Look what people have to say about Larry Mahnken's commentary!
"Larry, can you be any more of a Yankee apologist?.... Just look past your Yankee myopia and try some objectivity." - Bernal Diaz
"Mr. Mahnken is enlightened." - cordially, as always,
rm
"Wow, Larry. You've produced 25% of the comments on this thread and
said nothing meaningful. That's impressive, even for you." - Anonymous
"After reading all your postings and daily weblog...I believe you have truly become the Phil Pepe of this generation. Now this is not necessarily a good thing." - Repoz
"you blog sucks, it reeds as it was written by the queer son of mike lupica and roids clemens. i could write a better column by letting a monkey fuk a typewriter. i dont need no 181 million dollar team to write a blog fukkk the spankeees" - yan
"i think his followers have a different sexual preference than most men" - bob
"Boring and predictable." - No Guru No Method
"Are you the biggest idiot ever?" - Randal
"I'm not qualified to write for online media, let alone mainstream
media." - Larry Mahnken
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Disclaimer: If you think this is the official website of the New York Yankees, you're an idiot. Go away.
April At the end of the April, the Red Sox had stormed out of the gate, winning 16 of 24 games and opening up a big 7 game lead on the Yankees, who struggled in losing 15 of their first 26 games. The Yankee offense was lousy, putting up a cumulative batting line of .244/.342/.406. Alex Rodriguez in particular put up the putrid line of .191/.303/.287. The pitching staff did not help either, putting up a 5.19 ERA, with Mussina and Pavano getting pounded. Moose went 1-1, but posted a 6.67 ERA. Pavano went 0-4, with a 6.67 ERA. Could the Yankees recover from this dreadful start?
May May went much better, as the Yankees rebounded to win 17 of 27 games. Unfortunately for them, they lost 1.5 games in the standings, as Boston continued to play well, winning 19 of their 28 games. At this point, the Yankees were looking at an 8.5 game deficit. The Yankee offense improved slightly in May, hitting .264/.343/.440. Jason Giambi clubbed 7 HRs, and Derek Jeter hit .364/.442/.586, scoring 26 runs in the process. On the pitching side, Mussina rebounded to go 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA, as the staff went 17-10 with a 4.27 ERA. Joe Torre overused Mariano Rivera, as he pitched in 14 of the 27 games, notching 5 saves, 2 wins, and posting a 2.35 ERA.
June Things began to turn in June, as the Yankees picked up 5 games on Boston by going a whopping 20-7. The team hit a cumulative .259/.348/.445. Hideki Matsui had a monstrous(get it?) month, hitting .363/.449/.706, clubbing 10! HRs and driving in 31 runs. Jorge Posada did quite well himself, chipping in a .327/.393/.618 line. In this month, it was the pitchng staff which keyed the resurgence, chief amongst them Jaret Wright, who went 4-0 with a stellar 2.23 ERA.
through the All Star Break With the All Star Break beginning after games of July 10, here's how the AL standings were shaping up:
Regular season -- through 7/11/2005
Year Team W L Pct GB L10 RF RA East 2005 Boston 54 33 .621 - 5-5 510 408 2005 Baltimore 51 37 .580 3 1/2 7-3 513 434 2005 New York (A) 50 37 .575 4 4-6 461 394 2005 Toronto 49 39 .557 5 1/2 7-3 507 454 2005 Tampa Bay 36 53 .404 19 6-4 366 455
Post All Star Break July The Yankees began the All Star Break at Fenway Park against the hated Red Sox. In the first game, Carl Pavano tried to recover from a terrible beginning to his Yankee career vs. Matt Clement whom many felt would've been a better signing, and who had begun the season 9-3 for Boston.
