[新聞] Yankees’ Hopes Are Going, Going ...

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Yankees’ Hopes Are Going, Going ...

By TYLER KEPNER
Published: August 27, 2008

The grand slam exploded like a gunshot Wednesday night, tearing out the
guts of even the most naive believers in the 2008 Yankees.

The eighth-inning bullet by Dustin Pedroia was like the opening scene of
a documentary, many years from now, capturing the thud of finality to
something once so special. The question for the Yankees is what starts
next: a glorious renaissance or a painful fall from grace?

In the owner’s box, Hank Steinbrenner was making his first appearance
at Yankee Stadium since opening day. The team was healthy then, the young
starters seemed ready, and there were few doubts that Yankee Stadium would
see one more postseason, the 14th in a row for the franchise.

But as Pedroia rounded the bases, Steinbrenner hung his head. By the
bottom of the inning, he was gone from his seat. There was no need to
witness the final details of the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox,
the one that probably doomed their postseason chances.

The Yankees had considered it a necessity to win this series, but now
they cannot. They have lost the first two games, with a matinee to come
Thursday, and they fell to seven games behind the Red Sox in the American
League wild-card standings.

Alex Rodriguez had two doubles, a night after going 0 for 5, and
Steinbrenner told reporters that Rodriguez must stop pressing. More
interesting was that Steinbrenner repeated the vow he has made for months.

“There is going to be a lot going on this off-season,” he said.
“I promise you that.”

There will be expensive free agents available, like C. C. Sabathia and
Mark Teixeira, and the Yankees could be aggressive bidders. They certainly
plan to be more active in November than they have been in August.

On the day the Red Sox acquired outfielder Mark Kotsay in a waiver deal
with Atlanta, their starter was Paul Byrd, who was obtained in a waiver
trade from Cleveland. The deals underscore the teams’ motivations; the
Yankees did not claim either player and have made no waiver deals.

Byrd won the fourth game of the A.L. division series for the Indians last
year, eliminating the Yankees from the playoffs. This time, he worked six
innings and allowed two runs. Joe Girardi, the Yankees’ manager, said
his team hit some hard foul balls.

The deeper the Yankees fall, the smaller basis Girardi seems to have for
his sunny outlook. Before and after Wednesday’s game, he said it was
“not the end of the world” for the Yankees to lose the series.

“It’s not where you want to be, but no hole is too deep to climb out
of,” Girardi said. “You have to prepare, you have to execute and you
can only look at tomorrow’s game.”

In the clubhouse, players seemed to better grasp the enormity of the
challenge. They are trailing two teams in their division and two for
the wild card. Johnny Damon mentioned last year’s Colorado Rockies,
who surged to the postseason by winning 14 of their last 15 games.

Damon said the Yankees could make the same kind of push, though it
would take an extraordinary effort.

“The strengths are going to have to be everybody playing better than
they’re capable of,” Damon said. “Everybody has to have that month
where we’re as good as Alex Rodriguez is. I’ve had that month before,
where I’m pretty darn good, and a bunch of these other guys have. All
of us just have to be really good.”

The Yankees could use a better starting rotation, but without
Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes, this is the best they
can do. Starting Wednesday, three of the next four scheduled starters
were Sidney Ponson, Carl Pavano and Darrell Rasner.

Ponson failed to last five innings for the second start in a row. He
gave up four runs, seven hits and four walks over four and two-thirds
innings, and seven more runs scored against the overworked bullpen.

“I didn’t go deep in the game,” Ponson said. “I didn’t give us
 a chance to win today. It’s hard. You bring your bullpen in early
for three or four days, it puts more pressure on those guys.”

Pedroia singled and scored twice against Ponson, driven in both times
by Jason Bay, who has 24 runs batted in over his first 23 games for
Boston. Bay connected in the eighth for a triple against Jose Veras,
who was charged with five runs.

The final two came on the grand slam by Pedroia, off a 2-0 fastball
from the rookie Dave Robertson. It crashed into the netting above
the retired numbers.

“I had to throw him a strike,” Robertson said. “You can’t walk guys.
I wish it would have been on the corner instead of where it was.”

