2011 playoffs

thought i would start a thread for discussion on the playoffs

great win for tampa bay in game 1, matt moore was outsatnding in his first playoff start and only the second start of his career

rain delay in new york atm, hope it doesn't spoil what was potentially a big matchup between cc and verlander

tonights game is suspended

game 1 will now be played tomorrow with game 2 on sunday and no off day with the series moving to detroit on monday as scheduled

Delighted for the Rays,a great comeback through Septemeber and a good win last night. I'm not a baseball fan but I'm happy for them.

no real shocks or big stories last night

all games won by the home teams and higher seeds

texas-tampa bay looks like being the most interesting series with it now tied 1-1 going back to tampa for 2 games

big games for the cards, tigers and dbacks today, if they lose again and go 2-0 down theres not alot of hope of a comeback imo

Hi rich! Good to see you again, where've you been all season? Series tied at 1-1 now between the Yanks and detroit. Missed the second game but saw game 1. The pitchers looked strong, Fister is one to watch and Nova looked impressive retiring seven straight. Spilled my beer everywhere when Granderson hit that grandslam.

Beaten 5-3 last night. How do you see the rest of this series going?

i worry about our starting pitching still, but tbh i have been worried about them all season and we still got this far

we have to win tonight with CC starting, wouldn't want to go 2-1 down with AJ on the mound in detroit tomorrow

Rays 1-1. Biggest ngiht in Tampa Bay sports history with the Rays selling out against the Texans and the Bucs selling out at home to Indy for MNF.

bad loss for the yankees last night

CC was terrible, he got lucky that they turned double plays in the first three detroit innings or it could have been a blowout

yankees did well to hang on and give themselves a chance but just never really looked like getting the big hit at the end

series over i think , no confidence in AJ tonight against this detroit lineup

Burnett on a very short leash tonight, would think Hughes will be in at the first sign of trouble.

And: Rodriguez predictably useless at the Play-Off plate, doubt he's batted .200 in the Play-Offs during his time with the Yankees. Bench him like Torre did. Time for Chavez or Nunez to get a chance.

predictably useless ?

the last couple of years he was pretty good in the playoffs tbh especially 2009

nice to see people latch onto old reputations just coz of a couple of dodgy games

hes been playing injured all year and missed most of the second half of the season so no wonder hes not in great form with the bat, hes been very very good at third base however

hes definitely not the reason the yankees are behind in this series

rich,
If he's not in good form with the bat he needs to ride the pine.
Rodriquez has had one good post-season for the Yanks, otherwise pretty much useless.
But you're right, he's been almost as good as Chavez at 3rd base.

PS: If you pointed out how disappointing Teixera has also been, I'd reluctantly agree with you.

i just find it a tad predictable to focus on arod when you cant really blame him for the situation the yankees are in

he has at least driven in a couple of runs

i really dont think you have been watching if you think hes not been very good at 3rd base , a couple of the plays he made last night were exceptional and plays i am not sure chavez would have got to

but hes an easy target i suppose

rich,
I've been watching AFraud since he started his career, saw him at The Stadium when he was a young kid hitting against Clemens, actually passed him on the escalator at his team hotel. Don't think he recognised me though.

But he's been marginal for the Yankees and he's getting old. I didn't say "hes(sic) not been very good at 3rd base", just that Chavez has been one of the game's best 3rd baseman of the past 15 years, and he still is.

If someone is paid the megabucks Steinbrenner gave Afraud, he deserves to be a target. And he's certainly not in the class third baseman of Nettles, Brosius. Or even one-time perennial All-Star Chavez.

Wish he'd stayed in Texas or gone to Fenway.

Let's hope he proves me full of prunes tonight. A hit would be a good start.

the very fact you call him "afraud" means you have already made your mind up regardless of what he does on the field

hes had an injury ridden season but i would still rather have him in the lineup than chavez or nunez

anyones numbers would be down at his age and with the injuries hes had , there have been alot worse signings for the yankees than arod over the last few years

as i said hes an easy target and it just gets tedious when he gets singled out in the way he does

rich,
I could call him far more disparaging names than that; fraud is just a reference to the fact that he's paid gazillions to be a stud, and his productivity this year has been that of a journeyman - something like 3 HR's in his last 150-ish AB's.

Anyway, hopefully the Skanks will win tonight and he'll have a good game; can't afford any passengers at this stage.

PS: I never liked the Arod acquisition and have said so on 606 for about all the 4 1/2 years I posted there. His salary makes him an obvious target, don't forget that. I'd've preferred a starter and an All-Star 3rd baseman which his loot could have paid for.

blame the yankees for making that decision not the player tho

of course his producivity hasn't been there witht he injuries hes had

no point continuing this discussion tho , we need him and the rest of the lineup to have a good game tonight

watching AJ pitch this first innings is torture , he looks like hes all over the place , hes not just missing the strike zone, he cant get near it

and that was the last thing we needed , a 6 pitch 1-2-3 inning for porcello and AJ is back out almost straight away

much better 2nd inning from burnett, lets hope it was just 1st inning nerves

home plate umpire has been so inconsistent towards detroit in his calls so far

victor martinez hits a home run leading off in the 4th but the first two pitches of the at bat were called balls by the umpire but both locations have been getting called as strikes for porcello all night , big difference to the at bat if hes 0-2 instead of 2-0

in the third inning against delmon young , AJ throws three pitches which were all clipping the strikezone according to the graphic and none get called and he ends up getting walked

different umpires have slightly different strikezones but this guy has been so inconsistent so far

They say he's a pitchers' umpire - looks like "they" are right.
ARod flawless in the field . . . .

