Over at River Ave Blues, our friends have come up with a series outlining the Yankees’ 10 best pitching performances and hits of the 2009 regular season.

Since I lack a single original bone in body body, I thought I’d come up with a similar list–except, of course, for the postseason, and one that combines hits, pitches and all-out instincts.  See if you agree or disagree–comments are always welcome!

10: Jeterian:  In the grand scheme of things, Derek Jeter’s ALDS game one game-tying home run may go unnoticed.  In a game the Yankees ended up winning by a comfortable margin, Jeter’s hit came relatively early, thus it perhaps lacks the drama of some of the later moments.

Still, until that hit, the Yankees were trailing the Twins, and the feeling of “oh no, not again…” was rampant–after all, these were Yankees that still hadn’t won a playoff series since 2004.

9: Pettitte Pizazz With his team down 3-0 in game three of a deadlocked World Series, the Yankees were in serious danger of going down in the World Series two games to one while on the road.  The Yankees, however, got help from an unlikely source–Pettitte himself, who blooped a single off of Cole Hamels that scored the game tying run.  The Yankees never looked back, taking a lead in the game (and in the series) that they would not relinquish.

8: Fundamentals 2, Angels 0 It’s one thing to win on a walk-off, another to win because of the other team’s miscues, and still yet another to do both of these in an ALCS game.  Helped by an unseasonably cold and wet night, Jerry Hairston Jr. helped the Yankees do just that–scoring after the Angels’ second baseman botched what could have been a double play ball–and the Yankees took a commanding two games-to-none series lead.

7: Halloween Hijinks Pettitte’s game-tying hit in Game Three of the World Series would have gone for naught had it not been for what happened almost immediately beforehand.  Alex Rodriguez (who else?) hit a long fly ball that looked, on first glance, as though it bounced off of the top of the wall in right field for a long double.  His teammates, however, saw differently:  the ball actually hit a camera that was hanging over the fence, and would have likely gone into the stand otherwise.  After a brief protest, the umpires conferred, watched the first-ever World Series replay, and issued their ruling:  two-run home run.

6: David Robertson, Miracle Worker Although A-Rod’s game-tying home run in Game 2 of the ALDS (see below) may have been the biggest moment at the New Yankee Stadium at that point, the home run did, alas, only tie the game.  Thus, as the Yankees proceeded to extra innings and Girardi burned reliever after reliever, he was eventually left to call upon David Robertson to come in and do the impossible:  get out of a two men on, no one out situation without giving up a run.

Robertson did not help his own cause at first–allowing a base hit–but the ball was hit so hard that Minnesota could not score, and instead was left with the bases loaded (and still no one out).  Let the miracle begin:  a line-out to Teixeira, a ground ball hit hard enough for Teixeira to make the out at home, and a lazy fly ball to center field.  The Yankees won the game in the bottom of the same inning.

5:  CC, completely in control Heading into the postseason, one of the biggest question marks the Yankees had was the ability of Sabathia to pitch on rest as short as three days–he had done so in Milwaukee, but done so so often in September that there was nothing in the tank in October.

Yankee fans, however, needn’t have worried.  Sabathia excelled on short rest–and perhaps not more so than in game four of the ALCS, which the Yankees would win 10-1.  Sabathia allowed just five hits over eight innings, and the not-so-hidden benefit of his dominant performance was that the Yankees were able to employ a ready and rested bullpen in the wake of a poor performance from AJ Burnett in Game Five.

4:  Matsui go Boom–The only thought going into Game Six of the World Series for Yankee fans (and one presumes the Yankees) was simple:  don’t go to Game Seven.  No one, it seems, heeded that call more than designated hitter Hideki Matsui, who got to work quickly, with a two run home run, two run single and two run double.  The six RBI night was enough to crown Matsui World Series MVP in a series with no clear-cut winner–and as far away as crowded bars in Manhattan, you could hear the chants of MVP! MVP! reverberating just as Matsui’s double (and RBI 5 and 6) landed, missing being a second home run by only a little.  Godzilla, indeed.

