|
|
|---|
Sunday, November 1, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Cole Hamels earned the MVP award in last year's World Series, capping a postseason in which he went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five starts.For the second straight postseason start, Hamels was knocked out with one out in the fifth inning.It's safe to say the Phillies lefthander won't be the first back-to-back MVP winner in major-league history. Or the first player to amass more than one MVP award in his career since Reggie Jackson in 1973 and '77.After the Dodgers launched three homers and chased Hamels in Philadelphia's Game 5 clincher in the NL Championship Series, the southpaw started strongly Saturday night, holding the Yankees hitless into the fourth inning. Hamels' outing unraveled from that point in the Yankees' 8-5 victory.Reliever J.A. Happ retired Rodriguez and Jorge Posada to strand two inherited runners, keeping Hamels' line at 4-1/3 innings, five runs, five hits, two walks and a hit batter.Hamels has a 7.58 ERA and has allowed seven homers in 19 innings this postseason.Because Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has passed on using Cliff Lee on short rest Sunday like the Yankees plan to use CC Sabathia, Hamels and not Lee would face Sabathia if the Series goes to a Game 7."I hope my teammates want me to be out there for it," Hamels said.Entering last night's start, Hamels acknowledged his season-long struggles have led to frustration. He went 10-11 with a 4.32ERA during the regular season."I think that some of it was I wasn't able to locate as well earlier in the season," Hamels said. "And then it gets frustrating. ...Then it's the mental burden, which can kind of wear you down week after week, of not being able to go out there and do what you're expecting yourself to do and what everybody else expects you to do, too."So it's been a growing process. It's something that I think a lot of guys have had to go through."Friday, October 30, 2009
New York Yankees
New York Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett has admitted that Thursday's World Series clash with Philadelphia Phillies was "the biggest game I've ever thrown in" as he helped inspire his team to a 3-1 win to level the best-of-seven contest 1-1 at Yankee Stadium.The four top hitters for the Phillies went 0-for-10 against Burnett, with Ryan Howard striking out three times.Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui then homered for the Yankees, who overcame a 1-0 second-innings deficit for the crucial victory as the series shifts to Philadelphia over the next three games, starting on Saturday."I wanted to come out and attack, feed off the crowd and the energy," said Burnett. "I've done a good job of being calm in situations but I wanted to come out with some fire."I knew it was a big game, the biggest I've ever thrown in for this team."I wanted to set the tone early, be very aggressive. I threw a lot of first-pitch strikes. It made a big difference. I went out with confidence and the game just rolled by."Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel hailed the performance of Burnett. He said: "Burnett was good. He was very aggressive with his fastball and his slider was off the chart. He pitched a heck of a game."Teixiera, mired in a .186 play-off batting slump, hit a solo homer off Pedro Martinez in the fourth innings to pull New York level and Japan's Matsui struck a sixth-innings homer to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead."It was pretty special, this one," Teixiera said. "We hadn't done anything against them. It put a little bit of a crack in their armour. They had pitched so well. And Matsui's home run was great for our confidence."It was a must-win for us. If we went in there 0-2 it would have been a tough road for us."
The New York Yankees leveled the World Series at one game each as A.J. Burnett out dueled old Yankees nemesis Pedro Martinez in a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui homered for the Yankees, who overcame a 1-0 second-inning deficit for the victory as the best-of-seven series shifts to Philadelphia for the next three games starting on Saturday.The hard-throwing Burnett gave up four hits in seven innings and struck out nine while walking two.Martinez, a familiar foe to New York in seven seasons with the Boston Red Sox, went six plus innings and was charged with three runs on six hits and struck out eight.Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel admired the performances of both pitchers."Burnett was good. He was very aggressive with his fastball and his slider was off the chart. He pitched a heck of a game," Manuel told reporters."Pedro did a tremendous job, changing speeds, but he got hurt by the long ball from left-handed hitters."Philadelphia scored in the second when Raul Ibanez blooped a two-out double down the left-field line and came home when third baseman Alex Rodriguez failed to corral a smash off the bat of designated hitter Matt Stairs.Teixeira, who had been slumping with a .186 postseason average, blasted a 1-0 pitch into the Yankees bullpen in right-center to tie it 1-1.Two innings later Matsui put the Yankees in front by pulling a soft, 73 mph curve into the lower deck in right.New York added another run in the seventh after Jerry Hairston Jr and Melky Cabrera opened the inning with singles.Park Chan-ho relieved Martinez and yielded a single to center by pinch-hitter Jorge Posada that scored pinch-runner Brett Gardner.Closer Mariano Rivera pitched the last two innings for the save, escaping trouble in the eighth by getting Chase Utley to rap into a double play turned by Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter.Andy Pettitte, who has a record 16 career postseason wins, starts Saturday for the Yankees against fellow left-hander Cole Hamels, last year's World Series MVP for the Phillies.Monday, October 26, 2009
Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee will start Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees.Lee has been dominant in the postseason, going 2-0 with an 0.74 ERA in three starts. Manager Charlie Manuel made the announcement Sunday.Lee will take the mound Wednesday night at New York. The Yankees beat the Angels 5-2 on Sunday night to win the AL championship series in six games.Manuel hasn't set the rest of his rotation. Pedro Martinez and Cole Hamels are the candidates to pitch Game 2. By pitching the opener, Lee could get three starts if needed. Manuel said he would consider using his ace on three days' rest.Lee was the AL Cy Young Award winner last year with Cleveland. He joined the Phillies in a trade and went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts.
