It's mid-October, so it's time for the Yankees to stop hitting. So far, the "Bombers" have played 30 innings of baseball against the Tigers. New York scored four runs in the ninth inning of game 1, and scores one run in the ninth inning of game three -- and that's been it. The Yankees wasted another excellent pitching performance as they were totally dominated by Justin Verlander, and fell 2-1 in Detroit. The Yanks now trail 3-0, and their season will probably be over very soon.
So far, Detroit has won six games in the post-season, and Verlander has three of those wins. The Tigers are not a great team, but thanks to Verlander (and Miguel Cabrera) they are a great post-season team.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best of 7):
San Francisco and St. Louis are tied 1-1
AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best of 7):
Detroit leads New York 3-0
Is it because the Yankees are so reliant on the long ball? What has changed since the time when they actually won world series?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I thought of doing a whole comparison between the 1996-2001 Yankees -- who were excellent in the post-season -- and the 2004-2011 Yankees, who were pretty dreadful. But I don't have time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's simply A-Rod.
ReplyDeleteHe's a big part of the problem. Here are his post-season batting averages in series where the Yankees were eliminated:
ReplyDelete2004 ALCS: .258
2005 ALDS: .133
2006 ALDS: .071
2007 ALDS: .267
2010 ALCS: .190
2011 ALDS: .111
So far, he is 1-7 against Detroit, for a batting average of .143.