Defiant To the End

This is my 500th post on this blog. And my 499th, in which I said the Yankees should not be afraid of Cliff Lee, set me up to look like a fool.

In fact, I remain defiant to the end.

Yes, Cliff Lee pitched one of the best games in postseason history last night, enabling the Texas Rangers to go up 2 games to 1 over the Yankees, and take home-field advantage back.

But the truth is, after 8 innings, the score was only 2-0. Had that remained the score, Lee would have had to pitch the 9th, having thrown 82 pitches. That's not a lot, but 9 innings is still 9 innings. And 2 runs, as Yankee broadcaster John Sterling would stay, "That's just a bloop and a blast." Or a walk and a wallop.

What killed the Yankees last night wasn't Lee's stinginess -- 2 hits and a walk against 13 strikeouts, just 2 off the postseason record for Yankee opponents set by Sandy Koufax in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series -- but the bullpen implosion in the top of the 9th.

After allowing a 1st-inning homer to Josh Hamilton -- test him for drugs, steroids or otherwise -- Pettitte was fine the rest of the way, through the 7th. Kerry Wood pitched a scoreless 8th. Had Joe Girardi left Wood in for the 9th, it doesn't seem likely that he would have been worse than the double-barreled backfire of Boone Logan and David Robertson, before Sergio Mitre finally locked the barn door -- after the horse had not only escaped but knocked over a lantern that burned the barn down -- and it was 8-0. That may have been the worst Yankee inning I've ever seen.

Frankly, I don't know why Joe didn't leave Pettitte in to pitch the 8th. He'd only thrown 67 pitches. That's an average of 9.57 pitches for inning, less than Lee's exceptional 10.25. He hadn't pitched as well as Lee, but had pitched very well and was fresher. Had Andy pitched the 8th, Wood could have pitched the 9th; had they done as well as they actually did, it would still have been 2-0 Texas in the bottom of the 9th, and people would be writing different stuff today.

The back page of today's Daily News reads, "PANIC IN THE BRONX."

But, you see, that's the thing: The Yankees never panic. Never. Who wrote that headline, noted Met fan and Yankee Hater Mike Lupica?

Ranger catcher Benjie Molina, a member of the Anaheim Angels team that beat the Yankees in the 2002 ALDS on the way to winning the World Series, said, "I don't think anybody thinks this series is over. No way can you think this series is over. When you think it's over, that's when everything goes sour."

This is the 21st time that a team has held a 2-1 lead in a best-4-out-of-7 ALCS. In the previous 20, the team holding the 2-1 lead has ended up winning the series 15 times.

One of the 5 times the team down 2-1 came back was in 1998, when the Cleveland Indians had such a lead over the Yankees, and had the next 2 games at Jacobs Field, where they were really tough. The Indians didn't win another game until April, as the Yanks took the next 3.

The Yankees have had a number of postseason comebacks:

* 1923 World Series: Down 2-1 to the New York Giants, won 4-2.

* 1952 World Series: Down 3-2 to the Brooklyn Dodgers, won 4-3.

* 1958 World Series: Down 3-1 to the Milwaukee Braves, won 4-3.

* 1977 ALCS: Down 1-0 and 2-1 to the Kansas City Royals, won 3-2. (The LCS format was best-3-out-of-5 from 1969 to 1984, and has been best 4-out-of-7 since 1985.)

* 1978 World Series: Down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, won 4-2.

* 1996 ALDS: Down 1-0 to the Texas Rangers, won 3-1. The Rangers never won another postseason game until this year's ALDS.

* 1996 World Series: Down 2-0 to the Atlanta Braves, won 4-2.

* 1998 ALCS: As stated, down 2-1 to the Cleveland Indians, won 4-2.

* 2000 ALDS: Down 1-0 to the Oakland Athletics, won 3-2.

* 2001 ALDS: Down 2-0 to the A's, both at Yankee Stadium, won 3-2.

* 2003 ALCS: Down 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium, won 4-3.

* 2009 World Series: Down 1-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies, at Yankee Stadium II, won 4-2.

So while the Yankees were not intimidated by Cliff Lee -- frustrated, maybe, but not intimidated -- neither are they intimidated by being down 2-1 with the Rangers having regained home-field advantage.

A.J. Burnett starts tonight in Game 4. He's been awful this season, and his last postseason start, Game 5 of last year's World Series -- also started by Lee, for the Phillies -- was awful.

But the Rangers' starter is Tommy Hunter. Who? 13-4 this season, his .765 winning percentage leading the AL. ERA 3.73, pretty good in a hitters' park in the AL. (And, like George Thomas Seaver, Raymond Thomas Hunter uses his middle name and becomes "Tom." Just like his boss, Lynn N. Ryan, uses his middle name. Not that that's particularly relevant.) But he was already beaten by Tampa Bay in this year's ALDS, and that's his only postseason experience. Contrast that with Allan James Burnett, whose postseason ERA is 5.27, but has won both a postseason game and a ring. (Two, in fact: He was with the Marlins in 2003 but was hurt and did not appear in the postseason.)

Panic in The Bronx? Perish the thought. The Yankees can come back from this. And unless Ron Washington wants to be the one to panic, and pitch him on 3 days' rest in Game 6... Cliff Lee may not pitch again this season. If so, he may never pitch for the Rangers again. Who knows if Ryan is going to shell out the cash necessary to keep Lee?

Tonight's game tells the story: If A.J. has his good stuff, the Yankees win the Pennant. If he doesn't, it's the Rangers vs. the Phillies-Giants winner in the World Series.

The Rangers have proven nothing yet. The Yankees have. And the Rangers are the Division winner facing the Wild Card winner. And they've got the home-field advantage. By all measures, they should win.

The pressure's all on them. Let's see how these postseason neophytes handle it.

The bastards.

