MLB Playoff Notes And Quotes: First Games Maintain Status Quo

The Major League Baseball Playoffs provided us no sense of shock and awe on Wednesday when all three home teams won fairly comfortably. They Dodgers had the slimmest margin of victory for the home teams. After taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first they never trailed the Cardinals again and went on to a 5-3 victory. The Yankees fell down by 2 runs to the Twins in the top of the 3^rd but outscored Minnesota 7-0 from there. In the early game the Colorado Rockies couldn’t find any offense in their 5-1 loss to Philadelphia.

“I had him 0-2 and I stepped off and wanted to give myself a chance to absorb it all. Then I threw three straight balls and allowed a double in the gap. Maybe it cost me a run. Whatever, we had a five-run lead.” – Philadelphia pitcher Cliff Lee on Troy Tulowitzki’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the 9^th.

“He was aggressive, he had good tempo and rhythm and he handled the whole flow of the game real good.” – Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel on Cliff Lee’s 113 pitch performance.

“Up until the fifth, it was one of the better games he had pitched over the course of the month” - Rockies manager Jim Tracy on pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

“It felt just like the old place. We couldn’t have drawn it up any better for us.” – Derek Jeter on the first playoff game in the new Yankee Stadium.

“This is what you come here for. It was electric tonight.” – CC Sabathia on the atmosphere in New York.

“You get a two-run lead quick, and as soon as you go back out, it’s a 2-2 ballgame with a homer. That’s a little deflating.” – Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire on Derek Jeter’s 3^rd inning homerun.

“A lot of people believe they have one of the best bullpens in baseball. They kind of shut us down. They shut the door.” – St. Louis’ Ryan Ludwick on the Dodgers relief pitchers.

“It was a little sinker down the middle,” Kemp said. “We haven’t done too well against him, but we came tonight with the confidence. We were trying to make him battle and got him out pretty early and got to the bullpen.” – Dodgers’ Matt Kemp on his 1^st inning two-run homerun off Chris Carpenter.

“We had too many chances, too many chances. Their bullpen came in, and inning after inning, we didn’t get the big hit we needed.” – Mark DeRosa on St. Louis leaving runners in scoring position.

“I wasn’t making very many good pitches and they put some bats on the mistakes I made. I was either right down the middle or out of the strike zone and that’s not a good way to pitch.” – St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter on his pitching performance.

Is It Time For A Change?

It’s no fun being a New York Yankee right now. It’s no fun being a player, fan, or even the owner. No one affiliated with the Bronx Bombers is having a good time this season.

As of Tuesday night the Yankees were eight games under .500 (21-29) and are tied with the Devil Rays for last place in the AL East. They have lost five games in a row and thirteen of their last eighteen games to sit 14.5 games back of the first place Boston Red Sox. To put it in perspective the Texas Rangers are only 12.5 games behind the LA Angels and the lowly Kansas City Royals are only 13.5 games behind Cleveland Indians. That’s right sports fans the Yankees have more games to make up, tied with Tampa Bay, than any other team in the American League.

So what is the problem? They really can’t use injury anymore. Their lineup sports the most expensive men in Major League Baseball and Joe Torre is a legend. Is Brian Cashman to blame? He put the team together but everyone knows it was the Boss who was really making the calls. What about Joe Torre? Has he lost the ability to motivate or properly manage the lineup? What about Jason Giambi and the steroid scandal? Could they be blamed for becoming a distraction to the team?

This team has no chemistry and they are a long way from becoming a well oiled machine. So much so that Toronto’s Aaron Hill stole home plate Tuesday night while Andy Pettitte was virtually clueless. The Yankees have become Major League Baseball’s comedy of errors.

While just about everyone is to blame they can’t all take the fall. However, someone has to be the goat because George Steinbrenner has the highest paid last place team in the history of baseball. So, whose head will roll first?

New York Yankees Q&A

The AL East Preview is up at My Opinion on Baseball and the New York Yankees are the pick to win that division. Like most teams there are still some questions out there about the Yankees so we found an expert to give us some answers.

Please welcome Steve from BronxBloggers. Steve was gracious enough to sit down and answer some of our most pressing questions regarding the New York Yankees. Thanks for your time Steve!

What do you make of the Derek Jeter/Alex Rodriguez soap opera, is there really something there that could potentially damage the team or is the media just blowing it way out of proportion?

Steve: Lots of players go through personal difference and do not let it get to them on the field. The A-Rod/Jeter love story is nothing more than a media heyday with nothing else to cover. They are still friends and team mates and it will have no impact on either one of them.

Andy Pettitte is making his return to the Yankees but he and Mike Mussina are both getting up in years. Who is the ace of this pitching staff?

Steve: Chein-Ming Wang proved valuable as the teams ace tying the major league mark in wins and placing second in the Cy Young Voting. Both Pettitte and Mussina still have some oomph in their arms, but it's time that the younger generation needs to step up as commander. And who knows what Kei Igawa will bring and how successful Phillip Hughes is when he gets a call up.

How much will the loss of Bernie Williams affect this team, both on the field and in the locker room?

Steve: Yankees players and fans will certainly miss having Bernie around as he was a true Yankee and always played his best. However, the outfield holds enough talent and if Bobby Abreu does no re-sign, Melky Cabrera will step in. Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui are both Boston killers and will be a prominent force in the Yankees defense.

If you had to pick one of the following to go on the DL who would you pick and why? (Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez).

Steve: I would have to go with Damon. We really do not have another player who can play the infield at a major league level.

What player on this team is really going to surprise everyone, good or bad?

Steve: Alex Rodriguez will bounce back and play as well as he did in the past. Kei Igawa has been making waves and may be a better sign that originally though. What not to be surprised about, Carl Pavano meeting the DL. He’s already been plunked once so far this year.