Miss me? No? Ah, well, too bad.

Anyway, some hopefully coherent thoughts about the postseason:

1) Since May 1st, Derek Jeter has 148 hits, of which just thirty-four have gone for extra bases, and only one out-of-the-park home run since June 12th. His slugging (.344) is only six hundredths of a point higher than his not-quite-as-awful on base percentage of (.338) in that same time span.

Since May 1st, Brett Gardner has a .380 OBP and .378 slugging. Sure, his OBP being higher than slugging doesn’t suggest he’s a great power hitter, but the argument can and should be made that Brett Gardner should hit lead off for the Yankees in the post season, as their highest OBP guy, and, at this rate, his 29 extra-base hits in the same time span is not sufficiently less than Jeter’s 34 for his lack of power to be such a liability to keep him out of the top spot.

2) A discussion on Twitter emerged tonight over who the Yankees should start game two, Andy Pettitte or Phil Hughes.

I’m falling into the Hughes camp for these reasons:

a) his home/road splits go beyond just the home run: a higher SO/9 and SO/BB rate indicate pitching better on the road, even accounting for the difference in innings pitched.

b) Target Field is a pretty massive ball park, which should theoretically help with the whole home run issue.

c) While you can argue that you’d rather have Pettitte pitching in game five, I think that it’s not the wisest move to plan for game five before you’ve finished games one, two and three. The Yankees’ best bet is, of course, to win the LDS in as few games as possible.

d) If the Yankees do lose game one, they can adjust the rotation if they see fit, although I imagine this is quite unlikely.

That said, the big difference between this year’s Yankees and last year’s has got to be the current confidence in the rotation: last season, besides CC, Pettitte was still healthy and although AJ Burnett was a wild card, he was not downright bad as he’s been for much of this season. This year, there’s CC, sometimes Hughes, pray Pettitte stays healthy…

3) It’s not that this year’s Yankees team is bad or undeserving; but that last season’s, especially after mid-June, was that good, getting better as the year went on. This year’s team started strongly enough, and then stumbled once Pettitte got hurt, Vazquez came up lame and Burnett was, well, AJ Burnett.

That said, this year’s squad has much to commend to it: Nick Swisher’s had a brilliant, consistent year, Brett Gardner has emerged as a legitimate mlb-caliber outfielder, Curtis Granderson’s remembered how to hit of late, and even with Jeter’s struggles you can still argue the Yankee infield is one of the best in the league. Kerry Wood has been simply fantastic in pinstripes, and Boone Logan’s turn around means the loss of Damaso Marte is a little less gaping.

4) So what happens if Girardi fails to win the World Series?

It seems almost unfair that he could make it to the World Series, or even game seven of the ALCS, lose and then not be invited back even when he won a World Series just last year, but, of course, the world of Yankee baseball is not a forgiving place.

I think, in the end, if the Yankees don’t win it all (and even perhaps if they do), it will depend as much on how the events occur as the events themselves; managing a team out of an ALDS win because Francisco Cervelli is hitting instead of Jorge Posada is a little bit different than losing in a game seven bottom-of-the-ninth hit with Mariano Rivera on the mound.

Of course, everything could go right and then Girardi choose not to return, but that’s probably a bridge to cross when it’s reached, to use a cliché.

5) Lastly, on the question of Minnesota or Texas as a playoff opponent, I’ll simply say that either team would offer its benefits and drawbacks, and it’s still up to the Yankees to win the games they need to win–and that, even if they do so, the much-imagined ALCS versus the Rays is not a guarantee, as the Rays would need to take care of business on their end and well.

Neither Minnesota nor Texas is a walkover…

Share on Facebook

Since my Jeter-should-not-lead-off ultra-rant the other day that got called “stupid”, among other things, Jeter is batting .368/.455/.526/.981.

Sometimes, being wrong is nice.

As you were.

Share on Facebook

In the eighth inning of tonight’s game, I sat with long time blog reader Jordan (you know him as JGS), and his friend, and we discussed what we saw, which included the possibility that if Austin Kearns could draw a walk, we’d see Derek Jeter up with the bases loaded and two out, himself as the go ahead run.