Who's Afraid of Cliff Lee?; Eric LeGrand Paralyzed

In Game 1 of the American League Championship Series in Texas, the New York Yankees fell behind the Texas Rangers 5-0, and won, 6-5.

In Game 2 of the ALCS in Texas, the Yankees fell behind the Rangers 5-0 again, but this time there was no comeback, and they lost, 7-2.

The series is tied. The Yankees got a split on the road, and now the next 3 games are at home at Yankee Stadium II.

But the media is going bonkers. They're all afraid of the starting pitching situation. The Yankees' Game 1 starter, CC Sabathia, and their Game 2 starter, Phil Hughes, both pitched poorly. And now, in Game 3, the Yankees have to face Cliff Lee, who won both games the Phillies won against the Yankees in last year's World Series and is probably the best lefthanded pitcher in baseball.

And, as everyone knows, the Yankees can't beat lefthanded pitchers. Especially in the postseason.

Such is the thoughts of a bunch of idiots.

The truth: The series is tied, the next 3 games are in New York, the Yankees have postseason experience on their side (and the Rangers don't), the Rangers have never played bigger games in the history of their franchise (while the Yankees play games this big just about every year), and the Yankees have the winningest pitcher in postseason history going tonight, Andy Pettitte. And as bad as the Yankee starters were, the Ranger bullpen was every bit as bad, while the Yankees have the best bullpen in baseball.

So... Who's afraid of Cliff Lee? Idiots are. The Yankees are not.

We are in great shape, and to hell with Cliff Lee: Whoever said the Yankees can't hit lefthanders, especially in the postseason, never talked to the following:

* Tom Glavine, 1996 and 1999 World Series.

* Darren Oliver, 1996, 1998, 1999 and now 2010 Division Series. What happened to this guy in the 2000s?

* Arthur Rhodes, 1996, 2000 and 2001 ALCS.

* Mark Langston, 1998 World Series. And even if that was a strike, how many borderline pitches are called against the Yankees? The breaks tend to even out, and the Padres had already blown a 3-run lead in the 7th.

* Mike Remlinger, 1999 World Series. Seriously, a walkoff homer to Chad Curtis?

* Al Leiter and Mike Hampton, 2000 World Series. Oh, how the Flushing Heathen were talking up the Yankees' inability to hit those 2 lefthanders. And in the 3 games they started for The Other Team, the Yankees went 3-0.

* Barry Zito, 2000 and 2001 ALDS.

* Scott Kazmir, 2009 ALCS. Speaking of how dumb Met fans are, if their team hadn't been stupid enough to trade him to Tampa Bay for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato, Tampa Bay wouldn't have traded him to Anaheim, and the Angels might've beaten the Yankees for last year's Pennant.

* Cole Hamels, 2009 World Series. Of course, there's a chance he could redeem himself in the 2010 World Series. Come to think of it, if the NLCS goes the other way, Zito could do so.

* Oh yeah, and former Minnesota Twins ace, The Great Johan Santana, 2003 and 2004 ALDS.

So will somebody explain to me why the Yankees, and the Yankee Fans, should be afraid of Cliff Lee?

Sure, there was Sandy Koufax in 1963, and Don Gullett in 1976, and Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, and Randy Johnson in 2001. And Paul Splittorff and Larry Gura in the 1976, '77, '78 and '80 ALCS. But look at the Yankees' overall record against lefties in postseason play, and you'll see they aren't fazed by anything.

The author of the blog Pinstripe Alley (see link to the right) says that Batters have hit .348 in 2010 on the 1st pitch vs. Lee.

Let's see, do the Yankees have any players who like to swing at the 1st pitch? Yeah, guy name of Jeter. As Bobby Jones of the Mets found out when Derek led off Game 4 of the 2000 World Series by homering on the first pitch, killing the Mutts' momentum from winning that Game 3. Another guy name of Rodriguez. .348 on Lee's first pitches? That's A-Stat for A-Rod.

And remember: Lee could well go the full 9... and lose, 1-0. Or be tied, 1-1, and then have to trust his bullpen against the Yankee lumber.

The Texas Rangers, who have never won a Pennant, are not going to intimidate the New York Yankees, the 27-time and also defending World Champions. If the Rangers want to win this Pennant, they are going to have to beat the Yankees on the field.

And if the Yankees win Game 3 in spite of facing Cliff Lee, who will then not be able to pitch again until Game 7 -- unless the Rangers want to risk throwing him on 3 days' rest in Game 6 -- then there might not be a Game 6.

If the Yankees do win tonight, and I think they will, then I hope the knee-jerkers (or jerkers of any other body part you can name) in the national media will admit that, A, the Yankees are the better team; and B, they are not only in the driver's seat, but have lapped the Rangers on the track. (Just to use a metaphor that has absolutely nothing to do with sports.)

*

On Saturday, at the new Meadowlands Stadium, Rutgers fell behind Army 17-3, and came back to win 23-20 in overtime.

Good for Rutgers. Good for New Jersey.

Bad for Army, and bad for America as a whole. If the U.S. Army can blow a lead like that...

Seriously, there was bad news from this game: Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand, a native of the Avenel section of Woodbridge, New Jersey and a graduate of that Township's Colonia High School, collided with Army player Malcolm Brown, defending a kickoff return late in the game. Brown was spun by a preceding hit, and LeGrand made a mistake, and went head-first into Brown's back.

Brown wasn't hurt, but LeGrand suffered a broken neck, and is now paralyzed from the neck down.

They don't yet know if he'll ever walk again. Even if he does make a full recovery, and there is hope of that, his football career is over.

Rutgers is now 4-2, and have a Big East Conference game on Saturday, away to the University of Pittsburgh, who usually beat them in Pittsburgh.

Right now, though, it doesn't seem to matter much. Get well, Eric.

