average, teams can expect to go 35-46 if they play 81 games against teams with winning records. That makes .500 against those teams look pretty good, right?

Is it imperative that a team plays well against winning teams during the regular season? No, but if you take an objective look at the data and go a little further back, it certainly appears to be a good sign.

Game 72: Rubberband Man

A key to a successful baseball season is winning series; it's the surest way of having a winning record. The Yankees are 2-0-1 in four game series, 1-2-0 in two game series, and 11-6 in three game series for an overall series mark of 14-8-1, but have dropped three of the last four. Of the 17 three game sets they've completed, 11 have had the third and final game determine who took the set. The Yankees are 8-3 in those rubber games, but have lost two in a row to the lowly Marlins and lowlier Nats. The Yanks look to end that rubber game losing streak tonight and take the series from the Braves.

Andy Pettitte gets the start tonight, and he's a bit of a rubberband man himself. As Joe Girardi likes to say, Andy has a tendency to bend, but not break. Pettitte's had some ugly outings this year, yet his record sits at 7-3 and the team is 10-4 in his starts. On May 18th, he picked up a win against the Twins despite allowing 12 hits over 6.2 IP. On May 29 in Cleveland, his back acted up on him. He allowed 10 baserunners in 5 IP, but he held the Tribe to just one run.

In his last start though, Pettitte had no such troubles. Friday against the Marlins Pettitte threw seven innings of one run ball, allowing just three baserunners and fanning seven. He even helped his cause with an RBI double. He looks to build on that tonight as he returns to the city that saw the greatest perfomance of his impressive career. Lifetime, Pettitte is 5-1 with a 3.13 ERA against the Braves in the regular season and has two big postseason victories in Atlanta.

The Yanks will be opposed by old foe Derek Lowe, who has been tagged with the loss in his last two starts. In his time with the Red Sox, Lowe made 15 starts and 24 relief appearances against the Yanks, going 8-10 with 6.07 ERA and 1.68 WHIP. I'll take more of that please. Lowe and Pettitte went head-to-head twice, both in 2002, with both pitchers taking a win and a loss each.

It was rumored that Alex Rodriguez might get his weekly day off tonight, but he is in the lineup, meaning he'll likely skip Sunday's Subway Series game in order to get back-to-back days off. Cody Ransom is in the lineup however, as Robinson Cano was a late scratch. According to Pete Abe, Cano's claims he's just getting a day off, but his wrist was also taped. Given that he was in the original lineup, it appears that the Yankee Cloak and Dagger game has returned for the second consecutive day.

Oh, and just for good measure, I'll throw this in too.



Hey y'all prepare yourself for the Rubberband Man
You never heard a sound like the Rubberband Man
You're bound to lose control when the Rubberband starts to jam

1999 World Series: Game 4

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

At 2:30 in the morning on October 27th, not long after the dramatic conclusion of Game 3, Paul O'Neill got the kind of phone call that everyone dreads. When the phone rings at that hour, it rarely brings good news. When he answered, he found out that his father, Chick, who had watched his health decline over the previous months had passed away.

With Game 4 only 18 hours away, there wasn't much time to grieve. O'Neill decided to take the field and not to tell any of his teammates about his father until after the game. However, the organization was already aware of what had transpired and Joe Torre called to extend his condolences to his player. The time from when he received that call until it was time to play must have seemed like an eternity for Paulie.

When Whitey Ford finally threw out the first pitch, he set the stage for two other pitching titans to clash.

Roger Clemens first regular season after being acquired from Toronto proved to be a disappointing one. Coming off of back to back Cy Youngs and twenty win, 230+ inning, 270+ strikeout seasons north of the border, The Rocket turned in only the third best season of the Yankee starters. He had a 4.60 ERA, went 14-10 and actually had a WHIP higher than Hideki Irabu's. John Smoltz had fallen from his peak as well, heading to the DL twice in 1999, but still pitched effectively (3.19 ERA) when he was healthy. He was still regarded as a big game pitcher and the Braves could have done much worse than to have him on the mound.

