Question: What is the Yankees playoff record since 2003, if you take the 
out of the 
equation? ANSWER: 
yes 
FIVE? NO 
AND 
GET OUT OF HERE! No I am serious, 
.
One more 
. Who has been 
of the Yankees since 2003? The ANSWER: 
. EDB
Did Yankees manager Joe Girardi pull a last-second switcheroo to bench A-Rod in Game 4?
Was Alex Rodriguez in the Yankees’ original lineup for Game 4 of the ALCS?
It depends on who you talk to.
According to Tigers manager Jim Leyland, he received two different Yankee lineups in the late afternoon, the first one listing A-Rod hitting sixth and playing third base. But then, a courier from the Yankee clubhouse brought a second lineup to Leyland’s office – the one that was officially released which omitted both A-Rod and Curtis Granderson and had Eric Chavez at third base, hitting sixth, Brett Gardner in center field and Nick Swisher back in right field after being benched the night before.
“Is something else going on over there with A-Rod?” Leyland asked the Daily News before the game was postponed by rain Wednesday. “I got two lineups from them, one with him in it and the second one with him out.”
Joe Girardi explained the two-lineup mystery as a mistake on his part and not a last-minute decision to bench A-Rod again.
“We talked about some different lineups during the day,” Girardi said, “and when I handed the lineup to (third base coach Rob Thomson), I didn’t realize which one it was. It was actually a mistake on my part. We had people in different spots. So I called over there (to Leyland) and told them we gave them the wrong one.”
So if it’s any consolation to A-Rod, at least Girardi thought about playing him, to the point where he even had him penciled in on a lineup card.
TENDER SUBJECT
According to sources, Nick Swisher’s agent, Dan Lozano, has started leaking in the industry different teams that have already begun expressing interest in the switch-hitting free agent-to-be right fielder, the latest being the Red Sox.
The Yankees, meanwhile, are in a quandary with Swisher. They will almost certainly make him a one-year tender offer of $13 million to receive a first-round amateur draft pick as compensation. What they fear is he might wind up taking it if no other club makes him a multi-year offer.
Swisher has seemed pretty confident of getting a megabucks deal, but his latest postseason failure isn’t going to help him.
None of the small market clubs are likely to relinquish a first round draft pick on a 32-year outfielder with modest power, and after just unloading nearly a quarter million in the contracts of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett while announcing they are going back to the basics of building from within, it would seem highly unlikely the Red Sox would be investing in a free agent outfielder requiring draft pick compensation, especially if they are able to re-sign Cody Ross, their top priority.
CHAIN OF COMMAND
Tony La Russa, on hand at Comerica Park to visit with his buddy Leyland, was talking about the different relationship today between managers and general managers, in particular the GM’s increasingly usurping the skippers as the faces of the franchise.
“That’s one of my pet peeves,” said La Russa. “There’s still a few situations … (Tigers president) Dave Dombrowski makes sure that’s not the situation here and there’s other situations … Mike Scioscia (with the Angels), Girardi and (Brian) Cashman seem to have a good working relationship, but I have to say I didn’t like the what happened in Oakland where (GM Billy Beane) disrespected Kenny (Macha) and Art (Howe). You’ve got a lot of young analytical guys in GM jobs now and they’re making a mistake if they don’t pay attention to what’s going on on the field.”
It is La Russa’s opinion that so many of the the new wave of young GMs, heavy into sabermetrics in their evaluation of players, view managers as interchangeable.
When asked if he thought this was growing trend, the former manager said he hoped not.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see Don Mattingly disrespected,” La Russa said. “And look what Jim Tracy did in Colorado. Told them ‘You got the wrong guy’ and he walked away from $1.4 million. I think there are enough relics still around in the game that the worm will eventually turn and that these young, analytical guys will come to realize there’s a heart down there (in the dugout).”
Might the Yankees be panicking? What do you think? 
. EDB
Sorry Jim. I disagree. First, forget Josh Hamilton. Despite the fact that he is always injured, if you think A-Rod has become the Lightning Rod, 
Josh Hamilton, would not handle NY. He would become the News Media baby. Michael Borune is a nice thought. But, he is coming into his own at age 30. Would he do well in the A.L. East? Look at Carl Crawford in Boston, (even though Carl had played in the A.L. East.) Kyle Lohse had a nice year for the Cardinals, 16-3 2.86. He is a National League pitcher and who knows how that translates to the A.L. The Yankees, like them or not have Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, and Michael Pineda, all young and under contract. Finally, Anthony Redon, does not look like much to me. He did not hot for power or average for the National’s afiliates (are you working for the Nationals.) The Yankees can get a lot more for Curtis Granderson, as bad as he was (low average, too many K’s) in 2012. Sorry Jim, your ideas do not work! EDB
Jim Bowden (former major league GM,) was asked on 
radio, what 
what genius Cashman should do to fix the Yankees next year. Bowden replied, that “The Yankees need to get younger and sell tickets. Cashman must go to Hal and ask him to be his father again. The Yankees need to spend to get younger.” Bowden would sign 
Michael Bourne 
Josh Hamilton 
Kyle Lohse. He would trade 
Curtis Granderso, to the 
who need a left handed hitter and a center fielder for 
for Anthony Redon. Redon is a 22 year old National’s Minor League third Baseman, who has hit for little power or average
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | Aff | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 22 | 4 Teams | 4 Lgs | AA-A–A+-Rk | WSN | 43 | 160 | 133 | 28 | 31 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 29 | .233 | .363 | .489 | .851 | 65 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 22 | Nationals | GULF | Rk | WSN | 5 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .364 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 22 | Auburn | NYPL | A- | WSN | 8 | 32 | 27 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | .259 | .375 | .444 | .819 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 22 | Potomac | CARL | A+ | WSN | 9 | 32 | 27 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | .333 | .438 | .630 | 1.067 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 22 | Harrisburg | EL | AA | WSN | 21 | 82 | 68 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 16 | .162 | .305 | .368 | .673 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | EDB |
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The 1996 Yankees come back from an 0-2 deficit to win the World Series against the Atlanta Braves (below). The 2012 team needs to adopt their mentality to come back against the Tigers.
