CLEVELAND – Eleven more wins and the Yankees dance up Broadway as World Series winners in November. Anything else and you might not recognize them when spring training opens in February.
With the pinstriped futures of Joe Torre, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bobby Abreu and Andy Pettitte serving as an intriguing backdrop, the Yankees face the Indians tonight at Jacobs Field in Game 1 of the best-of-five ALDS.
It doesn’t make a difference that the Yankees rebounded from a miserable opening three months to grab the wild card. They are one of four AL teams standing and Las Vegas has installed them as 2-1 favorites to get by the AL Central champion Indians.
“I think it’s good, why not?” captain Derek Jeter said of no title meaning the year was a bust. “Why would you approach it any other way?”
There have been times in the previous seasons, especially last year’s first-round exit, when the pressure smothered the Yankees. This time Joe Torre is emphasizing letting the talent flow.
“The only thing I’ve said to our ball club is go out and just let her go and play, and we’ll see what the results are,” Torre said before yesterday’s workout.
Chien-Ming Wang, a 19-game winner, starts for the Yankees against C.C. Sabathia, the AL Cy Young favorite based on a 19-7 ledger, 3.21 ERA and a league-leading 241 innings. The Yankees haven’t faced the left-handed Sabathia since Sept 1, 2004. The Indians last faced Wang on July 3, 2006.
Though the focus is always on pitching in the postseason, the spotlight will never leave Rodriguez. A lock to win his second AL MVP in three years, he must escape hitter’s Hell, where he landed against the Angels in 2005 and the Tigers a year ago. In those series, both first-round losses, Rodriguez went a combined 3-for-29 (.103) and was blamed for the defeats. Now after hitting .314 with a major league-leading 54 homers and 156 RBIs, the Yankees must have Rodriguez producing.
“He is one of the league’s best,” Rodriguez said of Sabathia, who is 1-7 with a 7.13 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees. “He has a lot of ways to get you out and is a very good competitor.”
The Indians don’t have the Yankees’ October experience or as potent a lineup, and they were 0-6 against the Yankees this year. But the Tribe do have the Yankees’ attention. Especially with Sabathia and right-hander Fausto Carmona.
“They have a lot of youthful energy,” Johnny Damon said. “The fact they were able to win the division over [a team] many thought was the best team in both leagues, the Tigers, being able to beat them out says a lot about how great they’re playing.”
As for treating Rodriguez any differently than Abreu, Robinson Cano, Hideki Matsui and Jeter, Indians manager Eric Wedge said that isn’t going to happen. However, we will see what Wedge does with Rodriguez and a base open. Even with Posada hitting behind Rodriguez.
“It would be a bad idea for me to say one way or another,” Wedge said when asked if there was a bat in the Yankees’ lineup he wasn’t going to let beat the Indians. “They have a great lineup and we know that. It’s about us pitching to our strengths, being true to ourselves, going in there prepared with a good game plan and having the moxie to stick with it. That’s what we are going to do.”
If they do it well enough, save the confetti and get to know the new faces.