Rodriguez continues to write memorable postseason story
NEW YORK – The early postseason resume read the following:
Alex Rodriguez already had a ninth inning game tying home run to tie the game at three in Game 2 of the Division Series against the Twins. This was one more than he had hit in his entire postseason career.
That home run saved the Yankees from potentially having a series of events unfold that could have made the series turn differently.
There was Game 3 in Minnesota with his team trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning against Carl Pavano of all people, and taking a 3-2 pitch over the baggie in right field to tie the game in an eventual Yankee win to sweep the series.
So now, here we were again.
The Yankees were down to their final three outs in one of those “instant classic” postseason games between two supremely talented teams. The game found its way into extra innings and it would be in the 11th where the Angels Chone Figgins finally broke through the 2-2 deadlock, singling to shallow left field to give his team a 3-2 lead.
Los Angeles had trailed 2-0 early and had battled their way to even in the fifth inning because AJ Burnett had turned from Jekyll to Hyde. The Yankees were set to take a 2-0 lead in this championship series, but now the Angels were on the verge of stealing Game 2 to tie the series. They were going to win a game that legitimately be called “stealing”. A loss would force the Yankees into a situation where the ALCS would not return to Yankee Stadium if the Angels could win all of their home games. Don’t forget, Angel Stadium has been a building where Yankee dreams have gone to die over the last seven years.
Three more outs.
Three more outs was all Angels closer Brian Fuentes needed to preserve the victory. He had 48 saves during the regular season, but his performance through the year showed he was very hittable. This was not Francisco Rodriguez out there. No, he closes games for the Mets. The question following the team the entire season was whether he could three outs on the road with a one-run lead. Back in May, he had blown a 9-8 lead in the ninth as the Yankees scored two runs off him to win in "Pie in the face" fashion.
The first man up to plate was you guessed it, Rodriguez.
He did not have a hit on the night, but everyone knew that with one swing against a closer who does not have overpowering stuff, he could tie the game.
What is a manager to do?
You are not going to walk him because to do that, you would be putting the tying run on base and even though Freddy Guzman (who was only in the game to pinch run for Matsui in the ninth) on deck, a sacrifice bunt and a single would tie the game.
Do you pitch around him? You can do that. If he works out a walk, it happens. If he singles, then that works. The last thing you can have is to have him beat you with a homerun to tie the game.
Fuentes' first pitch was above the letters and called a strike, dubious at best.
The second pitch was inside to lock up his hands and prevent Rodriguez from extending his arms. The pitch was several inches inside and that too was called a strike.
Now the count was 0-2, certainly not the position you want to be in. Fuentes had gotten slight help from the umpire and Rodriguez was in the hole.
There was a time not long ago (lets just say: “before the playoffs started”) where if he were down 0-2, the crowd would be resigned to his eventual out. Groans would later into a frustration of boos during previous postseasons.
This year, everything has been different. When you have delivered in this situation on two separate occasions to in the last seven days, you hold out hope and at the same time ask yourself the following question:
“Can he really do it again?”
Catcher Mike Napoli set up outside for the Fuentes’ offering. This could have been a waste pitch, nothing remotely close to the strike zone designed to get him to chase. Throw junk and see if you can play on him being overanxious and attempting to be the hero.
That would have been the old “A-Rod” - those days when he would try to put the weight of the team on his shoulders and try to carry them as a means of justifying his salary.
As an old saying goes, “Dem days are over”.
Fuentes threw his 0-2 pitch. It was a fastball outside, but in a hittable part of the strike zone.
Rodriguez took his hack and got contact on the ball, driving it out to right field sending right fielder Bobby Abreu back to the wall.
This cannot really happen again, can it?
The ball continued to head toward the wall, Abreu would make a leaping attempt (an absolute shock to the fans they have seen him avoid walls for the three years with the Yankees) and the ball landed in the first row of the seats for another dramatic game-tying homerun.
For a moment, it appeared Abreu had caught the ball as he was signaling the ball in his glove. However, that was only because the ball bounced off a fan’s jacket. As Rodriguez reached second, he wanted confirmation from the umpire that the ball was gone. The second base umpire signaled that the ball had gone out and he had done it again, tying the game at three as Yankee Stadium went crazy.
There is no possible way to script this. We are seeing a man finally shatter all the barriers that have been holding him back from achieving true greatness and doing it with sports biggest franchise and doing it in October, which many had been waiting for a long time,
The idea that this was not going to inevitably happen has long been ridiculous. A good hitter will always be a good hitter if you give him a representative number of at bats. Judging a player based on 50 at bats is ludicrous at worst and downright ridiculous at best. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is a fool who simply does not know mathematics.
Did people really think Rodriguez was going to continue to have all these playoff at bats and never succeed?
The numbers are now slowly coming around in his favor. With six more Yankee victory, he will never have to hear this chatter that he could not in the postseason anymore.