Clemens and Smoltz matched scoreless frames in the first and second and Roger sat down the Braves in order in the top of the third.

Against Smoltz in the bottom half, Chuck Knoblauch led off with a single and Derek Jeter followed suit with one of his own, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Paul O'Neill struck out, then with Bernie Williams up, Jeter put himself into scoring position by stealing second. Smoltz then intentionally walked Bernie, to create the potential for a double play, a decision which came back to bite the Braves. Tino Martinez singled down the right field line, scoring Jeter and Knoblauch and moving Bernie to third. Darryl Strawberry went down on strikes for the second out of the inning, but Jorge Posada knocked a single to right to put the Yanks up 3-0.

That cushion would be all that Clemens needed. He cruised through the Braves line up, allowing only three baserunners over the next 4 2/3 innings. He retired the first two batters of the eighth inning, his 16th and 17th groundballs of the night, but hit a snag. He allowed two singles to Gerald Williams and Walt Weiss, which prompted Joe Torre to call to the bullpen. Clemens received a rousing ovation and doffed his cap, because barring a bullpen disaster, Clemens had just given the signature Fall Classic performance he had always yearned for. Jeff Nelson did allow one of Clemens' runners to score, but Rivera got Chipper Jones to ground out, lining up Clemens to be the winning pitcher in the clinching game of the World Series.

Jim Leyritz added a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to give Mo some breathing room, but it wasn't needed. The Braves went down 1-2-3, the final out coming on a fly ball to Chad Curtis in left field.

The Yankees became the first team to sweep back to back World Series since their 1938-39 counterparts and validated their torrid 1998 campaign with another division title and unstoppable postseason run. Joe Torre actually said that he thought the '99 Yanks were better than the '98 version because they had to walk in the shadow of a 114 win juggernaut. After the game, Sojo, O'Neill, Brosius and Clemens, who had lost his father at a young age gathered in a quiet room away from the celebration in a moment of both remembrance and camaraderie.

The Yankees didn't need the late 90's run to secure a place as the best team of the 1900's, but the three championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999 did bring their tally to an unmatched 25 titles.

1999 World Series: Game 3

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

Just before Game 3, Luis Sojo flew in from Venezuela to rejoin the Yankees. Just before the World series had begun, his father passed away unexpectedly. There was a tragic air around the 1999 Yankees and the World Series in particular. As Matt mentioned during the Game 1 recap, Darryl Strawberry was still recovering from cancer as the season began. Joe Torre was diagnosed with prostate cancer and Scott Brosius lost his father, Marty, after a long bout with colon cancer.

Further adding to the general gloom, on the travel day between Games 2 & 3, golfer Payne Stewart's death made national headlines. On the morning of October 25th, Stewart boarded a private plane flight out of Orlando, bound for Dallas and the season-ending PGA Tour Championship. While en route, the cabin lost pressure and everyone on board was killed almost immediately. The Learjet, presumably still on autopilot, continued it's journey, flanked by F-16's until it crashed in an unpopulated area in South Dakota. Just a month removed from the American's dramatic Ryder Cup victory at Brookline, and four months past Stewart's U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst (the first of Phil Mickelson's many seconds), the American sporting landscape had lost one of it's more iconic characters.

-----

The temperature at game time was an unseasonably warm 62 degrees with a steady breeze blowing out to right field. Lefties Tom Glavine and Andy Pettitte took the hill for the pivotal Game 3. Both had turned into two excellent starts thus far in the '99 postseason, but each stumbled out of the gate.

To begin the top of the first, Pettitte gave up a single to Gerald Williams and a double to Bret Boone. Williams was driven in on a groundout by Chipper Jones, but Pettitte avoided further damage. Chuck Knoblauch reached on an E9 and was advanced to third on a fly ball by Derek Jeter. A single by Paul O'Neill evened the score at 1.

After a scoreless second inning for both hurlers, Pettitte ran into trouble in the third. He gave up a single, two doubles and another single, and by the time he had recorded three outs, the Braves were up 4-1.