We groaned.

Think about this for a moment. Derek Jeter, the Yankee Captain, the lead off hitter, a first ballot Hall of Famer…all of these things, and we are groaning, practically wishing that someone else, anyone else not named Ramiro Peña or Francisco Cervelli was on deck.

Something’s not right with this picture.

So I go to Baseball Reference to try to find out what gives, and this is what I discover:

• Derek Jeter’s .335 OBP is the third worst out of any Yankee that’s seen regular playing time–only Francisco Cervelli, the back up catcher, and Curtis Granderson, who missed a month with an injury, are lower.

• Jeter’s .386 slugging is lower than any regular except Francisco Cervelli.

• Put the two together, and Jeter’s OPS is lower than every regular except Francisco Cervelli.  That’s right, Jeter’s OPS is lower than that of Curtis Granderson.  Heck, Jeter’s OPS on the road is .610–almost Molinaesque, as Jordan stated.

• Jeter has the most plate appearances of any Yankee (478)…and only the sixth-most walks.

If Jeter was not Derek Jeter, if he was, say, Brett Gardner or even Nick Swisher with these numbers, he’d be hitting at the bottom of the line up, the type of weak hitter you can manage in a line up full of All Stars because his defense makes up for the lack of his bat.

In no instance would you think of batting this player lead off…and yet, that is exactly what Derek Jeter is doing.

“Well,” you say, “if Jeter doesn’t hit lead off, then who should?”

If the goal of the lead off hitter is to get on base, then one might suggest Brett Gardner–whose .395 on base percentage is one of the top in all of baseball, and don’t tell me you saw that coming because you didn’t–and Gardner has the almost requisite speed as well.  You can argue that over exposure will hurt Gardner, but statistically speaking, what would happen if Jeter hit eighth or ninth and Gardner led off?

There would be a gigantic media malestorm and fan outrage and the headache might not be worth the results–especially to Joe Girardi, Gardner, Granderson or Jeter, those concerned–but, ultimately, statistically, what would it do?  I leave the question open ended because I don’t know.  Maybe Gardner gets on base more often, Swisher keeps on forgetting that the Send Swish Campaign already won, Teixeira keeps up his hot second half and, whaddya know, the top of the Yankee line up goes from being the league leader in runs scored, to an utter monster that no one, not even Tampa Bay can contain.

Or maybe nothing happens, at all.

Jeter did have a decent game on Monday, going 2-5 and scoring two of the Yankees’ five runs, and the Yankee offense, as a whole, still remains one of (if not the best, by various measures) offenses in the game.  So it might seem extrodinarily petty to be talking about Derek Jeter as such, and maybe you (and many times myself) think that one should just shut up and enjoy what the Yankees have, but here’s the rub:  the Yankees are now tied for the best record in baseball, and the team they’re tied with plays in the same division.

The division may very well be won or lost in one run late September games–just think about this weekend’s past series–games where missed opportunity means everything, and for those of you who think that winning the division is insignificant (a feat of which I have recently been guilty myself), remember that the wild card team likely goes on to play Texas–and face Cliff Lee twice–in a short series.

The Yankees are good, great even, but it’s going to take over 100 wins to take the AL East (and quite possibly the Wild Card), so it would behoove them to try to utilize every possible advantage.  Even if it means Derek Jeter should not hit lead off.

Share on Facebook

Okay. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in. Breath out.

Calmer? No? Let’s try it again. Breathe in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.

Okay then. Let’s get to it.

The Yankees have some serious problems going on right now. In order of perceived importance, I will list them as follow:

1) Injuries. Nick Johnson, Jorge Posada, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, now Marcus Thames, and God knows what Andy Pettitte’s elbow is thinking.

2) A bullpen that is, well, doing it’s best to imitate Arizona (if you’re not familiar, look it up).

3) Derek Jeter

4) Marcus Thames in the field, anywhere

Wow. You know what’s impressive? Javier Vazquez doesn’t even make the list, and still I guarantee someone will find a way to blame Javy.

