Bleacher Creature Feature

#59: "World Series Game 3"

21 October 2003

As I predicted, based on the reactions to the announcing of the Yankees' starting lineup, the crowd is evenly mixed. The cheers for the AL champs are even with the boos. Whatever home-field advantage the Marlins might have hoped from playing in front of a friendly crowd is about halved by virtue of the fact that lots of people in the stands are Yankee fans.

This is to be expected, honestly. Florida is full of expat New Yorkers, as the Yankees see every time they play road games against the Devil Rays. And, this year's Cinderella story notwithstanding, there aren't that many Marlins fans out there. The team's only been around for a decade, and Wayne Huizenga destroyed a huge chunk of their fan loyalty by dismantling the 1997 World Champions as part of Huizenga's ongoing real estate boondoggle (of which the Marlins and Pro Player Stadium are but a small part; I highly recommend Kick Ass and Paradise Screwed by Carl Hiaasen, compilations of Hiaasen's Miami Herald column, which will be very revealing about Huizenga's shenanigans).

Geez, Miami native Gloria Estefan's getting louder cheers than any of the Marlins players.

As Terri just succinctly put it, Alfonso Soriano isn't just reaching, he's flailing. He's turned into an automatic out at the top of the order, and that really needs to stop.

I'm glad to see that the horse hockey about Mike Mussina not being a big-game pitcher -- forgetting not only his 2001 ALDS performance, but also his performance in 1997 with the Orioles -- has been abandoned in light of his ALCS Game 7 heroics. I also give massive credit to the Yankees in general and Jorge Posada in particular. After his Game 5 loss to the Red Sox, Mussina angrily said to the press corps that he could only control 60 feet and six inches. Several "sports journalists" opined that this would irritate the rest of the team, since Mussina basically called them out, but Posada was quoted today in several newspapers with the following: "It's true. If we give him some runs, he's 3-0." Bravo to Jorge.

Juan Pierre just got a leadoff double that was a direct result of the Yankees' crap defense. Karim Garcia got a lousy jump, and Bernie Williams -- playing in left-center -- couldn't get to it in time. I can't help but think that Juan Rivera would've caught the ball...

Miguel Cabrera just poked a ball through the Swiss cheese that is the Yankee infield. With the immobile Jason Giambi playing first base, the dippy Soriano at second, the range-less Derek Jeter at short, and the pod person that replaced Aaron Boone at third, we need to hope that Mussina gets a lot of strikeouts and flyouts....

The nicest thing I can say about watching Mussina bat is that he doesn't look at totally goofy as Andy Pettitte when he bats. My favorite, though, is still watching Mariano Rivera bat in the 1996 Series against the Braves, which was just pitiful, in a hilarious kinda way.

Posada walks with the bases loaded. I've seen this movie before. In 2003 alone, Posada's walked five of the nineteen times when he's come up with nowhere to be put (he also has four hits, one of which was a grand slam). Plus, of course, there's his famous walk-off walk with the bases jammed, last year against the Red Sox in July after two intentional walks....

Soriano comes up in the fifth having struck out 22 times and walked twice in the postseason. Yeah, that's who I want leading off for me.

For some inexplicable reason I thought that Pro Player Stadium had a retractable roof. Based on the rain delay that's now happening, this recollection was somewhat inaccurate...

The game's back. Mussina finished off the inning nicely -- he gave up a hit to Juan Pierre, but then his overrated ass got thrown out stealing. The people who go on about (minimal, to my mind) benefit of stolen bases usually ignore the huge negative impact of getting caught stealing. Pierre's vaunted aggressive baserunning just cost the Marlins a shot at a two-out rally.

And gee gosh golly willickers, Giambi just struck out. Good thing we've got him in the lineup, he says beating his head against the wall.

I would like to state for the record that I worship Mike Mussina as a god. Facing a first-and-third-one-out rally, Moose makes a brilliant fielding play to save a run, then gets a gritty strikeout to end the inning.

Wow -- the Yankees actually gave Mussina a lead. Wonders will never cease. And it's once again Hideki Matsui who drove in a run. Naturally, they leave the bases loaded, because leaving runners on base is something at which the Yankees have excelled, but at least Moose has a lead for the first time in the entire postseason.

I'm amazed nobody's picked up on "October-San." Matsui came into tonight at .320/.375/.520 for the postseason, .500/.500/.875 for the Series. Add to that Game 3's 1-2 with a walk and a hit by pitch, and you've got the Yanks' undisputed offensive star of October 2003.

Eighth inning. Mariano Rivera pitching with a lead. Nick Johnson and David Dellucci replacing Giambi at first and Garcia in right, thus closing two defensive holes. I like our chances.

And sure enough, Mo got through the eighth in exactly the amount of time it took me to type that paragraph. And I type very fast. It only took him six pitches.

Boone ain't hittin' for shit, but on those exceedingly rare occasions when he does hit, he sure knows how to do it right, doesn't he? He just crushed a Chad Fox pitch into the left field seats to give the Yanks an insurance run in the top of the ninth.

And now Soriano has drawn a walk. Shock and amazement.

BERNIE! Somebody finally woke Bernie up and he just hit a three-run homer to break this game open.

Godzilla strikes out, but he's had his moment in the sun tonight.

Now it's Mo in the bottom of the ninth. Which is pretty much where you want him on the road.

Mike Lowell grounds out to Jeter on a 1-1 pitch.

Jeff Conine singles on a 2-2 pitch.

Juan Encarnacion pinch-hits for Alex Gonzalez and strikes out on four pitches.

Todd Hollandsworth pinch-hits for the pitcher. After a foul ball that shatters his bat in three pieces, I'm reminded of the description of Mo in Baseball Prospectus 2002: "responsible for more sawed-off lumber than Paul Bunyan on a meth bender." With his new bat, Hollandsworth grounds out to Soriano to end it.

Was amused to hear on Baseball Tonight that Jeter got all three of the hits that Beckett gave up, as if that mattered. This conveniently ignores all the other people who got on base, which is how they got the first two runs, since without the walks, HBPs and even a fly out, Jeter's hits are useless. Of course, hits are the only things that matter, he says rolling his eyes.

On to Game 4.....

NEXT: "World Series Game 4"

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