Survival of the fittest in chilly New York

By BOB KLAPISCH
BERGEN COUNTY RECORD COLUMNIST
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/
Sunday, October 18, 2009

NEW YORK – The manager with the metabolism of a hummingbird finally crashed on Saturday night, as the Yankees had taken one more crazy step to the World Series. It was 13 innings, more than five hours long, bone-cold conditions and an ending that no one saw coming, but after the Bombers had outlasted the Angels, 4-3 in Game 2 of the AL Championship Series, Joe Girardi exhaled and said, “I’m wiped out.”

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 18: Jerry Hairston Jr.(notes) #17 of the New York Yankees wipes off a pie in the face after scoring the game-winning run in 13th inning of Game Two of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 18, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Angels 4-3 in 13 innings. (Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

The Yankees are now half-way to sweeping the Angels, having once again proven they were tougher and more resilient in NFL-like conditions. One baseball executive said recently “there aren’t many weaknesses you can attack” in the Yankees’ lineup, but who knew they were this much hungrier than the Angels?

By the time it was over, when the Yankees were mobbing Jerry Hairston Jr. at home plate, celebrating a 2-0 Series lead, the night had turned into a test of wills. It wasn’t just the cold, it was the wind-gusts, the periodic rain, all of which contributed to misery on the field.

Who would win morphed into a more pressing question: who had the superior survival instinct? The answer came a little after 1 a.m. when the Angels (literally) threw the game away. Hairston, who’d led off the 13th with a single off Ervin Santana and was sacrificed to second, scored when second baseman Maicer Isturis fired wildly past Erick Aybar after fielding what could’ve been an inning-ending ground ball from Melky Cabrera.

At the very least the Angels should’ve gotten one out, but as they did in Game 1, they looked like they hated everything about New York. What the Angels really wanted, it seemed, was a fast exit to a charter flight and the warm so-Cal sun.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 18: Melky Cabrera(notes) #53 of the New York Yankees hits a single to score the game-winning run in the 13th inning of Game Two of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 18, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Angels 4-3 in 13 innings. (Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

In fact, Anaheim didn’t even appear to be in synch with their only lead of the night – a 3-2 advantage for closer Brian Fuentes in the 11th. But it lasted only as long as the fastball Fuentes left over the plate for Alex Rodriguez, who promptly crushed a game-tying HR over the wall in right.

The fact that Fuentes was beaten on an 0-2 pitch was further proof of the Angels’ vulnerability: Fuentes got careless and paid dearly for it.

“He made two tough pitches on me,” A-Rod said. “Once it got to 0-2 he probably felt confident he could put me away.”

Fuentes defiantly said it was “baseball basics 101” not to work around A-Rod with the left-handed Hideki Matsui on deck. Instead, Fuentes seemed more interested in winning the at-bat against Rodriguez, saying, “you don’t put the winning run on base.”

After the game, a beleaguered Mike Scioscia insisted, “we did some good things tonight” and promised, “we can turn things around [when the series moves to Anaheim for Games 3-4-5].” But the manager sounded a lot like Ron Gardenhire as his Twins were being overwhelmed in the Division Series.

It’s all testament to the much wider war the Yankees have waged throughout the decade. The opponent hasn’t been the Angels, even though the Yankees have had a sub-.500 record against Scioscia since 2000. The Mets haven’t been on the Bombers’ radar, not since George Steinbrenner faded away from the club’s day-to-day operations.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: Alex Rodriguez(notes) #13 of the New York Yankees hits a home run to tie the game in the eleventh inning of Game Two of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

It’s the Red Sox who are indirectly responsible for creating the present-day Yankees monolith. How? By having caught and passed the Bombers as the major leagues’ premier team in 2004 – although some say the coup took place in 2003 but was delayed a year by Aaron Boone’s historic HR in the ALCS.

By 2005 Boston had become the industry’s model of efficiency, forcing the Yankees to dig even deeper into their coffers. In the words of a senior official of another team, “the Red Sox were every general manager’s nightmare. They were smart, they had great young players coming up through their system and they had tons of money.”

The Yankees responded by spending wildly as they always do. But more than ever, they had to make better choices. GM Brian Cashman had guessed wrong on Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown, among others, and had to ensure the next generation of free agents were good enough (and emotionally stable enough) to handle New York’s aggressive baseball community.

As a result, the Yankees paid a record sum for CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Together, the three cost the Yankees an average of $60 million a year – or more than some smaller-market teams spend on their entire roster. But that’s not to say the Bombers care. In fact, the wild spending has been noting short of a success for one critical reason.

First, the Yankees can easily afford to run up a $204 million tab as they did in 2009. Unless baseball ever institutes a salary cap, the Steinbrenner family will continue to out-spend the competition, including the Red Sox. With the YES Network and the new Stadium acting as a steady revenue stream, there’s no way to inflict financial pain on the Yankees.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: Robinson Cano(notes) #24 of the New York Yankees makes a catch for the final out of the tenth inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Game Two of the ALCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 17, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

So while the Sox forced the Bombers into panic mode, they responded with overwhelming firepower – more dollars than ever before. Hence, the 2009 edition of the team which could very well be remembered as the American League’s best since the ’98 Bombers.

Of course, the Angels still have a vote in this referendum, and with three games coming up in Anaheim, the ALCS might still be a struggle for the Yankees. But so far, the Bombers are winning by unanimous decision.

Sabathia was more resilient than John Lackey in Game 1. Derek Jeter was more efficient than Chone Figgins in the leadoff spot. It’s hard to believe a Scioscia-led team would have its soft underbelly exposed so quickly by the Yankees, but they barely resembled the powerhouse team that swept the Red Sox in the Division Series.

That’s why they turned such a desperate towards Joe Saunders, the left-hander who didn’t make an appearance against Boston, but was otherwise one of the Angels’ best weapons down the stretch. Saunders didn’t lose a game in August and September, posting a 4-0 record while Anaheim was making short work of the West.

Turns out Saunders threw well, matching A.J. Burnett for seven innings. But that was before the night turned into tundra and the Angels found themselves out of place, and, perhaps, out of time.

Down two games to none, not even the warm sun might be able to save them.