New York Daily News front page: Oct. 27, 1996
DETROIT — The 1996 Yankees were once sitting in the same spot the current crop is: down 0-2 in a best-of-seven series against a rotation-rich team, on the road and staring at elimination.
Oh, and nobody believed they could win that series, either.
But, as any Yankee fan knows, the ’96ers came back against the Braves in the World Series. They did exactly what Joe Torre had told George Steinbrenner they would do – sweep in Atlanta, clinch at home – a comment designed to staunch the owner’s disappointment over the first two games that turned into prophecy.
To win the club’s first title since 1978, those players found motivation in the baseball world’s doubt and whittled the Series down to single days instead of focusing on the bigger picture of their deficit. Maybe this year’s model needs a little Spirit of ’96 to beat Detroit in the American League Championship Series.
“It’s too much to look at the whole series,” says Tino Martinez, the ‘96 Yanks’ first baseman. “What I imagine Joe (Girardi) is going to tell them – and I’m sure the players are talking about it amongst themselves – is that they have to win Game 3.
“If they beat (Justin) Verlander, they are right back in it and they have the momentum. We won Game 3 in Atlanta and then there was enormous pressure on the Braves to finish it at home. Crazy as it sounds, if they win Game 3, that puts the pressure squarely on the Tigers.”
While most would say there is a vast difference between the ’96 and ’12 clubs – no snickering, nostalgia buffs – links remain even after 16 years. The manager now, Girardi, was a catcher then. Andy Pettitte is part of the rotation for both. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are still around, though they’re injured. Neither squad hit much in the first two games of their series. When folks counted out the ’96 team, it fueled the players, reliever Jeff Nelson recalls. “I remember (former player) Steve Lyons was broadcasting and he said to me, ‘You guys are done.’ I told him if we won Game 3, we’d win the series and he said, ‘Really.’
“We used whatever we could as motivation and we had a manager who made us believe,” Nelson adds.
And pitching, which at least this year’s Yankees have been getting, too. David Cone beat Tom Glavine in Game 3, Jim Leyritz hit his famous game-tying homer off Mark Wohlers to help the Yankees to a Game 4 victory and Pettitte beat John Smoltz in Game 5, setting up the Bronx clincher.
If you like omens, Pettitte is the Yankees’ scheduled Game 5 starter in this series, too.
“They’re in good shape if only they realize it,” Martinez says. “If they beat Verlander, then they have CC (Sabathia) in Game 4 and Andy in Game 5.”
It remains to be seen, of course, if they can do it. The ’96 team succeeded, in part, because of team chemistry, Nelson says. Even during Game 1 of the current series, when Nelson sat in a Stadium suite with former teammates such as Cone, Leyritz, Paul O’Neill and Cecil Fielder, he could feel it. “I thought to myself, ‘There are no teams like this anymore,’” Nelson says.
This year’s version still has a chance, though things certainly look bleak after the first two games.
“If anything, I think it’s all about pride,” Nelson says. “They had the best record in the American League. Everybody needs to look in the mirror. What do we have left? Are we going out like this?
“This is the Yankees, not a team just happy to be there.”
ONE LARGE PROBLEM, there are no ONeil’s, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, etc,, etc,,etc,, This is a lineup that is having tourble hitting the ball for out, let alone hits. It was poorly conceived and put together. The credit goes to 
and 
. EDB
By Kevin Kaduk | Big League Stew
(Star-Ledger via US Presswire/Busted Coverage)
Just in case you were wondering what type of woman would have the power to distract the great Alex Rodriguez from his game, it looks like we have some more info. The New York Post says her name is Kyna Treacy and she’s a bikini model and swimwear designer from Australia.
A slumpbuster in Mark Grace’s traditional definition, she is not.
To recap: The dirty blonde beauty and her gal pal Kate Quinn — sorry, just getting into the tabloid spirit here — held good seats near the New York Yankees dugout for Game 1 of the ALCS on Saturday. A-Rod’s eye reportedly wandered over to her during the game, leading to a phone number inquiry in the form of a delivered baseball and then maybe the stupidest playoff controversy New York has ever seen (which is saying something) when a flabbergasted bystander reported the flirting to the Post.
