Further Thoughts on the ALDS

-Waking up yesterday, I was befuddled at the mass agreement that Byrd shouldn't pitch, that you should send Sabathia out on 3 days rest, that Torre knew what he was doing, and Wedge did not. Howard Bryant was the most egregious , but in no ways alone (Rob Neyer and just about everybody at CNN were similar in their opinions. I kept wondering why they accepted this so easily. First, who said it was a good idea to send Wang out on 3 days rest, that just because he was in Yankees stadium, he wouldn't be tired? And that was totally the case (1 IP, 4 ER). Secondly, I know Byrd had a relatively high ERA, and the Yankees had owned him in the past. But he also had 15 wins this year. 15. You don't get 15 wins by luck or accident. Byrd wasn't perfect, but he had enough skill and grit to grind out 15 wins. It was a huge disservice to him as a pitcher to act like Sabathia was the only logical choice (he who, only once in his life, pitched on 3 days rest). Hats off to Byrd, and to Wedge for sticking by him. And he used him perfectly - Byrd got the 5 innings the Tribe needed, the bullpen did the rest, and now the Tribe will have Sabathia and Carmona ready 1-2 for the Red Sox. So, Howard Bryant et al? EAT IT.

-For all the praise the Yankees offense gets (the general narrative this year having been, "They score, but their pitching is shakey"), the following stat is rather telling:
Two-out hitting with RISP
Indians 12-24
Yankees 0-7

Did the Yankees probably get cold at the wrong time? Sure. And I know they scored more runs than anybody in the regular season. But if one team is batting .500 in those scenarios, they are doing an amazing job; if you're putting up an 0-for in that key "2-outs w/RISP", well...that's just not good. And it means your hitters aren't producing.

-The Indians hitters were lights out. They were patient, they were smart, they played small-ball AND could (and did) hit it deep. Sizemore was 6-16 (.375); Martinez was 6-17 (.353); Garko, 4-11 (.364); and while Hafner was only 4-16 (.250), he also walked 5 times and scored 4 runs in 4 games. The heart of the order got the job done, with great aid from others like Shoppach yesterday (2-3), Nixon (2-4), and Cleveland Indians hero Kenny Lofton (also 6-16).

The Yankees? Not so much. Of course, the New York media and frenzied fans will pile on A-Rod (4-15, 1 RBI on his solo-shot yesterday), but he's not alone. Damon was 5-18 (.278), and when you take out his great game on Sunday, he was 2-14; Abreu was an average 4-15 (.267); Posada, 2-15 (.133); Matsui, 2-11 (.182); and "Mr. Clutchiosity", Derek Jeter himself, was 3-17 (.176). Barring Shelley Duncan (who only had 4 at-bats), only Robinson Cano hit above .300 (5-15, .333). So the Yankees stunk it up, and Jeter should be nailed even harder than A-Rod for his failure to perform. His defenders can say, "he's done it in the past" all they want, but last time I checked, your team doesn't measure success by what you did in 2000.

-With all that production, this is particularly delightful: the Yankees' 2007 payroll was $189 million; the Tribe's - $61 million. Clemens, Jeter, and A-Rod made more this year than the entire Indians roster. The Tribe has the second lowest payroll of the AL. I can't say what an amazing job Mark Shapiro has done, putting that team together, with limited funds and no room for errors on a bad 6-million dollar signing. And it's just great that he put together a team that, with less than 1/3 the payroll, took down the Yankees.

-I totally agree with Rev. Paperboy in this thread: "Just caught this headline on CNN:"Yankees get spanked"So the story is that the fabulous New York Yankees, america's favorite sports brand-name label lost -- not that the plucky Cleveland Indians, who have not won a world series since the 1950's and were playing against the richest team in MLB, won. What a crock! I suppose the headline after the next presidential election will be "America's Mayor defeated"". While I hope he's right about the "America's Mayor" part, it's just crap that the Yankees "lost" this, and the Indians didn't "win" it. Last I checked, Indians had better pitching (which is what matters in playoffs anyways), and won 2 more games in the regular season than the Yankees. So credit where credit's due, here.

-So much for 0-6 in the regular season. Hopefully, people will stop using regular season results in head-to-head matchups (especially when the latter series was the beginning of August) to predict how playoffs will go. October is a different issue. End. Of. Question.

-In the managing department, Wedge totally outmanaged Torre. You can look at a number of Torre decisions, and say, "that probably wasn't a good idea" (leaving Chamberlain in in game 2; Wang on 3 days rest; and so on). And that just isn't because the Indians won - even had the Yanks won, people would scratch their heads; they'd just say, "but they made it, so....". Wedge only had one probable mistake - leaving Trot Nixon in Sunday after Clemens went out. After that, he was perfect. He left Sabathia in just long enough. He let Carmona lead them to extra innings. He managed his batting lineup great. He handled the bullpen perfectly. He had faith in his players (most notably, but in no way singularly, Byrd). All the credit should go to Eric Wedge. He knew what he was doing. And yet almost nobody is giving him the credit he deserves (the CNN article only gets to Wedge's great managing on pg. 2 here, and it only warrants 3 2-line paragraphs). Is Torre's probable departure huge news? Absolutely. But it isn't the only managerial story here, and we should remember that.

-All that said, I love my Sawx fans, but you got your World Series 3 years ago - Tribe nation has waited 59 years. GO TRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!