In the third inning last night, Hideki Matsui came up with a man on. He produced a groundout. In the fifth, he came up with another man on. He produced a pop-up.
Matsui came up empty last night – and, in fact, essentially was a hitting non-entity for the entire ALDS against the Indians. The left fielder – who played DH last night, hobbled by a sore knee – hardly lived up to his monstrous nickname, Godzilla.
In the Yankees’ four-game ALDS disaster, Matsui finished 2-for-11, notching a pair of singles and no extra-base hits. He did walk five times. But it wasn’t quite an elite performance, especially considering he hit .285 with 25 homers and 103 RBIs during the season.
Matsui struggled in Games 1 and 2, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the former and 0-for-3 with a walk in the latter. He then had a fine Game 3, collecting his first two hits and adding two walks.
His failures were emblematic of the Yanks’ lineup this series. They put up a good effort in Game 3 – scoring eight runs against Jake Westbrook & Co. – but they were mostly absent the rest of the time.