Already facing the top of the order for the third time in the fourth inning, Pettitte gave up a triple to Williams and a double to Boone, making the 1-2 hitters for the Braves 5 for 6 against Pettitte with three runs scored. The next batter, Chipper Jones, finally chased Pettitte with a single. Andy had put up another poor performance in the Fall Classic, getting tagged for 10 hits and 5 runs in 3 2/3 IP. Jason Grimsley mopped up nicely however, keeping the Yanks in the game with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Meanwhile, Glavine rolled along up until the 5th inning, when he allowed a solo shot to Chad Curtis. He didn't allow another hit until he gave up another homer to Tino Martinez in the 7th. 5-3 Braves.

Jeff Nelson came on after Grimsley and also did his part admirably, pitching perfect 7th and 8th innings. The Yankees had clawed back to within two runs when Joe Girardi led off the bottom of the 8th. He singled to center, bringing up Chuck Knoblauch, owner of exactly one home run in 160 postseason at bats. He lofted one just over the short porch in right, tying the game at 5. Bobby Cox decided he had seen enough and brought in his closer, John Rocker to close out the frame. Despite the 5 runs, (4 earned) Glavine pitched pretty well, but like Pettitte, he would not factor into the decision.

With the Yanks having pulled even, Torre brought in his closer to try to keep it that way. Mo faced the minimum three batters in the top of the 9th, but Rocker sat down the side in order in the bottom half to take the game into extra innings.

Bobby Cox burned through three pinch hitters in the top of the tenth, but all he got in return was a two out single by Ryan Klesko, who never made it past first.

Since Rocker had already pitched two innings, Cox called on Mike Remlinger to extend the game. He did not. Chad Curtis hit his second home run of the game, brought the house down and gave the Yankees a seemingly insurmountable lead of three games to none in the series.

During his postgame interview with Jim Gray, Curtis informed Gray on live television that the Yankees were upset with his treatment of Pete Rose two days earlier and that they refused to speak with him. When asked by the media after the game, Joe Torre said that there had been no meeting. There in fact had been an agreement between the players only to which Torre was not privy and Tino Martinez informed the manager that was the case. Curtis, asked Torre to set the record straight since the mix up had shown Curtis in a bad light, but Torre never did. Curtis remained bitter about the incident and was traded to Texas during the ensuing offseason for Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek.

Sitting on the verge of yet another World Series sweep, the Yankees would still have to traverse another loss, but not on the field.

1999 World Series: Game 2

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

Before Game 2 at Turner Field, Major Leauge Baseball presented its All-Century Team. During the 1999 season, fans were allowed to vote, from a predetermined list of the greatest players of all time, the top 25 players to comprise the team. There were six pitchers, nine outfielders and two players at each infield position. In addition, an oversight committee appointed five other players who they felt belonged to the time.

As FOTB Jason has consistently pointed out, fan voting is a terrible way to select the best players for any sort of team. Case in point, Mark McGuire made the All Century Team at first base, receiving more votes than Lou Gehrig and bumping out blank ink Hall Of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Jimmie Foxx and Eddie Murray. Futher evidence of the short sighted nature of fan voting is that Cal Ripken Jr. was the top vote getter at shortstop, while Honus Wagner had to be appointed by the committee.

Regardless of the nitpicks, it was quite the spectacle. Every living player nominated to the team was in the house, including Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax, and the ostracized Pete Rose. Rose was the subject of a contentious interview with Jim Gray, during which Gray immediately attempted to get Rose to admit to betting on baseball. Rose has since admitted to this very deed, but it was rather foolish for Gray to put him on the spot and expect that after years of denial, Rose would simply admit that he lied during the broadcast of the World Series to millions of viewers. The interview would become a hot topic again before the World Series was over.

After the All-Century ceremony concluded, of all the legendary players in attendance, Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth's home run record while in a Braves' uniform was chosen to throw out the first pitch. Unfortunately for the fans in Atlanta, most of the excitement for them was contained to the pregame festivities.