3:  Johnny Damon takes the 2-1 special: Keith Olbermann called this the smartest play in World Series history, and while you may debate this, the fact is that this play illustrates why sabermetrics, though important, cannot be the be all and end all–that an acute awareness for one’s surroundings can be as, if not more, important.

In the ninth inning of a tie game on the road, with two out and Phil Coke (!) warming in the bullpen, Johnny Damon worked a miracle at-bat against Brad Lidge, finally singling after what seemed to be an eternity.  Then, with Teixeira at bat, the Phillies over-shifted–something of perhaps little consequence in a regular season game, but made all the difference in this situation.  After stealing second base, Damon noticed that no one was covering third base–so he took it.  The decision, which had to be made in hundredths of a second, meant that if successful, Damon could score as easily on a passed ball or wild pitch as on a base hit.

2:  AJ and an Empire State of Mind AJ’s postseason can be explained very simply:  when he pitched at home he was great; when he pitched on the road he was awful.  Fortunately for the Yankees, his most important pitching performance came at home–Game Two of the World Series.  After having being beat soundly by Cliff Lee in Game One of the Series (which many Yankee fans will tell you did not feel like Game One of the World Series), the Yankees were at risk of going down two games to none, and then having to go to Philadelphia to try to salvage the series.

Philadelphia’s surprising Game Two starter–Pedro Martinez–pitched better than most expected, but it was Burnett who had the endurance to outlast him.  Burnett went seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits–and impressively (for Burnett) walked just two.  In a game that the Yankees won by a low score of 3-1, Burnett’s performance was nothing short of exactly what the Yankees needed.

1:  It’s an A-bomb, from A-Rod You might disagree about where this home run is placed, but after having seen it in person, I admit I am biased.

It’s not just that A-Rod’s home run was a bottom of the ninth, game-tying blast, or that it happened in the postseason, or that it happened after the Yankees’ vaunted set-up and closer duo of Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera faltered, just a bit but enough to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead, or that A-Rod had long been the scapegoat for Yankee postseason woes, or that the entire 2009 season seemed to be about A-Rod’s redemption after admitting he used steroids, or that the way the season started and ended for him–first and last pitch home runs was an incredible story, if not a bizarre coincidence–

–It was the fact that A-Rod’s home run was an aggregate of all of those, coming in a game that itself was incredibly close and well-played.

It’s not often that you can say one hit changes everything–but this time, you can.

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From here

The yellow shaded teams are the postseason teams.

Notice anything? No?

That’s exactly the point. The amount of innings your starters pitch is utterly no guarantee of postseason success.

Nor are bullpen innings.

Of course, there are two important considerations:

1) When Chien Ming Wang and Sergio Mitre make as many starts as they did for the Yankees in 2009, the bullpen’s gonna get its fair share of work;

2) Just because your starters pitch a lot of innings doesn’t mean they are good innings–or that your offense is any good, either.

Still, the over all randomness is something much in line with some of the really more intense stat developments (I’m trying to make my way through The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball and failing so miserably it’s funny), and less in line with conventional wisdom.

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Is it too early for this? I think not.

Here are my top ten Yankee moments from 2000-2010–feel free to leave a comment with any you think I missed!

10. Subway Series A lot of you might argue that this is too far down on the list, but the 2000 Yankees team was perhaps better lucky than good. If the most remembered moment of that series involves Roger Clemens throwing the barrel of a bat at Mike Piazza, then, well, it’s probably not a very good World Series.

09. Jobamania Not since, perhaps, the coming of Derek Jeter had a Yankee rookie been so heralded. In one year Joba Chamberlain had risen from the lowest levels of the minors to becoming one of the most recognizable names in New York, and perhaps most of all, along with Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, signalling the first ripened fruits of a reborn Yankee farm system.

08. Boston Massacre(s) A rare regular-season five game series in Boston in 2006 that saw the Yankees sweep will always bring smiles to the faces of Yankee fans. As nice as it was, however, the four game sweep in August 2009 may have been even more meaningful–the law of averages coming full bore after an 0-8 start and a sweep that included perhaps the best regular season game all year–a 15 inning scoreless affair ended with an Alex Rodriguez home run.