Robertson said he was too disappointed in himself to notice the fans’
reaction. They groaned and began streaming out of the stadium, many
for the last time. There are 14 games left at Yankee Stadium, and
almost surely no more this October.

http://tinyurl.com/5vyjsq

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◆ From: 140.109.23.17
推 baccara:are going, going ...blowing in the wind ..(注視遠處)
推 leaf28:證明了建名的重要性...突然覺得胖松也挺悲情的...
推 seawolfssn:Waiting for the one , The day that never comes　...
→ leaf28:Damon好樂觀^^ 明天不知道打線會換掉幾個...
推 leaf28:推錯 是要說明年...
推 nycmw040:大門一直保持穩定開路先鋒腳色 雖然弱肩 但判斷算不錯了!
推 mightymouse:Damon的弱肩對球隊是有傷害,不過一直被誇大了
→ mightymouse:如果他能維持今年的打擊,就算他接到球只能用跑的把球
→ mightymouse:送回內野也是值得的
推 Terrill:用跑的送回內野是怎麼回事 @@?
推 herosir:意思是二壘有人 一支安打 Damon從外野跑回本壘觸殺跑者
→ herosir:不然就跑到遊擊區 把球拿給Jeter說：快傳吧給老子傳準一點
推 lamoureux:Damon算不錯的外野手吧 又不是每個都是全能的...
推 HwaJet: 發現Nady守左外野 也不是很好 通常也不長傳回傳球 ~~
推 bozzio71:其實就是三個外野守備都有缺點 所以互相傷害
推 pikachu123:Nady守備本來就普普,換成松井也不會比較好
推 Minamii:Damon有心結啦..我覺得他現在每次要長傳動作都很彆扭
→ bozzio71:如果有一個大range的CF 大門和阿布也不會讓人詬病守備
→ bozzio71:大門的這個約牽制了後續的佈局我同意 但他又是隊上
→ bozzio71:最穩定的打者 這實在......
→ HwaJet: 大門跟阿布守備都普普 可還有棒子 現又加上類似的Nady 唉
推 pikachu123:要找攻守都好的外野手也不是那麼容易
推 bozzio71:我也來事後金成武一下好了 現在如果CF站的是羅文
→ bozzio71:他在洋基可能也會打不好或是進DL吧XD
推 siliver:早說洋基不是看防守選選手了,畢竟攻守俱佳的選手很少.
推 meier0112:羅文是誰??
推 bozzio71:Aaron Rowand
推 OoyaoO:又不是人人都是Hunter 攻守俱佳太少了
推 j094097:攻守俱佳...MVP裡面比較看的到啦
推 dp44:看zone rating  Damon的守備還算很不錯吧....
推 Kinra:一直到把球接進手套為止都很令人安心 不過一傳球就讓人想哭
推 janyis:奶弟要留啊～長的帥又能尻的也很少～
→ j094097:Nady明年還在
推 OoyaoO:奶弟合約本來就還有一年 可是明年如果回生涯平均會被噓吧@@
→ j094097:一定會有人說" 當初換他來幹嘛 " 之類的XDDDD
推 pikachu123:還好啦~如果回到以前頂多不續簽爾以
→ pikachu123:明年cano我希望能夠恢復,他今年真的低潮太久了
推 OoyaoO:明年留的話怎樣都會打滿一季 OPS.93=>.78 顆顆 酸民會怎樣
推 j094097:" Nady那麼爛 " 我猜一定會有 科
→ pikachu123:又搶不到jason bay也沒辦法
→ j094097:話說O大你好像整天都在\(￣▽￣)/
推 siliver:說真的若是明年Nady打滿整季OPS.78也是還好,畢竟便宜.
→ siliver:不過要是更糟的話我想酸民不會手下留情的.
推 OoyaoO:我今天下午都不在阿= =上課+打球XD 不過NADY才3M
推 ph49:這時候就很想把笑臉人的sizemore買過來....
推 loloool:期待明年的沙胖吧
推 reznor:有股很想在標題最後加上"GONE....!!"的衝動
推 j094097:A HOMERUN
推 OoyaoO:On the track...after wall....Gone！！  SEE YA!!!
推 PinChunH:尺寸多不錯 不過他有可能嗎= =?
推 pikachu123:一句話:有夢最美
→ OoyaoO:做夢 Sizemore是笑臉人自己養的招牌 等他年紀到了想簽養老
→ OoyaoO:約洋基才有機會吧 科科
推 kinghwang443:喔喔，尺寸多的約到2011年＋2012年的club option喔
推 Shywei:又要收集公仔了嗎 科科