[新聞] The numbers don't lie

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The numbers don't lie

By Joe Auriemma
Special to YES Network Online
October 19, 2005

With the Yankees quick five-game exit from the postseason, thus concluding a
bizarre roller coaster of a season, it is time to examine why the White Sox
and not the Yankees are representing the American League in the World Series.
The White Sox possess all of the intangibles a team needs in order to win a
World Championship, exactly the qualities the Yankees did not show against
the Los Angeles Angels.

Here are five reasons that a 27th World Championship celebration is on hold,
and why the White Sox might be enjoying their first title since 1917.

1. The lineup is potent until crunch time
In Joe Torre's 10 seasons as Yankees manager, this may have been the deepest
lineup he had. Alex Rodriguez (.321 AVG, 48 HR, 130 RBIs) is an MVP
frontrunner, yet he is not the most feared hitter in the lineup. That
distinction goes to Gary Sheffield, who hit .291 with 34 home runs and drove
in 123 runs, all while playing hurt most of the season. Hideki Matsui
(.305-23-116) proved that year in and year out he can be a force hitting
anywhere in the lineup, and Jason Giambi won the American League Comeback
Player of the Year Award by blasting 32 home runs when no one, including his
teammates and manager, thought he would ascend to that level again. Derek
Jeter batted .309 while compiling over 200 hits for the fourth time in his
career, and rookie Robinson Cano (.297-14-62) was the surprise of the year.

The only problem was that their 110-plus RBI players in the regular season —
 Rodriguez, Sheffield and Matsui — batted only .214 with one home run and
three RBIs in the Division Series. In fact, A-Rod didn't even drive in a run.
As a team the Yankees hit .286 with runners in scoring position, but
individually, stranded 78 runners. Sheffield and Matsui alone combined to
leave a small army of men on base, leaving 32 of those 78 runners. Matsui
left eight runners on in the pivotal Game 5.

The Yankees left 21 runners in scoring position when the situation called for
a clutch hit with two outs. Matsui, A-Rod and Sheffield combined to hit
3-for-21 (.143) with five strikeouts in such situations. When was the last
time anyone can remember the lineup from the 1996, '98, '99, 2000 teams not
getting a hit in a clutch situation?

2. They gave teams too many outs
The Yankees defense played like a blooper reel in the Division Series. Their
six errors in five games set a new Division Series record. There were also
plays that didn't show up in the 'E' column, like the back-breaker in Game 5,
when Sheffield and Bubba Crosby slammed into each other and allowed the
Angels to take the lead. By playing sloppy defense, the Yankees gave L.A. too
many outs and too many opportunities to score runs.

Without the errors, the Yankees would have won the series, but because they
gave the Angels that extra batter, it came back to haunt them. This was a
problem all season. With no steady center fielder, with Sheffield catching
the ball to the side, a sight and thought that just would make anyone wince,
and with an outfielding corps with weak throwing arms, teams ran on the
Yankees all day.

The championship teams were by no means the greatest defensive teams in the
history of baseball, but they knew the importance of not committing an error
in a big spot. They knew that in the postseason it is always wise to make
sure the ball is in the glove and get the out ensuring that teams with solid
offensive players would not get their big players up with men on and give an
opponent a chance to take the lead when the inning could have already been
over.

3. Starting pitching
It's not a good sign when a team has to use 14 starting pitchers in a season
just to get by. That is what this team did and it came in many forms: the
good (Chien-Ming Wang, Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small), the bad (Carl Pavano,
Kevin Brown and the inconsistent Jaret Wright) and the ugly (Darrell May and
Tim Redding). In the four recent championship years, the Yankees had to use
an average of just over 10 starting pitchers.

There should no complaints from anyone about Wang and Chacon's outstanding
performances in the postseason, and without Aaron Small's big victories down
the stretch, the Yankees would not have qualified for the postseason. Two
reasons why the Yankees did not get a chance to win the American League
pennant were Mike Mussina's dreadful performance in Game 5 and Randy
Johnson's less than stellar outing in Game 3. Would the ilk of Andy Pettitte,
Roger Clemens, Jimmy Key, David Cone, David Wells and Orlando Hernandez, to
name a few, not dig down deep and eke out a victory in the most desperate of
situations? Of course they would. Even in Roger Clemens' worst season as a
Yankee in 1999, he still went on the mound in the Game 4 clincher versus the
Braves and pitched lights out to give the Yankees their third championship in
four seasons.

Mussina has been on the Yankees for five seasons and has yet to win a
championship. He has yet to show what he is made of, other than his seven
shutout innings in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS with the Yankees trailing 2-0 to
Oakland, and a relief appearance against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2003
ALCS that kept the Yankees in the game. Johnson was supposedly the answer
after the Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the '04 ALCS, but his Game 3 start
was inexcusable for a pitcher that was 11-2 at home this season.

Even with his bounce-back relief appearance in Game 5, Johnson did not come
through when it was really on the line. Mussina and Johnson combined for 15
2/3 innings of work, allowed 10 earned runs (5.74 ERA) and three home runs.
Meanwhile, the quartet of Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Jose Contreras and
Orlando Hernandez are 5-3 with a 3.67 ERA, and pending the outcome of the
Astros series, all four pitchers have a chance of pitching against each other
in the Fall Classic.

The White Sox' starters, who tossed four consecutive complete games to win
the pennant, and the Astros, with Roy Oswalt, Clemens, and Pettitte, and the
Cardinals, who have Mark Mulder and Chris Carpenter anchoring their starting
staff, are fine examples of championship-caliber rotations.

4. The pen was not mightier
What happened to the days of Mariano Rivera setting up for John Wetteland,
and having lefty specialist Mike Stanton and an unhittable Jeff Nelson set up
for Rivera? Remember when Ramiro Mendoza was in his prime and how Graeme
Lloyd pitched the Yankees through some tough spots?

Those days are long gone. There was still one staple left in the Yankee
bullpen, Rivera, who like a fine wine is getting better with age. His 7-4
record with 43 saves and a career low 1.38 ERA might be good enough to win
the Cy Young Award this season, but Mo might be saying sayonara to all of the
pitchers that tried and failed to be his setup man this season. Tom Gordon
was the Yankees' best option in the past two seasons. Gordon has pitched a
ridiculous 159 games in that span, compiling a 14-8 record and a 2.38 ERA.
Only problem is that in 12 postseason appearances as a Yanke, he gave up nine
earned runs in 12 2/3 innings pitched (6.39 ERA).

Without Gordon to rely on in a big spot, the Yankees were essentially left
with the thought that Rivera was their only reliable reliever. With starters
not going as deep into games, championship teams need more than just a closer
coming out of the bullpen in this day and age.

5. Excuses, excuses
World Series caliber teams do not make excuses when they play poorly. This
Yankee team continuously blamed someone else.

In Game 5, it was umpire Joe West's fault for calling Cano out on a play that
would not have even scored a run; Bernie Williams would have come to bat with
the bases loaded and two outs.

If Williams were playing center field, Sheffield would have caught the ball
in right. Crosby is faster and gets a better jump. He was right there with
Sheffield, hence the collision.

The Yankees lost because they did not execute in any facet of the game. This
series was about missed opportunities, not just one play that didn't put them
over the top. Who would have thought that the Yankees would lose a series in
which Vladimir Guerrero had no RBIs?


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