Only 41,000 came out. That would be a sellout at Army's Michie Stadium (and then some), and close to a sell-out at the pre-expansion Rutgers Stadium (the 1994-2008 version). But at the new Meadowlands Stadium, it's only half-full. Where were all those people on the waiting list for Rutgers season tickets?

UPDATE: LeGrand remains paralyzed through April 2017. He has, nonetheless, built a sports media career, and Rutgers made his Number 52 the 1st uniform number its football team has retired.

And, of course, "the New Meadowlands Stadium" is now MetLife Stadium.

Mike Sez: Rest In Peace, Freddy Schuman, 1925-2010

Bob Sheppard. George Steinbrenner. And Ralph Houk. And that's just since July. Now Freddy Schuman, the old-time fan known from his signs as "Freddy Sez," has died at age 85. (Some reports had him at 82, but apparently 85 was correct.)

Freddy was the real thing. People like him are the reason we've never needed a Phanatic or a Chicken. There's not many people left who saw Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play, and now there's one less.

Freddy first let me hit the pan on Opening Day 1995. He already looked 100 years old, and having lost an eye and all his teeth, I could see how kids could have been scared of him. But he couldn't have been more accomodating to fans, from his age on down. And, I suppose, on up. (He would then have been 66.)

My first game at the new Stadium was the 4th one, a Sunday afternoon, April 19, 2009, and this was after a rough start that included 2 games where Nick Swisher had to pitch. Freddy was outside Game 6, and someone said, "Freddy, you can't retire!" And I said, "Retire? At this rate, we may need him to pitch!" Fortunately, he laughed.

Great guy. And we're running out of places on the uniform to put memorials. We may have to have the players write "SEZ" in white-out on the backs of their caps.

*

In a story related only because it's connected to Yankee Fans, Stadium security has announced that, due to a series of anti-gay bias incidents this month, from the awful attack in The Bronx to the webcam humiliation leading to the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, the Bleacher Creatures' reworking of the Village People's "YMCA" to surrounding someone in opposing team colors and singing, "Why are you gay?" will no longer be tolerated. Anyone doing it gets ejected from The Stadium, with all the penalties that would come with an ejection for any other reason.

I'm not gay... I am single, but no longer thin, and hardly neat... but I applaud this. There are a few things that bother me about my team, and this was one of the most noxious, not just obnoxious.

Like I Said, Rangers Suck!

Rangers 5, Yankees 0... Oooooooops, Yankees 6, Rangers 5.

Or, as they say in English soccer, "Five-nil, and you fucked it up!"

On the radio, John Sterling said he'd never before seen 2 relief pitchers each throw just 1 pitch and get removed. In the words of St. Louis Cardinal fan Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan on M*A*S*H), the Ranger bullpen was operating with all the efficiency of a one-legged man at a butt-kicking contest. The Yankee bullpen, however, picked up an off-form CC Sabathia with 5 scoreless innings of relief.

After the game, I saw Rangers legend and now owner Nolan Ryan on TV, laughing about something.

Laughing? After the game that, in the event the Yankees win this series, will go down in history as the Rangers' own Bill Buckner Game? Their Steve Bartman Game? Their Black Friday? (Phillies 1977.) Their Game 6? (Giants 2002.) Their Game 7? (Indians 1997.)

Looks like the new boss is a little too accepting of losing. Well, as Yogi Berra would have said if he'd thought of it first: When you accept losing, you accept losing.

The author of the blog River Avenue Blues says the Yankees got lucky. Yeah, they got lucky that they faced the Rangers bullpen! Darren Oliver? What's the matter, Nolan, couldn't activate yourself? No, the matter was Arthur Rhodes and Armando Benitez weren't available! Ah, but Kerry Wood was... and he was available to the Rangers at this season's trade deadline, and he's from the Dallas suburbs! How did these bozos miss that?

Face it, if Cliff Lee doesn't go 9 in Game 3 -- and even if he does, and it's only tied after 9 -- this could be a sweep. Cue the chant: "You can't beat us!"

Three wins to go for Pennant 41, seven wins to go for Title 28.

*

Arsenal had their own comeback win this morning. They should have been 3-0 up on a very unimpressive Birmingham City side in the 1st half (including a header from Sebastien Squillaci that should have been allowed but wasn't), before the Brummies took advantage of injuries to Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny and a return to pathetic form of Lukasz Fabianski, and took a 1-0 lead. But a stupid foul gave Samir Nasri a penalty that he converted easily, and Marouane Chamakh got the winner, 2-1 to The Arsenal.

Tottenham got a result they didn't deserve, winning at Fulham 2-1 on a goal the linesman correctly called offside, but Mike Dean, The Worst Sports Official On The Planet (and Vladimir Putin's only slightly less evil twin), allowed it, the bald bastard.

Manchester United got a result they did deserve, with Edwin van der Sar showing why he's retiring at the end of the season, at age 40, with a major goalkeeping gaffe, and West Bromwich Albion, who earlier beat Arsenal at Ashburton Grove, forged a draw against The Devil's Own United at Old Trafford.

*

All 3 local hockey teams lost last night. The (New York) Rangers and (barely New York) Islanders lost in overtime, to the Toronto Maple Leafs (an "Original Six" matchup) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (in powder-blue throwback uniforms) respectively. The New Jersey Devils didn't even get that far, losing 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche. The new Denver team beating the old one.

East Brunswick High School used their own running game to hold possession and a great defense to hold off the vaunted passing attack of Howell. The Bears beat the Rebels, 21-13. E.B. is now 4-1, and could make it back-to-back visits to the Playoffs for the first time since the 1987 & '88 seasons. (For all the good that did us.)