NEW YORK – They dashed from the dugout and in from the outfield, swarming Alex Rodriguez in a sea of pinstripes only steps from his spot at third base. "I couldn't be more excited," he said. "I feel like a 10-year-old kid." Making it to the World Series for the first time after all those misses will do that to you.The New York Yankees, baseball's biggest spenders, finally cashed in with their first pennant in six years Sunday night, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the AL championship series behind the savvy pitching of that old October pro, Andy Pettitte."That's what you play for," Rodriguez said. "In order to win a World Series, you have to get there first."After Mariano Rivera fanned pinch-hitter Gary Matthews Jr. for the final out at 1 minute past midnight, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter and most Yankees rushed to mob a jubilant Rodriguez near third base.Rivera received a huge hug from catcher Jorge Posada in front of the mound. Then, Rodriguez and the Yankees partied with beer and bubbly in their swanky, high-tech clubhouse.Now, the Yankees go for their record 27th title — when manager Joe Girardi was hired two years ago, he took jersey No. 27 with that in mind.Not a bad way for Jeter, Posada and crew to finish up the first season at the team's new $1.5 billion ballpark. As Yankee Stadium grew dark, Sabathia's and Girardi's kids ran around the bases on an empty infield."We want to enjoy this tonight. We'll worry about Philly tomorrow," Jeter said. "Hopefully, we can play one more great series."For manager Mike Scioscia and his sloppy Angels, it was their latest playoff failure during a decade of steady regular-season success. Since winning their only championship in 2002, the Angels are yet to return to the World Series despite five AL West titles in the past six years.oba Chamberlain got two key outs and Girardi went to a well-rested Rivera in the eighth. He gave up a two-out RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero, making it 3-2, then retired Morales to end the inning. Always a picture of poise and focus in October, narrowed eyes peering between his cap and glove as he takes his signs on the mound, Pettitte also owns postseason records with 38 starts and 237 1-3 innings pitched.Pettitte was pitching at home for the Yankees in the postseason for the first time since their last World Series game, a 2-0 loss to Josh Beckett and the Florida Marlins in 2003.This one was a different story.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Eric Hinske shivered in the Tampa Bay dugout in Philadelphia last October, the final game of the World Series playing out in the slop of a rainstorm. It was no way to decide a champion, and the game was suspended in the seventh inning.It was warm enough on Saturday, but the rain in the Bronx was so heavy that Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels did not even start. The game was postponed until Sunday at 8:20 p.m., just another day off in a series that has been full of them.The Angels and the Yankees have played five games, three of them riveting, one-run dramas. But there have also been four days off. Two have been the customary travel days, one aday off between Games 4 and 5, and now the rainout.The reason for the elongated schedule is the recent change in the start of the World Series. From 1985 through 2006, the World Series was scheduled to start on a Saturday. Then baseball and the networks concluded that Saturday was a dead night for ratings. They built a few extra days into the schedule, which pushed Game 1 to a Wednesday.The uneven pace of the postseason is an adjustment for players who are used to being in the lineup every day. As the Yankees took batting practice in their indoor cage Saturday, Mark Teixeira mentioned that to Jerry Hairston Jr.The Yankees are sticking with their plan to start Andy Pettitte in Game 6, even though C. C. Sabathia could now start on four days’ rest. Manager Joe Girardi said Sabathia would start Game 7 on Monday, if necessary.Pettitte was one of the few players to venture outside the drenched dugouts on Saturday. He has won four postseason clinchers in his career, but another chance will have to wait.“We all wanted to play, and we’re ready to play,” the Yankees’ Nick Swisher said. “Sometimes, rain happens. You can’t stop it. We don’t have a roof. Maybe they can put a roof up?”Alas, that was not included in the $1.5 billion budget for the new Yankee Stadium.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
First baseman Ryan Howard was named the MVP of the National League Championship Series, but the Philadelphia Phillies used their other firepower to win their second consecutive pennant.The Phillies rode a steady stream of home runs Wednesday to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in Game 5 as a towel-waving crowd celebrated.Jayson Werth hit two home runs, one that drove in three runs in the first, while Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino each hit one. For the five-game series, the Phillies hit 10 home runs after connecting four times in the four-game first-round victory over the Colorado Rockies.Howard hit .333 in the NLCS with two home runs, a triple and eight RBI. He was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout in Game 5, and his streak of eight games with an RBI ended.One of his walks came before Werth's first home run."None of that matters because all that counts is that we won," Howard said. "This lineup is deep and a lot of batters can hurt you. We've been doing this all year."Werth was 1-for-14 coming into the game. He hit his first home run against Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla on a full count in the first inning, then hit a solo shot off reliever Hong-Chih Kuo in the seventh.In the celebration, Werth got onto a countertop in the middle of the room, goggles covering his eyes and his championship T-shirt and cap drenched in champagne. He sprayed teammates from the top of the counter and then moved into the crowd of teammates on the floor.Left-hander Cliff Lee, who has two wins and a 0.74 ERA in three postseason games and probably will be the Game 1 starter in the World Series, said that, after coming over in a trade from the Cleveland Indians, he's happy to be a part of a World Series.
