Home again with a sick son - pneunomia. Those links will make the day go by.

I plan on watching the game tonight on the treadmill - otherwise I'll be so nervous I'll eat chips and ice cream from 8:00-10:30...

I woke up in excitement today. Really cannot wait!

Expect huge turnout right here on Banter.

On a personal note, my wife absolutely dreads this time of year...

I can't wait for tonight - my baby girl's first playoff game! Let's go Yanks!

By the way, I'm going to bed in about an hour and I have to work throughout these playoffs. This sucks. I'll be Gameday-ing it at work, and returning home at night to watch on the Japanese equivalent of TiVO.

Lucky I live in the future and know that the Yankees swept the Tigers, beat the Twins 4 games to 2 and are now up 2 games to nothing against the Padres in a photo-realistic rematch of the 1998 postseason.

http://tinyurl.com/zvrt6

And our confident new cleanup man riffin' in the NJ Star Ledger:

http://tinyurl.com/evkrj

Man, we're in for back to back beautiful nights in the Bronx. Indian Summer.

i'm hoping for the sweep so i won't have to postpone my wedding plans for game four.

what can you do...

See, science can be fun as well as lucrative!

5. Joe Torre, explaining the left field situation and Melky Cabrera (9/6/06):"We were taking him out on defense when he first got here and the other day we put him in for defense. Shows you how smart the manager is."
4. Brian Cashman, in the infamous interview with Chris Russo, regarding Cory Lidle (8/1/06): "I'm biting my tongue because you are irritating the heck out of me."
3. Kyle Farnsworth, commenting on the beer and champagne soaked visitor's clubhouse, 9/21/06: "The best thing is Boston has to come in here next. It's the smell of victory they've got to smell. You can print that."
2. Gary Sheffield, explaining his stance on switching to first base (8/2/06): "It's funny how people could think for you and tell you what you're going to do. You all think you all know what I'm going to do, and you all don't. Nobody knows. That's the mystique of me."
1. Alex Rodriguez, after a 4-1 loss to the Angels on April 8: "When they give you lemons, you have to make lemonade. When they give you oranges, you have to make orange juice. Tonight, we tried to make tomato juice out of lemon juice. It just didn't work out."

9 hours, 14 minutes and counting...

PACINO SENDS A MESSAGE
By GEORGE KING

October 3, 2006 -- YANKEE NOTES
As part of their preparation for what many consider will be a bludgeoning of the Tigers in the ALDS that opens tonight with Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees took in a motivational presentation yesterday in the clubhouse prior to a workout.

Chad Bohling, the director of optimal performance, set up a screen and turned off the lights. What the Yankees saw were clips of "Rudy" and "Any Given Sunday" mixed in with highlight clips of themselves for positive reinforcement.

Al Pacino's "inch-by-inch" speech from "Any Given Sunday" filled the quiet clubhouse.

"I don't know what to say. Really, three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today," the Yankees heard Pacino bark.

While some adults would consider such tactics sophomoric, there were no snickers in the clubhouse as the players paid strict attention to the message Bohling attempted to send.

------------------------

Count me in as one of those adults. The players' reaction or lack thereof is an indication of their professionalism. But if I were one of them, I would have pulled Bohling and Cashman aside after the fact and let them know what a load of crap I thought this "motivational" presentation was.

"As we were walking in, they were handing us wild-card hats and wild-card shirts," Jones said yesterday at Yankee Stadium. "It was worse than kissing your sister - it was like making out with your mom. There was no enjoyment, nothing. It was horrible."

We have 36 championships and are well on our way to 37. If we beat the Rockies tonight, we will have swept through the post season with 11 straight wins, making it 22 consecutive post-season games won, including sweeps of the Royals and Devil Rays in the ALDS and ALCS, respectively.

Manager Ruben Sierra had this to say after the most recent win.

"I'm so proud of these guys. Tabata, Betances, Hughes, and Bernie Williams. Who would have thought that they'd put a string together like this. It shows you the kind of lineup that Cyborg Boss has assembled for us. People say that $500 million is a lot of money, but it's well spent on this bunch."