It will be the final chapter in his novel.
Alex Rodriguez already had a ninth inning game tying home run to tie the game at three in Game 2 of the Division Series against the Twins. This was one more than he had hit in his entire postseason career.
That home run saved the Yankees from potentially having a series of events unfold that could have made the series turn differently.
There was Game 3 in Minnesota with his team trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning against Carl Pavano of all people, and taking a 3-2 pitch over the baggie in right field to tie the game in an eventual Yankee win to sweep the series.
So now, here we were again.
The Yankees were down to their final three outs in one of those “instant classic” postseason games between two supremely talented teams. The game found its way into extra innings and it would be in the 11th where the Angels Chone Figgins finally broke through the 2-2 deadlock, singling to shallow left field to give his team a 3-2 lead.
Los Angeles had trailed 2-0 early and had battled their way to even in the fifth inning because AJ Burnett had turned from Jekyll to Hyde. The Yankees were set to take a 2-0 lead in this championship series, but now the Angels were on the verge of stealing Game 2 to tie the series. They were going to win a game that legitimately be called “stealing”. A loss would force the Yankees into a situation where the ALCS would not return to Yankee Stadium if the Angels could win all of their home games. Don’t forget, Angel Stadium has been a building where Yankee dreams have gone to die over the last seven years.
Three more outs.
Three more outs was all Angels closer Brian Fuentes needed to preserve the victory. He had 48 saves during the regular season, but his performance through the year showed he was very hittable. This was not Francisco Rodriguez out there. No, he closes games for the Mets. The question following the team the entire season was whether he could three outs on the road with a one-run lead. Back in May, he had blown a 9-8 lead in the ninth as the Yankees scored two runs off him to win in "Pie in the face" fashion.
The first man up to plate was you guessed it, Rodriguez.
He did not have a hit on the night, but everyone knew that with one swing against a closer who does not have overpowering stuff, he could tie the game.
What is a manager to do?
You are not going to walk him because to do that, you would be putting the tying run on base and even though Freddy Guzman (who was only in the game to pinch run for Matsui in the ninth) on deck, a sacrifice bunt and a single would tie the game.
Do you pitch around him? You can do that. If he works out a walk, it happens. If he singles, then that works. The last thing you can have is to have him beat you with a homerun to tie the game.
Fuentes' first pitch was above the letters and called a strike, dubious at best.
The second pitch was inside to lock up his hands and prevent Rodriguez from extending his arms. The pitch was several inches inside and that too was called a strike.
Now the count was 0-2, certainly not the position you want to be in. Fuentes had gotten slight help from the umpire and Rodriguez was in the hole.
There was a time not long ago (lets just say: “before the playoffs started”) where if he were down 0-2, the crowd would be resigned to his eventual out. Groans would later into a frustration of boos during previous postseasons.
This year, everything has been different. When you have delivered in this situation on two separate occasions to in the last seven days, you hold out hope and at the same time ask yourself the following question:
“Can he really do it again?”
Catcher Mike Napoli set up outside for the Fuentes’ offering. This could have been a waste pitch, nothing remotely close to the strike zone designed to get him to chase. Throw junk and see if you can play on him being overanxious and attempting to be the hero.
That would have been the old “A-Rod” - those days when he would try to put the weight of the team on his shoulders and try to carry them as a means of justifying his salary.
As an old saying goes, “Dem days are over”.
Fuentes threw his 0-2 pitch. It was a fastball outside, but in a hittable part of the strike zone.
Rodriguez took his hack and got contact on the ball, driving it out to right field sending right fielder Bobby Abreu back to the wall.
This cannot really happen again, can it?
The ball continued to head toward the wall, Abreu would make a leaping attempt (an absolute shock to the fans they have seen him avoid walls for the three years with the Yankees) and the ball landed in the first row of the seats for another dramatic game-tying homerun.
For a moment, it appeared Abreu had caught the ball as he was signaling the ball in his glove. However, that was only because the ball bounced off a fan’s jacket. As Rodriguez reached second, he wanted confirmation from the umpire that the ball was gone. The second base umpire signaled that the ball had gone out and he had done it again, tying the game at three as Yankee Stadium went crazy.
There is no possible way to script this. We are seeing a man finally shatter all the barriers that have been holding him back from achieving true greatness and doing it with sports biggest franchise and doing it in October, which many had been waiting for a long time,
The idea that this was not going to inevitably happen has long been ridiculous. A good hitter will always be a good hitter if you give him a representative number of at bats. Judging a player based on 50 at bats is ludicrous at worst and downright ridiculous at best. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is a fool who simply does not know mathematics.
Did people really think Rodriguez was going to continue to have all these playoff at bats and never succeed?
The numbers are now slowly coming around in his favor. With six more Yankee victory, he will never have to hear this chatter that he could not in the postseason anymore.
It will be the final chapter in his novel.
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