After “A Game 6 Texas Should Have Won,” The Cardinals celebrate “Number 11 in 11.”

Spanish Harlem, NY - The Cardinals counted on veteran starter Chris Carpenter in a decisive 2011 Fall Classic game and he came through after giving up just two runs in the first inning. Carpenter, who had tossed a three-hit shutout vs. the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the Division Series, took the hill with everything on the line again and the two runs he surrendered over six innings of pitching would be all the Texas Rangers would muster in the final decisive game – making St. Luis ‘World’ Champions for the 11th time in franchise history. So, a slogan emerged from this accomplishment: “The numero 11th on the 11.”

Carpenter who had beaten the Rangers in Game 1, also had limited them to two runs over six innings in St. Louis' 3-2 win. Carpenter squared off against Texas left-hander Matt Harrison who had gotten knocked around for five runs (three earned) on six hits through 3 2/3 innings in a 16-7 loss in Game 3.

So it was that after St. Louis, down to its final strike on two occasions in Game 6 on Thursday, stunned Texas, and winning 10-9 on David Freese's walk-off solo home run off reliever Mark Lowe in the 11th inning to force Game 7.

It will long be remembered in Game 6 -- that one strike on multiple occasions -- was all that separated the Texas Rangers from winning their first World Series.

After losing to the San Francisco Giants in 2010, once again, World Series accolades and history was denied to Texas whose former owner and President George W Bush would be seen in every home game in Arlington.

St. Luis with their remarkable late-season run and the incredible Game 6 victory became the team of destiny.

Kudos to the Latino players in both teams with outstanding performances and in some cases what characterizes baseball – really: a game mostly of failure.

Albert Pujols hit 3 homeruns in one game – a feat done by two other players in WS history.

Boricua Yadier Molina with his excellent catching of every game for the Cardinals batted .333 with 9 RBI; and Mexican Jaime Garcia who pitched Game 2 did not allow a run in 7 innings of that game (Cardinals would lose 2-1).

For Texas Adrián Beltre batted .300 and one of his homeruns against Chris Carpenter in Game 5 contributed to the Texas victory by tying the game a 2-2. Nelson Cruz saw his NCL performance of batting .364 reduced to .200 and his home run total of 6 go down to 2, his presence in the lineup was always a threat. His almost smacked third home run of the series off Chris Carpenter in Game 7 was evident of that.

Alexi Orgando had a poor WS. His ERA was 10.12 in 6 game appearances even though it all summed up to 2.2 innings pitched, but he gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits while walking mucho batters: a whopping 7 total ( struck out 3 and gave up a home run).

Neftalí Feliz saved Games 2 and game 5, but blew a save in the crucial game 6. His last name which also means Happy in Spanish was not lived up to in a game that will go down as “The Game Texas Should Have Won.”

First Published in www.latinosports.com

A.J. Burnett on location to redemption with Boston deeper in frustration in 6-2 loss to Yanks

El Bronx - What kind of pitching performance could be expected from two pitchers with an ERA over 5? For one team (Boston’s Tim Wakefield 7-7, 5.08) it was practically a do or die time with 5 games remaining; for the other it was a rest-some- players (Granderson, Cano and Teixeira) while its starting pitcher A.J. Burnett (10-11, 5.28)was auditioning for a role in the post season.

The Red Sox entered the first of this twin bill (two separate admission games in one day) with a 5-17 record since September 2nd – the worst in the Majors during the month and were hanging for life to enter the postseason as an AL Wild Card team with a 1.5 game lead over the Rays.

A Call for Jorge Posada

By the end of the third inning 45 year old Tim Wakefield was catching up to his ERA (no ageist comment please) by allowing 4 runs (3 earned). In the 5th, he allowed his fifth run before departing. The first 2 runs came in the bottom of the first featuring two bunt singles by Bret Gardner and Derek Jeter, two stolen bases by both, an error and a passed ball by the catcher and a Wakefield wild pitch. In the bottom of the third Jorge smacked a two-run home run. Fans would not stop calling his name until he came out for a curtain call one pitch into the next batter.

Burnett on the mound through six, then seventh and…

Burnett on the other hand, through 5 innings had allowed just two hits: a single in the first and a homerun to Jacoby Ellsbury (29) on the top of the fourth. Burnett watchers know that from the fifth on it can all be downhill for Burnett and his ERA takes a hit. And that is because hits come in bunches interspersed with base on balls and a wild pitch here and there, if not a homerun.

Entered the 6th and all he allowed was another homerun with the bases empty. Once again it was Jacoby Ellsbury who got his 30th and his 100 RBI of the season. Big Papi Ortiz opened the 7th with a hit to right but Adrian Gonzalez’s sharp grounder to first resulted in a double play before the next batter made the last out of the inning. Later AJ would praise first baseman Brandon Laird, but also noted the importance of his covering first base on the play.

AJ in the House?

Marco Scutaro open the 8th with a double to center but Burnett struck out – bear with me – Jarrod Saltalamacchia (come on Anglo press, does he have to be Latino, do we have to wait till he makes it to call him J-Sal?) and Mike Aviles.

Skipper Joe Giraldi decided that Ellsbury had seen enough of Burnett so he brought in David Robertson. The crowd was seemingly was ecstatic with AJ and gave him roaring round of applause and ovation. Mid-way to the dugout Burnett tipped his cap to the crowd for which the fans reacted with increased joy. His line score would read 7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks with 6 strike outs (2HR). And at the end of the afternoon, A.J. Burnett evened his win-loss record to 11-11, lowered his ERA some and maybe something else may come out of this for him. Dave Robertson finished the game with 1 1/3 innings and 3 Ks.

Post-game Quotes and then some.

Joe Girardi said that there would be meetings in Tampa to think about AJ’s role in the post season. “Very pleased with his outing …did a nicehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif job.” The skipper attributed AJ’s ability to be on location and his use of his curve. He indicated that who would be the Yankees opponent would also figure in the decision. He praised Jorge Posada whom he had penciled in as the clean-up hitter. “He was in the middle of the offense,” he said.

Published at www.latinosports.com on 2011-09-25

Last games of the Season and ‘The collapse heard around the world’

El Barrio, Spanish Harlem – NY: What could be more frightening in today’s world besides a monetary collapse? Well, for a baseball fan who may be aware of the nature of the economy and its pits and falls, it could be their team team’s collapse going towards the finish line: having the lead of their division wither away and then lose it in the final game of the season. In the case of Boston it was losing their hold on the Wild Card. The surging Tampa Rays would win a trip to the post season instead of Boston.

For Yankee fans, whose use of the word “hate” is part of their vocabulary against the Red Sox – so much so that Yankees starting catcher Russell Martin got into the act – the amazing collapse of Boston was a moment of rejoice.

In fact, that the Yankees helped in the matter by losing 3 straight games against the Tampa Rays, makes one wonder if, for those last 3 games of the season, Yankee fans were not terribly disappointed, in particular the last two, in the way the Rays had terrific comebacks to win those games. In fact, did Russell Martin hit into a triple-play on purpose?

To speak in terms of the ‘collapse heard around the word’ as the reader may or may not know is a take from "Shot Heard 'round the World" in baseball history (the phrase was borrowed from other historical circumstance but that is another subject).

Far from this past Wednesday’s date of September 28th of terrific baseball, making one wishing for split screens on a huge TV monitor to watch 4 games, but speaking of a distant past, on October 3rd 1951, the Brooklyn Dodgers had as August 11 a 14 ½ lead over the New York Giants and would have an incredible collapse.

To make a long story short, at the end of the season both teams wound up with identical records (96-58). To determine the winner of the NL Pennant that year, a best-of-three-games showdown took place. The team split the first two games. The Dodgers were winning the deciding game 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth at the Polo Grounds, Harlem’s home of the NY Giants. But the Giants would win the game in walk-off fashion. The bottom of the 9th rally produced 4 runs, the last 3 on a walk-off home run by Bobby Thompson of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca. The term walk-off was not used then, as there were other differences worth noting and may be read at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_Heard_%27Round_the_World_%28baseball%29.

Coming back to the future, the Boston Red Sox had to win their last game after a terrible month of losing against the pesky Orioles while the Tampa Rays lose to the Yankees. How many Boston faithful were rooting for New York? But if both would win, it would have been a tie and a one-game showdown between the Rays and Red Sox in Tampa the next day.

So, if the Yankees did not help the Red Sox by winning, it was up to you, Boston. Now granted, Frank Sinatra never sang a song “It’s up to you, Boston,” but it was up to them. Leading the game 3-2 going to the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon could not hold that lead after he registered the first two outs. The Orioles were real spoilers and after the walk-off hit by Robert Andino they celebrated as if it were them going to the playoffs. There have been other collapses for Boston, but could this be the mother of all collapses?

The Atlanta Braves had its own collapse; the St. Luis Cardinals, as the Rays, had an end of the season surge worth commenting and their story was also part of the “Last games of the Season and The collapse heard around the world.”

William Gerena Rochet is the Baseball Editor for Latino Sports.

First Game 1 of the ALDS between Tigers and Yankees rain suspended: resumes the day after.

El Bronx, NY - And then the rain came – again. In the course of this season the Yankees have played to 22 rain delays and have had a total of 9 rain-outs. With the score tied at 1-1 after 1 ½ innings around 9:07 PM the umpires called for the tarp to cover the infield. Speaking to a Latino Sports cohort Bobby Ciarfardini, in this instance working for Bronxnet TV, he told this writer that it would cause a problem for the starting pitchers to return if the day is too long. By 9:40 the tarp was removed and the grounds crew began to recondition the field for play. Then around 8 minutes later the rain came – again. The matchup of two of the American League’s top pitchers, Detroit Tiger’s Justin Verlander and the Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia was not to be completed by them.

Sabathia started the first inning striking out the first two batters he faced. But the third, right handed batter Delmon Young, hit an opposite field homerun to give the Tigers the lead. Young came to the Tigers after he had played 84 games as at Minnesota Twins. He finished the season with Detroit, playing 40 games for them. Young had been on the Twins two ALDS against the Yankees in 2009 and 2010 both series swept by the Yankees.

The Yankees got a run off Verlander in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a hit. Jeter got on a swinging strike out on a wild pitch by Verlander. Curtis Granderson walked on a full count. But runners advance to second and third on a groundout by Robinson Cano. Cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez grounded out to third, but Tiger’s third baseman Brandon Inge did not attempt to throw Jeter out at the plate, instead choosing a sure out at first. Teixeira walked but Nick Swisher made the final out stranding two runners.

C.C. continued where he left off striking out another two batters after the first batter grounded out, and upon completion of the half inning, the rains came never to go away resulting in the game being suspended after a delay of one hour and 17 minutes.

The game will be picked up the in the bottom of the second inning the following evening at the same time of 8:37 PM. Game 2 will be played in the late afternoon on Sunday. Joe Giraldi said “Nova will pitch for us tomorrow and Freddy will go on Sunday. After that I can’t tell you how will do it.”

Well, it was a short game indeed and tomorrow’s starters will be today’s starters, meaning Game 1 pitchers. While it lasted it had the making of a pitcher’s duel, the marquee match-up, a “Heck of game. It was great,” quipped Tiger’s manager Jim Leyland to start his post-game conference. Later C.C. Sabathia would add, “It’s definitely disappointing. Game 1, it looked like it was going to be a good game.”

And as far as coming out no matter what the length of the delay would be, C.C. said, “I was going back out. No matter what. It’s that time of the year.”

Well, it may be that time of the year, but seeing Joe Torre in the post-game conference was somewhat strange. Only this time he is currently serving as Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. He was asked on the possibility of more rain the following day and the possibility of a split double-header. But later MLB ruled out two games in one day. “I don’t want to think about that tonight,” Torre had said, and definitely no one else will. Well, perhaps not till tomorrow night.

Published at www.lationsports.com

One of the teams had to lose Game 2 the same day: Yankees did 5-3 despite an almost comeback

El Bronx, NY - Ex-Yankees manager Joe Torre once called the 5-game ALDS a crap shoot. That would compare the series more like a game of chance, something random, something thought not to involve skill – something that cannot be the case with a team that makes the postseason, it is just that in that scenario sometimes that best team can go down in defeat. Who is the best team or who is really the underdog is yet to be determined. Only that the series is now at 1-1 with the Yankees loss on a Sunday afternoon.

After a long 162 game season to get there, it is all suddenly lost in the brevity of the contest. But really, the weather conditions seemed to want to get into the act in this regard as well. The afternoon started with a show of blue sky interspersed with thick cloud formations, but lo and behold, that all changed with a shower in the bottom of the seventh. Luckily it did not last long and totally dark clouds covering the sky above the Stadium moved towards the North Bronx.

With the Yankees Game 1 victory it appeared that it would be up to the Tigers to salvage something on Sunday afternoon in New York, lest they travel home in a precarious spot? Well, not really. Not the case 5 years ago.

On the other hand a Yankees loss resulting in a 1-1 series tie, with the next two games at Comerica Park in Detroit – with Justin Verlander, who threw just 25 pitches before Game 1 was suspended, scheduled to start Game 3. It is made to appear by some as having the chilling effect of a dangerous creature waiting in the dark to get you – albeit being just early October and with C.C. Sabathia to oppose him.

RHP Max Scherzer no hits Yanks through 5

But coming back to the present: RHP Max Scherzer, described to possess biting pitches but also proven hittable (ERA of 4.43) gave up a few hard hit balls that were caught, but had a no-hitter through 5 innings. Robinson Cano got a bloop single to left for the Yankees’ first hit in the bottom of the sixth.

In the seventh a walk and a grounder up the middle had Tiger Skipper remove Scherzer. His pitching line: 6 2/3, no runs and no hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts.

Would the Yankee offense be happy to see him go? Not when RHP Joaquin Bonoit got the final two outs striking out pinch hitter Eric Chavez (for Gardner) and Derek Jeter looking.

