KEVIN LONG
Coach no hit in ALCS. (N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg)
BEATING RAUL: Raul Ibanez, one of the few Yankees who hit in the ALCS, shows the strain his entire team felt throughout the series after striking out in the fourth inning of yesterday’s 8-1 loss to the Tigers in Game 4. (
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DETROIT — Kevin Long knows what’s in store for him after the Yankees’ offense failed to show up in a four-game ALCS sweep by the Tigers.
It’s what happens when a team scores six runs in a series — and only two after the ninth inning of Game 1.
“If someone wants to put the blame on me, I’ll take it,” the hitting coach said after the Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs with an 8-1 loss at Comerica Park yesterday. “I know what I do on an everyday basis, it works. It didn’t work in this series and it’s unfortunate, but I don’t question anything I did or how I go about our work. Listen, this blueprint’s been good for a long time. It didn’t work out.”
The Yankees hit .157 (22-for-140) in the series, the second-lowest among the 172 teams that have played in the LCS since it was first contested in 1969. And they went 4-for-24 with runners in scoring position, as that problem never went away.
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Although general manager Brian Cashman said no final decisions have been made about next season, he didn’t hesitate to praise Long.
When asked if there was anything else Long could have done to get the Yankees’ offense out of his slump, Cashman said: “Outside of pull his hair out? No. And I think he probably even tried to do that.”
The Yankees benched Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson all in a failed attempt to change the look of the offense.
“The guys worked their tail off, but there’s only so much anybody can do,” Cashman said. “I know he tried everything and he’s one of the best hitting coaches in the game, as far as I’m concerned.”
Almost no one hit well in the postseason, with the exceptions of Ichiro Suzuki, Raul Ibanez and Eduardo Nunez.
“I love their effort and desire,” Long said. “It was never a question of quitting. … We just couldn’t get anything rolling in this series and there was never anything to feel good about. There was never laughter; there [were] never smiles.”
Ibanez and Ichiro each hit two-run homers in the ninth inning of Game 1 against Detroit closer Jose Valverde and three innings later, Derek Jeter went down with a fractured ankle, but Long didn’t think the injury caused his teammates to press.
“This team had overcome guys going down before, Mariano [Rivera] and Alex [Rodriguez],” Long said. “I don’t think that’s what did it.. … When you don’t get anything going in your favor and you don’t even have a lead, it’s just tough to go through. It really wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”