SB Nation - Cliff Lee

Congratulations ScottAZ -- Winner of the 2009 Good Phight World Series Prediction Contest

David S. Cohen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:46:07 -0000

The World Series is over, and the results of the 2009 Good Phight World Series Prediction Contest are in. Congratulations to ScottAZ for getting 6 points in the context. FuquaManuel tied ScottAZ, but as the rules state, I did a random drawing and ScottAZ won. I'll be contacting ScottAZ shortly about the prize.

Here are the answers to each question asked in the contest.

Cliff Lee wins: 2
Ryan Howard home runs: 1
Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins stolen bases (combined total): 3
Eric Bruntlett plate appearances: 1
Phillies starting pitcher innings not by Cliff Lee or Pedro Martinez: 10.3
Brett Myers innings pitched: 1
Jimmy Rollins walks: 5
Brad Lidge saves: 0
Alex Rodriguez hits with runners in scoring position: 2
Mariano Rivera runs allowed: 0
World Series outcome (victor and # of games): Yankees in 6

A couple of entries are worth noting. Sept.28.Oct.27.Dec.28.2008 had 5 points, the highest point total for an entry not guessing the correct outcome of the Series. (Both ScottAZ and FuquaManuel guessed Yankees in 6, which was worth 3 points.) And Phils 2036 World CH guessed correctly that Jimmy Rollins would have 5 walks, something I consider an absurd guess and outcome!

Thanks to all for playing. Let's do this again next October!

Saturday Rockpile: Options are all a guy really wants

theoldgrizzlybear — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:50:33 -0000

Rockies decline options on Torrealba, Embree | All Things Rockies
No surprises here, as both players have filed for free agency. Yorvit Torrealba could return to the Rockies for less money, but there's also a decent chance that he will find more money elsewhere. Meanwhile, Alan Embree could catch on somewhere with a minor league deal, but probably won't command much more than that. But, what do I know?

Eleven Option Decisions Made Today: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com
Option decisions of note that were made yesterday (in addition to the ones mentioned above: The White Sox declined Jermaine Dye's $12MM option, while the Phillies and D-Backs picked up their options on Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb. There are sitll a whole slew of options remaining.

Texas Rangers Blog | Sports News | News from Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News
Evan Grant takes a close look at the Rockies' offensive numbers with Clint Hurdle as their hitting coach.

Report: San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has deal to settle drug charge - ESPN
Tim Lincecum will likely pay a $250 fine for possessing a marijuana pipe. Apparently, the charge for possessing the actual marijuana will be dismissed. According to a Clark County prosecutor, the situation with Lincecum doesn't differ from that of any first-time offender for something of this matter.

Phillies, Diamondbacks pick up options on aces

Eli Greenspan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:12:47 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

Browse more photos »

The Phillies and Diamondbacks made similar moves today, exercising the options on pitchers Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb, respectively.

Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee's 9 million dollar club option was a no-brainer, especially after his performance in the postseason. Lee ended the season with a 14-13 record, but posted a 3.22 ERA and 181 strike outs. He made 12 starts with the Phillies after the acquisition, and those numbers are shown below:

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Cliff Lee	7-4	12	12	3	1	0	0	79.2	80	35	30	7	10	74	3.39	1.13

Lee was 4-0 in five postseason starts, striking out 33 while walking just 6. However, Lee pitched in 272 innings this past season, nearly fifty more innings than he did last season when he won the Cy Young, mind you.

The Phillies are expected to approach Cliff Lee about an extension this offseason, but may be forced to wait till after next season. Lee, 31, shouldn't command more than a three or four year extension.

After weeks of deliberation, the Diamondbacks picked up Brandon Webb's 8.5 million dollar club option. Webb, who made one start this season before being shutdown, owns a career 3.27 ERA.

The 30-year old ace is no guarantee to stay in Arizona beyond the 2010 season. While he makes his residence in Arizona, the Diamondbacks have really failed to build on their 2007 success, and have quickly fallen back to the bottom half of the NL West.

If Webb isn't interested in signing an extension, the Diamondbacks would be smart to move him for a boatload of prospects. With Dan Haren and Max Scherzer, moving Webb for future help may be the next best thing if an extension doesn't work out.

Poll

Who is more likely to sign an extension with their current team?

The 2009 World Series: The Boring One

David S. Cohen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:46 -0000

We're now on our second day post-World Series, and I can't fight off this nagging feeling that the championship series I just watched was, well, pretty damn boring.

Yes, it was a World Series, and with the Phillies' long record of futility, there's really no ground for complaining when the team just makes it to the post-season, let alone to the World Series. But, in the context of a best-of-7 match for the best team in baseball, it's hard to say that this Series had much going for it.

Sure, this was the first World Series to go past 6 games since 2003. And the Yankees won their first championship in their new stadium. And Chase Utley tied the record for most home runs in a World Series. And Hideki Matsui was dominant. And Mariano Rivera was, well, Mariano Rivera. But all of those things added in with the rest of the Series just didn't add up to anything exciting or memorable.

The best way to capture this sentiment is the following: over the course of the six games, there were 2 lead changes. That's it. Even worse is that both of them occurred in drabs over the course of the middle innings. Otherwise, once a team took the lead in this series, the other team never got ahead. Of course, this doesn't mean that it wasn't good baseball, but it does mean that from a fan's perspective, this isn't particularly exciting baseball.

The overall series momentum also didn't provide much excitement. The Phillies took the early 1-0 lead, but then the Yankees won 3 in a row. Had the Phillies won their second in Game 4 instead of Game 5, the Series would have taken on a new level of excitement. But, that's not what happened, and by the time the Phillies had 2 wins, the Yankees were heading home looking for one to clinch. Momentum really didn't shift, and the Series ended as it seemed it would without any real surprise.

Looking at the particulars of each game confirms this, as only Game 4 had much real excitement. Yet, even that excitement lasted only a very short period of time. Here are each of the games re-capped, along with the mostly uni-directional win probability graphs. I've also given each game an excitement ranking on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being Joe-Carter-Game-6-in-1993 exciting and 1 being a mid-August Pirates/Padres 6-2 snooze-fest:

Game 1: Cliff Lee dominated the Yankees, holding them to one unearned run. That's a wonderful pitching performance, but it's not high drama. Chase Utley's two home runs against CC Sabathia were exciting, but the rest of the offense was dormant until the last two innings. And, at that point, the game was pretty much over. The Yankees had no chance against Lee, and the graph below shows it. The only thing going for the game on the excitement meter was that it was Game 1, which seemed like a big deal at the time. Excitement factor: 6.

via www.fangraphs.com

Game 2: One of our two lead-change games, the Phillies took an early lead, but then Pedro Martinez slowly gave it back, one run at a time, until the Yankees had a lead that Mariano Rivera protected with a 2 inning save. The lead change was exciting, as was some good pitching from Martinez and A.J. Burnett, but the drip-drip run-scoring from the Yankees along with the certitude of the Rivera save worked against this game having much excitement to it. The steady incline of the win probably graph confirms this. Excitement factor: 4.

Game 3: Here we get out second, and last, lead change of the Series. The Phillies took an early 3-0 lead behind a dominant Cole Hamels. But then it all fell apart in the middle innings, as the Yankees outscored the Phillies 8-1 over the course of innings 4 through 8. The Phillies' feeble comeback just assured another Rivera shut-down appearance in the ninth. This game was over in the fifth, and the entire stadium knew it (and the graph confirms). Excitement factor: 3.

Game 4: This was the only high-drama game of the Series. The Phillies staged a late inning comeback against Sabathia and Joba Chamberlain, who looked great in the eighth inning until Pedro Feliz shockingly tied the game with a home run. Brad Lidge entered the ninth and looked great as well, but followed Chamberlain's pattern of not being able to put away the last batter. Lidge allowed 3 in the ninth, and another Rivera appearance assured the Yankees' third win. This is the only win probably graph with much of a jagged edge. Excitement factor: 8.

Game 5: This game was over early, as the Phillies took a big lead with Cliff Lee pitching. He wasn't as sharp as Game 1, but he was pitching well enough and the offense put up enough runs that the game was not much in doubt. The Yankees did mount a bit of a comeback and made the ninth inning tense, but it was too little, too late. That ninth inning comeback rescues this game from a 1, as the virtually flatlined win probably graph would seem to merit. Excitement factor: 4.

Game 6: This was the worst of the bunch. The only thing it had going for it was that it was Hideki Matsui's 6 RBI and that it was the last game. Otherwise, the Yankees took an early lead, the Phillies' hitters couldn't hit with men on, and everyone knew Rivera was going to come in for more than 3 outs, possibly 6. He ultimately came in for 5 outs and closed the door to finish the Series, as we all knew he would. The graph below merits a 1 on the excitement scale, but the championship win boosts this game, but only slightly as it was a complete bore. Excitement factor: 2.

The average excitement factor here is 4.5 on a 10 point scale. Of course, this is an arbitrary and subjective scale, but take a look at the fangraphs collectively and note the extreme absence of much fluctuation at all. There's no two ways about it: this was a boring series.

Of course, I'd feel completely different had the Phillies won it all . . . .

Phillies Breakfast Links, November 6, 2009: Aloha, Phillies!

WholeCamels — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:04:06 -0000

I'm taking the Breakfast Links back to couple-times-a-week status for now, although that might change during the Winter Meetings and whatnot. Thanks to Wet Luzinski for handling probably the toughest day so far (I assure you I wasn't doing anything fun that morning). And thanks to everyone else for reading. We'll be here all offseason.

Phillies may try to sign Cliff Lee to extension this off-season
The article discusses Sabathia money... I don't know if it'll be that much, but it'll be a lot. And they'll either have to cut spending in other areas (bye Werth?) or increase payroll quite a bit.

10 questions facing the Phillies
I love Pedro Martinez, but I don't think he has a place on this team going forward. Thanks for everything.

Frank: Next year, Phillies could use help from ace, closer
Cole Hamels will be fine. Trust me. And even if he's not, that ring in 2008? His.

5 questions for the Phillies to ponder
Pedro Feliz has to go. Sorry, buddy.

Myers status with Phillies enters flux
It's a tough call. If he wants to come back on a one-year low value "make good" deal, I'm all for it.

Crowd greets players at 30th Street Station
Cool.

Top 10 Phillies Moments Of 2009
Discuss.

Belated Words on the 27th World Championship Victory...

CrazyYankeeChick — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:17:43 -0000

I wrote this when I finally got out of bed circa 2:30 in the afternoon.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

My fellow crazies and I were out celebrating the World Series Championship of the New York Yankees up until about 7am. None of us wanted the night to end.

Ball game over. World Series over. Baseball season over.

Listening to asinine hating anti-fans drop the "who's won more in this century" over.

Having to hear people say they "can't wait til the Yankees choke" over.

First year at new stadium over.

Nine years without a ring over.

Ball game over. The Yankees win.

What a night. The hours and day(s) leading up to last night were saturated with critics attacking Girardi for pitching AJ Burnett in Game 5 because it meant not only would Andy Pettitte have to go on short rest for Game 6, but CC Sabathia would have to pitch his 2nd short-rested game in a row, should a Game 7 be needed.

Funny, though, how these naysayers were oddly silent up until the point AJ started getting shelled. THEN it was a fatal flaw. THEN Girardi was a moron. And all I heard about for all of Monday night through 8pm last night was how that move will change the face of the series, and there's no way Andy will be able to go on 3 days rest, and Girardi should be fired, etc.

The consensus was that if the Yankees win the World Series, it was be in spite of Girardi, not because of him. I really couldn't disagree more on this one. And this is coming from someone who spend many a game banging her head against the computer, screaming to no one in particular that Girardi is an idiot for not using [fill in name of bullpen reliever who wouldn't have let up runs, in my estimation].

My dad even said, "Kris, I could have won a championship with that team. Look at them."

True. But how much different are they from any other one of their teams in the last 5 years? What about when they got Randy Johnson? And Carl Pavano? A-Rod? Those were big name guys, and they never brought us to a title.

Something was different this year. There was no Torre doing ungodly things to his pitching staff's arms. There a case study in "Eff you, critics" performance from A-Rod. A relatively steadfast batting order that wasn't seemingly determined by picking names out of a batting helmet. Patience at the plate (cough...Cano...cough).

I don't think it's easy to manage a club no matter how good they are. And the fact that Girardi took this team through the World Series is not something that should be trivialized. He didn't always do thing we agreed with, but his strategy of a quilted motley crew of relievers to support precarious starter situations, worked out beautifully.

The Yankees were able to ride a 3-man rotation through the entire playoffs, all 3 of them going on short rest at some point (some faring better than others). And it worked out. It %&#@E worked out. The New York Yankees are Kings of the World once again.

And my God, it feels good.

The Phillies were good, and put up a good fight, so much so that there was even talk of Chase Utley getting World Series MVP even if the Phils didn't win. (Of course, you can't really make that argument when a guy on the winning team somehow manages to knock in 6 ribbies in one game to tie the World Series record. Thank you, Hideki.)

Ryan Howard was abysmal all series, save one long ball he knocked off Petitte last night to bring the score to 7-3. It was too little too late though, and the Phils weren't able to overcome that kind of damage in a rocking stadium filled to the rafters with fans salivating for, in the words of Cole Hamels, "it all to be over with."

Pedro Martinez was no one where near as sharp as he was when he dueled with AJ Burnett in Game 2. (And of course, now the scapegoat blame gets applied to Charlie Manuel for not taking Pedro out when Hideki came to the plate with bases loaded in the 3rd, with the lead only 4-1.)

The Phils scored on a sac fly by Shane Victorino, who I was half hoping would enter the game with a bloody batting glove and give the Fox announcers something to distract themselves away from hating on the Yankees for 2 seconds.

But the Yankees were doing what they do best, which was knocking the ball all over the park. Even the foul balls were long shots, even the outs were well hit liners. This is to be expected, perhaps, when Pedro is throwing 87 mph fastballs.

When Hideki's 2-strike, 2-out, single put the score at 4-1, I was a little more relaxed, but I never stopped compulsively flicking at my hat brim and pacing and grinding my teeth, until he hit a 2-run double in the bottom of the 5th to make it 7-1, following Mark Teixeira's base hit that had scored Jeter.

A 6-run lead isn't any guarantee, but it was comfortable. And that was when we all started to let it prematurely sink in. The Yankees were going to be World Champions soon.

I think this implosion from good old Petey should be indicative of how short rest or normal rest, an erratic pitcher in his 30s isn't going to always be lights out. I don't think AJ was knocked around on Monday because he wasn't well rested. I think he was beat up because he's AJ Burnett, and that's what he does. He surprises us with either Good AJ or Bad AJ, and let's be honest, we all knew this when we bought him, so let's not act so surprised when he gets chased early.

Pedro gave a mirror image performance of that, but it was a little more untimely than AJ's crap outing. If I were a Phillies fan, I'd point fingers directly at the decision to pitch Pedro in Yankee Stadium for Game 2, when they should have pitched him at home.

And more significantly, the decision to pitch Pedro in Yankee Stadium for an elimination game!! I guess they didn't have much choice in the matter, but if Cliff Lee had pitched instead of Joe Blanton on Sunday, they wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.

(Eh, whatever. Like I care about what the Phillies do with the pitchers.The Yankees just won the World Series. I got all day today to read every last word written about the game, and then all day tomorrow to get lost in the masses of people tumbling into the Canyon of Heroes.)

With 2 outs in the top of the 9th, the bar packed wall to wall, the stadium deafening with every pitch Mariano Rivera threw that made the title that much closer...it started to feel like New Year's Eve. Well, if the year lasted 9 years.

All of us expectantly waiting for the ball to drop, so to speak. All of us exploding in raucous, bleary eyed, delirious, euphoric celebration when it did.

"New York, New York" blared through the streets. Then "We are the Champions." "Empire State of Mind." The text message congratulations. The shots. The dancing. The screaming. The hugging. It was heaven. It still is.

I've kept my mouth shut about retaliating against all the shit-talkers that tried their damnedest to curse the Yankees, who tried to rain on our playoff parade. I've limited my jabs to half-kidding trash talking towards our opponents.

But I wrote in Game 5 postmortem:

If someone makes a point to go out of his or her way to poke the bear, unprovoked, then there's the exception to the rule. Because if the Yankees should end up winning the World Series this year, I will make a pit stop before riding off into the sunset, to dole out heaps of karma three-fold.

Instead of just letting us enjoy the fact our team was playing in the World Series, and that we were really happy and excited about it, NYC was teeming with assholes that wanted us to be as miserable as them. They were unrelenting in their banal insults, their pathetic and predictable Yankee shots.

Maybe we couldn't be bothered, or maybe a part of us was secretly scared that if we responded in kind, that we'd be putting ourselves in grave danger should the Yankees happen to choke it away.

Whatever the reason, it's immaterial now. BECAUSE WE WON.

Everyone out there with your "I can't wait to see them blow it the ALDS" and the "I can't wait til they choke against the Angels" or "I can't wait to see Pettitte get lit up on short rest" etc etc etc... HOPE YOU ENJOY THE NEXT FEW DAYS OF SEEING NOTHING BUT YANKEE COVERAGE.

And I hope your commute to work is significantly screwed up because of the ticker tape parade.

And until the 2010 World Series, the Yankees are the World Champions. So every time you see a fan walking down the street with a Yankee hat on, and your knee jerk reaction is to say something negative, just remember: The Yankees won. And you're out of material.

The Yankees did it. They won their 27th championship, the most of any team in any sport. In the first year in their new stadium, they christened their home with champagne and victory...just as they did to their last stadium, when they won the World Series in its inaugural season in 1923.

Congratulations, Yankees. Thank for you bringing the trophy back to where it belongs.

Thank you for everything that you've given your fans this season.

Thank you for #27.

-CYC

Cliff Lee: Is He The 2010 Version of Cole Hamels?

raygu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:05:52 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

8 days ago: Philadelphia Phillies' Cliff Lee throws during the first inning of Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Yankees Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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In 2007 Cole Hamels established himself as an ace starting pitcher with the Phillies going 15-5 with a 3.39 ERA and a 1.124 WHIP to go with his 177 strikeouts in 183 innings. In 2008, Hamels was the World Series MVP, going 14-10 during the regular season, with a 3.09 ERA and 1.082 WHIP. He struck out 196 in 227+ innings. He then went on to throw another 25 innings in the playoffs and World Series, raising his season total innings pitched to 262+ innings. Quite a jump from 183 innings in 2007. Then in 2009, we all saw what the jump in innings did to Hamels, where he finished with a 10-11 record with a 4.32 ERA and 1.286 WHIP. Not good numbers for a high draft pick or $25+ starting pitcher in auction leagues.

That brings us to Cliff Lee. In 2008, Lee won the AL Cy Young Award, going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He struck out 170 in 223+ innings. In 2009, between Cleveland and Philadelphia, Lee went 14-13 during the regular season with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP, to go with his 181 strikeouts in 232+ innings. He then went on to throw another 40 innings in the NLDS, NLCS and World Series. So he thew 272 innings in 2009, a jump of 50 innings from 2008.

I present this as I am concerned that Lee may experience a fall off in performance compared to his last two seasons where he put up ace numbers, similar to what Hamels experienced this season. The Phillies are looking to talk extension with Lee this offseason after his great performance in this year's playoffs and World Series.

Lee will more than likely be drafted fairly high in 2010 drafts, and go for $25+ in auction league drafts. Just something to think about as you head into those drafts in 5 months.