Kevin Millwood, just 24 years old at the time, was actually the best pitcher on the Braves in 1999. Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine all had relatively off years, while Millwood pitched 228 innings to a 2.86 ERA, a .996 WHIP and went 18-7. Over three starts and one relief appearance in the postseason he had thrown 22.2 IP with an ERA of 2.87.

Things went south for Millwood as soon as he took the mound. He allowed back to back singles to Chuck Knoblauch and Deter Jeter to start the game then Paul O'Neill added another base hit to drive in Knoblauch. With men on first and second, Bernie Williams grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, which looked to be Millwood's stepping stone to getting out of the inning. However, yet another single, this time by Tino Martinez drove in Jeter. A walk to Ricky Ledee allowed Scott Brosius the chance to drive in O'Neill with the fifth single of the inning. Remarkably, without an extra base hit and while grounding into a double play, the Yanks managed to push across three runs.

After being staked to the early 3-0 lead, David Cone never looked back. He didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, which was immediately erased by a double play. By then, Millwood had already been chased from the game in the third inning before he could record an out and the Yanks led 6-0. Cone did issue 5 free passes, but that single to Greg Meyers in the 5th was the only hit. He went 7 innings, struck out four and didn't allow a run.

The outcome of the game was never in danger but the Braves did get on the board in the ninth, scoring two runs against Ramiro Mendoza and Jeff Nelson. The Yanks had just flipped the script on the Braves. Unlike 1996, it was the Yankees who were heading home with a 2-0 series lead.

Brian Bruney Is A Renegade

No, I'm talking talking about the tattoo.

Brian Bruney is back from the DL, he's got a bad ass motherfuckin' mustache and he doesn't give a shit about that damn patch commemorating the first season at the New Stadium the fuckin' MAN is tryin' to get him to wear.

Brian Bruney does what Brain Bruney wants, thank you very much.

(Below: Where the patch should be, as displayed

by upright citizen Joba Chamberlain)

(And by the way, yes, we would have nabbed a shot of Mo batting if Jason didn't beat us to it.)

Game 71: Hot 'Lanta

Daytime highs in Atlanta today were in the low 90's and by the time game time rolls around this evening, it should still be in the upper 80's. During the hottest stretch of the season thus far for the Yanks, a road trip through Miami and Atlanta, their bats have gone cold. Averaging fewer than 3 runs per game, they were held to one run by Josh Johnson on Saturday and the Marlins and shut out by Tommy Hanson and the Braves last night. Before that, they managed only 7 runs in three games against the Nationals.

It certainly hasn't been the pitching. Aside from CC Sabathia's early exit from Land Shark Stadium, the Yanks haven't allowed more than four runs in any game. Out of the past six contests, the Yanks have lost three of them while holding their opponents to three runs or fewer, something they hadn't done all season until that point. When pitchers struggle, it's easy to point the finger at one guy. When it's the offense that is faltering, the failure is more often projected on the team as a whole.

Over the last 13 games, the Yankees OPS leaders are Hideki Matsui (okay) and Brett Gardner (yikes) and they've combined for only 48 at bats. The least productive hitter with significant playing time? A-Rod at .486. That's an OPS that even David Ortiz can scoff at. If we gave A-Rod credit for energizing the team upon his return, he certainly deserves some blame for this recent slump. Unfortunately, as Tyler Kepner points out, there's no guarantee that he'll return to form.

The slumping bats have in turn put Joe Girardi back onto the hot seat. Local scribes have speculated that is Girardi fails to make the playoffs with a $200M payroll once again, it could be the very last time he gets the chance to manage in the Majors. There have been conflicting reports, but some have said that the decision to bench A-Rod came from the front office. The fact that Angel Berroa was on the roster that entire time, presumably ready to play in place of A-Rod, but was never used would seem to back that up.

Girardi getting overruled when it comes to the handling of the team's most valuable asset seems a bit like the Joba Rules being imposed on Joe Torre. If the front office needs to step in and make decisions because they don't trust the manager to, it probably doesn't bode well for Girardi's future as Yankee skipper.

Of course, with a dominant performance by the offense or Joba Chamberlain tonight, these issues could be temporarily swept aside. Joba had a respectable start last time out against the Nationals, going 6 innings and allowing three runs, but was still tagged with the loss. Given the way the offense has (not) produced recently, they might need to do better than that.

Tonight will be yet another chance for the Yankees to shake the notion that they can't hit pitchers they haven't seen before, as the Braves send Kenshin Kawakami to the mound. The Japanese rookie turned 29 on Monday and aside from Hideki Matsui who can't play the field and probably won't face him, he is completley new to the Yanks.

If you look at the MLB odds page on Bodog, the over/under for the game sits at 9 runs. Neither Kawakami or Chamberlain have allowed more than three earned runs in a start since the beginning of May, they are playing in a National League park and neither of the line ups have been able to manage much offensively as of late. All of these things would seem to portend another low scoring game. But baseball in funny like that... perhaps things are about to heat up.

1996 World Series: Game 5

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

Before Game 5 rolled around, Andy Pettitte didn't have the most spectacular resume as a postseason pitcher. In 30 2/3 innings he had given up 29 hits and walked 15 while only striking out 11. As a result, he had allowed 21 earned runs, translating to an ERA of 6.16. His one solid playoff start, an eight inning, two run effort against Baltimore in Game 5 of the ALCS had been more recently overshadowed by the runaway train that bowled him over in Game 1 of the World Series.

As was the case in that game, his opponent was John Smoltz, who was well on his way to establishing a postseason resume which might be the best of all time, behind Mariano Rivera. After what was his finest season as a starting pitcher, Smoltz had already notched wins in all four of his postseason starts, allowing 5 runs in 30 IP (1.50ERA).

Due to the Game 1 rainout, this was the fourth straight day on which a World Series game occurred. As your average armchair prognosticator might predict, this would weigh more heavily on the position players who had taken the field all four days than the starting pitchers, and set the stage for a classic October pitchers' duel.

Regardless of the outcome, Game 5 of the '96 series was going to be the final event ever held at Fulton County Stadium, which amplified the electricity even beyond a World Series game which would determine which team went ahead 3-2. Smoltz took the hill in the top of the first and struck out the side in order, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. Pettitte countered by getting Marquis Grissom and Mark Lemke to swing through strike threes and then retiring Chipper Jones on a long fly to left.

Smoltz and Pettitte both allowed baserunners in the second inning, but each avoided trouble with two groundouts and a punchout. Smoltz tallied his fifth and sixth strikeouts in the third inning while Pettitte worked around a walk to Marqius Grissom and stranded him at second after a stolen base.

Leading off the top of the fourth, Charlie Hayes poked a ball towards the gap in right center. It was placed directly in between centerfielder Grissom and right fielder Jermaine Dye. As the two converged, Grissom called Dye off, but instead of getting out of his way, Dye stepped in front of Grissom, creating an unintentional screen for his teammate. Grissom momentaily lost track of the ball and it bounced off of his glove. Grissom was charged with the error, although if you were to ask Jermaine Dye, he would probably accept the blame. It would prove to be a costly mistake.

After a Bernie Willaims ground out moved Hayes to thrid, the Braves brought the infield in for Cecil Fielder. Big Daddy smashed a one-hopper off the left field wall, driving in Hayes and leaving Fielder on second base. It was an unearned run, a designation which only matters on paper.

Pettitte allowed base runners in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but was helped out by a caught stealing and two double plays.

Smoltz did the same in the fifth through seventh using three strikeouts and a double play to avoid further damage. However, after those seven innings, Smoltz had already thrown 126 pitches. Mike Bielecki had been used for two innings the night before and instead of bringing him out in a game the Braves were losing, Bobby Cox opted to leave Smoltz in. It turned out to be a good decision and he mowed down the Yanks on nine pitches in the top of the eighth.

