Yankees playoff baseball stood no chance against Tebow-mania.
The Jets, who played the Texans on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” outdrew the Yankees’ ALDS Game 2 loss to the Orioles in both the national and New York markets, according to the Sports Business Journal.
The Jets drew a 10.0 rating nationally while the Yankees, who played on TBS, scored a meager 3.6. The spread was much smaller in New York, with Gang Green scoring a 13.8 and the Bombers a respectable 11.0.
It seems as if more Jets fans were content with watching the 23-17 loss from the comfort of their homes than at MetLife Stadium. It was reported that 12,000 tickets went unsold for Monday night’s game, a claim which the Jets denied.
Game 1 of the Yankees’ ALDS series, which was delayed nearly two hours because of rain, also was outperformed nationally on Sunday night by NBC’s broadcast of the Saints’ 31-24 defeat of the Chargers. The Yankees’ 7-2 win over Baltimore drew a 3.3 rating while the Saints-Chargers game, in which Drew Brees set an NFL-record by throwing a touchdown pass in his 48th consecutive game, scored an 11.7.
* When the talk focuses on a lineup squandering opportunities, solid pitching performances can get lost in the shuffle.
That happened to the Yankees Monday night in a 3-2 ALDS Game 2 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards, which evened the best-of-five series heading into tonight’s Game 3 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees did not maximize CC Sabathia’s gem in Game 1, waiting until the ninth inning to break a tie, and wasted Andy Pettitte’s strong outing in Game 2.
“Well, I mean, that’s part of it when you get in those tight games: You don’t want to miss those opportunities,” Joe Girardi said. “But they could say the same thing in the first game. I mean, they had the one blip with Jim Johnson, but they pitched a very good game and we came back and won it.
“And I think this time of year you’re used to seeing these type of games. I don’t really think about it that much. We had a chance to win that game. We didn’t get it done. So now it comes to the best two out of three, and we need to get it done.’’
* Girardi does not have much of a sample to go on in tonight’s Game 3 as to who will be the designated hitter against rookie right-hander Miguel Gonzalez.
Raul Ibanez is 2-for-6 with a homer and an RBI against Gonzalez and Eric Chavez is 3-for-6 with a homer and two RBIs.
In Game 1 against right-hander Jason Hammel, Ibanez went 1-for-3 as the DH. Chavez didn’t appear in the first two games.
* Orioles manager Buck Showalter says his Game 4 starter (and possibly Game 5 starter) is to be determined.
“You know the options that we have, and a lot will depend on what happens [tonight],” Showalter said yesterday. “We’re going to take each game as it comes and try to win that game and stay in that game and those nine innings — or whatever amount of innings it is — and when the smoke clears, we’ll see what our best option is and how it presents itself. We know that we’ve got [Chris] Tillman and [Joe] Saunders both available to pitch either day.”
* Former Yankees and Mets pitcher and current YES announcer Al Leiter will be honored at the fourth renewal of Remember When, Remember Now, a benefit for Alzheimer’s Research on Friday, Nov. 2, at the Grand Central Oyster Bar.