Poll

Does CLiff Lee's increase in innings pitched in 2009 concern you going into 2010 drafts?

My Maudlin' Career

the red baron — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:29:27 -0000

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I didn't really realise it last week, but just the other day it sort of hit me when I looked at the date: I just celebrated two years of writing for this wonderful site. My very first front page post was on Halloween of 2007, and seeing as how we are now in the glorious month of November in Year of Our Lord 2009, that's two damned years I've been cluttering up the interwebs with my peculiar ramblings. And so, seeing as how I am the sort of person who simply cannot resist nostalgia or making lists of things, I thought I would go back through all the things I've written here at VEB and pick out my favourites. It also doesn't hurt, of course, that very little is actually going on in Cardinal land at this particular moment.

So I started rolling back through all my past posts, and something began to become apparent as I did: I'm sort of a depressing dude. Most of my stuff I think is really pretty good tends to be of the wistful, sad, and slightly bitter emotive variety. Don't get me wrong; the idea I am a bit of a bummer is not exactly news to me, as people have been telling me that my whole life. However, it was a bit surprising to see the proof staring me so clearly in the face.

Regardless, I am proud to bring you my personal Best Of collection out of sheer arrogance and hubris. (And also maybe a little because I was interested to see if I've gotten any better at this, but mostly the gigantic ego thing.) In reverse chronological order (I think):

Reflection -- recent post about the end of our season
Talk Talk Talk-- the very first chat I tried
Drafting a Masterpiece-- reviewing the first day of the 2009 draft
Swingin', and Not Just Dick-- there is, in fact, a toaster involved in this post
Life Lenses-- in which I discuss the departure of Adam Kennedy
God Bless Us, Every One -- Christmas 2008
The Team Stripped Bare By Its Suitors, Even-- an interesting hypothetical, and my favourite title
Good Bye, Halcyon Days -- mourning for last summer, and my second favourite title
Not With a Bang, but a Whimper-- Jason Isringhausen
Saturday Morning Coming Down-- a discussion of Mark McGwire and me forgetting how to spell the word rhythm

And, just for funsies, my first main page story, and the very first diary I ever put up here.

Hopefully you don't find this too very self-indulgent, though I'm certain it probably is.

As for the current news of the day:

I am of the belief the Yankees' strategy of using only three pitchers and throwing them on short rest is going to backfire on them. We already saw A.J. Burnett get crushed pitching on three days' rest, and I'm honestly expecting something similar from Pettitte tonight. I still expect the Yankees to win in seven, because I do believe CC Sabathia will roll pretty much no matter what and Cole Hamels seems a bit lost in the wilderness to me, but I also think New York has made the series much tougher than it needed to be. Historically we can see pitchers tend to struggle on short rest, regardless of the era in question (relatively speaking, of course; if a pitcher is usually going on three days' rest, then two days' rest hurts hime), and I think Girardi has weakened his team's position unnecessarily. What do all of you think? I know this concept of only needing three starters in the playoffs has been Fritz' pet peeve for a while now; we now get to see just how viable such a strategy really is.

I don't much care for the Iwamura deal from the Pirates' side of things; it just seems like they're still treading water. Dave Cameron disagrees with me, for whatever it's worth.(I also forgot Jack Wilson got traded to the Mariners; the perils of writing in a hurry, you know.) I do wish like hell whoever it was who started stumping for Ben Zobrist a couple years ago had more pull with the front office; the guy could have been had for a song as recently as last season, now he has to be considered untouchable. Interestingly enough, VEB has been right in wanting to acquire both Jayson Werth and Zobrist at various points in time before they broke out. I know there were some here last year (myself included), who would have liked to see Johnny Mo try to pick up Huston Street on the cheap while he was struggling. I remember the advocacy of several posters (again, myself included), for a deal that would have brought Cliff Lee to the Cards after his disastrous 2007 campaign. (In fact, Lee was one of my personal crusades that offseason.) I believe the idea was to move Scott Rolen for Lee and possibly try to get Jhonny Peralta involved somehow with other inducements going from St. Louis to Cleveland. I was a big fan of Carlos Quentin, and I know jillsinmo (who seems to have largely disappeared, sadly), stumped for him for awhile as well. My point? If you happen to work in the Cardinals' front office and are reading this (and I know you guys are), you may want to take a good hard look at any buy-low guys we come up with this offseason. Our track record is remarkably good.

