2005 Yankees Playoff Run (MVP)

[NYJets]

Background
When new owner Matt Kabara took over the Yankees prior to the 2005 season, he knew he had to cut a lot of salary, and get a lot younger. He did that, pulling off numerous deals to dump salary, and acquire young talent. But was it at the expense of winning? Over the next month we will find out.

The Yankees had a dissapointing regular season by their standards. The offense was inconsistent all year. For most of the year, the pitching staff carried them, but that began to struggle too towards the end, as Mike Mussina finished very poorly, and rookies Jorge Depaula and Kurt Ainsworth came back to earth.

The team struggled against the rival Red Sox all year, going a putrid 3-16. Boston won the division easily, leaving the Yankees tied with the Tigers for the wild card spot, heading into the final series of the year. Both teams faced off against their division leaders, the Red Sox and Twins. Both teams dropped their opening games, but in game 2 the Tigers won, and the Yankees suffered a horrible 16-1 loss. However, Cy Young winner Randy Johnson carried the team in game 3, outdueling Matt Clement in a 2-1 win. That coupled with a Detroit loss, forced a one game playoff, and gave the Yankees a 87-75 record on the season.

The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Carl Pavano settled down after that however, pitching 6 shutout innings. The Yankees picked up a run in the 5th, and 2 in the 6 to take a 3-2 lead. In the 8th, the Yankees broke it open scoring 3 more to go up 6-2. Mariano Rivera came on, and despite giving up a run, shut the door for a 6-3 victory.

The Yankees will travel to Oakland to begin the playoffs. The Red Sox will face the Twins in the other series. I believe the national league matchups are the Mets-Cardinals, Marlins-Giants.

The Yankees will go with the following lineup for the playoffs:
RF Gary Matthews Jr.
SS Derek Jeter
1B Nick Johnson
3B Alex Rodriguez
LF Hideki Matsui
2B Marcus Giles
DH Bernie Williams
CF Jim Whitfield
C John Flarherty

And rotation:
Randy Johnson
Carl Pavano
Mike Mussina
Jorge Depaula


I'll have full recaps and pictures from every game.

[NYJets]

Re: 2005 Yankees Playoff Run (MVP)

Game 1 ALDS Yankees (Mussina) vs. A's (Zito)
With both Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano unable to go in game 1 due to having to pitch in the last 2 days of the season, the Yankees handed the ball to the struggling Mike Mussina, just asking him to keep them in the game. He did that, but it wasn't enough, as a huge 7th inning Bobby Crosby 3 run homer gave the A's a 3-1 win.

The Yankees jumped out in front early. Gary Matthews Jr. led off the game with a 4 pitch walk. After Jeter struck out, Nick Johnson lined a single to right. Zito came back to strike out Arod for the 2nd out. Then, Hideki Matsui hit a little blooper over 3rd. Chavez went back on it and dove, but the ball hit off his glove, giving Matsui an RBI double, and the Yankees a 1-0 lead.



That score would hold up for awhile, as both pitchers dominated the next 5 innings, matching zeros. In the bottom of the 7th, the A's finally got a runner in scoring position, with runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, and Bobby Crosby coming to the plate. With an 0-1 count, Mussina tried to come inside with a fastball, and it was his one mistake of the game. Crosby went the other way with it, clearing the right field wall for a 3 run homer, giving the A's a 3-1 lead.



The Yankees attempts to stage a late rally were unsucessful, as they went down 1-2-3 in the 8th and 9th innings, with Octavio Dotel picking up the save.

Yankees 1 6 0
Athletics 3 6 0

W-Zito (1-0)
L- Mussina (0-1)
S- Dotel (1)

The Yankees have announced that Randy Johnson will pitch game 2 on 3 days rest, with Pavano to hopefully be ready for game 3.

[ehh]

Re: 2005 Yankees Playoff Run (MVP)

I also played Oakland in the first round and they absolutely destroyed me in the first two games in the Bronx, 6-2 and 13-3

Then I went out to Oakland and won 8-7 in a wild Game 3 (I was down 6-0 at one point, then by 1 run in the ninth, down to my last strike when Matsui hit a 2-run homer) and then Johnson threw a complete game shut out in Game 4 (won 3-0) and Pavano threw another one in Game 5 (Won 1-0, Jeter hit a solo HR). I went the last 21 innings of the series without allowing a run.

Very interesting, it was like the A's were unstopable on offense the first three games, then totally went cold. At least the game is realistic and keeps the trend going of Oakland being up 2-0 in the ALDS then losing the final three.



But good work so far, I'll be looking forward to following....

[NYJets]

Re: 2005 Yankees Playoff Run (MVP)

ALDS Game 2 Yankees (Johnson) at Athletics (Harden)

In a must win game, the Yankees offense came up big, putting up 9 runs en route to a 9-4 win. The Yankees got started early in the first inning. Nick Johnson drove home Derek Jeter on an RBI single, and a few batters later with the bases loaded, Marcus Giles crushed a double into the gap, clearing the bases and putting New York up 4-0.

The A's answered with a solo homerun in by Chavez, but the Yankees added 2 more in the 2nd to go up 6-1. And possibly just as bad for Oakland, they hit a line drive off the arm of Rich Harden, fracturing it, and ending his season.

In the 5th, the A's got a rally going and put up 3 runs to cut the lead to 2, with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs. Crosby came up and crushed a ball to deep center, but Whitfield caught it leaning against the wall to end the threat.

That is as close as Oakland came, the Yankees would add 3 more in the 8th inning, and win it 9-4.

W- Randy Johnson (1-0)
L- Rich Harden (0-1)

Series tied 1-1

[elicoleman]

Re: 2005 Yankees Playoff Run (MVP)

COME ON YANKS!