07. Jeter Flies into the Stands (h/t Matt Lorenzo): This one moment perhaps sums up what Derek Jeter means to the Yankees. During a regular season game in 2004, Derek Jeter attempted to catch a foul ball, and in doing so ended up diving into the stands along the third base line. He emerged bruised and bloody but never the worse for wear; the Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings.

06. Aaron Boone Plays a Pick Up Basketball Game At some point between the 2003 and 2004 seasons, Aaron Boone played a pick up game of basketball and tore his ACL, and the Yankees needed a third baseman. Enter Alex Rodriguez. Fans love him or hate him, but his mark on the team this decade–from playoff goat to playoff hero, from HAH! to Cynthia to Madonna to Kate, from hip surgery to 500 home runs, his mark on the team is indelible.

05. Mariano’s 500th save…and first RBI It might be this moment, much more than the 2000 World Series and even more than the Luis Castillo dropped pop up that best exemplifies the differences between the Yankees and the Mets. More importantly, it exemplifies just how much Rivera has meant for the Yankees–whatever the fault with the save statistic, only one other pitcher in MLB history has that many, and unlike Rivera, he does not have a stellar postseason record. Every year this decade Yankee fans appreciated Mo just a little more and in 2009, he was the only closer not to blow a lead in the postseason. It’s not a coincidence.

04. Babe, Bucky, Boone, any Questions? One swing on an October night in 2003 summed up everything it meant to be a Yankee, and everything that, until 2004, it meant to be a Red Sox. Eighty-four years, summed up in ball that sailed over the left field fence. Never mind the ultimate consequences, that one moment, those few minutes–if one ever asks you why you are a Yankee fan, just find a video of that swing.

03. Nine Innings From Ground Zero. Nevermind the ultimate result of the 2001 World Series–what matters is that in October 2001, the Yankees played. They fell behind Oakland two games to none and then won three straight, partially due to perhaps the greatest play of Derek Jeter’s defensive career; they beat the 116-win Mariners in a five game ALCS (remember the No-game-six chants?), and then, most remarkably of all, they managed to perform the same feat in back-to-back World Series games: Tying each game with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Even today, so many years later, no one in New York will be surprised at all when you tell them that it was Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius that hit those home runs. The most chilling moment, however, may not have been the home runs, but instead when, in game five, the entirety of the Stadium started chanting Paul O’Neill’s name, a moving send off to one of the Yankees’ most beloved right fielders.

02. Goodbye, Hello I must confess, if you had told me as recently as 2005 or 2006 that the Yankees would ever leave the old Stadium, I would not have believed you. Still, despite the flaws, they pulled it off as well as such things can be pulled off–the farewell ceremonies were done while the Yankees were still in the playoff hunt, they got the glory of one more All Star game in New York City, Mariano Rivera threw the last pitch, and then, when they moved across the street, they won it all in year one. The old Stadium was not baseballl’s cathedral because of its aesthetics; it was baseball’s cathedral because of everything that happened on the field. If 2009 is any portent, the ghosts moved across the street, and the Yankees wasted no time in Christening their new digs.

01. 27 This isn’t much of any debate. The Yankees won two World Series titles in the decade, and they actually won more games when they missed the playoffs in 2008 than they won in the 2000 season. In 2009 the Yankees were the best team in baseball, played like it, and had a postseason to remember. Whether it was Alex Rodriguez carrying the line up on his back through the ALDS and ALCS, Matsui’s rampage in the clincher or Mariano Rivera simply playing G-d, the 2009 World Series may very well be the most satisfying World Series for Yankees fans since the 1996 team upset the defending Atlanta Braves.

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At some point we knew.

Knew the Yankees were going to go all the way.  Knew that 2009 was our year.

I can’t remember the date, but I remember walking to the subway to go to a Yankee game, getting stopped by an older man who asked if I was a Yankee fan and how far the team was going.