Pettitte, by contrast, had only thrown 88 pitches. He got behind all four hitters in the frame 1-0, but needed only two pitches for each of them. Jeff Blauser flew out to left, pinch hitter Mike Mordecai grounded out to short, Marquis Grissom singled to center but Mark Lemke grounded out to Charlie Hayes for the third out.

Mark Wohlers came in for the ninth and walked Paul O'Neill with one out. Paulie was erased by a Mariano Duncan force out. This brought up Jim Leyritz with Andy Pettitte on deck. Wohlers intentionally walked the catcher, and instead of using Wade Boggs or Tim Raines, Torre opted to allow Pettitte to bat so he could face Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff in the bottom of the inning. Pettitte hit a flyball to left and went back to the dugout to grab his glove.

He got ahead of Jones 1-2, but Chipper laced a double down the left field line to lead off the inning. Torre stuck with his plan and left Pettitte in to face McGriff, who grounded out and advanced the runner to third. Pettitte's night was done as Torre summoned John Wetteland to face Javy Lopez and try to get out of the jam. With Mariano Rivera at his disposal, Torre almost never called on his closer to get out of a tight spot in the middle of an inning.

Wettleland got Lopez to ground out to third base, holding the runner and putting the Yankees two outs away from living up to the seemingly impossible promise Torre made to George Steinbrenner after losing Game 2. Cox pinch hit lefty Ryan Klesko for righty Andruw Jones and Torre responded by giving Klesko a free pass and putting the winning run on base. He made another unorthodox decision that had the potential to look awfully foolish if the game did not go his way.

Jermaine Dye was due up next and to that point in the postseason was hitting .163 and had only drawn one walk. Cox summoned Luis Polonia and although he had yet to reach base in the '96 playoffs, had appeared in two World Series before. Polonia fouled off six straight fastballs from Wetteland, causing first base coach Jose Cardenal to shift the defensive alignment left, on the hunch that Polonia would be unlikely to pull the ball. Wetteland delivered another fastball up in the zone which Polonia redirected into the gap in right-center. With the runners going on contact, Klesko would have likely scored from first base had the ball landed. However, due to the keen repositioning by Cardenal, O'Neill tracked down the ball just in time, and made the catch before his momentum carried him into the wall.

The only run of the game was unearned, an unfortunate occurrence that had only befallen three other teams in World Series history: the 1905 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1921 Yankees and the 1986 Mets.

Amazingly, the two biggest plays of the game took place in almost the same spot on the field, both ending up, against all odds, in favor of the Yankees. If either of those go the other way, the Yanks would have been staring down 3-2 deficit on the plane ride home and would have had to take both games at Yankee Stadium. Instead the needed to win only one of them to clinch their first Championship in 18 years.

Well, At Least It Wasn't A Game 1 Redux...

Tommy Hanson was not Greg Maddux tonight, not by a long shot. But that didn't stop the Braves from duplicating the score of Game 2 of the 1996 World Series, which we recapped earlier in the day.

Hanson, the top pitching prospect in the Braves' organization and one of the very best in baseball posted a 0.73 ERA in 11 starts in AAA this year before earning his call up to the Majors. Since then he has made four starts, winning three and hasn't allowed a run in either of his last two. Tonight, however, was more about the Yankees' failure to convert opportunities than them being stifled by the young stud.

After a 1-2-3 first inning for Hanson, the Yankees put 10 runners on base (4H, 5BB, 1HBP) in the next 4 1/3, none of whom came around to score. They left the bases loaded in the second and fourth innings and Jeter grounded into a double play to end the sixth.

Hanson struggled with the same issues that Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes have been battling early in their careers: a lack of control and inefficiency with his pitch count. He walked more men than he struck out (5 to 4) in 5 1/3 IP and needed 99 pitches to get those 16 outs. The Braves bullpen finished out the game for Hanson, allowing no hits and only one walk in the final 3 2/3.

Hanson deserves credit for shutting the Yanks down, but getting a team to go 0-8 with runners in scoring position isn't just about dominant pitching. Failures on offense account for a large portion of that. The 2-4 hitters when 0-12 with a lone walk and Jorge Posada struck out four times. That's going to make it hard to win against anyone.