7/14/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 11 1 14 1 2005 Boston 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1 4 0
New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG Jeter ss 6 0 2 0 .293 Damon cf 4 0 1 0 .269 Rodriguez,A 3b 5 2 1 0 .241 Vazquez 2b 4 1 2 0 .254 Sheffield rf 4 2 3 0 .298 Ortiz dh 4 1 1 2 .291 Matsui lf 5 1 1 1 .297 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .326 Posada c 4 0 3 2 .327 Nixon rf 4 0 2 0 .329 Giambi dh 2 0 0 1 .219 Millar 1b 4 0 0 0 .333 Williams cf 1 0 0 0 .222 Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .280 Crosby pr 3 0 0 0 .122 Mirabelli c 3 0 0 0 .232 Martinez 1b 3 0 1 1 .230 Renteria ss 3 0 0 0 .260 Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 .268 33 2 6 2 37 5 11 5
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pavano W 6-9 8.0 5 2 2 0 8 109 74 5.54 Rivera S 21 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 10 7 1.34 9.0 6 2 2 0 8 119 81
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Clement L 9-4 4.0 7 4 4 4 4 81 44 3.77 Halama 2.0 3 1 1 1 2 40 23 4.94 Kim 3.0 1 0 0 1 5 41 28 3.32 9.0 11 5 5 6 11 162 95
Pavano's masterful game pulled the Yankees within 3 games of Boston.
The excitement was building as the Yankees tried to continue their momentum as Jaret Wright faced off against Wade Miller in the second game of the series.
7/15/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1 5 3 2005 Boston 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 6 1
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wright W 10-4 7.0 4 1 0 5 5 103 62 4.53 Gordon H 7 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 14 9 2.78 Rivera S 22 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 8 1.31 9.0 4 1 0 5 7 128 79
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Miller L 3-4 8.0 6 3 3 3 6 113 70 5.54 Embree 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 10 4.00 9.0 6 3 3 3 8 127 80
Another fine performance by the Yankees' starter, as Wright pulled the Yankees within 2 games.
In the third game of the series, the much-maligned Kevin Brown tried to continue a great run of pitching by the Yankees.
7/16/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 10 1 2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 4 0
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Brown W 6-3 7.2 3 0 0 2 8 107 67 2.81 Rivera S 23 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 18 11 1.27 9.0 4 0 0 2 10 125 78
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wakefield L 5-7 6.2 6 1 1 1 3 106 72 4.33 Timlin 2.0 0 0 0 3 0 32 14 3.78 Kim 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3.30 9.0 6 1 1 4 3 139 87
Giambi's third inning HR was all the offense Brown needed, as he and Rivera combined on a four-hit shutout to blank the Red Sox 1-0.
Could this be the Boston Massacre part 2? With the Yankees sweeping the first three games of the series to pull within one game of Boston, the two teams sent their aces to the mound. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling faced off in a much-hyped matchup that turned out to be a blowout.
7/17/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 7 11 0 6 0 2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 2 9 2
New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG Jeter ss 5 1 1 0 .294 Damon cf 4 0 0 0 .266 Rodriguez,A 3b 4 1 2 3 .238 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 1 0 .250 Giambi dh 4 0 1 0 .221 Ortiz dh 4 0 0 0 .284 Matsui lf 4 0 1 0 .297 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 2 0 .320 Sierra rf 4 0 0 0 .186 Renteria ss 3 0 0 0 .252 Martinez 1b 4 1 1 0 .227 Varitek c 3 0 0 0 .214 Crosby cf 4 1 2 1 .151 Millar 1b 4 1 1 0 .333 Womack 2b 4 0 1 0 .261 Mueller 3b 3 0 1 0 .274 Flaherty c 4 3 2 3 .276 Payton rf 2 0 1 0 .327 37 7 11 7 Nixon ph 2 0 0 1 .324 33 1 6 1
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Johnson,Ra W 11-5 5.1 4 0 0 2 9 105 66 3.64 Quantrill H 1 1.2 1 0 0 1 0 28 18 5.73 Rodriguez,F 2.0 1 1 1 0 2 20 15 4.13 9.0 6 1 1 3 11 153 99
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Schilling L 6-5 7.0 9 5 4 2 4 106 72 3.63 Halama 1.0 2 2 2 0 1 17 11 5.16 Tomori 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 11 5 8.74 9.0 11 7 6 3 5 134 88
Johnson pitched well, but Boston worked his pitch count enough to get him out of the game after a little more than five innings. Luckily Felix Rodriguez and Paul Quantrill were able to close out the game as the Yankee offense managed to pound seven runs off of Schilling and his replacement, John Halama. It is not known if this game caused Schilling to start crying.
July ended with the Yankees and Boston tied for the division with identical 62-42 records.
August August saw the Yankees and Boston basically hold even, the Yankees falling 1/2 game behind Boston by going 18-11 to Boston's 18-10.
Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez paced the offense, as Giambi went .305/.445/621 with 8 HR and 23 RBI, and Rodriguez hitting .339/415/.559 with 6 HR ans 22 RBI. Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Mike Mussina, and Mariano Rivera each went 3-1. Rivera went through WWWMW™(What's wrong with Mariano Week) in August, with a 7.30 ERA, blowing 3 of 4 save opportunities, and allowing 6 of his 8 inherited runners to score.
September With 1/2 game separating Boston and New York, it all came down to September. Boston began the month by winning their first 4 games, with the Yankees winning 3 of 4 games. Heading into a three game series at home with Boston on September 9, the Yankees still trailed by 1.5 games. Luckily, the Yankees were able to throw RJ vs. Wakefield in the first game,
9/9/2005, Bos05-NYA05, Yankee Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 6 1 2005 New York (A) 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 x 6 8 0 6 0
Boston AB R H BI AVG New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Damon cf 4 0 1 1 .250 Jeter ss 3 1 1 0 .268 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 0 0 .239 Rodriguez,A 3b 3 1 1 2 .256 Ortiz dh 4 0 0 0 .287 Sheffield rf 3 1 0 0 .299 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .324 Matsui lf 3 2 2 2 .290 Renteria ss 4 0 2 0 .288 Giambi dh 3 0 1 0 .254 Varitek c 4 0 1 0 .235 Williams cf 4 1 2 1 .240 Millar 1b 4 0 1 0 .300 Flaherty c 4 0 1 0 .228 Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .262 Martinez 1b 3 0 0 1 .247 Payton rf 2 1 1 0 .319 Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 .270 33 1 6 1 30 6 8 6
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wakefield L 7-12 6.2 8 6 6 3 4 101 61 4.23 Tomori 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 22 16 6.75 8.0 8 6 6 3 7 123 77
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Johnson,Ra W 16-8 7.0 5 1 1 1 10 110 70 3.39 Groom 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 32 21 4.10 9.0 6 1 1 1 11 142 91
Now facing a slim 1/2 game deficit, the Yankees sent Mike Mussina to the mound to try and give the Yankees their first sole divisional lead of the season, against noted Republican and loudmouth Curt Schilling.
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Schilling 4.1 9 2 2 2 2 85 53 3.16 Halama 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 13 6 5.09 Mantei 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 11 8 5.63 Embree H 10 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 8 3.25 Kershner H 3 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 7 7.18 Foulke BS 7 1.0 2 2 2 1 2 33 17 3.07 Timlin L 4-3 2.0 2 1 1 1 0 21 12 3.36 11.0 14 5 5 5 8 185 111
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mussina 6.0 4 1 1 5 6 120 77 3.76 Gordon BS 6 1.0 3 2 2 0 0 20 13 3.18 Rodriguez,F 2.0 3 1 1 1 2 46 29 3.40 Rivera W 8-3 3.0 4 0 0 0 6 52 35 2.38 12.0 14 4 4 6 14 238 154
After six solid innings by Mussina, the Yankees turned a 2-1 lead over to Flash Gordon. However, a Johnny Damon single was followed by a Mark Bellhorn groundout, bringing up the dangerous David Ortiz. Ortiz cranked a homer into the short porch in right, giving Boston a 3-2 lead. Gordon got out of the inning, but the damage was done.
Alan Embree cruised through Matsui, Posada, and Giambi in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, Felix Rodriguez attempted to hold Boston. A single by Mueller, a walk by Ramon Vazquez, and a double by Johnny Damon got Boston a big insurance run. September callup Jason Kershner retired Bernie, Tino, and Womack 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth.
Boston failed to score in the top of the ninth, giving the Yankees the daunting task of scoring two runs off Keith Foulke in one inning. Derek Jeter led off the inning with a double down the third base line (he is clutch after all). Foulke then threw a wild pitch moving Jeter to third. A flustered Foulke walked Alex Rodriguez on a 3-1 pitch, bringing up Gary Sheffield. Another wild pitch scored Jeter and moved Rodriguez to second. Sheffield then followed with another double, putting the winning run on second with no outs, and Matsui, Posada and Giambi coming up. However, Foulke sacked up, fanning Matsui and Posada, then inducing a popup to short from Giambi. On to extra innings.
It was Mariano time for the Yankees, as Joe Torre brought him in to keep Boston scoreless. Boston asked Mike Timlin to do the same. Rivera pitched three shutout innings, and Timlin matched him in the 10th and 11th. Then, in a scene eerily reminiscent of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, Jorge Posada led of the bottom of the 12th with a game winning HR, putting the Yankees into sole possession of first place for the first time.
That lasted for one day, as Boston managed to come back the following day.
9/11/2005, Bos05-NYA05, Yankee Stadium
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 Boston 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 12 0 10 1 2005 New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 6 2 5 0
Boston AB R H BI AVG New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Damon cf 4 1 1 0 .254 Jeter ss 4 1 1 0 .270 Bellhorn 2b 3 1 1 2 .238 Rodriguez,A 3b 3 1 0 0 .256 Ortiz dh 5 2 2 1 .288 Sheffield rf 4 1 2 4 .304 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 1 1 .324 Matsui lf 3 0 2 0 .291 Stern lf 0 0 0 0 .381 Posada c 4 0 1 0 .306 Millar 1b 5 1 1 0 .296 Williams cf 4 0 0 0 .239 Payton rf 5 1 1 0 .320 Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .249 Mirabelli c 4 1 2 4 .240 Martinez 1b 3 0 0 0 .243 Youkilis 3b 4 0 1 0 .214 Womack 2b 3 1 0 0 .266 Renteria ss 5 1 2 0 .290 32 4 6 4 39 8 12 8
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wells 5.0 4 4 4 2 6 75 46 3.97 Mantei 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 30 17 5.36 Timlin W 5-3 2.0 1 0 0 1 0 17 10 3.24 9.0 6 4 4 4 9 122 73
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Pavano 7.0 6 2 2 2 2 121 81 5.16 Stanton H 4, L 1-6 1.1 4 3 2 0 1 31 20 6.23 Groom BS 1 0.1 2 3 0 1 0 13 6 4.07 DePaula 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7.04 9.0 12 8 4 3 3 166 108
An exhausted Yankee bullpen had to try and use Mike Stanton and Buddy Groom to preserve a two run lead.
The Yankees fell another half game behind Boston heading into the final series of the season, and trailed Boston by one game heading into Fenway for a three game set.
The Yankees managed to pull even with Boston in the first game of the series thanks to Kevin Brown's 10th win of the season.
