Patrick O’Keefe

Some thoughts…

The Mo blown save isn’t really a blown save. Coming in with 1st and 3rd and no outs and allowing 1 run on a sac fly is pretty good work. Mo looked sharp and was.

The umps were wacky. The strike zone was strange. In the 9th, Manny clearly went around on a pitch and wasn’t called on it.

Speaking of them, what was with the lack of warnings? Let Pedro do whatever he wants as long as the Yankees are quiet? The up and too far in garbage was going on from the Sox - as usual - that’s the way they play the game. Both Cairo and A-Rod were hit by Pedro. Not to mention the numerous other pitches that could have resulted in hit batters.

That also makes me think - how about Mo? How about his dominance (overall and throughout his career). Has he ever been a guy that hits batters or that throws at the head? In, yes. Up and too far in? No.

On the subject of character, I read in an article today (the one I linked to earlier, I think) where the author said that one of the best things the Yankees had going for them was Pedro on the Red Sox or something of that nature. And, while dramatized, it is true. The fact that we are without guys like Pedro is our strength and the Red Sox weakness. Same goes for Manny, to a lesser extent. As I watch him play the game and I watch Matsui play the game, it is plainly and blatantly obvious to me as to who I’d rather have on my team.

Bernie homered in the 2nd inning to score one of our 4 runs. He’s been up to his old tricks this postseason, as expected.

Jeter had the big hit. A 2 out, 3 RBI double in the 6th that put us up by 2. Jeter also made a huge play in the field in the 11th. He cleanly fielded a hard grounder to start a double play to end the inning. If he hadn’t fielded it cleanly (it ran up on him), it wouldn’t have been turned. Cairo made a nice turn with Clark making a nice play on a low ball (if it bounced, as I think it may have). He also made a fantastic leaping play on a high throw by Posada to catch David Ortiz, who was trying to steal second (?!).

Jeter and Matsui almost collided in the 13th, but they were in sync at the end with Jeter ducking right under Matsui’s arm allowing him to make the play.

Scooter the educational baseball doesn’t bother me as much as he bothers some other folks, but this evening he explained the “brush back”. Great, just what we need.

Lost in this game was another good game by Ruben Sierra, who was 3 for 5 with 2 walks. I have to come up with a nickname for him… Old Man October? Yeah, I like that. Not that he’s been GREAT in October, but he’s been pretty good.

Also lost in the game was a good performance by Esteban Loaiza who didn’t allow a run for 3 and 1/3 innings - giving us opportunities to score, even though we failed to do so.

So, we’re going to game 6. Schilling vs. Lieber. Bring it on.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 18th, 2004 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.