However, the last 3 games before the Playoff cutoff date are against Sayreville, Piscataway and South Brunswick. Respectively: A team we haven't done well against in the last 20 years (though we beat them at their place in the Playoffs last season), a team we haven't beaten at all in the last 20 years, and a team that beat Monroe last night, the one team to have beaten us this season (returning a favor we did last season, and while Monroe hasn't been strong this season, that doesn't say much for us as they beat us).

Then comes the consolation game (if we don't make the Playoffs), and then comes our annual Thanksgiving loss against Old Bridge. So after the Purple Bastards take care of us, we could go from 4-1 to 4-6. And that'll make last night's Texas Rangers collapse look competent by comparison.

Rutgers and Army are about to get underway in the first college football game at the New Meadowlands Stadium. Come on you Reds!

Rangers Suck! Baseball Edition

Aside from the prospective Mrs. Derek Jeter (it's been rumored that he and Minka Kelly will get married in November) being named the Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire magazine (this after last year's was Kate Beckinsale -- or, as I like to call her, the Triple-A version of Catherine Zeta-Jones), the big news is that, after a 6-day layoff -- long layoffs between postseason rounds are usually not good, teams can get stale -- baseball resumes tonight.

The Yankees play Game 1 against the Texas Rangers at Give Us a Lot of Money and We'll Name Our Stadium After You Park in Arlington.

As a fan of both the Yankees and the New Jersey Devils, I was once dismayed going to a Yankee game on a night in April (I forget the year) when the New York Rangers were playing a Playoff game the same night. The hockey score was put up on the DiamondVision (RinkVision?), and about 30,000 Yankee Fans started chanting, "Let's go Rangers!" (My fingers hurt just typing those blasphemous words!)

Take a wild guess what baseball team the Yankees were playing that night. Of course, the Texas Rangers.

This was worse than the time Jesse Barfield was batting for the Yankees against Jesse Orosco, then with the Cleveland Indians, and I shouted, "Come on, Jesse!" (I think that was in 1990.)

Well, in baseball, as in hockey... RANGERS SUCK! Not to mention... DALLAS SUCKS!

Game 1, tonight, 8:00 PM Eastern Time, in Texas: CC Sabathia vs. C.J. Wilson. That's a lot of initials. The Home News Tribune, my local paper here in Middlesex County, New Jersey, calls Wilson a protege of Cliff Lee. So what? Sabathia is a better pitcher than Wilson, or Lee, or anybody the Rangers have ever had. Yes, even Ferguson Jenkins. Nolan Ryan? Please, he was 42 when he became a Ranger, and he was never better than CC even when he was an Angel or an Astro. Yankees win tonight.

Game 2, tomorrow, 4:00 PM, in Texas: Phil Hughes vs. Colby Lewis. Colby Lewis? Isn't that a liberal arts college in New England? Against Hughes, already a postseason veteran at age 24? Yankees win, go up 2 games to 0.

Game 3, Monday, 8:00 PM, at Yankee Stadium II: Andy Pettitte vs. Cliff Lee. Lee is 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA. Andy is 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA, and due to his injury he got some rest. Sure, Lee was the winning pitcher in both Yankee losses in last year's World Series, but unless he's willing to go 9, and even if he is, why should they be afraid of him? It's not like he's going to throw at their heads (or hands) on purpose like some other Yankee nemeses I could mention. And Andy is the winningest postseason pitcher ever. He's outdueled better pitchers than Lee. Yankees win, go up 3 games to 0.

Game 4, Tuesday, 8:00 PM, at Yankee Stadium II: A.J. Burnett vs. Tommy Hunter. That's Tommy, not Catfish, may the great man rest in peace. I may be a sick, twisted, demented Yankee Fan, but I'm not stupid. This is not A.J.'s year. Rangers win, Yankees still lead 3 games to 1.

Game 5, Wednesday, 4:00 PM, at Yankee Stadium II: Sabathia vs. Wilson. Ballgame over, American League Championship Series over, Yankees win, theeee Yankees win.

If it goes to a Game 6, that's a week from tonight, 8:00 PM, in Texas: Hughes vs. Lewis.

If it goes to a Game 7, that's a week from tomorrow, 8:00 PM, in Texas: Pettitte vs. Lee. But it won't go to a Game 7, or a Game 6. Yanks in 5.

I hate all teams called Rangers. Especially when they wear blue shirts. Hockey in New York. Baseball in Texas. Soccer in Glasgow. (Or West London, for that matter.)

One more time: RANGERS SUCK!

The only Ranger with a blue shirt who doesn't suck is the Lone Ranger.

Mazeroski + 50: The Consequences

"There is one thing my friends know must never be mentioned in my presence, and that is Bill Mazeroski's home run." -- Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), paleontologist, social scientist, author, Yankee Fan.

Note on that video: The Yankee pitcher was Ralph Terry. Pirate broadcaster Bob Prince referred to Art Ditmar, who was warming up in the Yankee bullpen, at the absolute worst possible time. He should have waited until after the next pitch to mention that -- except that there wasn't a next pitch until Spring Training in March 1961. Prince died in 1985, but Ditmar is still alive, and is still angry with Prince for suggesting that he gave up the home run.

It remains the only home run to clinch a World Series in Game 7. Joe Carter of the 1993 World Series, in a Game 6, is the only other man to win a World Series with a home run.

The Yankees outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55-27 in the 1960 World Series, but it's not who scores the most runs in 7 games, it's who scores the most runs in 4 out of 7 games.

Unlike Gould, and also Billy Crystal, who still whines over it, I am not old enough to remember this home run. But mention the 1980 ALCS, the 1981 World Series, the 1985 AL East race, the 1994 strike, the 2001 and 2003 World Series and the 2004 ALCS to me at your own peril. The 1995 ALDS against Seattle? Beating them in 2 ALCS has removed that sting.

