10/09: Yanks' Season Ends with 6-4 Loss in Game 4
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees came up short in the ALDS for the third year in a row, as they fell 6-4 to the Indians, last night, ending their season and quite possibly an era in Yankees' history. George Steinbrenner, as you all may know by now, has indicated that Joe Torre would not be brought back in the event the Yankees lose this series.
The Yankees dug themselves in a hole before even recording an out, as Grady Sizemore led the game off with a home run. That was only the beginning of the struggles for Chien-Ming Wang, who left the game in the top of the 2nd with the bases loaded and finished with a line of four runs allowed on five hits in just an inning of work.
Mike Mussina put in 4 and 2/3 innings of OK work in, but the two runs he allowed ended up being the difference in the game. The rest of the bullpen did fine, throwing 4 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball.
The big story in this game though, to me anyway, was the Yankees' inability to bring runners across the plate (well, I suppose that would be the problem in any loss). The Yankees put runners on in every inning, but left 10 runners on base and failed to capitalize on some big chances.
To me, the coffin was nailed in the bottom of the 6th inning. Robinson Cano led the inning off with a solo home run to cut the Indians' lead to 6-2. After back-to-back singles by Shelley Duncan and Johnny Damon, the Yankees had runners on first and third with one out before Derek Jeter grounded into his third double play in the two games at Yankee Stadium to prevent further damage from being done.
Hindsight is always 20-20 and it's easy to second guess, but I am a little surprised that Johnny Damon, who was 10th in the American League this year in stolen bases, didn't attempt to steal in this particular situation. Jeter, as hard as it is to come to terms with it, killed us with GIDPs this whole series, and had Damon been on second, Jeter's grounder would have scored a run and brought Bobby Abreu up to the plate with a runner in scoring position.
The Yankees did make a bit of a run at it again in the 9th, as Bobby Abreu homered to make it 6-4 and two batters later, Jorge Posada pulled a ball that was oh-so-close to bringing the tying run up to the plate but went just to the right of the right field foul pole.
Well, it looks like it could be the end of an era in the Bronx and it's really a shame because I like this team a lot. I would like to see the bulk of these guys get one more shot with one year left at the Stadium, including Torre. The team does have some holes though and they are not getting any younger. Next year's starting rotation could very well have five different pitchers from Opening Day of this year if Pettitte does not return, considering that Wang was on the DL to start the season. Abreu's option will probably not be picked up and it remains to be seen if the Yankees can/want to pick him up at a cheaper price.
All of that remains to be seen though. There are four teams still playing baseball in '07, and there are 2-3 weeks left of October baseball to be seen, but next year starts today for the Yankees, sadly.
The Yankees dug themselves in a hole before even recording an out, as Grady Sizemore led the game off with a home run. That was only the beginning of the struggles for Chien-Ming Wang, who left the game in the top of the 2nd with the bases loaded and finished with a line of four runs allowed on five hits in just an inning of work.
Mike Mussina put in 4 and 2/3 innings of OK work in, but the two runs he allowed ended up being the difference in the game. The rest of the bullpen did fine, throwing 4 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball.
The big story in this game though, to me anyway, was the Yankees' inability to bring runners across the plate (well, I suppose that would be the problem in any loss). The Yankees put runners on in every inning, but left 10 runners on base and failed to capitalize on some big chances.
To me, the coffin was nailed in the bottom of the 6th inning. Robinson Cano led the inning off with a solo home run to cut the Indians' lead to 6-2. After back-to-back singles by Shelley Duncan and Johnny Damon, the Yankees had runners on first and third with one out before Derek Jeter grounded into his third double play in the two games at Yankee Stadium to prevent further damage from being done.
Hindsight is always 20-20 and it's easy to second guess, but I am a little surprised that Johnny Damon, who was 10th in the American League this year in stolen bases, didn't attempt to steal in this particular situation. Jeter, as hard as it is to come to terms with it, killed us with GIDPs this whole series, and had Damon been on second, Jeter's grounder would have scored a run and brought Bobby Abreu up to the plate with a runner in scoring position.
The Yankees did make a bit of a run at it again in the 9th, as Bobby Abreu homered to make it 6-4 and two batters later, Jorge Posada pulled a ball that was oh-so-close to bringing the tying run up to the plate but went just to the right of the right field foul pole.
Well, it looks like it could be the end of an era in the Bronx and it's really a shame because I like this team a lot. I would like to see the bulk of these guys get one more shot with one year left at the Stadium, including Torre. The team does have some holes though and they are not getting any younger. Next year's starting rotation could very well have five different pitchers from Opening Day of this year if Pettitte does not return, considering that Wang was on the DL to start the season. Abreu's option will probably not be picked up and it remains to be seen if the Yankees can/want to pick him up at a cheaper price.
All of that remains to be seen though. There are four teams still playing baseball in '07, and there are 2-3 weeks left of October baseball to be seen, but next year starts today for the Yankees, sadly.