37 Scott Proctor got the win, right?

Interesting tidbit I realized while reading over at Baseball Think Factory: The Royals, while perhaps burying the Tigers' season with their sweep, also cost themselves the #1 overall pick in the June 2007 amateur draft. If this were football or basketball it'd be a bigger deal, I know, but it's something to think about. Then again, David Glass isn't likely to use any of his revenue sharing/luxury tax money on a top draft pick anyway. They'll probably draft the UNC frosh SS and then not sign him...

tick...tock...tick...tock. At least there's a couple of other baseball games to sort of pass the time.

(movie reference alert)

47 There sure are. I love watching all playoff games. In 2003 I watched every inning of every game, to the detriment of a few college courses. Unfortunately now I have a job and I can only waste time on here...

Ten to twenty in the pen (not the bullpen)

This will be the first year I have a DVR box for a Yankees post-season. I'm going to try to fit everything on there - I may have to pull off each series as they conclude onto DVDs...

All this waiting and talk of the future make Shaun P go something something.

All this waiting and talk of the future make Shaun P go something something.

"The waiting is the hardest part . . ."

That's pretty amazing. Yankees games won't feel real without Mr. Sheppard. Remember he was off at the beginning of the season?

18 Wow that's beatiful work. I'm gonna check out the whole series when I have time but right now I gotta get some WORK done so that I can take off early (PDT!)

http://tinyurl.com/ldy93
(shudders)

I was 12 years old at the time, my parents sent me to bed after Rogers gave up 5 runs and it was 6-0 Braves at the end of the fifth. But I snuck a walkman into my bed and managed to stay awake until the Leyritz homer.

I don't say that easily. I've been listening to him for over 40 years, and he was the absolute best there ever was. But he isn't anymore, and I think it's time.

They've groomed a replacement for him, a guy who sounds an awful lot like Bob Sheppard.

That was a choke for the ages...

IMO the Yanks should just throw a ton of money at James Earl Jones. How cool would it be to have the voice of Darth Vader working for the 'Evil Empire'?

65 Yea, he did. Breaking a hip for anyone over 60 or 70 can be very bad. I am more than glad he's fine.

Ladies and Gems, "waiting" is an art. I am learning to handle it but it takes a lot more for me to master the art of waiting...

65 Yea, he did. Breaking a hip for anyone over 60 or 70 can be very bad. I am more than glad he's fine.

Ladies and Gems, "waiting" is an art. I am learning to handle it but it takes a lot more for me to master the art of waiting...

Stupid meeting, interfering with my ability to follow all the playoff games...

I am intrigued by Leyland's selection of 3 infielders (Infante, Perez, Santiago) for his bench instead of Shelton or Clevlen. Perhaps he is viewing Infante as the 4th outfielder (he played 4 games there this year and 5 in 2004 -- mostly, if not entirely, in Center). Leyland may be considering pinch hitting with Infante if Torre brings in Myers to face Granderson in a critical situation. If so, Myers has no business being on the roster. He should be in Tampa tuning up for Mauer and Morneau.

Facing Murderers' Row

I'm more anxious about this post season getting underway than I have been in a long time.

Good piece in Newsday about them:

http://tinyurl.com/jvc4d

...which includes this:

"Consider their contributions: In 131 games, Williams batted .281 with 12 homers, 29 doubles and 61 RBIs. In 130 games, Cabrera batted .280 with seven homers, 26 doubles and 50 RBIs. He also tied for first in the American League with 12 outfield assists".

Some bench we have there.

Sheffield's postseason series with the Yankees:
777, 977, 604.

Arod postseason OPS 927.

Arod's postseason series with the Yankees:
1.213, 894, and 581.

They played in the same postseason series, so a direct comparison is apt.

The more I think about it, the less sense moving Arod to the 6 hole makes.
It adds fuel to the "Arod can't be trusted in the postseason" media dopes without gaining anything at all.

87 BTW, YiM - tinyurl.com is your friend! (Surprised no one else has said that yet.)

Punto has a .392 OBP vs lefties this year. Zito may be dealing but the Twins are making it easy - he has only thrown half his pitches for strikes. Why give up the out? Why not tell Punto to work Zito as much as possible, see what happens?

I'm sure Joe Morgan applauded the move.

A lot of us Banterers sure do see the game the same way! Awesome stuff.

The old "work the starters, get to the soft middle reliever underbelly" isn't necessarily going to work well against two bullpens as good as Oakland's and Minnesota's. Especially the Twins. That's why they scare me, as do the Padres.