“They’re going all the way,” I had said, but that was more happenstance, trying to say the right thing at the right time.

When did I know the Yankees had a special team this season, beyond just being a good, playoff-bound team and into a season I would be telling my kids (someday in the very distant future) about?  When did you know?

For me, ask much as I loved the walk-offs, as much fun as the walk-off wins made this season, as much as it was just like watching a group of kids having fun playing a game, the moment for me came in August, when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in four games.

Four games on otherwise ordinary August nights that, without question, felt like the middle of October.

For the first time, really, the Stadium got loud, and all four games the Yankees found various ways to win–slugfests, pitcher’s duels, the long ball–four games where everything went right for the Yankees and everything else went wrong for the Red Sox.

It’s not all that hard to be a good baseball team if you have good baseball players and good fundamentals, but among the x-factors that seperate good from great, among the things such as health and as clubhouse chemistry that may or may not be a factor, there’s also luck.

To have the luck the Yankees have had this season, though–and the luck they had in that sweep–that can’t be blind fate.  That’s luck created by the Yankees and for the Yankees.

That four game sweep?

That’s when I knew that the Yankees in 2009 were a team so good that they could create their own luck.

When you create your own luck, it’s hard to fail.

***

So what about you?  When did you know that this would be a special year?  Was it when the Yankees beat the Red Sox to clinch the AL East?  When Teixeira and the Yanks walked off against the Twins?  When David Robertson got out of that bases loaded, no one out jam?  When the final out was tossed from Canó to Teixeira?

At some point, you knew.

You had to.

This team was simply too good.

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Generally speaking, I try to remain calm. There are few things that really get me riled up–human rights, civil rights, etc…and fans that have the gall to ask if Mariano Rivera can handle the pressure.

Look, I know we’re all on edge. I know the Yanks missed the chance to clinch on Monday and that we’re scared to death of a Game Seven given recent history.

That doesn’t give you license to lose all semblance of reality, however.

Has Mariano failed before? Yes. I don’t deny it.

The thing is, those failures are so rare, so abnormal, that they stand out because they are so deviant from the norm.

Just remember, over fifteen years, Mariano’s postseason ERA is still less than one. Regardless of what he may or may not do tonight, you don’t have a postseason ERA over a time period that long and that low if you can’t handle the pressure.

The Yankees have some issues. Pettitte on short rest, Canó not hitting at all, the possibility Joe Girardi might start Hairston again–all of these are legitimate concerns (though, as I’ve argued, starting Pettitte is still the right move).

Mariano Rivera is not one of them.

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It’s tempting to judge a decision as right or wrong based on whether or not it works out.

While this may be the case in some aspects of life–ie, surviving on a desert island–it is not necessarily the case in baseball.

Since so much in baseball depends simply on pure luck, it is entirely possible to make the wrong decision–starting Hairston in Game 2 of the World Series–and not be penalized for it.

On the other hand, it’s entirely possible to make the right decision and have it backfire. History abounds with plenty of these and I’m sure you can find an example without much thought.

The decision to go with a three-man rotation–invariably one that requires each pitcher to make at least one start on three days’ rest, could end up the most egregious example of a right decision that doesn’t work if the Yankees cannot win tonight or tomorrow.

I’ve had this argument with a few of you, but let’s rehash why the three man rotation is the right decision. It goes something like this:

1) Chad Gaudin has pitched one inning since September. One. Asking him to suddenly make a start–against the Phillies, no less-would be like asking my brother, who hasn’t done much running since the birth of his son six months ago, to have run the NYC marathon last Sunday.

2) Joba Chamberlain, the other option for a fourth starter, utterly bombed in his last start. Don’t try to tell me different–I had the misfortune of seeing that one in person!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, the Yankees actually really have needed Chamberlain in the bullpen, as Hughes has more or less run out of gas, and Girardi, for whatever reason, still seems scared of using Robertson (though he’s getting better).

Joba’s last performance from the bullpen, in Game Four, was stellar, even with the mistake to Pedro Feliz.

***

That the Yankees would go to the postseason with a three man rotation has its roots in the injury to Chien Ming Wang and the fact that, well, Sergio Mitre is still Sergio Mitre.

A healthy Wang that pitches anywhere near his performance pre-June 2008 is a more than competent fourth starter, and this discussion never happens. In fact, it’s tantalizing to think about just how good the Yankees would have been this season if Wang had been healthy and, well, Wang all season long–they won 103 games more or less without him (he had two wins).

***

Such as it is, the three man rotation is the best choice the Yankees could have made given their circumstances.

It should also be noted that Gaudin in the bullpen has allowed Girardi the flexibility of playing bullpen mix-and-match (even if sometimes he shouldn’t), but that has kept the bullpen from being burnt out.

Tonight, the Yankees have a full bullpen available–even AJ Burnett in an emergency–to back up Pettitte’s start.

It’s not a bad place to be.

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(Idea h/t to Amanda Rykoff)

With apologies to the Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Royals, Twins, Rangers, Mariners, Athletics, Nationals, Mets, Braves, Cubs, Pirates, Brewers, Reds, Padres and Dodgers.

We have waited.

Since Luis Gonzalez blooped and since the demons of the Angels and since the great ALCS hangover and since the Collapse and since the Angels again and since the underachievers and since the midges and since the Final Season.

Since Spring Training ‘roids scandals, since an inauspicious start, since April rain, since 0-8, since having to start a .190 AA catcher (and the dreamy eyes of doom), since a Return, since the first walk off, since a dropped pop up, since the Boston Sweep Party, since it was cold, then warm, then cold again.

Since the start of October, since the excision of demons with one ninth-inning swing, since parting finally with the idle among us, since out-fundamentalling a team that couldn’t handle cold weather, since Halloween, since fall back weekend.

We have waited.

Now there is only one thing left us: One more win.

So close, and still we wait.

We wait as the college basketball season starts and football reaches the midpoint of the season.

We wait, leaving no discussion point unturned: Can Andy pitch on three days’ rest? Should Girardi be fired if Hairston starts for Swisher? Can Mariano pitch two? Even three? Will it rain? Is Utley still the MVP even if the Phillies lose?

We come up with playoff play lists and theorize as to how much someone would have to pay for us to part with game six tickets. We muse about the travesty of nightfall at 5.30 in the afternoon and laugh as beat writers post game threads 24 hours in advance (a mistake, they say…).

We wait.

In Spanish, the verb “esperar” means to wait.

It also means to hope.

We wait, and we hope.

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With the help of some friends via Twitter, I’ve compiled a preliminary 2009 NYY Playoffs Playlist.

A few caveats:

1) This playlist is supposed to be more about the team than any individual player, so I haven’t included At Bat music–yet. I did include “Enter Sandman”, because it’s significance–a game about to end, a win about to go down–transcends just Mariano.

2) Please add any you think should belong in the comments below.

So here we go:

“New York, New York” –Frank Sinatra. This one is, of course, timeless. It belongs on any Yankees-related playlist.

“Enter Sandman” –Metallica. As discussed above, while it’s Mo’s song, it’s about more than just Mo. If Mo’s coming into a game, 9 times out of 10 it’s because the Yankees are winning–something the entire team does together.

“We Weren’t Born to Follow” –Bon Jovi. Interestingly enough, while TBS played this song all the time, FOX has not. This is remarkable if only because of Bon Jovi’s association with the state of New Jersey, which is the Connecticut of the Yankees-Phillies. You follow?

“I Gotta Feeling” –Black Eyed Peas. This is one of the songs featured in the YES season-ending montage/”Get Ready for the Showdown” video, and, well, it’s really catchy. It also describes the way many of us have been feeling this entire season and now postseason: pure optimism. We’ve got a feeling, it’s going to be a good night. Mazel tov!

“Run This Town” and “Run This Town Yankees ’09 remix” –Jay-Z/Rihanna. Right now, is there another artist more associated with New York City and New York City sports than Jay-Z? You’d be hard pressed to find one. The Yankees ’09 Remix is my preference over the other one because it’s, uh, slightly more family friendly.