Still, like Red Sox fans, Cub fans, Phillies fans, Met fans, etc.; Yankee Fans have their moments that bother them even decades later. It's just that we win so much that we are generally considered to not be entitled to consider these moments as devastating as Bill Buckner, Steve Bartman, the '64 Phillie Phlop, the '69 September Swoon, the recent Met collapses, etc.

Why did the Yankees lose? Did Ralph Terry simply make a bad pitch? (Yes. But he redeemed himself with a shutout in Game 7 in 1962.) Was Mazeroski a power hitter? (Hardly: He hit 138 in his career, never reached 20, and his career OPS+ was a mere 84. Granted, he was perhaps the best-fielding 2nd baseman ever, and we're not exactly talking about Bucky Dent -- career OPS+ of 74 -- but Maz was hardly the guy you would expect to get a big hit in that situation.)

Still, to score 55 runs against just 27 in 7 games, and lose? If this had been the recently departed Brooklyn Dodgers, or the about-to-arrive Mets, it would have been the subject of an ESPN Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... piece.

But since it was the Yankees, and they won the next 4 American League Pennants and the next 2 World Series, rather than starting a downward spiral, it is thought of mainly as a Pirate win rather than a Yankee loss.

I wish ESPN had continued that series. But they didn't, so I will:

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the New York Yankees for Losing the 1960 World Series

5. Upsets Happen. The 1906 Chicago White Sox over the Chicago Cubs. The 1914 Boston Braves over the Philadelphia Athletics. The 1924 Washington Senators over the New York Giants. The 1931 St. Louis Cardinals over the A's. The 1934 Cardinals over the Detroit Tigers. The 1940 Cincinnati Reds over the Tigers. The 1954 Giants over the Cleveland Indians. The 1966 Baltimore Orioles over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1968 Tigers over the Cardinals. The 1969 Mets over the Orioles.

The 1971 and 1979 Pirates over the Orioles. The 1972 Oakland Athletics over the Reds. The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies over the Kansas City Royals. The 1982 Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers. The 1985 Royals over the Cardinals. The 1987 Minnesota Twins over the Cardinals. The 1988 Dodgers over the A's. The 1990 Reds over the A's. The 1997 Florida Marlins over the Indians. The 2002 Anaheim Angels over the San Francisco Giants. The 2005 Chicago White Sox over the Houston Astros. The 2006 Cardinals over the Giants.

Upsets happen to the Yankees, too: The 1926, 1942 and 1964 Cardinals, the 1957 Milwaukee Braves, the 1963 and 1981 Dodgers, the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, the 2003 Marlins. The Yankees have even been the upset-minded team, in 1996 over the Atlanta Braves.

And remember how, the last few years, the Phillies have been calling themselves "the team to beat"? Maybe the Phils weren't big favorites over the Yanks in 2009, but they were the defending champions.

4. 22-4. The Yankees got on a serious hot streak at the end of the season, winning 22 of their last 26, including 15 in a row, allowing them to hold off the Orioles, who were 2 games ahead of the Yankees on September 4, and tied as late as September 14 before finishing 6 1/2 games back. The Yankees could rest their starters. Complacency could set in. It did.

It had happened before in baseball, and it has happened since: Most recently, witness the 2007 Colorado Rockies, who won 13 of their last 14 games to force a tie for the NL Wild Card, then beat the San Diego Padres for it, then swept the Phillies in the NLDS and the Diamondbacks in the NLCS to make it 21 out of 22. Then they got swept themselves in the World Series, but the... Let's move on, before I have to use the word "steroids" again.

3. Injuries. A catching platoon of Yogi Berra and Elston Howard. A left-field platoon of those 2 and Hector Lopez. Clete Boyer was unable to yet settle in at 3rd base. Granted, the Pirates had similar issues, but the Yankees weren't as fresh as they could have been.

2. Forbes Field's Infield. It was in bad shape, leading to 2 major factors. First, it made Casey Stengel decide not to start ground-ball-out man Whitey Ford until Game 3 of the Series at Yankee Stadium. 

Well, Casey blew it: A, He was Whitey Ford, the best pitcher Casey would ever manage, and I'm including Warren Spahn with the 1942 Boston Braves, a man who did not blossom as a big-league pitcher until he came back from World War II; and B, Whitey would still have to start Game 6 at Forbes Field. So he might as well have started Whitey in Games 1 (Forbes), 4 (Yankee Stadium) and 7 (Forbes).

But it didn't end there: That very infield that Casey was worried about with Whitey had a pebble at the shortstop position, and Bill Virdon (who would go on to manage both of these teams) hit a grounder that hit a pebble, jumped up, and smacked Tony Kubek in the throat.

A sure double play to preserve a 6-4 Yankee lead with 3 outs to go led to Hal Smith's home run to make it a 5-run rally and 9-7 Pirate lead. The Yanks scored 2 in the top of the 9th to tie it before Mazeroski's capper, but if that Virdon grounder hits any other spot, Mazeroski never comes up, unless the Pirates put together a 5-run rally in the 9th instead.

1. The Pirates Were Good. In discussions of why you can't blame a team or a player for losing a big game or series, the tendency is to say, "The team that won was better." No, the Pirates weren't better than the Yankees in 1960. But they were worthy champions. The Yankees won 97 games that season; the Pirates won 95. The Yankees finished 6 1/2 games ahead of the Orioles; the Pirates finished 7 games ahead of the Braves.

Managed by Danny Murtaugh, the Pirates had 4 players who hit at least 15 homers and 5 with at least 20 doubles, despite playing their games in Forbes Field, whose dimensions were practically identical to those of the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, with a short right field but very distant everywhere else, including a 457-foot marker in center field.

Of their 8 regulars, 6 had an OPS+ of at least 109. Dick Groat was the NL Most Valuable Player, batting .325, and Roberto Clemente was beginning to put up the kind of stats that would send him to the Hall of Fame, batting .314 with 16 homers and a team-leading 94 RBIs.