As the owner of the Kini Bikini swimwear company, Treacy is probably enjoying the free publicity that her company is receiving right now. The Aussie, however, hasn’t responded publicly to her outing except to tweet a claim that she’s 27 years old, not 33 like the Post reported.
It also isn’t known whether or not she agreed to A-Rod’s reported request, though the benched Yankees third baseman is on the verge of having a lot of free time in his future. The Yankees trail the Detroit Tigers three games to none heading into Wednesday’s Game 4.
With A-Rod riding the pine for the second straight night, he could sure use some good company.
Big BLS H/N: Busted Coverage
Treacy at a 2009 fashion show. (Getty Images)
Did Treacy try to get her name in the spotlight and A-Rod Bit? AND HOW DID SHE GET SUCH GOOD SEATS. At $1000.00 or so per, did she really buy seats? EDB
Leon Halip/Getty ImagesThe New York Yankees are reportedly interested in trading away star third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
UPDATE: Wednesday, October 17 at 8:33 p.m. ET by Ian Hanford
According to ESPN New York reporters Wallace Matthews and Andrew Marchand, the buzz surrounding Rodriguez to Miami has some merit:
According to the source, Loria said in his conversation about A-Rod with Levine, “Alex is Mr. Miami; it would be great if he played here for us.”
To which Levine is said to have replied, “You can have him.”
In the report, Brian Cashman maintains that all trade notions are false at this point. Rodriguez also responded to the whispers, stating:
I love the Yankees. I love this organization. My focus right now is to help this team come together and win a game. Do not allow all this negativity and questions and gossip stuff or this crap or that crap, let’s just focus on winning a game and go from there … What I will tell you is I hope nothing is going on like that at this point because our only focus, from top to bottom, is to win a baseball game right now.
This is going to take a long time to sort out, with all sorts of crazy rumors surfacing in the process.
Stay tuned for more updates as we wade through what’s true and what’s false surrounding baseball’s aging multi-million dollar man. Is this true, who knows. EDB
DETROIT — For an hour after the scheduled first pitch, fans at Comerica Park sat and waited for baseball to start.
It never did.
Yankees-Tigers Game 4: CC Sabathia will start Thursday afternoon after Wednesday’s game is postponed. (AP Photo)Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers was postponed Wednesday night because of incoming rain and was rescheduled for 4:07 p.m. ET on Thursday. Not a drop of rain had touched the playing surface when the announcement came, but radar showed a storm making its way toward Detroit.
The forecast for the next two days also isn’t encouraging: There is a 90 percent chance of rain Thursday and a 70 percent chance of rain Friday, according to The Weather Channel.
“They met with us to keep us updated, and I guess at first they thought it wasn’t coming until midnight, but they kept looking and decided it would be sooner,” Yankees center fielder and player representative Curtis Granderson said.
For the Yankees, this means another day to stew over the hole in which they are sitting, down 3-0 in the best-of-7 series and lacking any kind of offensive life. Game 4’s original lineup had Granderson and Alex Rodriguez on the bench against Tigers righthander Max Scherzer.
It remains to be seen whether manager Joe Girardi will change the lineup before Thursday afternoon.
“I wasn’t surprised by it. I just told Joe I’d be ready when he needed me,” said Granderson, who is 3-for-29 with 15 strikeouts this postseason. “I don’t know how this affects (the lineup for Thursday). I don’t make those decisions.”
The rainout will hurt the Yankees if they are somehow able to do the improbable and stretch this series to a seventh game. Under the original schedule, ace CC Sabathia would have pitched Game 4 on Wednesday — he instead will pitch it Thursday — and would have had a chance to pitch Game 7 on short rest. With the postponement, there is no chance Sabathia will be available for that game.
That is probably better than the alternative: Sabathia starting the game Wednesday only to be knocked out by a long rain delay.
The rainout also takes away the teams’ travel day if the series were to go back to New York. Friday was supposed to be the workout/travel day, but that now would be Game 5, if necessary.
So, a postseason that has featured a little bit of everything now has seen a rainout with no rain.
“The forecast is rain, and it never came,” said Scherzer, who will start Game 4 on Thursday. “That’s the weather for you.”
They say that a misty rain began falling fifteen minutes after the postponement was announcd. EDB
The Yankees and the surgeon performing the surgery on Saturday, believe that it will take Derek Jeter 
four of five months to rehabilitate after the surgery on Saturday. Let’s see if he is able to resume activities in February. My good thoughts…Derek. EDB
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How do you bench a player who this year was hitting .333 , went 4-7 with 2 homers against Verlander and lifetime is a .279 hitter against him. Simply , because this was an organizational move. Don’t think for one second that this was all Girardi. Cashman was there in Detroit. This was a decision made by the Front office , that included Hal and Levine. Not much. So the next thing is making a trade for third ? Who ? Chase Headley? Call the Nats about their #1 prospect Anthony Rendon who is blocked by Ryan Zimmerman I like Youkilis. EDB |
SD Yankee Report 