Bengie Molina Throws Weight Around With Clutch Game 4 Homer
October 20, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — Bengie Molina hated the trade that sent him from San Francisco to Texas. Absolutely hated it.
The Giants were a bunch of guys he liked, they were making a run at the postseason and the veteran catcher wanted to be part of it.
If he’s got anything to say to the Giants right now, though, it might just be “Thank you.”
The Giants traded Molina to the Rangers to create more playing time for hotshot rookie Buster Posey.
All Molina has done since that rejection is push his new team, the Texas Rangers, to the edge of their first-ever World Series appearance.
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Right or Wrong, Joe Girardi’s Moves Backfire in Yankees’ Crushing Loss
October 20, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Giants, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — It was a bad day Tuesday for the Yankees, and a worse day for Joe Girardi‘s leverage.
It started with the Cubs hiring Mike Quade as manager, meaning Girardi — whose contract as Yankees manager expires after this season — can’t use the Cubs to get more from the Yankees.
It ended with a few questionable decisions that didn’t work out as the Rangers whipped the Yankees 10-3 for a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
“If things go right, they say, ‘Well, you did the right thing,’ ” Girardi said. “If things go wrong, they say, ‘Well, you made a mistake.’ “
Always true. There are smart moves that don’t work and shaky ones that do.
But in the postseason, for the Yankees, the magnification grows.
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Scouting Notes: Big Mistakes Haunt A.J. Burnett in Game 4
October 20, 2010
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series, Advanced Scouting
Whenever A.J. Burnett takes the mound there is always the looming threat of that big inning or that big mistake. For most of Tuesday’s Game 4 start he was able to avoid those big mistakes, but as the game wore on you could see his command beginning to erode before our eyes.
While hindsight is 20/20, you have to least bring up the question of whether Joe Girardi could have gone to Joba Chamberlain to face Bengie Molina in the sixth inning. With Burnett’s fastball command suddenly going away, it was a matchup that had danger written all over it with a good fastball hitter like Molina coming to the dish.
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Rangers vs. Yankees: Texas Rolls Again, Now a Win Away From World Series
October 20, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — Rangers eighth-place hitter Bengie Molina hit a three-run homer off a fading A.J. Burnett in the sixth inning to push Texas into the lead, and the Rangers were able to make a Lone Star statement, expanding the distance between themselves and the Yankees en route to a 10-3 victory in Game 4 of the ALCS.
The win, the third in succession for Texas, means the Rangers can eliminate the Yankees from the playoffs with a win Wednesday when Texas throws No. 2 lefty C.J. Wilson against Yankee ace lefty C.C. Sabathia.
Burnett was close to getting out of the sixth with a 3-2 lead when right fielder Nelson Cruz tagged up at first base and made it to second on the second out of the inning, a fly ball to dead center by Ian Kinsler.
That prompted Yankee manager Joe Girardi to order an intentional walk of lefty-hitting David Murphy to face the right-handed Molina. All the veteran catcher did was hit his fourth career postseason homer off New York pitching to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead.
Josh Hamilton added a pair of solo homers, Cruz hit a two-run shot and the Rangers improved to 5-0 on the road in the postseason.
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Francisco Cervelli Gets Starting Nod Over Jorge Posada for Game 4
October 19, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — On Tuesday, for just the seventh time since 2000, someone other than Jorge Posada was slated to start at catcher for the Yankees in a postseason game.
Francisco Cervelli, who has caught A.J. Burnett‘s final nine regular-season starts, was in the lineup for Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, batting ninth.
“I believe in continuity when it comes to pitchers and catchers,” said manager Joe Girardi, a former catcher, “so that’s why I chose to do it that way.”
In the regular season, Cervelli hit .271 with no homers and 38 RBI in 266 at-bats. Posada batted .248 with 18 homers and 57 RBI in 383 at-bats.
But Girardi said it is worth sacrificing offense for the comfort of Burnett — whose start in Game 4 has been widely discussed because of his poor second half of the season (3-8, 5.95 ERA).