Alex Rodriguez booed

After Curtis Granderson got the Yankees on the scoreboard with his first postseason homerun (fifth career) off Bonoit, Alex Rodriguez popped up to the second baseman Ramon Santiago and the boos of yesteryear returned to the Stadium much as the rain had minutes ago.

Bottom of ninth excitement with Tiger closer José Valverde as rain closes game.

In the bottom of the ninth Nick Swisher greeted Tiger closer Valverde with a first pitch homerun to right. Now, it is known that Jose Valverde established a Detroit single-season record with 49 saves during 2011 – converting all his save opportunities. Jorge Posada tripled to left center, his first career postseason 3-bagger. He scored the Yankees third run on a sacrifice fly by Andruw Jones (who replaced pinch-hit for Brett Gardner at left field).

Derek Jeter followed by striking out for the second out. Curtis Granderson walked, after popping up a ball the catcher, Alex Avila, could have caught: he slipped going after it near the Tiger dugout. And then the dark clouds and rain came back over the Stadium again.

And then Robinson Cano came to bat underneath a steady shower. Valverde got 2 strikes on Cano before he bounced out to the second baseman for the final out. No save for Valverde, but just getting finally out of the inning may have had the feeling of that one-batter out by Mariano Rivera on Saturday.

While the Yankees have made it past the last two years’ ALDS, it remains to be seen if that crap shoot scenario Joe Torre had to suffer through in his latter Yankee years will return in 2011.


First published at www.latinosports.com

Game1 Part II: Cano & Nova excel as Fister fails “as ace in the hole,” in Yanks trouncing of Tigers

El Bronx, NY - And again the rain came, but stopped before the game began at 8:30 P.M. According to the weather report, rain would have made its reappearance around 11 P.M. some 2 ½ hours after the start of the game and the fact that this was the continuation of the prior evening’s suspended game, it would have seemed as it had started earlier – well, meaning a typical 7:05 start and in this way if the game was played at a good pace it could beat the possible return of the rain. No such thing was necessary as Yankees trounced the Tigers 9-3 on the strength of Nova’s good pitching and Robinson Cano’s 6 RBI night by the time 11:15 came around.
More than thinking of beating the rain, the Tigers and Yanks were thinking of beating each other. And while it was not the marquee matchup of the 1 ½ innings pitched by Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia, the games “relievers,” or the Game 2 starters pressed into action by the weather, were two pitchers that could have made it a pitcher’s duel. Only that one would falter and the other would prevail.

And thus it was that the rain did not return to disrupt the game, but instead the Yankees offense disrupted the string of season victories Detroit’s righthander Doug bought to the post season. Consider that since the start of August, the 27-year-old right-hander led the AL in ERA at 1.79, ranked second in wins with eight and led everybody with an amazing 11.40 strikeout-to-walk ratio, had him qualify as the Tigers’ second Ace. But not tonight. In 4.2 innings he gave up 7 hits and 6 runs while his 6 strike outs to just two walks had Jim Leyland say, “Actually I thought Fister pitched really well. I thought Fister made one bad pitch all night.” He was referring to a sixth inning 2 RBI single to right-center field by Brett Gardner. At that point it increased the Yankees lead to 4-1.

The 6 inning went on to produce 4 more runs with Robinson Cano’s grand-slam homerun of RHP reliever Al Albuquerque. Later Leyland was questioned on bringing a right-hander to face Cano. “Left-handers are hitting .177 off Alburquerque,” said Leyland. But the Tiger skipper knew that in Cano it could have gone either way. “Cano is .320 of left-handers, .295 off righties.” The manager knew his pitcher had struck out Cano earlier in the year only that this time it did not work.

Cano had two doubles. His first broke the 1-1 tie inherited by the “replacement pitchers” in the bottom of the 5th.” His second double plated the Yankees 9th run in the bottom of the 8th.

Ivan Nova got into trouble in the 9th as he gave up an infield single to Delmon Young after one out. Miguel Cabrera walked on a 3-2 count and Victor Martinez’s single to right loaded the bases. Luis Ayala, bought in by skipper Giraldi, got a force out that produces the Tiger’s second run. The third run came in on another single by second baseman Ryan Raburn.

Mariano gets the final out of the night after Jhonny Peralta singles of Ayala loading the bases. Mariano then struck out Wilson Betemit to end the game.

Cano tied the Yankee postseason franchise record with 6 RBI and becoming the 4th Yankee to do so. His grand –slam was his first and 7th career postseason homerun. Ivan Nova’s victory became the first for Yankee rookie since Orlando Hernandez did it in 1998’s ALCS vs. Cleveland.

Game 2 will take place on a late Sunday afternoon before the two teams travel to Detroit where they will play on Monday and Tuesday before having a Wednesday break and play in New York on Thursday if needed, something that holds true for game 4 as well with all things considered.