Bleacher Creature Feature

#30: LDS Game 1

2 October 2002

Tonight, of course, things went a bit differently....

Some notes on Game 1, which we saw from Section 41 of the right-field bleachers:

---First of all, Section 37 is much better than Section 41. We could barely hear Milton's cowbell, and we were in the middle of a long row, so we were functionally trapped.

---Best prop went to the guys who brought in a couple of replicas of the Angels' infamous "rally monkey," and put nooses around their necks.

---There was something especially nifty about the four F-18s that flew over the Stadium right after the "Star Spangled Banner" (sung magnificently by the Harlem Boys Choir) and Challenger the Eagle flying in from center field. It was truly spectacular and, given the wonkiness of New York airspace over the last year, welcome.

---The right-field taunts to Salmon were about what you'd expect. Lines like "Filet this sucker" were heard...

---I was amused to see that the Fox TV banner in front of the announcers' booth was placed over the YES sign.

---The game was pretty much vintage Yankees. They worked the count, they got people on base, they hit home runs. (They also grounded into a distressing four double plays, which set a postseason record.) The middle of the order was functionally useless, as Jorge Posada, Raul Mondesi, and Robin Ventura went 0-10, with two strikeouts and a double play. The rest of them did their jobs, however. Derek Jeter had two walks, a single, a home run, an RBI, and three runs scored. Bernie Williams was 2-4 with the game-winning three-run home run in the eighth. Jason Giambi was 3-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. From the bottom of the order, Juan Rivera worked an excellent at-bat for a walk in the third and Rondell White hit a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth.

---Roger Clemens was simply dreadful. Every time the Yankees got a lead, he coughed it up. He wasn't pitching inside, his splitter wasn't working, and he couldn't keep the Yankees in the game. The Angels deserve some credit, too, as they constantly fouled off two-strike pitches (sixteen off Clemens in his 5.2 innings) and simply did not give up. Joe Torre, for reasons known only to the voices in his head (Don Zimmer?) let Clemens pitch the sixth inning after he ground through the fifth, then left him in after giving up a leadoff home run to Troy Glaus that tied the game. He probably shouldn't have been in the game to start the inning, and he for-damn-sure shouldn't have been in after Glaus's homer. Sure, he struck out the next two batters (though it took him nine pitches to get Bengie Molina, who's not exactly Mike Piazza up there), but then he gave up a single on the first pitch to Adam Kennedy, and Torre finally brought in Ramiro Mendoza -- two-thirds of an inning and one run too late.

---Most impressive, though, was Alfonso Soriano in the eighth. After being functionally useless all night (0-3, including one of the four DPs), he came up with two outs and swung at two awful pitches from Ben Weber. We're about to write the inning off, when all of a sudden Soriano takes the next four pitches and jogs to first base.

Soriano.

Drew a walk.

This is like seeing a spotted owl, man. He only walked 23 times all year, and is known for swinging at anything. But when it mattered, he laid off the tough pitches and drew the walk.

---The inning fell apart for the Angels after that. Soriano stole second on a 1-0 pitch (the only pitch Ben Weber had thrown in the strike zone since Soriano first stepped up to the plate), then Jeter drew a walk of his own.

Then Mike Scioscia did something truly incomprehensible. There are two outs in the eighth inning. The Angels have a one-run lead. Giambi is coming up to bat. The Angels' closer, Troy Percival, is dominating in general, and Giambi is 0-5 with five strikeouts and a walk against him. But Scioscia brought in Scott Schoenweis instead.

It's a more defensible move than Torre leaving Clemens in. For one thing, Schoenweis is a lefty (Scioscia's only lefty reliever, actually). But when Giambi slammed a single off Scott Speizio's glove to score the tying run, then he definitely should've brought in Percival.

Instead, Brendan Donnelly came in to pitch. After the game, Scioscia defended the decision with the words, "That's how we've been doing it all year long."

This is why the Angels will probably lose this series. The rules of the 162-game season are not the same as for a short series when everything is on the line. You don't save your closer for the ninth inning because you want to preserve him, because what the hell are you saving him for? One thing Torre has done consistently well is understand that in a short series, you play for now. Long-term strategies are pointless.

Scioscia went with his second-best weapon and it backfired on him, resulting in a Game 1 loss. Like so many other managers (from Bobby Cox to Bobby Valentine), Scioscia has not adjusted his game to suit the short, intense series.

---I was disheartened to see that Ted Lilly caught the loss in the Twins' dramatic come-from-behind victory against the A's. I am, however, glad to see the Twins win, and hope they beat Oakland for two reasons 1) The Yankees have a better chance against the Twins in the LCS than the A's. 2) I want the team that the Imbecile-in-Charge Bud Selig tried to eliminate because they supposedly couldn't compete make it to the ALCS.

---Cards 12, D-Backs 2. Randy Johnson knocked out after six. It's so pretty....

NEXT: Tween Games 1 & 2

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