Anyway, let’s go through these, as best we can. Let’s identify the problems, and, if possible, offer some solutions.

1) Injuries.

This is far and away the biggest issue the Yankees have right now. Nick Johnson and Jorge Posada are more or less sidelined for at least a month–with Johnson, probably longer. Curtis Granderson has been out basically a month. Nick Swisher has a funky bicep. Marcus Thames tripped over his my-god-we’re-the-Mets bat. Andy Pettitte has a somewhat fragile elbow.

It is, unfortunately, becoming reminiscent of 2008, when the Yankees were depleted by injuries and unable to recover. The difference is that the starting pitching is a lot better than it was in 2008, but no team can loose nearly half of it’s regular batting order and not suffer.

In some instances, it’s almost easier for a team when a player suffers a long term injury, since it allows management more flexibility in terms of roster management. When players are nicked and bruised, but not enough for the DL, the team can’t really make a whole lot of moves.

Tonight, the bench was Ramiro Peña and he had to come in and play for Thames. What, I wonder, would have happened had someone else been hurt or ejected? Can Boone Logan play left field? Does David Robertson know how to swing a bat?

There’s no easy fix for injuries, unless a team has a stacked farm system (at the upper levels, the Yankees do not) or else a very, very deep and well constructed 40 man roster.

Do the Yankees have enough depth? It’s hard to say, and this brings me to point two.

2) The Arson Squad

If your ace pitches you seven innings of one run ball and your team has a lead of more than one run, you have to hold that lead in the eighth inning. You absolutely have to.

Right now, there is no one in the Yankee bullpen that can necessarily be trusted to accomplish this task. This is a problem as much as the Yankees not really having a long reliever, thus the necessity of Javier Vazquez appearing out of the bullpen.

If Joe Girardi is going to carry an eight man bullpen, and we know how much he loves his lefty pitchers, the bullpen men have got to find a way to get the job done–we can only expect Randy Winn, Ramiro Peña and Juan Miranda to stage so many ninth inning comebacks.

The Year of the Walkoff was wonderful, but it isn’t still 2009. The Yankees can’t assume that what worked for them last season will work for them this season.

That brings me to problem three.

3) Derek Jeter

Let’s say your team is trailing by a manageable, still-tie-able-with-one-swing four runs.

Let’s say you’re the home team and you’ve got the bases loaded in the sixth inning, and the starter looks absolutely cooked.

Let’s say you’re the batter at the plate and you’ve gone up 3-0. You’re the leadoff man, which means the team’s best hitters are right behind you.

You have utterly got to find a way to get on base and keep the inning rolling. Forget a grand slam or even a hit; on a 3-0 count, a walk is a very real possibility. It’s one thing if you’re battling Greinke or Halladay, but Wade Davis, as far as I know, is not one of those two.

Larger picture: if you’re playing with a short lineup–and for the forseeable future, the Yankees will be–the Yankees’ lead off man has got to actually be able to work counts and get on base. Derek Jeter hasn’t been doing much of that recently.

Tonight, two various lineup solutions, using the current cast of characters, presented themselves.

1: Keep the line up as is, but switch Garder and Jeter, and 2: Drop Jeter way down and have Gardner-Cervelli hit 1-2.

I’m a fan of option two.

Last season, Jeter was moved to the leadoff position in order to keep away from the double play, given his ground ball proclivities (as we saw the other day, nearly 70%).

Speedy McSpeederson works counts, makes contact on pitches in the strike zone, steals bases, is a fan-dubbed “professional wreakor of havoc” and has a nice, shiny, Nick Johnsian .405 OBP. (Derek Jeter has a .312 OBP. Um. Yeah. That’s not gonna do it).

Yes, there is a very real argument to be made that Gardner’s OBP is unsustainable. It probably his–his .364 BABIP is likely unsustainable as well.

That doesn’t mean you can’t ride him while he’s hot, so to speak, and for the time being, hit him lead off. He may yet surprise us.

This brings us to who hits second in the lineup.

