yankees228

The Yankees best hitter right now cannot play the field, therefore the DH spot is occupied.

No explanation for the Yankees performance from 1998 and on, Gom?

I'm not going to re-state all my arguments from the other thread, because this is just getting redundant. However, I'll ask you one question. Jorge Posada has been the primary catcher since 1998. If the catcher has such an large effect on wins and losses (and Posada has such a negative impact), then why have the Yankees been so successful?

Good win.

The bullpen, outside of Rivera and Coke, leaves a lot to be desired.

Well that was bound to happen eventually. Huge spot here for Melancon. EDIT: Gardner needs to be able to cut that ball off and keep the game tied. The Yankees have been extremely lucky all night, and it was going to run out eventually.

It was Mantle's 535th home run. Denny McLain received no negative backlash for that, if I recall correctly, so how is that a valid comparison?

These same reports were surfacing prior to this weekend.

Ryan Howard

I honestly think that what people tend to forget is that a short series goes against everything that is normal about Major League Baseball. In a sport where sample size is so key, the postseason does not give things a chance to even out. But all that aside, and I promise this is the last time I'll mention it, A-Rod really hasn't been that bad in the postseason (what Kilo said plus 2004).

In 2008 Bruney, although injured for much of the year, pitched pretty well at the beginning and at the end of the season. In 2007 he pitched well for the first three months of the season. The Yankees are going to miss that.

He definitely has control problems, but he had been pretty solid so far this year. Who knows, maybe he was turning a corner. This loss hurts an already poor bullpen.

Yeah, well I admit that the second round might have been a bit early to take him. But I guess the thing is that I view him as an ace, and someone that will only improve. His strikeout, walk, and home run numbers are excellent. And after starting off well in his first two years with the A's, he has really taken off in his last two with the A's and the D-Backs. I guess I view it as giving me more than just consistency.

I'll take Danny Haren

I'l ignore the fact that you're critiquing how A-Rod chews gum, and his apparent twitches, and pass that off as you simply making up things to prove a point, but that is pretty ridiculous. However, lets just deal with the facts. Take a look at how A-Rod hits in September, during his time with the Yankees. It tends to be one of his best months.

Again, I already told you that I read that book, but I'll just restate it one more time just so I don't get asked that again... I read "The Yankee Years" by Tom Verducci. I think that's now as clear as it's going to be. I'll start with what you said about the book, before I touch specifically on whether or not A-Rod is clutch. The fact of the matter is, you can't compare him to those other guys for a variety of different reasons. Kevin Brown was relatively ineffective as a Yankee besides his first couple months here, and one good playoffs start (where he got lucky a few times). Carl Pavano was an incredible disappointment, and I don't think further explanation of this is necessary. They say a lot of positive things in the book about Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, only dropping a few negatives in here and there. There was an entire chapter written about Alex Rodriguez. They attack almost everything about him. They try to paint the fact that he stays in and watches baseball while Derek Jeter goes out to bars and clubs as a negative. A large portion of that chapter pokes fun at how A-Rod reads the depth of outfielders when he reaches base. Yeah, it's a little bit exaggerated, but one of the most underrated parts about A-Rod is the way he runs the bases. He almost always gets excellent breaks on balls when he's on the bases, usually knowing when and when not a bloop or line drive is going to fall in. So whatever he is doing, it's working, so he should keep it up. However, there is nothing in the book about how well he runs the bases. They put in the book that A-Rod couldn't attend a dinner honoring Joe Torre's organization because, as Torre had suspected, he would want to spend time with his wife during her pregnancy. Why is that even relevant? There are a few other things that bothered me, but I don't have the book in front of me so I'm just naming things off the top of my head. Alex Rodriguez, from 2004 to 2008 was one of the most productive players in baseball. Without him, I highly doubt that they even make the playoffs in 2005 and 2007. And the clutch argument has everything to do with sample size. Baseball is a sport where things are meant to even out over a long period of time. That is why a short series, in the postseason, goes against everything that is common in baseball. And that is also why the best team does not always come out on top. The playoffs are a crapshoot, and player's performances in the playoffs are a crapshoot. Lets take 2005 for example. What is more telling, a 162 game regular season or a 5 game postseason? I don't think it would take a genius to figure this one out. Again, I'll restate the general question that I asked you in my previous post, which you completely ignored. Why was A-Rod able to succeed with the Mariners in the postseason and with the Yankees in the 2004 postseason? Why isn't he always bad in the playoffs? Why was he awesome in 2007, when the game was on the line? I don't really believe in the clutch factor, but even for those people who do, they conveniently ignore when someone like A-Rod does succeed in those situations. People have it set in their mind that he is so "unclutch", so they simply ignore the evidence that is to the contrary.

26-6, we're re-winding history here, prior to 2004. You're calling A-Rod unclutch... For starters, I don't believe in that, for the most part, but I won't even touch that debate. Take a look at A-Rod's postseason numbers prior to being a Yankee.

Yeah, the Red Sox home runs all series have not been cheap ones at all.

Why would you ever go away to Ortiz, especially with a hitter's count?

Its been entirely on Burnett's fastball.