Their defense was excellent: Mazeroski, as I said, is in the Hall of Fame for being one of the best defensive infielders ever. With Groat, an excellent all-around athlete who had played basketball at Duke (this was well before the Mike Krzyzewski era, but they were a strong team in the Fifties and Sixties, too), he formed a superb double-play combination. Clemente was a sensation in right field, already known for having the best outfield arm in the game. Virdon was a good center fielder.

Granted, their 1st baseman was Dick Stuart, known as Stonefingers (and, later, after a certain movie came out, Doctor Strangeglove) for being awful at the position, at a time when there was no designated hitter available (and it wouldn't have been anyway, since the Pirates were in the National League), but his hitting and the fielding of the others more than made up for that.

The Pirates had good pitching, too. Vernon Law went 20-9 and won the Cy Young Award -- from its establishment in 1956 until 1966, it was for the most valuable pitcher in both leagues. Bob Friend went 18-12. Wilmer Mizell -- nicknamed "Vinegar Bend" after his North Carolina hometown -- went 13-5. And the Pirates had the best relief pitcher in the NL, Elroy Face, the 1st pitcher known to have mastered the forkball, a forerunner of the split-fingered fastball.

And let's not forget, the Pirates rebounded from losing games 16-3, 12-0 and 10-0 in that Series, and rebounded from blowing a 4-0 lead in Game 7, and even recovered from the shock of being 9-7 up, 2 runs up with 3 outs to go, and won the Series. That's remarkable resilience. As soccer manager Arsene Wenger would say, the Pirates had the quality, and they had the mental strength.

Mickey Mantle would later say that he cried all the way home on the plane, and that, in the 12 World Series he played in (7 wins), 1960 was the only one in which the better team didn't win. But there was no shame in losing the 1960 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Maybe in losing the Series at all, but not to that specific team.

*

So why did the Pirates only win that one Series? Indeed, that one Pennant? By the time they reached the postseason again, in 1970, they had just moved out of Forbes Field, into Three Rivers Stadium, and the only 2 players left from their 1960 win were the 2 future Hall-of-Famers, Clemente and Mazeroski.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Pittsburgh Pirates For Not Building a Dynasty Starting With the 1960 World Series

5. Dynasties Are Hard. Even the best teams don't do it that often. The Dodgers won 10 Pennants in 20 seasons from 1947 to 1966, a remarkable record -- but just missed 4 others, and never won 3 in a row. The Giants won in 1951 and '54, but didn't come close before that since '37, and after it until '62. Then, in San Francisco, they won in '62, but fell a little short in '64 and just missed in '65 and '66, despite 5 Hall-of-Famers (Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Marichal and Perry).

The Cardinals won 3 Pennants in the Sixties, '64, '67 and '68, but didn't come close before that since '49, and not after it until '73. The Braves just missed in '56, won in '57 and '58, lost a Playoff in '59, finished 2nd in '60 and '61 and came close in '64. And that's just in the NL. How many AL teams came close to the Yankees multiple times?

Before '60, the Pirates' last Pennant was in '27, and their last close call in '38; after '60, they didn't come close again until winning the NL East in '70. It's hard, and in those days, there was no Divisional play or Wild Card. If you won 95 or even 100 games, but another team won more, you were on the outside looking in.

4. The Dick Stuart Trade. After the 1962 season, the Pirates got tired of Stuart's awful fielding and his striking out at a rate that made Mantle look like Joe Sewell, and traded him to the Boston Red Sox for Jim Pagliaroni (who's most remembered for being the on-deck batter when Ted Williams hit his last home run and for his appearances in Jim Bouton's Ball Four) and Don Schwall (who isn't even remembered for anything that significant).

Stuart briefly thrived with Fenway Park's Green Monster, and the Pirates could have used his bat the next couple of years. They were 13 games back in 1964; maybe that was too much of a difference to make up, but if they'd won a few games that they wouldn't otherwise have early on, maybe they could have gotten some momentum going in what turned out to be a wild Pennant race. They were only 7 back in 1965.

3. Vernon Law's Injuries. Only once more would he win more than 12 games. Which became even bigger when you consider...

2. Other Teams' Pitching. The Dodgers had Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. The Giants had Juan Marichal, Jack Sanford and Gaylord Perry. The Braves, for a while, anyway, still had Warren Spahn, and would develop Tony Cloninger and Phil Niekro. The Phillies had Jim Bunning and Chris Short. The Reds had Jim O'Toole, Joey Jay and Bob Purkey. The Pirates couldn't keep up in this "arms race."

1. Forbes Field. No, it wasn't in an increasingly bad neighborhood like the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field in New York, Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, Griffith Stadium in Washington, Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Tiger Stadium in Detroit and Comiskey Park in Chicago. (Even Chicago's Wrigleyville wasn't considered a good neighborhood back then.)

But it seated only 35,000 people; its seats, aisles and concourses were too narrow; it was way under the requirements for concession stands and restrooms; and it had minimal parking. It was built in 1909: During the Presidency of William Howard Taft, hardly anybody had an automobile to go to a ballgame. As a result, this hurt attendance, and even when it had a big crowd, it couldn't be that big a crowd. This, plus the minimal parking and poor concessions, badly hurt revenue. The Pirates couldn't afford to pay high salaries.

Plus, even then, Pittsburgh was one of the smallest "markets" in the major leagues. They didn't exactly have a lot of suburbs at the time, and most of those were small towns in Western Pennsylvania and the (still) rather poor State of West Virginia. A lot of those people wouldn't have been able to drive in even if they could afford a car.