Burnett has done his job in my book. Pity Aceves was let go to Boston; he'd be good to have up Girardi's sleeve right now.

yeah AJ has been good after that first inning , it could really have got messy there if granderson hadn't got back for that catch

another rbi for arod as well , thats 3 in the series

one more inning from burnett then hand it over to soriano, robertson and rivera for 7-8-9

getting some nice breathing space here in the 8th , couple of runs in , bases loaded and still no-one out

Something to watch on Thursday night . . . .

well done to AJ last night for proving everyone wrong

bet no-one would have thought at the start of the season that we would have been relying on nova to start game 5 of this series but hes probably been our most reliable starter for the last month or so

fingers crossed win this game and then have CC fresh for the start of the ALCS

kwinigolfer wrote:Something to watch on Thursday night . . . .

Not for me . As much as I've been enjoying the playoffs (well, as much as you can enjoy watching something your own team isn't involved in), there's only one sport for me on Thursday night. Eh, Kwini?

'Morning jane,
Yup, big piece in our local rag this morning about Timmy T and Tuukka battling it out for Number One goalie.
Sure part of that is to see if Timmy's still on his toes; after all his early career trials and tribulations, I'm sure there's a part of him that probably feels he has nothing left to prove. Perhaps 2014 Olympics his remaining objective?
I'll keep an eye open between innings! Good luck

cardinals tie things up and go back to game 5 in philly, will be a big ask for them to beat halladay tho

backs beat the brewers in game 4 as well to go back to milwaukee for a game 5 as well

3 of the 4 division series going the full 5 games

think the dbacks might have the best chance of the three away teams after coming back from 2-0 down , pressure really on the brewers

I watched the last 2 D-Backs games -- they just crushed the Brewers, though if Parra hadn't of covered a huge distance to track down Hart's blast and rob him of a grand slam, things could have turned out differently.

A grand slam each night. Have to see if their bats stay hot back on the road in Milwaukee; I mean the D-Backs were pretty quiet in the first 2 games. The Brewers have been exceptional at home, but will they feel the pressure after blowing a 2-0 lead? Can't wait for Game 5.

ouch not a good start for nova

2 solo home runs from the 2nd and 3rd batters of the night , yankees down 2-0 early

Don't panic.
D o n ' t p a n i c!

yeah long way to go , suppose the only good thing from that innings for nova was he didn't have to throw alot of pitches despite giving up the 2 runs

girardi pulls nova after just 2 innings , big decision

Defines a "quick hook" but Hughes justified the move. I like Phil Hughes, Girardi probably was looking for an excuse to put him in.
After tonight, I'd expect Hughes to replace Freddie Garcia in the rotation.

But all for nought if we can't hit.

Good Lord!

this is what i dont like about girardi tbh , imo he tries to "manage" far too much in these situations rather than just trust his players

really didn't make any sense to pull hughes there

Bo11ocks

big missed opportunity there

still just 2 runs tho and lots of time left

this is starting to get tense

arghhh

i know swisher wanted to be aggressive there but when a pitcher has just walked in a run you shouldn't be chasing pitches like that

he swung at 2 really wide pitches there

Scant consolation but Yankee pitching has been superb since the first.

yeah just cant find that big hit, had lots of chances

at least with a one run game now it just needs one hit to tie things up

thought jeter had got that out for a second there

well at least we got the heart of the order coming up in the 9th for one last chance

Let's hope there's not a hole in the heart . . . .

valverde has been perfect in saves this season as well

wonder what giradri just whispered to arod there

just not good enough , had more than enough chances to win that game

oh well , will enjoy the rest of the playoffs as a neutral now

could be a lively off season now with boston probably looking to make changes after not reaching the playoffs and the yankees have to make changes as well imo

Bitterly disappointing; outplayed, only complaint is that the Yankees were not more aggressive on the bases, not making anything happen, not applying pressure on the pitchers.
At least no more Conan commercials.
And hockey has begun.

(Yankees have to make changes, perhaps Andy Pettitte will return. And Manchester City will take Rodriguez.)

Second year in sucession an A-Rod strikeout ends the Yankees season.

Hope the Cards put the Phillies out tonight!

there was a comment i made on the old 606 last year that i was reminded of today

all the moves the yankees made at the start of last season , getting rid of damon, matsui and cabrera. bringing in granderson and committing to gardner as a regular starter. we obviously made the team younger, which was needed, and improved our outfield defence and at the same time made the team statistically better. but we gave up probably the three best clutch hitters that were at the club, that clutch hitting has been sorely missed the last couple of post seasons.