109 Why am I not surprised? Thanks, JeremyM!

I think the Yanks would get at least equivalent numbers to what Zito would provide by just letting Rasner pitch all year, at a fraction of the cost.

No Zito. Yes Matsuzaka.

I have this sinking feeling that I'm more of a Steinbrenner than a Cashman.

I'll worry about the A's when/if we face them.

So on one level I agree 100%, pete.

Even without El Duque, I still think the Mets are OK. No offense to any folks from Dodger Thoughts who wander over this way.

I don't care what he does today.

Not having Marco Scutaro and Mark Ellis at the bottom of the Yankees batting order.

Can you imagine having a keystone combination whose OPS sum to .515?

Man, that Johan Santana is absolutely unbeatable, huh? I'm so glad we avoided the Twins, since we never would have been able to get any men on base against him.... /sarcasm. If Marco Scutaro can touch Santana, I think Murder's Row II could have handled him...

Gotta credit the A's for scoring on Santana. The A's might be a better team, but I just don't want the Twins. I fear Santana, and if Liriano were also pitching, they would be near impossble to beat. I have read 3 articles where the author opined that Liriano, while more inconsistant, is better then Santana when he is ON. Now that is a truly scary thought.

GO A's!!!!!!!
ALSO: Is there a chance, that if the Twins make it to the ALCS, that Santana will pitch THREE games?

My feelings toward the Boss have soften a lot over the years.

White has always been able to hit lefties . . .

In his defense, the name of his blog is "TigerBlog." I'm guessing there's a little bit of subjectivity involved in that one. I can't blame him. If the Yanks had been out of the playoffs for 19 years, I would pick them too, numbers be damned.

Tigers
-or-
Twins

Everyone weigh in please

Also... I want the Twins. Santana/Boof/Andy Hawkins < Zito/Haren/Harden

164 Karim Garcia?

Wow....the Twins really sacrificed an opprutunity there.

Why isn't Thomas discussed in the MVP thing more? I mean, I want Jeter to win, but Thomas has been pretty freaking valuable.

And Gardenhire has put in his worst reliever. And yes, I know that sounds crazy when you look at the numbers, but its true. That's why the Twins scare me, so I guess I'm pulling for Oakland.

Thomas is having a near MVP year. For 500k+ incentives. Amazing.

To be honest, the way things have gone, I bet the Big Hurt resigns with Oakland. Especially if the A's go places in the playoffs.

Where would he play next year on the Yankees? Just what we need another led legged DH. We gots enough of those.

Oh where is Rob Gee now that Crazy Uncle Milty did that?

And, when all three are healthy, how scared out of their minds would opposing managers be knowing that Torre could pinch hit one of those 3? 7th inning, Giambi DHing, Sheff at 1B, Hurt on the bench. Giambi 0 for 3. Do you bring in a LOOGY, knowing that Thomas will be called on? Or you do leave the righty in and hope Giambi doesn't kill him? Or does it not matter, because Thomas might come up anyway?

That's even sicker than the current Yankees' lineup.

I would consider trading Shef to Houston (they need a big bat), but what do the Astros have in return?

200 MFD, don't forget, at the start of the year, Andy Phillips and Bernie were the non-Giambi 1B/DH options.

Signing Thomas seems completely gratuitous. Besides, I think it's pretty much a sure thing that they'll re-sign Bernie.

But (huge, J-Lo sized but), I don't, under any circumstances, want Gary Sheffield to be a member of the Boston Red Sox. That would be my prime motivation to resigning him. Like him or not, I do not want to see that swaggering batting stance 19 times a year against the Yankees...

4 hours 20 minutes to go!

WEEI claims to have 'insider' info that there's a Manny deal being discussed with the Mets and Orioles, a 3-way. It sounded implausible, with both Mets and Sox giving up unnamed prospects and of course Tejada getting shipped to Boston.

206 Oh, sorry.
Sheff costs too much, and he's a defensive liability. (How's that?)

Besides, it doesn't work unless Sheffield decides he wants to go to Houston. He doesn't have a no-trade, but he doesn't let that bother him.