It's different now, with the way baseball teams can make money: The merchandising, the TV contracts, everything. In the Sixties, in order to make a lot of money, a team had to win and draw fans. Today, the Pirates are losing not because the owners can't spend money, but because they won't.
And they use the "small market" as an excuse. That's bullshit: The Atlanta Braves became a team with a national following despite not being in a huge city because of Ted Turner's "superstation." The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds provided the model for that with massive radio networks. The Boston Red Sox, to a lesser extent, did the same: Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy has been known to use the term "Radio Free Sox."

Today, with the TV contracts and the Internet (not only to view games but to buy tickets for them), there's no such thing as a small market anymore. Only a small-minded ownership group.

But due to Forbes Field, a small ballpark tucked away in a neighborhood, without subway and freeway-exit access, the Pirates couldn't build the kind of teams that the Dodgers and Giants -- and later, with their downtown Busch Memorial Stadium, the Cardinals -- could build.

And that's why the next Pirate team to win the World Series, in 1971, had a very different identity from the 1960 World Champions. Forbes was a terrific ballpark for its time, and in spite of terrible-looking artificial turf, Three Rivers Stadium wasn't terrible for baseball (I did manage to see a game there).

But unless a way could have been found to expand Forbes Field to 45-50,000 seats, and improve car access and parking, it would always remain inadequate to the modern baseball viewing experience.

*

My favorite thing about Game 7 of the 1960 World Series is that the winning pitcher was Harvey Haddix, who, the year before, had pitched a perfect game for the Pirates against the Braves, for 12 innings -- and lost the game in the 13th. He got paid back big-time by the baseball gods. Sadly, Haddix died a few years ago.

Bill Mazeroski at PNC Park in Pittsburgh,

at a 50th Anniversary celebration earlier this year

Of the men who played in that game, 50 years ago today, the following are still alive:

Pirates: 2nd baseman Bill Mazeroski, shortstop Dick Groat, center fielder Bill Virdon, left fielder Bob Skinner, catcher Hal Smith, pinch hitter Gino Cimoli, pinch-runner Joe Christopher (lost in the 1962 expansion draft to the Mets), and pitchers Vernon Law, Bob Friend and Elroy Face. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: Shortstops Dick "Ducky" Schofield and Dick Barone, 1st baseman R.C. Stevens, outfielder Roman Mejias, catchers Bob Oldis and Danny Kravitz, and pitchers Joe Gibbon, Bennie Daniels, Red Witt and Don Gross. 10 who played, 20 overall.

Yankees: 1st baseman Bill "Moose" Skowron, 2nd baseman Bobby Richardson, shortstop Tony Kubek, substitute shortstop Joe DeMaestri, substitute 3rd baseman Gil McDougald, left fielder Yogi Berra, pinch-hitter Hector Lopez, and pitchers Bob Turley, Bobby Shantz, Jim Coates and Ralph Terry. Not entering the game but on the roster and still alive: 3rd baseman Andy Carey, outfielder Bob Cerv; and pitchers Whitey Ford, Ryne Duren, Art Ditmar, Luis Arroyo, Eli Grba, Bill Short, Fred Kipp, Johnny James and Hal Stowe. 11 who played, 22 overall.

On October 18, the 50th Anniversary of the other great consequence of the 1960 World Series, I'll discuss the Yankees' firing of Casey Stengel, and the other things the organization was doing at the time. The discussion may surprise you.

New York Sports Final Fours, Twos & Ones

This counts the major leagues only. It does not include college basketball "Final Fours," because then I would have to differentiate between eras, when the NIT was more important and when the NCAA was -- and when that switch became "official." I am counting the following:

MLB: LCS berths from 1969 onward, and finishes of at least second place in the single-division leagues of 1876 to 1968.

NFL: NFC and AFC Championship Game appearances from 1970 onward, NFL and AFL Championship Game appearances from 1960 to 1969, finishes of at least second place in the two-division NFL of 1933 to 1959, and finishes of at least fourth place in the single-division NFL of 1920 to 1932. Had an area team ever won a Championship in any of the rival leagues that have come and gone, other than the AFL from whence the Jets came, I would have included that, too.

NBA: Appearances in the Conference Finals of 1971 to 2010, and those in the Division Finals of 1947 to 1970. Also ABA Championships.

NHL: Appearances in the Conference Finals of 1982 to 2010, and Stanley Cup Semifinals of 1926 (the debut season of the NHL's first area team, the New York Americans) to 1981. Had an area team ever won a WHA Championship, I would have included that, too.

1. New York Yankees, 53: 1904, '06, '10, '21, '22, '23, '24, '26, '27, '28, '29, '31, '32, '33, '34, '35, '36, '37, '38, '39, '41, '42, '43, '47, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '76, '77, '78, '80, '81, '96, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '03, '04, '09, '10.

-. (since moved, so no rank) New York Giants (baseball), 32: 1885, '88, '89, '94, 1903, '04, '05, '06, '08, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14, '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25, '28, '31, '33, '34, '36, '37, '51, '52, '54.

2. New York Rangers, 28: 1927, '28, '29, '30, '31, '32, '33, '35, '37, '39, '40, '42, '48, '50, '56, '57, '58, '62, '67, '71, '72, '73, '74, '79, '81, '86, '94, '97.

3. New York Giants (football), 27: 1925, '27, '29, '30, '33, '34, '35, '38, '39, '41, '43, '44, '46, '50, '51, '56, '57, '58, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '86, '90, 2000, '07.

-. Brooklyn Dodgers (baseball), 22: 1888, '89, '90, '99, 1900, '02, '16, '20, '24, '40, '41, '42, '46, '47, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56.

4. New York Knicks, 14: 1947, '51, '52, '53, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73, '74, '93, '94, '99, 2000.