With the lack of any run support whatsoever, Chien Ming Wang's quest for a victory was once again put on hold, dropping him to 0-6 on the season. He pitched decently for the most part, with all three the runs he allowed coming in third inning on back to back doubles by Brain McCann and Garret Anderson, but never had a chance for a W.

Wang lasted only 5 innings, but for the first time this season he wasn't pulled due to his ineffectiveness. In the top of the sixth, Wang was due up to bat third. Since he had thrown only 62 pitches, if no one reached base in front of him he would have likely batted and come out to pitch the bottom half. But Brett Gardner singled and Hideki Matsui was sent in to pinch hit for Wang. Matsui walked, but that only led to the aforementioned Derek Jeter DP. From there on out, the only Yankee to reach base was Johnny Damon, who worked a pinch hit, one out walk in the top of the ninth only to be stranded at 2nd.

In what little good news there was for the Yanks, Phil Hughes came on in relief on Wang and pitched two perfect innings, striking out two in the process. Yay!

Yeah, it could have been worse, but not by a whole lot. In nine games against the bottom of the NL East, three teams with records under .500, the Yankees are going to have to win two in a row just to go 4-5. This is the tpye of stretch the Yanks are supposed to get fat off of, but instead they are falling back to the pack.

Before getting shut out by Josh Beckett in Fenway they were in first place by one game. Since then they have gone 4-9, which should be 3-10 if Luis Castillo made the most routine of plays. They now sit 5 games out of first, are tied with Toronto and two games ahead of the Rays. Will the real New York Yankees please stand up?

Game 70: Oh Atlanta

Historically, the Yankees have not been kind to the city of Atlanta. Yesterday I referenced Sherman's March to the Sea, in which General William Tecumseh Sherman and his Union Army laid waste to the Georgia country side from Atlanta to Savannah, essentially ending the Civil War - or the War of Northern Aggression as some would call it.

More recently, and in far less pressing matters, the New York Yankees have done quite well in the city of Atlanta. As we examined earlier today and will continue to do over the next few days, the Yankees have had great success in Atlanta in the post-season. But the Yankees have done well in Atlanta outside of October as well.

In two interleague series at Turner Field, the Yankees are 4-1, sweeping a two game set in 1998 by an aggregate score of 16-6, and taking two of three in 2000. One month later, Joe Torre led the American League All-Star Team to victory at The Ted. Once and future Yankee David Wells started the game, giving up two hits and striking out two over two scoreless innings. Bernie Williams started in centerfield in the AL's first post-Griffey All-Star Game. Jorge Posada played and went 0-2 and Mariano Rivera closed out the victory for the AL.

But that All-Star game belonged to another Yankee. In a season that saw the AL's big three shortstops, Jeter, A-Rod, and Nomar Garciaparra, at the height of their collective powers, Jeter won the starting nod. He responded by going 3 for 3 with a double, a run scored, and 2 RBI. He was named the game's MVP.

A couple quick notes from Pete Abe: Johnny Damon is out of the lineup again with his sore calf but is available off the bench and CC's bullpen was pushed back to tomorrow, but he received treatment today and feels good.

Tonight, the Yankees return to Atlanta for the first time in nine years. Chien-Ming Wang opposes phenom Tommy Hanson, ranked by Baseball America as the number four overall prospect and number two pitching prospect entering 2009. At a time when the Yankees are seemingly back on their heels, they get back to a city where they are 9-1 lifetime. Let's hope they use this series to call on some old Atlanta luck and fix what's gone awry the last two weeks.



Well you can drop me off on Peachtree
I got to feel that Georgia sun
And the women there in Atlanta
They make you awfully glad you come
I said watching them planes
I wish I was on one
I'm sittin' here thinking about my crazy dream
If I could only be there tonight
Oh Atlanta, Oh Atlanta. I said yeah yeah yeah Atlanta, got to get back to you