If Jeter hits second again, you once again bring up the double play possibilities. Yes, Gardner is fast, but Jeter’s nigh-on-70% ground ball rate–and many of these are ground balls to short or second–is just asking for it. You can’t ask Gardner to be beating out double plays nine times out of ten.

So, who do you, in a short line up, hit second?

You’re probably not going to move Teixeira or A-Rod out of the three and four spots. Robinson Canó, doncha know, is the someone that is needed to protect A-Rod, May OPS’s of .660 notwithstanding.

After Canó, you hit The Dropoff, where the lineup goes from one of the best in the Majors, to something that could maybe work in the National League Central, with, if we assume Thames is out for a few games at least, Cervelli-Miranda-Winn-Peña.

Of those four, Cervelli is the one that is most intriguing.

Cervelli never was supposed to hit, at all, but he keeps doing that–and not just hitting, but finding ways to advance a runner when need be. He’s pretty fast–especially for a catcher, and, well, he’s already hitting sixth.

Okay, so his BABIP of .429 is the definition of unsustainable, but again, we’re talking about a ride-em-while-they’re-hot philosophy.

For just one game, it can’t hurt too much to try it, right? I know Girardi never will, but trying just once might do something–when the Yankees were going rough, Joe Torre would completley screw with the lineup, just to see if he could get the team back on track.

It might be time for Girardi to try it.

Look, Jeter’s slash line is .266/.312/.387. He hasn’t hit under .270 since 1995–the year he broke in. With the exception of 1995, he’s never had an OBP worse than .350, and never a slugging percentage under .400.

In short, Jeter, in his age 36 season, and in a walk year–when players typically outperform their expectations–is thus far having the worst season of his career. The April numbers are respectable enough, but May’s .189/.268 /.230/.498 is downright scary.

I realize that with some luck, this is just Jeter playing through some minor injury and that come June he’ll get back to being Jeter, but right now, him hitting lead off is actively hurting the team.

The Yankees have a short line up; their lead off hitter has got to be able to get on base.

And, lastly, we have number four:

4) Marcus Thames should never play the field. Ever.

If it’s not self explanatory, go and watch him play in the outfield. Bring some tissues with you, baseball fan, because I can almost guarantee that it will make you cry, because you could have probably fielded better than that.

Share on Facebook

Note: Statistics on B-Ref have not been updated to include last night’s game. With the exception of GB/FB/LD % (fangraphs), all other stats are taken from B-Ref.

Last night, before Alex Rodriguez was Alex Rodriguez and tied the game, RAB writer Ben Kabak posed a question via Twitter:

“Remember when Derek Jeter was good?”

Indeed.

It feels like it’s been a while, doesn’t it?

Now, I know that being a Yankee fan and criticizing Derek Jeter is like Judas’ kiss, Benedict Arnold and Ephialtes (what, you don’t know your Spartan history?) rolled into one, and that there’s no more treacherous thing I could do short of donning a Jason Varitek jersey, but sometimes it’s necessary.

Thus far in the season, Jeter is batting .269/.310/.400/.710, all marks, especially the batting average, among the lowest of his career.

Players, even great players, slump. It’s not the first time that Derek Jeter has slumped, and it likely won’t be the last. It happens, and assuming it won’t is setting our expectations much too high.

That said, it is the duty and responsibility of the lead off hitter to get on base.

Let me see if I can sum up the argument I’ve read from the fine folks over at BP:

The lead off hitter, because he hits first in the line up, is guaranteed the most at bats in a game. Ideally, then, the team would hit their best hitters lead off, but since the prevailing philosophy remains, rightly or wrongly, that there should actually be runners on base for Albert and A-Rod, the lead off hitter remains the guy that gets on base, and, in an ideal world, wreaks Gardnerian havoc on the basepath.

You can reach first base in a couple of ways: the ideal way would be to get a hit, but walking (or getting hit by a pitch) also work. Case in point: Nick Johnson.

Pre-injury (2010 injury), Johnson had a batting average of just .167, but an on-base percentage of .388, meaning that he still reached base nearly four out of every ten at bats–an incredible, if not quite Bondsian, number. How does one do this?