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Playoff Pulse: All Eyes on A.J. in Bronx
October 19, 2010
by FanHouse TV
Filed under: MLB Playoffs, MLB Video, Playoff Pulse, American League Championship Series, National League Championship Series, Executive Take
Cliff Lee made the Yankees look foolish on Monday night. How foolish? The performance reminded Steve Phillips of what the Harlem Globetrotters do to the Washington Generals whenever they play. The Globetrotters are a comedy show, but where the Yankees find themselves heading into Game 4 is no laughing matter.
In this edition of the Playoff Pulse, Phillips has his focus squarely on the unlikely man who now has to save the Yankees from a huge deficit: A.J. Burnett. Click to watch:
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As Others Cringe, A.J. Burnett Remains Confident Heading Into Game 4 Start
October 18, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — Much of the talk at the American League Championship Series since the Texas Rangers won Game 2 was about the Yankees and whether or not New York should go back to ace CC Sabathia in Game 4.
A.J. Burnett, who is the man who actually will start Game 4 for the Yankees Tuesday, has heard it loud and clear but, “to be honest with you, I’m not really paying attention to it.”
He’s in the minority. New York doesn’t take failure well, and Burnett, who matched his six-year low with just 10 wins and had 15 losses and a 5.26 ERA on the downside of the ledger, has failed to be the starter the Yankees thought he would be this year.
The playoffs are a chance to atone, but only if he get the chance to pitch. And so if parts of Yankeedom are cringing with the thought that it will be Burnett and not Sabathia in Game 4, well, that’s just the way it goes. Burnett says he can live with it.
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Specter of Short Rest Enough for Yankees to Stick With A.J. Burnett
October 17, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
NEW YORK — Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday pits the best postseason starter of all time (Cliff Lee, who is 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA in seven playoff starts) against the winningest postseason pitcher of all time (Andy Pettitte, who is 19-9).
Yet the overarching storyline is who starts for the Yankees in Game 4.
With CC Sabathia having thrown only 93 pitches in Friday’s Game 1, and having pitched well twice last postseason on short rest (1-0, 2.45 ERA), some wonder — or suggest, or demand — the Yankees bring him back on three days’ rest again.
But this isn’t last year, for a number of reasons.
One similarity to 2009: The team with the $200 million payroll, after six-plus months, has little confidence in anyone to be its fourth starter in the postseason. Pretty amazing, that.
Last year, it meant shipping Joba Chamberlain to the bullpen and using a three-man rotation of Sabathia, Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. But the postseason schedule was different last year; the Yankees were able to choose the Division Series with the extra off day and the ALCS included an off day between Games 4 and 5.
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So Much for Worry About Yanks Rotation
October 15, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Rangers, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — Way, way long ago, when a bunch of Chilean miners were trapped underground and Brett Favre‘s privates were private, the Yankees rotation was a mess.
Remember?
For weeks leading up to the postseason, as Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett struggled on the mound and Andy Pettitte had setbacks in his return from a groin strain, the Yankees looked vulnerable once their postseason opponent got past CC Sabathia.
The conventional wisdom fell apart in the span of four days.
“We were better than what we showed down the stretch,” general manager Brian Cashman told FanHouse.
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A.J. Burnett Has Rough Simulated Outing for the Yankees
October 13, 2010
by Josh Alper
Filed under: Yankees, AL East, MLB Playoffs, American League Championship Series
Say this much for A.J. Burnett: He treats simulated games just like the real thing.
The well-paid starter was left on the bench for the Division Series against the Twins, but the Yankees will likely need him at some point in the ALCS so they had him throw a simulated game against some Yankee backups on Wednesday afternoon. The results of that game are in, and it’s pretty clear that the time off didn’t do anything to make Burnett worse than he was when the season ended.
It didn’t make him any better either. Burnett plunked backup outfielders Austin Kearns and Greg Golson with pitches during the session, catching both men with sliders that got too far away from the plate. It’s not a pitch Burnett uses often, which begs the question of why he thought he needed to work on it, if not an explanation for why it isn’t in his arsenal.