Shock and Awe

         “Is he changing the pitcher again?  Come on…”  The Mrs. was tired.  She wanted to go to bed.  Tomorrow is the first day of school for the kids in NYC, and even though the teachers were back for part of last week, tomorrow is showtime.  We were in the living room, watching the Yankees start something curious.  Our favorite player, Bernie Williams (full disclosure: King Bernabe has been the Mrs. favorite player for ten years – he has been mine since Paul O’Neill retired), had just laid off a 3-2 pitch, earning himself a walk to load the bases with nobody out.  The Yankees were still down two, following a Jorge Posada bomb.  All of this was great, but the Mrs. soon realized that she had painted herself into a corner.  She was all for a Yankee victory and all, but she also needed to get to bed.  And she knew there was no way I was going to let her budge now that I had decided that she was the good-luck cog that was making this whole comeback machine work.  She was stuck.  Me, I was diligently trying to figure out what else I needed to do.  Of course.  How could I have been so careless?  I sprinted into the “blue room” to grab the lucky hat, which was resting uselessly on the shelf above the closet.  Damon was already stepping into the batter’s box, so I had to act fast.  You see, I’m not really sure when the good luck from the hat officially kicks in.  If I put the hat on after the first pitch, does it negate the whole at-bat, or does it kick in from the second I put it on?  I think the latter, but I’ve never really wanted to test it.  So I reached for the cap on jammed it on my head in one quick motion, pivoting to run back down the hall.  I’m sure MaryAnn (downstairs neighbor) was thrilled with me at this point.  As I’m halfway back into the living room Johnny rips his base hit.  Tie game.  Beautiful.  More bad news for the Mrs.  She wasn’t going anywhere.  Lucky hat firmly in place, the walls started crumbling down all over the poor, hapless Royals.  They would not be spoilers on this night.

        I’ll make this comment.  I said this to the Mrs. after the top of the seventh (I’m pretty sure, in fact I hope, she wasn’t listening), and I’ll repeat it now.  I know the popular refrain will be along the lines of, “Tough break for Luke Hudson.  He pitched such a masterpiece.  He deserved this game.”  You know what?  I don’t totally agree.  I am well aware of the Yankees paralysis against pitchers they haven’t faced before.  I understand that there are some nights when pitchers just have it.  I’ve seen enough performances like that in my life to be able to be objective about it, I think.  But if you watched the game and you watched his performance, it was not that lights-out.  Don’t get me wrong.  The kid pitched a great game.  But there were a few things that jumped out at me.  First of all, the kid gave up nine hits in seven innings.  That’s more than the rest of the bullpen gave up combined, and they got shelled for 11 runs.  The Yankees left a runner (at least one) in scoring position in five of the seven innings he pitched.  And he got some tremendous gifts from home plate umpire Greg Gibson.  First of all, Gibson punched out Bobby Abreu twice on balls that were nowhere near the strike zone.  Truly awful calls.  One of those calls was with first and third and one out.  Talk about a huge call.  Second, and most egregiously, Gibson called David DeJesus safe on a play at the plate in which he never touched home plate.  No doubt about it, absolutely conclusive on the replay.  So put one run on the board, take one out off the board, and credit the choke to Greg Gibson.  Later in the inning, with 2 outs, the Royals score again.  Terrible job by Gibson, Christmas presents for Hudson.  There was a lot of that in the first seven innings of this game.  The Yankees got a lot of hits, and a lot of extra base hits, but they got them in the wrong order.  The doubles were with two outs.  Jeter made a terrible play after his base hit, getting nailed at second with Damon already at third and one out.  Hudson wiggled out of a lot of jams despite getting himself in trouble, and his luck was due to run out.  And it ran out.  The Yankees pounded the ball tonight.  Luke Hudson pitched very well and had great fortune for seven innings.  But he was not dominating and he was not lights-out.  And one more thing he was not; victorious.

        I’ve run out of superlatives for this team.  They just really seem to be a crush machine right now.  The Royals, and Luke Hudson, have had a nice little giggle playing spoiler the last few weeks.  Hope it was fun, guys.  But this ain’t the Red Sox.

        Derek Jeter is only 2 points behind Joe Mauer in the batting race.  I don’t think Mauer will win.  First off, it’s so tough as a catcher, which we’ve all heard ad nauseam, because of the nature of the position.  The other part of that, though, is that there can be no days off.  I can remember distinctly Wade Boggs, Nomar Garciaparra, and Bill Mueller (hmmm, what do all of those guys have in common?) taking the last few games (a week in Nomar’s case) of the season off to win their batting titles.  Mauer can’t do that, because he’s the catcher.  You need the catcher.  Especially in a pennant race.  I don’t know that it will be Jeter either.  But I don’t think it will be Mauer.  And don’t look now, but Robbie Cano is just 6 points behind Jeter.  And he might be hitting ninth in another two weeks.  This team is sick…

         I have on word to describe the Res Sox walk-off against the White Sox tonight.  Amusing.

        Lucky, I’m afraid I didn’t convey my thought clearly.  My point was that I would rather see the Athletics than the Angels because the Angels are kryptonite for the Yankees, but on paper I should be reticent due to the fact that the Yankees are 3-6 against the Athletics this year.  Although my position is based on the fact that the Yankees are, without a doubt, a far better team than the Athletics, and if they lose to them in the playoffs, short series or no, it will be a major upset.  Gjp, I won’t bust your chops, because I often due the same thing, but we should all think twice before we use the phrase “out of reach” with this team.  Happymeds, I am a big “home field” guy, as I’ve said.  I guess where I was coming from is that even if the Royals secure some massive upset and win two of three, the most we’ll lose is one game to somebody in a home field race, because sweeps are rare this time of year.  And the only reason I would think to bring it up is that the Royals have had this “super-spoiler” reputation of late…

         Tony Sherry and I may head out to Richmond County ball park in Staten Island (about 100 steps from Tony’s apartment) tomorrow to catch the S.I. Yankees game, but more importantly to watch the Ferocious Lion work out and hit BP with the team.  Tony’s dream come true – his favorite player right across the street.  Me, my dream come true comes a little closer to the end of October….

        Seannie!  Your boy's back up and ready to fire!