Your wish is our command. Submitted for your approval, it’s Shorty McSlappy, the Red Sox second baseman. This photo comes to us courtesy of The Boston Globe. The Red Sox and their fans should never complain about A-Rod’s 2004 ALCS play again.

Derek Jeter and Chien-Ming Wang, the supposed ace of the Yankees, shoulder the load for a lot of the team’s troubles in this series. Joe Torre doesn’t get a free pass for the way he managed — or mismanaged — game 2 as well. More later. What a punch to the gut.

Update: One more thing: 128 days until pitchers and catchers.

Update by Mike: I just want to add one thing - to me, this was by far the most exciting and most enjoyable season to be a Yankee fan in some time. Sure things didn’t end how we all would have liked, but all year long the team dealt with adversity and battled back even after everyone wrote them off. I’m inclined to say that I feel more relieved than disappointed; it was such a stressful & difficult year that part of me is glad it’s over and in the past. Losing sucks, but I’m proud of my team and damn proud to be a Yankee fan.

Nothing. Who cares? When your $200 million team has only two guys who get outs in the bullpen, you won’t win playoff games. It’s that simple.

Blame Luis Vizcaino for being utterly terrible. Blame Cashman if you want. Blame Torre for sticking with Matsui. Blame the bugs for the distraction and Posada for his inability to block Joba’s sliders in the dirt. But really, you need more guys who can get outs in the bullpen against the 7-8-9 hitters and you need hitters who are going to hit. What can you do?

The Yanks can easily beat Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook in the Bronx. That’s hardly a tall order. Clemens on Sunday; Wang on Monday; Pettitte in Cleveland on Wednesday. We can do it.

Anyone else really excited for this afternoon? I sure am. Watching three other games yesterday was fairly torturous. And as a side note, to everyone praising Josh Beckett, we Yankee fans can attest to the fact that Beckett’s done that before on a bigger stage. It’s not a surprise, and great baseball is a pleasure to watch no matter who’s playing.

But enough about Them up in Boston. Let’s get on to the preview. Yesterday, I looked pessimistically at why the Yankees won’t beat the Indians. Today, we get the opposite: Why the Yankees will beat the Indians. The preview and my series prediction after the jump.

(more…)

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Time for the unveiling of the post-season roster.

As you may have guessed, Ron Villone is not on the roster. The gods are rejoicing. The Yanks, however, are going with no lefties in the pen. Filling the last spots are Jose Veras and, more impressively, Ross Ohlendorf. Torre really liked what he saw from Ohlendorf down the stretch. I did too. I see big things for this kid next year.

Meanwhile, as we noted yesterday, Bronson Sardinha is on the roster, but Chris Britton, contrary to what The Post reported, is not.

Here’s your Game 1 roster and line up courtesy of Peter Abraham. All of you Melky lovers will be happy to see he’s playing. Shelley Duncan, however, is on the bench and not in the lineup against a tough left. I wish Torre had gone with Duncan:

Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B - MVP! MVP!
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B

Chien-Ming Wang P

The Bench
Wilson Betemit
Jason Giambi - Most expensive bench player ever.
Shelley Duncan - He’s gotta come up big at some point this October, right?
Jose Molina - .318/.333/.439 in 71 Bronx PAs. Remember Wil Nieves?
Bronson Sardinha

Starting Pitchers
Andy Pettitte - Only lefty on the ALDS roster
Roger Clemens
Mike Mussina
Phil Hughes - Should be starting game 4. No word on that yet.

Bullpen
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Luis Vizcaino
Kyle Farnsworth
Ross Ohlendorf
Jose Veras

Today really sucks. Everywhere else, the playoffs begin. The Red Sox face the Angels; the Rockies and Phillies square off; and the Diamondbacks and Cubs begin their battle. But the Yankees - the only playoff team in 2006 to make it in 2007 - have to wait another 24 hours before they begin a thrilling set against the Indians.

I’m going to do a two-part playoff preview post. The first post - today’s installment - focuses around why the Yankees won’t beat the Indians. The next part - tomorrow’s bit - will discuss why the Yankees will beat the Indians. I can make compelling cases for both, and that, folks, is what makes October grand.

So powered by a pretentious sentence right here, on to the predictions:

(more…)

Yesterday evening, I received an e-mail from an assistant account executive working on a Nike campaign. In an attempt to drum free advertising - it worked here and here and, of course, right here - Brandon wrote to me about the 80-foot-tall billboard of Alex Rodriguez going up today at the corner of 34th St. and 7th Ave.