5. New York Islanders, 10: 1975, '76, '77, '79, '80, '81, '82, '83, '84, '93.

6. New York Mets, 7: 1969, '73, '86, '88, '99, 2000, '06.

7. New Jersey Devils, 6: 1988, '94, '95, 2000, '01, '03.

8. New York Jets, 4: 1968, '82, '98, 2009.

9. New Jersey Nets, 4 (counting ABA titles): 1974, '76, 2002, '03.

-. Brooklyn Dodgers (football), 4: 1935, '37, '40, '41.

-. New York Americans (hockey), 2: 1936, '38.

It should be no surprise that the teams that have been around the longest have done it the most: The Yankees since 1903, the Rangers since 1926 (and from 1943 to 1967 you only needed to finish 4th in the 6-team NHL), the football Giants since 1925 and the Knicks since 1946.

Let's try it proportionately, to give the new teams a chance: The Mets since 1962, the Jets since 1960, the Nets since 1967, the Islanders since 1972 and the Devils since 1982.

1. New York Yankees, 53 times in 107 MLB seasons (remember, no official resolution to 1994 season): 49.5 percent of their seasons. That's consistency.

-. New York Giants (baseball), 32 times in 75 MLB seasons: 42.7

2. New York Rangers, 28 times in 84 NHL seasons (remember, no season in 2004-05): 33.3. A gift from the "Original Six" setup.

3. New York Giants, 27 times in 85 NFL seasons: 31.8

-. Brooklyn Dodgers, 22 times in 75 combined seasons in the 19th Century version of the American Association and the NL: 29.3

-. Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 times in 14 seasons in the NFL: 28.6

4. New York Islanders, 10 times in 37 NHL seasons: 27.0. The work of Bill Torrey and Al Arbour.

5. New Jersey Devils, 6 times in 27 NHL seasons: 22.2. Lou Lamoriello gets 'em into the Playoffs, but not often enough does he get 'em very far.

6. New York Knicks, 14 times in 64 NBA seasons: 21.9. A bit of excellence, but a lot of mediocrity.

7. New York Mets, 7 times in 49 MLB seasons (counting 1994 since, unlike the Yankees, they were nowhere near contention): 14.3

-. New York Americans, 2 times in 17 seasons in the NHL (1925-26 to 1941-42): 11.7

8. New York/New Jersey Nets, 4 times in 43 combined ABA and NBA seasons: 9.3

9. New York Jets, 4 times in 50 combined AFL and NFL seasons: 8.0

Final Twos? The NFL Dodgers and the NHL Americans never got that far.

1. New York Yankees, 40: 1921, '22, '23, '26, '27, '28, '32, '36, '37, '38, '39, '41, '42, '43, '47, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '55, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '76, '77, '78, '81, '96, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '03, '09. 2010 remains a possibility to make it 41.

-. New York Giants (baseball), 17: 1888, '89, 1904, '05, '11, '12, '13, '17, '21, '22, '23, '24, '33, '36, '37, '51, '54.

2. New York Giants (football), 16: 1927, '33, '34, '35, '38, '39, '41, '44, '46, '56, '58, '59, '86, '90, 2000, '07.

-. Brooklyn Dodgers (baseball), 13: 1889, '90, '99, 1900, '16, '20, '41, '47, '49, '52, '53, '55, '56.

3. New York Rangers, 10: 1928, '29, '32, '33, '37, '40, '50, '72, '79, '94.

4. New York Knicks, 8: 1951, '52, '53, '70, '72, '73, '94, '99.

5. New York Islanders, 5: 1980, '81, '82, '83, '84.

6. New York Mets, 4: 1969, '73, '86, 2000.

7. New Jersey Devils, 4: 1995, 2000, '01, '03.

8. New Jersey Nets, 4 (counting ABA titles): 1974, '76, 2002, '03.

9. New York Jets, 1: 1968. (Remember: Super Bowl in January, it's the title of the preceding calendar year.)

Proportional Final Twos?

1. New York Yankees: 37.4 percent
-. New York Giants (baseball): 22.7
2. New York Giants (football): 18.8
-. Brooklyn Dodgers: 17.3
3. New Jersey Devils: 14.8
4. New York Islanders: 13.5
5. New York Knicks: 12.5
6. New York Rangers: 11.9
7. New Jersey Nets: 9.3
8. New York Mets: 8.2 -- even below the Nets.
9. New York Jets: 2.0

Final Ones? World Championships?

1. New York Yankees, 27: 1923, '27, '28, '32, '36, '37, '38, '39, '41, '43, '47, '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '56, '58, '61, '62, '77, '78, '96, '98, '99, 2000, '09. 2010 remains a possibility to make it 28.

2. New York Giants (football), 7: 1927, '34, '38, '56, '86, '90, 2007.

-. New York Giants (baseball), 6: 1889, 1905, '21, '22, '33, '54.

-. Brooklyn Dodgers, 4: 1890, '99, 1900, '55.

3. New York Islanders, 4: 1980, '81, '82, '83.

4. New York Rangers, 4: 1928, '32, '40, '94.

5. New Jersey Devils, 3: 1995, 2000, '03.

6. New York Knicks, 2: 1970, '73.

7. New York Mets, 2: 1969, '86.

8. New York Jets, 1: 1968.

9. New Jersey Nets, 0: In this case, ABA titles don't count. They remain the only major league team in the Tri-State Area never to have won one. Unless you want to count the WNBA's Liberty (4 Finals appearances but no wins) and the MLS' MetroStars/Red Bulls (1 Finals appearance, no wins -- yet).

Proportional Final Ones?

1. New York Yankees: 25.2 percent
2. New Jersey Devils: 11.1
3. New York Islanders: 10.8
4. New York Giants (football): 8.2
-. New York Giants (baseball): 8.0
-. Brooklyn Dodgers: 5.3
5. New York Rangers: 4.8
6. New York Mets: 4.1
7. New York Knicks: 3.1. Even behind the Mets.
8. New York Jets: 2.0
9. New Jersey Nets: 0.0