There's no such thing as having too many great hitters. Its like having lots of options for starting pitchers - depth is a great thing to have. Most teams have to reach for peanuts to replace an injured big bat. Why not be the team that can replace an injured fantastic hitter with another fantastic hitter?

I think you wind up looking like a baseball corollary of the Bricks err Knicks if you don't keep an eye on that stuff.

Ouch.

I was sceptical about both SheffSui's wrists... but they both seem to be over it. Considering they lost 3 months, all things considered, they are both doing real well. 2 HRs for sheff it 2 weeks, yes?

ALEX...
ALEX...

Don't forget to put up a new thread around 7:00 PM.

I just think about all I've read about the 50s Yankee teams, who had great depth and quality backups all over the place. They managed to make it work. Maybe egos/salaries/24-7 coverage of everything has made it impossible.

I guess I really want the Yanks to have another Strawberry-caliber hitter who can sometimes play the field, sometimes DH, and the rest of the time be the most feared bench weapon in MLB.

BTW Ken, thanks for hosting our comments all year, and congrats to the A's on Game 1.

I have to say that in over 40 years of paying very close attention to this, this is the closest to the candy store that I can remember us getting.;-)

Ahh... that's better.

WOW. Presuming their data is accurate, this Enhanced Gameday is unbelievable.

And thanks, but I'm not celebrating anything until that 0-for-9 in ALDS clinchers streak is broken. I've seen this too many times before.

Did someone figure out how to see who's on base on the Enhanced Gameday? I am thinking it may be too distracting for me, maybe I will switch back to the Classic version in 3 hrs.....still waiting anxiously. I think I will have a super early super so I won't be too nervous to eat later.

258It seems like switching between Enhanced and Classic is seamless and immediate, so not seeing who's on base isn't a big deal for me, I can just switch.

Wang was escorted into the interview room after yesterday's workout and was asked, of course, whether he was nervous. Looking out at a room filled with reporters and cameras, the 26-year-old right-hander smiled.

"In the field, no," he said. "In here, yes."

265 That's pretty funny, I didn't think of that...

Seriously, is anyone getting any work done? I have some work to finish, and preferrably before 8, but it's not going very well...

If Alex doesn't start a new thread for tonight's game, I have no doubt that the Banter will crack 1000 comments again. We're almost to 300 and its not even 6 PM yet.

2 hours, 56 minutes and counting...

"Torre said Kyle Farnsworth would pitch back-to-back games as needed. They protected him during the season so he would be ready now."

Ack. I thought it was, "We figured out during the season that he sucks big, green warty pickles if used back-to-back, so we won't do it in the postseason."

Why do we still have 1.5 hrs to go?

I wake up and find:

1. Zito and the As beat Santana
2. Enhanced Gameday is freaky good!!!!!
3. Albert Pujols is already in MVP form.
4. Frank Thomas is a cyborg.

What is happening? Could this be a sign that the Yankees are going to win 17-0?

By the way, I realize that I live in the future, but as I wrote before I went to bed, I'm in 2017 and I've forgotten as much about the 2006 post-season as I remember.

For the record, Bush is still president. He had the rules changed when he increased presidential powers. Voting has been replaced by a coin toss, but he gets heads. All U.S. currency was accordingly changed to feature Paul Wolfowitz on both sides.

Game's on the radio, too, right?

I suspect A-Rod batting 6th is more about Sheff's fragile psyche than A-rod's. Drop Sheff to 6th, and he'll make a fuss. A-Rod won't, so A-Rod got moved down.

-dodger fan also rooting for yankees for my dad's sake

Just want to throw this out there:

Hip Hip....

I am a ball of nerves right now... That's all I can say.

Just felt like throwing in a cheer before separating myself from the computer to watch the game on tv.

It's a blue and white baseball from the 1998 Championship season that was given out at the GM meetings the following winter.

On the back it says 24 World Championships, and has them listed up to '98.

It's looking like a lucky ball right now to me.

The guy is a natural.

My new Mantra: The Banter CANNOT go down

27 dead worms.

A game-winning HR from A-Rod.

I have the game on tv this time, though.

LETS GO YANKEES!

(GOD. More pure HORSESHIT on ARod on Fox. The guy needs to NEVER TAKE TO A REPORTER AGAIN!)

Thanks, Alex.

Well, that me and I haven't had a sip. Yet.