Of course, if you had listened to us last year, we might very well have signed Ben Sheets for a lost season, so at least make sure you look at the X-rays first.

My predicition, guaranteed to be right, for Game 6 tonight: Phillies 7, Yankees 3. Pedro goes 5 inning, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk. JA Happ relieves him and holds the Yankees down. Pettitte gets knocked around, failing to get out of the third inning and giving up 5 runs.

Have a lovely day, everyone.

The Baron's Playlist for the 4th of November, 2009

"Lovelier Girl" -- Beach House

"Jesus Walking on the Water" -- Violent Femmes

"Mr. Tough" -- Yo La Tengo

"Pale Blue Eyes" -- The Velvet Underground

"These Days" -- Nico

Yankee pitchers blow it, send Series back to New York after 8-6 loss

Travis G — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:41:28 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

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If we knew beforehand that Cliff Lee would give up five runs in seven innings, we'd have taken it in a second and never looked back. I'm also sure we would think we'd be celebrating right now if we could score five off Lee. It was not to be.

A.J. Burnett wasn't fooling anyone. He gave up as many runs as outs: six. He was pulled in the third with runners on the corners and no outs. To give you an idea of how good Yankee starters have been, this was the first postseason start that didn't go at least six innings.

Would Burnett have fared better on full rest in Game 6? We'll never know, only that he got hit early and often. He gave up three runs (on a - who else? - Chase Utley homer) before ever recording an out.

Then, when the Yankees were making their inevitable comeback, Phil Coke served up two gopher balls (to two lefties) in one inning. That really put the game out of reach. A six-run deficit in the eighth was a bit too large for the Yanks to overcome, though they gave it their all, rallying to get within two. It's not like Marte should have been unavailable: yes, he he saw action in the previous two games, but only threw four pitches last night.

If there were some positives to take from this game, it would be the performances of Robertson, Aceves and Hughes, the avoidance of Mo, and that the Yankees are swinging the bats well. Hopefully it means Pedro gets tattooed in Game 6.

Let's not all go crazy during the off-day tomorrow. There will be a lot of anxiety, but it doesn't mean we have to kill each other.

World Series Game 5: Yankees @ Phillies (NYY leads series 3-1), 7:57 PM

Stacey — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:15:17 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

There's a baseball game going on, Johnny Damon! This is no time for yoga. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

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I have to say that I've pretty much lost interest in the World Series. I fell asleep during the game last night and missed all of the late inning action. I don't normally feel that way, I guess it just appears the outcome is inevitable. I'll be watching tonight, because that's what I do. I watch the World Series. Plus I really enjoy the hell out of watching Cliff Lee pitch. But I feel a complete and utter lack of emotion. I want the ~~Phillies to win~~ Yankees to lose but I know they won't. I prefer rooting for the American League because the National League is stupid, but I'm not capable of doing that this year.

What I really want is to see what Andy MacPhail does this offseason. I want to see the 2010 team take shape, I want trades and free agent signings. I want to see what Cub we end up with this offseason. I want the winter meetings to start and I want rumors about what might happen. I also want to watch The Office and 30 Rock in real time. I want Joe Buck out of my life. None of that can happen until the World Series is over.

But I don't want it to end tonight.

A.J. Burnett starts on short rest tonight as did C.C. Sabathia yesterday. Burnett has made 4 regular season starts on short rest. He did so three times in 2008 for the Blue Jays and once for the Marlins in 2004. Not bad numbers, really, although if he allows three runs that will probably be enough for Cliff Lee to get the win.

There's not really anything to be said about Lee that hasn't already, so I'll just leave you with a link to his postseason numbers.