Now, that billboard, shown above, is pretty huge. And it’s pretty much Alex Rodriguez in your face just in case New York needed a reminder that A-Rod is playing in October again. The billboard exhorts the Yankees “Just Do It” this October. But is that encouragement for the team or a disgusted plea of a fed-up fan base? Really, just do it already, A-Rod.

Meanwhile, in The Times, Tyler Kepner looks at the expectations resting on A-Rod’s shoulders this postseason. A-Rod, we all know, hit .314 this year with 54 home runs and 156 RBI (or one every 9.1 innings this season).

Kepner’s piece runs over familiar ground. The rest of the team has to put A-Rod in a position to succeed; he’s working harder this year and ignoring the criticism; he’s laughing off mistakes and not letting every little thing get under his skin; he’s not going to change his hitting approach in October; etc., etc., etc. It’s something we’ve heard ad nauseum this year.

If that’s not enough for you, then scoot on over to ESPN.com where the Worldwide Leader has just unveiled a Howard Bryant-penned missive on Alex Rodriguez. Entitled The King of Gotham? the piece is a challenge to Alex Rodriguez. Rise to the occasion, Bryant says, and bring home the gold to New York. The world will be yours.

So here are again in October, and the attention is squarely on A-Rod. Like or not, A-Rod has to follow up his 54-home run season with a stellar October. The Yanks could lose in the first round, but if A-Rod hits, he will bear no weight for another early exit from the postseason.

Is this fair to A-Rod? Of course not, but that’s the price he has to pay for a $25-million annual salary. You can bet this year that A-Rod won’t get dropped from the four-hole. It’s been his slot all year, and Joe Torre isn’t about to mess with success.

But that whole opt-out business will come into play too. The Yankees need A-Rod. They need him this week; they need him next week; they need him next year. In the current state of baseball in New York, anything short of a stellar postseason against some of the best pitchers in the game will be a disappointment for A-Rod and the Yanks. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.

Once a highly-touted Yankee prospect, Bronson Sardinha has seen his stock fall over recent years. An influx of better prospects and some poor numbers by Sardinha at higher levels contributed to this fall.

But this year, the Yanks sent Sardinha back to AA for a few games, and he excelled. He hit .429/.484/.732 and earned himself a September call-up. Now, he’s joining the big league team in October, according to The Honolulu Advertiser.

Because Andy Phillips went down with an injury, the Yanks have the option to replace him on the postseason with someone on their 40-man. Sardinha wins that honor. He will be, in effect, the 25th man off the bench in the playoffs. The Yanks will go with a bench of Shelley Duncan (more on him later), Jose Molina, Wilson Betemit, some mix of Jason Giambi and Doug Mientkiewicz and now Bronson Sardinha.

It will be interesting to see how, if at all, Sardinha is used in games. I could see him coming in as a late-inning replacement, and with Matsui’s knees barking a bit, Sardinha becomes outfield insurance as well. In 11 plate appearances this month in the Bronx, he was 3 for 9 with 2 walks and 6 runs scored. All in all, having him on the roster isn’t a bad move.

Hat tip to Steve.

The Yanks drew the short straw on this one:

Thursday: At Cleveland, 6:30 p.m.
Friday: At Cleveland, 5 p.m.
Sunday: At New York, 6:30 p.m.
Monday: At New York, 6 p.m.
Wednesday: At Cleveland, 5 p.m.

How far did Brian Bruney fall?

A year ago, he pitched in three of the four ALDS games. Yesterday, the Yankees told him to go home, opting to not include the right-handed reliever around like they did with Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton and Jose Veras. (sic)

“I was shocked,” Bruney said.

Never mind the sentence in that quote that isn’t English. That’s The New York Post for ya.

Instead let’s focus on the good news: After six months of trying, we finally got the Yankees to recognize that Chris Britton is better than Brian Bruney!

Inexplicably, Brian Bruney threw 50.0 innings for the Yanks this year. His 4.68 ERA isn’t terrible unti you consider the 10.61 ERA he’s sported since the beginning of August. He was sent down to the minors to work on his command and still managed to sport a K:BB ratio of nearly 1:1 this season. He didn’t show a willingness to work on his pitching but did sport a nifty bad attitude.

Meanwhile, while Jose Veras (5.79, 1:1 K:BB, 9.1 IP) didn’t show much, he seems to be one of Joe Torre’s Guys. Britton threw 12.2 innings with a 3.55 ERA, and Ohlendorf, very impressive in 6.1 innings, struck out 9 and threw strikes.

So as information about the postseason roster trickles out, at least we won’t be subjected to Brian Bruney in the postseason. No word yet on Ron “I let all my inherited runners score” Villone yet.