By walking.

Okay, so Nick Johnson walks so much it’s little wonder why he earned the name OBP-Jesus. Most ballplayers aren’t going to be like him. That’s okay, but it brings me back to Jeter, and his role as a lead off hitter.

If Derek Jeter is hitting lead off and not, well, hitting, then he needs to be walking. And Derek Jeter is not walking.

Through 36 games, Jeter has walked seven times. That’s one walk every 5.14 games, or, one walk every 24 plate appearances (171 ABs).

For comparison’s sake, last year, Jeter walked at a rate of once every 9.94 (okay, 10) plate appearances. In 2008, a very not-Derek-Jeter year for the Captain, he still walked once every 12.8 plate appearances.

If Derek Jeter’s batting average is not a concern, given that hitters do slump, then perhaps his walk rate–especially as long as he is hitting lead-off, ought to be one.

It’s especially a concern because thus far, Jeter’s fly balls and line drives are down, while ground balls are up.

As much as we may want to blame the Gods of the BABIP, consistently hitting ground ball outs does not bode well for statistical correction. It’s far too early and small a sample size to tell if this is a sign that Jeter’s finally start to show his age, but a lead off hitter who isn’t walking and is hitting almost 70% ground outs is not going to do your team many favors.

Jeter has had plenty of slumps in the past, and has shown us all that he can hit his way out of them, time and again, but the question is, how long do you let the said slump go before you consider taking action? If this was Brett Gardner, and your other starting outfielders were all healthy, how long before you give him a day off?

While the Yankees keep winning, it’s easy to downplay the concerns, but the concerns are burgeoning.

Share on Facebook

(Brief recap because it’s 2 AM and I want to sleep)

Just call them the Gods of OBP.

In Oakland tonight (err, this morning?), the Yankees managed a 7-3 win over the Athletics with only five hits–but they were helped by their ten walks.

Yankees’ starter Javier Vazquez was spotted a three run lead before he even threw a pitch; although Vazquez was not particularly efficient with his pitch count, he pitched well enough to win, and would have likely remained in the game longer had Curtis Granderson not misplayed a fly ball he should have caught.

Boone Logan made his Yankee debut, and seemed to be doing all right until coming undone after a Derek Jeter miscue (one which could have been called an error, but was not.)

Home Plate umpire Ed Rapuano took a foul ball off the mask; he left the game one batter later and as of this writing, had been taken by ambulance to a hospital for a CT scan. Here’s hoping that he is not seriously hurt.

Share on Facebook

As we all expected, Derek Jeter was officially named Sports Illustrated‘s Sportsman of the Year for 2009, the first Yankee to ever receive the honor.

As part of said honor, he did a Q+A with Tom Verducci, the full text of which can be found here.

This is my favorite part:

SI: You received a lot of attention for breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for most hits by a Yankee. With less fanfare, though, you broke Luis Aparicio’s record for most hits by a shortstop. How important was that to you?

DJ: I didn’t even know about that record until two days before. We were in Seattle. A reporter asked me about it. I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I had no idea. No idea whatsoever. I was unaware of it. But it’s hard to believe, when you think about it.

There’s a lot of good stuff there, including why Jeter would have not known if anyone in his clubhouse was using (or so he says dun dun dun), and how Jeter would one day like to own–not coach or manage, but own–a baseball team.

Because “it’d be fun.”

Hey, isn’t that why we all got into this game in the first place?

Share on Facebook

Deadspin’s sister site Gawker is saying that Derek Jeter is rumored to be Sports Illustrated’s 2009 Sportsman of the Year.

The fun part about things like this is that, depending on the way you look at things, Jeter might not even be the sportsman of the year on his own team (me? I’m a fan of giving the award to the entire team, but that’s another story).

The Yankee Captain earned his fifth World Series ring in 2009 and broke the record for all time hits as a Yankee, though he’s still about two seasons away from hit number 3000.

We’ll see soon enough if the rumor is confirmed, but as it is, enjoy your Thanksgiving leftovers and enjoy the weekend.

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook