CLEVELAND – Happy New Year! Or as Jorge Posada put it yesterday: “The regular-season games are over and now we play the postseason.”
That was Posada’s way of answering a question about his 2007 numbers. He said they were nice, but won’t mean much unless the Yankees can finish business this month.
Posada hit .338, finishing fourth in the AL batting race, with 20 homers and 90 RBIs, and likely would have been considered the team’s MVP if not for Alex Rodriguez. But it’s still too early for Posada to be satisfied with anything he’s done.
“We haven’t accomplished anything yet, so Posada is not going to sit here and say he’s satisfied,” Derek Jeter said yesterday at Jacobs Field as the Yankees prepared for the Indians and Game 1 of the ALDS tonight. “We’ve still got a long way to go before we’ve accomplished anything, so that question remains to be answered.”
Posada was among the few offensive bright spots for the Yankees’ in their ALDS loss to the Tigers last season, hitting .500 over the four games, but his overall October production hasn’t been as stellar. In 92 career postseason games, Posada is hitting .241 with nine homers and 31 RBIs.
Nevertheless, he’s delivered his share of important hits, perhaps none bigger than the two-run double he hit against Pedro Martinez that tied Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox.
Posada said the fact most of the games the Yankees played in the second half of the season seemed to have playoff implications is a benefit now that the real postseason has arrived. Because of that, Posada said he sees no need to provide a tutorial for the rookies.
“They’ll be all right, you really don’t need to say much,” Posada said. “They are going to see it firsthand [tonight] and it’s going to be a pretty good atmosphere.”
mpuma@nypost.com