“Empire State of Mind” –Jay-Z/Alicia Keys. I’m not a rap/hip-hop person. Most of my music is either alternative rock or medieval folk music (don’t ask). However, seeing Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform it live for Game Two–there’s just something about the atmosphere of being there.

“Glory Days” –Bruce Springsteen. Always have to give Bruce a nod. If we’re talking New Jersey music, then one can’t mention Bon Jovi without mentioning Bruce Springsteen. At any rate, this is exactly what this season’s felt like: a return to Yankee Glory Days of the end of last decade–when I was, indeed, back in high school.

“Let it Rock” –Kevin Rudolf/L’il Wayne. At one point, Nick Swisher’s walk up music, it’s a stadium anthem that’s kind of just stuck with me. Anyway, there’s something about the line “stuck his middle finger to the world” that’s just too New York to not include.

“Don’t Stop Believing”–Journey. Okay, so this song might be a little more apt for the small market teams like Minnesota that didn’t have much of a chance to do anything, but even so, being a baseball fan is like being religious: keeping the faith, keeping the hope and keeping belief.

“Don’t Stop Me Now” –Queen. This one’s featured in a YouTube mashup of all the Yankees’ walk off wins from the 2009 regular season. In the immortal words of Eric–who was at the Stadium to watch game three of the ALCS along with me–WE. CANNOT. BE. STOPPED.

(Added at request)

“Showdown” –Black Eyed Peas. Do you need me to explain this? Really?

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(h/t: The Yankee Universe)

The City, it seems, is in a groggy funk this morning.

Lots of people who think a Game 5 loss automatically means the Yankees are going to completely collapse and Philadelphia will win the series.

Clearly, these people did not watch the 2009 ALCS.

Philadelphia’s a good team. The Yankees have their work cut out for them, yes, but don’t forget, it’s the Yankees–not the Phillies–who are up three games to two.

The Yankees haven’t been this deep in a postseason in almost a decade–a series that either the Yankees will win or a series that will go seven games.

How many of you would sign up in February for a team that will play in the sixth and possibly seventh game of a World Series? I guarantee you every single one of you would do so.

Let me say this again, for dramatic effect: the Yankees are in the World Series.

As far as baseball is concerned, you cannot ask for more than that.

The Yankees are the only team in the American League left standing; better than the Red Sox and the Angels and the Rays and the Twins and the Tigers and on and on.

As much as we may worry about Andy Pettitte going on three days’ rest, remember also who Philadelphia is throwing on the mound–Pedro Martinez, who’s had a decent postseason, and Cole Hamels, who is so utterly lost he provoke a teammate to ask “Hey, didn’t you quit?”.

The Yankees, instead of turning to infighting and public remarks about wanting the season to end, have instead chosen to wear it, owning up to when they don’t play well, and taking it in stride when they do.

That’s class.

There is no good reason, no way to convince me, that these 2009 Yankees, that these fine men and centaurs cannot finish the task set before them.

Even if calamity strikes and they do not, I will still hold my chin high–this is one of the best, most fun to follow Yankee teams that there ever has been, and I am honored to be a fan the whole way through. Whatever happens from here on out, nothing will invalidate how much fun this season has been, and how much it has meant to be able to remember why it is we are Yankee fans in the first place.

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You will want to blame Derek Jeter and Phil Coke.

You should not.

If AJ Burnett pitches past the third inning, none of what happens in the later innings becomes an issue.

Not being able to record an out in the third inning is bad pitching any way you slice it.

Part of you may feel for AJ. That is now twice this postseason he has been on the mound for a clinching game and twice now that he has been unable to accomplish it. There is no doubt that unlike some other pitchers (I am looking at you, Hamels) Burnett wanted to be on the mound.

Alas, a twenty-seventh was not in the cards tonight.

It’s not so bad though-Andy Pettitte is on the mound in game six, in the Bronx and the Phillies are without their best pitcher.

There is no reason to dispair.

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