9/30/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 0 1 4 1 1 2 1 0 10 12 0 7 0 2005 Boston 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 9 3 7 2
New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG Jeter ss 5 0 0 1 .264 Damon cf 5 0 0 0 .250 Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .250 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 0 0 .236 Sheffield rf 5 2 2 2 .296 Ortiz dh 4 0 1 0 .287 Matsui lf 4 2 2 0 .289 Millar 1b 3 1 1 0 .278 Posada c 3 2 0 0 .296 Nixon rf 4 1 2 1 .299 Martinez 1b 4 1 1 0 .247 Mueller 3b 4 1 2 2 .264 Phillips 3b 5 2 3 3 .314 Payton lf 4 0 0 0 .296 Crosby cf 5 1 2 2 .189 Mirabelli c 3 0 2 0 .238 Womack 2b 4 0 2 2 .269 Renteria ss 4 0 1 0 .302 39 10 12 10 35 3 9 3
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Brown W 10-7 7.0 6 1 1 2 6 95 61 3.64 Groom 2.0 3 2 2 0 0 34 20 4.02 9.0 9 3 3 2 6 129 81
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wakefield L 8-15 4.1 4 6 1 3 0 72 38 4.43 Kershner 2.0 3 2 2 0 1 38 27 6.40 Tomori 1.1 4 2 2 1 0 27 16 6.53 Kim 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 16 11 3.36 9.0 12 10 5 4 2 153 92
In Game 2, another Johnson vs. Schilling matchup led to another Yankee win.
10/1/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 7 0 5 1 2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 4 0
New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG Jeter ss 4 0 2 1 .266 Damon cf 4 0 0 0 .248 Rodriguez,A 3b 3 0 1 0 .262 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 1 0 .236 Sheffield rf 4 0 0 0 .293 Ortiz dh 4 0 1 0 .286 Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .248 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .326 Posada c 4 0 0 0 .294 Renteria ss 2 1 0 0 .300 Sierra lf 4 0 0 0 .211 Varitek c 3 0 0 0 .228 Williams cf 4 1 2 0 .250 Millar 1b 2 0 1 1 .279 Martinez 1b 4 1 1 1 .247 Mueller 3b 3 0 1 0 .264 Womack 2b 3 1 1 1 .269 Payton rf 3 0 0 0 .293 34 3 7 3 29 1 4 1
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Johnson,Ra W 19-9 8.1 4 1 1 3 7 113 64 3.07 Gordon S 3 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 2.95 9.0 4 1 1 3 7 117 66
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Schilling L 15-8 6.2 6 3 3 1 5 115 75 2.98 Timlin 2.1 1 0 0 0 2 31 20 3.12 9.0 7 3 3 1 7 146 95
The final game of the season came down to Mike Mussina vs. former Yankee David Wells, going for his 20th victory. A win by Boston would force a tie in the AL East.
10/2/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2005 New York (A) 0 2 0 0 4 0 2 1 0 9 14 0 4 0 2005 Boston 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 0 7 0
New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Mussina W 15-6 6.1 9 4 3 1 6 103 70 3.86 Stanton 2.2 1 0 0 1 0 39 24 5.52 9.0 10 4 3 2 6 142 94
Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wells L 19-8 4.1 9 6 6 0 4 80 55 4.25 Halama 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 10 6 4.93 Mantei 2.0 2 2 2 0 1 29 18 4.86 Kim 2.0 3 1 1 0 3 27 18 3.39 9.0 14 9 9 0 9 146 97
And with that game, the Yankees clinch the AL East by two games.
Team W L Pct GB RF RA American League East New York (A) 99 63 .611 - 884 702 Boston 97 65 .599 2 910 733 Baltimore 88 74 .543 11 901 819 Toronto 85 77 .525 14 907 828 Tampa Bay 74 88 .457 25 702 815
There are some weird numbers in there on both sides. Sturtze didn't get any relief appearances for some reason, I'll have to see why that is. Also, Rodriguez had a lousy season by his standards, a bit surprising to me. Pavano was horrendous. I find this very encouraging actually, The Yankees won the division despite some pretty bad performances.
I don't know if anyone else will find this interesting, but I figured I'd throw it up here for the hell of it.
Update: I made a site using Diamond Mind's web report generation feature if anyone wants to see how other teams/players did.
--posted at 8:00 AM by SG / |
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