Yankees Crush Mets in Series Clincher

After an embarrassing three game swing in Boston the Yankees travelled back home to take on their cross-town rivals. Friday night looked like it was going to end in yet another Yankee pitching failure as the Yanks blew three separate leads and A-Rod popped up to second on a 3-1 count. Luis Castillo, though, forgot that he actually has to catch the ball for game to end and Mark Teixeira must have forgot to get his work in on the treadmill as he chugged all the way from first to score on the three-base error.

As the Yankees entered Saturday they were looking to capitalize on the crushing defeat for the Mets, but Pettitte continued in his recent slide only making it through five innings while allowing five runs. The bats also went dormant, perhaps expecting the Mets to commit more blunders in the same vein as Friday night. The Mets did not and the Yankees watched Fernando Nieve cut them up with 95 mph heaters and a tight breaking ball.

As the Yankees walked into Sunday most fans were probably thinking worst was coming with Johan Santana on the mound against A.J. Burnett. What most fans might have forgotten is that Johan is one of those pitchers the Yankees always had a beat on.

The real question was whether or not Burnett would show up. Perhaps motivated by his second beat down at the hands of the Red Sox, Burnett was dominating. He looked like he would break in the third inning after a long layoff while the Yankees put up four on Santana. These last two starts are exactly what the Yankees got when the signed Burnett this off-season. He can be painful with his inability to throw strikes but he can always wow you with his natural ability to throw 95 with ease and a wicked breaking ball.

The Yanks will have an off day today before preping to take on the major leagues worst team, the Washington Nationals. Really it is a series the Yankees have to sweep and with Sabathia taking the hill first they have the best chance to get off on the right foot. Plus we will see if Chien-Ming Wang will regain his proper form and if Brian Bruney will carry the fire he had for K-Rod back out onto the mound when he is activated on Tuesday.

If you haven't seen the video of K-Rod vs. Bruney from yesterday's pregame warm ups its kinda funny. K-Rod definitely has the middle school "hold me back man" attitude while standing in front of the larger Bruney. Good thing for the Mets that K-Rod didn't actually touch Bruney or he would have burned the Mets with a stupid suspension.

I can relate to Bruney's argument and I feel the same about Jonathan Papelbon's celebrations too. I can understand when it is a big game or if they are called into duty with runners on in a tight game, but when it's a standard three-run lead save, chill out. Same goes for Joba, though we haven't seen as many of those fist pumps since he joined the rotation.

I'm gong to rest up on this off day and get ready for another week of baseball.

Angels in free fall

I hate the Angels. It's hard not to hate a team that always beats your team. Especially when they suck, but it seems like they always get up to play you and no one else. They Angels beat on everyone including the Yankees, but they yet again proved me wrong by showing their habitual inability to man-up and beat the Red Sox.

Not only did K-Rod fail to break this Sox curse that has plagued the Angels since 1986, but he also showed why he will never be one of the all-time great closers of the game. It's the same as Trevor Hoffman; he just can't get it done when it counts the most. 62 regular season saves mean jack and they are more meaningless when you have thrown fewer innings than times you have appeared in games. Closers who have trouble in the postseason tend to be the ones who have had to save the most games in the regular season.

Just look at Mariano Rivera. The two times he cracked 50 saves in the regular season he had blown saves in important games in the postseason. Hoffman had the same problem. In 1998 he saved 53 games and was demolished by the Yankees in the World Series. Dennis Eckersley had 51 saves in 1992 and was knocked around by the Blue Jays in the '92 ALCS. In three innings of work he gave up eight hits and had an ERA of 6.00.

Huge work loads in the regular season translate to postseason failure. In K-Rod's case we know that he also fails when his work load is normal so perhaps he just can't handle the spotlight now that he is a seasoned veteran and he doesn't have the ignorance of youth to fall back on like in 2002.

It looks like this series is over now, but game three is a very important game for the Sox. Josh Beckett will be throwing, and his performance will be of great interest to Red Sox Nation. How deep the Sox get into the postseason will rest heavily on Beckett's weak oblique. Game 3's performance will go a long way in easing or inflaming the nerves of Sox fans.