6/19/2023 0 Comments Yankees pinstripe cap![]() Jorge Posada singled up the middle on Borowski’s fifth pitch of the at-bat, and what was already Borowski’s 17th pitch of the inning. 349 OBP on the season, only good for ninth-best among Yankees’ regulars), and that was about to come to fruition. Yet platoon first baseman Josh Phelps kept hope alive with a home run - one of only two he’d hit in his Yankee tenure - but the Yanks still trailed 6-3.Īlthough that 2007 lineup is most likely remembered for the power bats, it was absolutely relentless in grinding pitchers out (light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz posted a. At this time, the Yankees’ win expectancy sat at less than one percent. The Yankees were faced with a four-run deficit, with only three outs left to score those runs.Ĭleveland closer Joe Borowski came in and immediately dampened the spirits of Yankees fans even further by getting a ground out from Robinson Canó and a flyout from Melky Cabrera to leave the Yankees with one out left. That said, a 6-2 deficit would put the Yankees’ win probability at two percent, and that’s exactly where the Yankees found themselves after an A-Rod error allowed a run to score, expanding Cleveland’s lead to four runs. Down three runs in the ninth isn’t an enviable situation of course, but with the offense, the Yankees had in ’07, it certainly wasn’t cause to figuratively throw in the towel. The score would remain 5-2 in favor of Cleveland heading into the ninth inning. Martinez, unfortunately for the Yankees made it impossible to get any outs as he sent Vizcaíno’s 3-1 pitch over the right center field wall for a three-run home run. With first base now open, the Yankees decided to intentionally walk Travis Hafner to allow Vizcaíno to face the double play prone Victor Martinez with a runner on first. Spoiler alert: He did not.Īfter allowing a leadoff walk and double, Vizcaíno got a grounder from the Yankees’ nemesis, Dellucci, but a run scored to tie the game. Heading into the final third of the game, the Yankees turned to Luis Vizcaíno to hold the one-run lead. Although unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Giambi’s fourth homer of the season would come into play in a rather big way later in the game. Then, with the game tied at one, with one out and nobody on base in the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees’ Jason Giambi went deep giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. *Hernández went by the name Fausto Carmona through 2011. ![]() David Dellucci would tie the game for Cleveland in the top of the fourth with a solo home run, but with Rasner opposing Cleveland starter Roberto Hernández* (with a career 5.81 ERA at the start of the day’s action), play continued to go off script with those being the only runs through five and a half innings. With Yankees pitching legend Darrell Rasner on the hill, the Yanks took the lead in the bottom of the third inning on a Bobby Abreu RBI single, his second hit of the afternoon already. Regardless, the games were rarely boring, and Game 14 on the slate that year took “absurd” to new heights. Despite the torrid start from A-Rod and the rest of the lineup, the Yankees were only 7-6 entering action on April 19th (as I noted here, the ’07 Yankees may have been the best offensive team in franchise history, but their pitching fell somewhat short of excellence). After only 13 team games, in addition to the 9 long balls, A-Rod had driven in 23 in only 62 plate appearances, including a walk-off grand slam on April 7th. On April 18, 2007, Rodriguez belted his ninth dinger of the season, leading the Yankees to a 9-2 win over Cleveland. With chip firmly planted on shoulder, that is how Alex Rodriguez began the 2007 season for the Yankees. It’s hard to fathom that a player like Rodriguez, who at age 30 was a 10-time All-Star who’d already hit 464 home runs, produced 85 bWAR, and won an MVP with the Yankees would have something to prove, but in the mind of many fans, he did. It wouldn’t be noteworthy for the overwhelming majority of players to bat eighth in the order on a team with that much firepower, but when manager Joe Torre penciled A-Rod into the eight-hole in Game 4, it was both an eyebrow-raising and embarrassing situation, to be sure. Of particular note was the figurative disappearance of their best player Alex Rodriguez, who went 1-for-14 in the series and had many of us wondering how he got the “one” given how he was swinging the bat. ![]() Despite winning an American League-best 97 games, the 2006 Yankees ended their season on a sour note, losing rather meekly to the Wild Card Detroit Tigers in the ALDS. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |