Thursday, October 22, 2009
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — When Derek Jeter recalls the last time the New York Yankees got this close to the World Series, he gets chills down his spine that have nothing to do with the cold he’s fighting.
“If you have the opportunity to get something over with, you’d like to do it,” the New York captain said. “It’s not always going to happen.”
Although the Yankees have a strong record in potential closeout playoff games over their peerless history, the 2004 AL championship series is a prodigious hole in their reputation that only a record 40th AL pennant could begin to cover. Up 3-0, New York lost four straight to the Boston Red Sox in an unprecedented collapse, and the Yankees hadn’t been that close to the World Series since — until now.
They get the first of three shots at a closeout victory over the struggling Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS tonight, with A.J. Burnett facing Los Angeles ace John Lackey.
After half a decade and several hundred million dollars’ worth of premium free-agent shopping, most of the Yankees who have rolled through six wins in their first seven postseason games this fall don’t share Jeter’s memories of 2004.
Manager Joe Girardi understands the history, but prefers to focus on the future.
“There’s a lot of different faces,” Girardi said. “You look at our rotation, CC [Sabathia] wasn’t here, A.J. wasn’t here. You look at the bullpen, and I believe Mo [Mariano Rivera] was the only guy that was here.”
Before a light workout at Angel Stadium on Wednesday, Girardi and the Yankees were modest about their chances of getting that last win and steaming back onto baseball’s biggest stage after a six-year absence. Their play in this postseason so far has done all their bragging for them.
With big-money newcomers Sabathia and Burnett joining Andy Pettitte in a dynamite three-man rotation, backed by 2004 survivor Alex Rodriguez leading the offense, the current Yankees have shown no indication of slowing down.
After they missed the playoffs last fall for the first time in Jeter’s era, the Yankees have racked up baseball’s best record before rolling to the brink of a pennant.
“Well, any time you can add the top three free agents, it’s going to be better,” outfielder Johnny Damon deadpanned. “[Sabathia, Burnett and Mark Teixeira] took us from missing the playoffs by six games last year to being pretty dominant.”
These Yankees are well positioned to capitalize on their three chances to finish off Los Angeles. Nothing in the ALCS to date suggests the Yankees’ pitchers will have much trouble with the Angels, whose normally productive lineup is batting .201 against New York.
After a 10-1 rout in Game 4, it’s also tough to imagine New York’s sluggers slowing down. The Yankees have 14 homers among their 67 hits in seven playoff games.