‘GRAND’ OCCASION: Curtis Granderson, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and an RBI, is congratulated in the dugout after his 370-foot solo homer in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 3-1 victory over the Orioles in Game 5 of the ALDS last night. (
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They only required half a clubhouse to get the perfunctory celebration out of the way, to douse each other with the requisite amount of Moet & Chandon Imperial champagne, to dutifully recognize the game in hand before turning their attention to the task ahead.
Around the Yankees, victory in an ALDS is rarely cause for rambunctiousness, not when the corporate mission treats such victories as quarter poles. There may have been more meaning attached to this one simply because it finally ridding themselves of the Orioles, their most stubborn antagonists since Boston still played in the major leagues.
But it was still a first step. It was already time to move forward.
“I salute them,” Nick Swisher said of the O’s, his eyes protected by goggles in case a few intrepid teammates chose to empty a bottle or three on them. “They fought us like crazy. But we can’t enjoy it too long. We’re back at the office in a few hours.”
The Tigers will be waiting for them when the Yankees report to work this afternoon, a group tagged with a reputation for underachievement this year. They arrive as a team — like the Yankees — unconcerned with such labels. Like the Yankees, they had their toes shoved to the edge of the abyss by a Cinderella team playing with moxie and mojo and magic.
Like the Yankees, they have their issues. And like the Yankees, they survived. They overcame. They knocked off the Athletics in Oakland in a fifth and deciding game after outlasting the White Sox in a hard-fought if underwhelming race for the AL Central crown. They stared winter in the eye, then spit in it. And, man, do they have some guys who can clobber the baseball.
“That’s a heck of a ballclub,” said Curtis Granderson, who knows as well as anyone, because he used to play on it. “It’s going to be a heck of a series.”
No waiting around, either, no easing into the next round. CC Sabathia had barely fielded the final ground ball of the Orioles’ season, off the bat of Matt Wieters, had barely put the finishing touches on this remarkable 3-1 close-out gem, when the Yankee Stadium scoreboard flashed the Tigers’ logo, flashed: “ALCS Game 1, Tomorrow Night.”
“I like it this way,” said Derek Lowe, who only threw four pitches in the series, a testament to how well the Yankees’ starters pitched. “That’s the way we play in the regular season, play, then play again, then play again. That’s the way it should be. No sitting around, collecting rest days for the pitchers… Let’s play.”
No need to sit around and stutter and sputter and wonder and worry. The Yankees already know they will face a 1-2 punch in Detroit’s 3-4 hitters, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, that the Orioles could never have hoped to match. They know they will face a wealth of right-handed pitching from the southpaw-starved Tigers, which should help the struggling Robinson Cano and the scuffling Granderson … but will perpetuate the Alex Rodriguez Issue.
And the ARI isn’t going away. He wasn’t in the lineup yesterday, wasn’t anywhere to be found in the postgame clubhouse, and while before the game he did his best to keep a brave face this was a benching that has to burn. Logic tells you it will be a one-game sitdown — Eric Chavez didn’t exactly channel Ty Cobb yesterday — but that isn’t as large an issue as whether A-Rod can get his groove back.
“I am going to worry about tonight,” manager Joe Girardi said, “and I’ll have a lineup for you tomorrow.”
Fair enough. The important thing, for everyone, was the reality that there will be more baseball at Yankee Stadium tonight, and tomorrow, there will be at least another week of summer among us even as the weather takes a decided turn toward autumn.
All summer, into September, on into October the Orioles were worthy opponents who made the Yankees step forward and play their very best at the most important time of the calendar. They survived that. They trade in birds for cats. They’ll take their chances. Still in the tournament. Still on their feet. Back at the office tonight.