The Yankees have had an eventful postseason to this point. It’s been replete with controversy and heroics, drama and disaster. Records have been broken along with ankles (too soon?), and streaks–both infamous and grand–have been snapped and started alike. What follows is a little recap of the goings on to this point.
The Yankees won the AL East after fending off the Baltimore Orioles gutsy push. To do it, they rode a ridiculous hot streak from slugging second baseman Robisnon Cano. In June and July he had a 23-game hitting streak. When that ended, he kept ripping. Over the last nine regular season games he recorded multiple hits in each, went 24 for 39, scored 11 runs, drove in 14, had seven doubles, and three bombs. He carried the fire with him into October, doubling in games 1 and 2 against the Orioles. Then the baseball gods saw fit to douse him in suck sauce. Since the first two playoff games, Cano has etched his name in the postseason record books: he holds the longest hitless streak in playoff history, currently sitting at 26 at-bats over seven games. Say it ain’t so, Robbie Cano.
And then there is 41 year old Raul Ibanez. In Game 3 of the ALDS, pinch hitting for the slumping Alex Rodriguez (who is actually taking far worse swings than Cano), Ibanez homered to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. Three innings later he walked New York off with another solo shot. Ibanez is the only player in playoff history to homer twice in a game he did not start. In Game 1 of the ALCS, Ibanez again homered in the bottom of the ninth, this time a two run affair, to tie it against Detroit. That home run made him the only player in postseason history to homer three times in the ninth inning or later, and certianly the only one to hit game tying and/or winning bombs under those conditions. Ra-uuuuul.
And now for the sad one. Derek Jeter, trooper, grinder that he is, has been around for quite a few playoff games in his 16 year career. In fact, before Game 2 of the 2012 ALCS, he’d been around for all of them. One hundred and fifty eight, to be exact. And he’d started all of them. The fractured left ankle he suffered in the 12th inning of Game 1 put an end to the streak, but with information surfacing about the lengths Jeter went to stay in the lineup preceeding the break, really it’s a minor miracle it didn’t end sooner. Derek Jeter, the Cal Ripken Jr. of the playoffs, we salute you.
All in all, it has been a roller coaster playoff run for New York. A team that relied on the long ball to compensate for subpar pitching all year needed heroic efforts frim its starters plus a superhuman effort from Raul Ibanez to squeak out of the ALDS, but did so in authoritative fashion. Then, after learning that its manger’s father passed away a week before he told anyone, the Yankees suffered another loss–their Captain and Game 1 of the ALCS, and now find themselves up against the reigning AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander facing a 2 game hole in a best of 7 series.
-Ari Glantz
Stat of the Day: In the Game 2 loss, Joe Girardi was ejected on his 48th birthday
