They Got in the Way: Yankees
By Justin Klugh
No one can make you watch the MLB Postseason. But it becomes even harder if you’re a loser.
On Call to the Pen, we’ll be running the reflections of fans from each eliminated team, and how consumed they are by rage, frustration, guilt, and/or hellfire, just to release a pressure valve before we all sit down and watch somebody else’s heroes take home the trophy.
Our first entry comes from Robbie Clark, lead writer of Yanks Go Yard.
The Yankees made an early postseason exit, which left me with my yearly struggle: Do I watch the remainder of the playoffs? And if so, who do I root for now?
As in years past, I managed to put my anger/sadness/bitterness just far enough to the back of my mind to be able to turn on the TV and keep watching baseball. I absolutely loathe seeing other teams on the postseason fields, but I also know that I’d regret missing these last few games when I am deep into the offseason and jonesing for some baseball.
As for who to root for, the more accurate description would be who to root against. This year it is the Tigers. Do I care who wins the World Series? Nope. As long as the Tigers aren’t hoisting the trophy at the end of October, I really don’t give a damn who does. I’m in pure baseball revenge mode, and in the words of Stewie Griffin, “victory shall be mine!”
Watching the Yankees play the Tigers in the ALDS was a little bit like teaching a teenager to drive: you want to just grab the wheel and do it yourself, but all you can do is sit in the passenger seat and yell curse words. Where were the Yankees’ bats in this series?! Yes, I’m aware that the Yankees two wins ended with scores of 9-3 and 10-1. But in the three losses the bats were dead. A 3-5 loss against Scherzer. A 4-5 loss against Verlander. And in Game 5, a 2-3 loss against Fister.
Sure, I could give credit to Detroit’s pitching, but what fun is that? I blame a complete lack of timely hitting. After all, it’s not like the Yankees didn’t have plenty of chances to score runs late in these games. In Game 2 the Yankees went into the bottom of the 7th inning down 4-0. Swisher walked. Posada singled. And with runners on first and second with no outs, Russell Martin flew out to right field and Chavez and Jeter followed that up with strikeouts. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Yankees put together a little bit of a rally in the 9th inning, just to give everyone some false hope. Swisher homered. Posada tripled. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Martin walked and then Jones drove Posada in on a sac fly. The Yankees were now down 5-3 with a runner on first and only 1 out. But a Jeter strikeout, a walk to Granderson, and a Cano ground out ended the game.
The utter failure to score in these critical situations in Game 2 set the tone for the rest of the series. Say what you will about home plate ump Gerry Davis and his strike zone in Game 3. And critique some of Girardi’s moves all you want. At the end of the day, the Tigers came up with hits exactly when they needed them, something the Yankees weren’t able to do.
The Yankees failed to get in the driver’s seat and control the ALDS, and all I could do was yell curse words while going along for the ride.