Fans Find Little Solace in Yankees' Confidence
As they contemplated Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, pensive Yankees fans also contemplated a nightmarish possibility: could the tough Los Angeles Angels come back in this series the way they’d come back in their previous playoff series?
The Angels kept their season alive in California on Thursday by beating the Yankees, 7-6, in Game 5. Los Angeles scored four runs in the first inning, then answered the Yankees’ six-run outburst in the seventh inning by scoring three of their own in the bottom half.
The thread that connects each of the remaining contenders — the Yankees, the Angels and the defending champion Phillies — is resilience, tenacity and toughness.
Philadelphia advanced by staging a ninth-inning comeback against Colorado in Game 4, then manhandling the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The American League Championship Series in particular has been defined by the challenge of defeating a nettlesome rival.
Los Angeles snapped a postseason jinx against Boston that began in the 1986 A.L.C.S. The Angels were swept in the division series by Boston in 2004 and 2007, and lost in four games in 2008.
This month, the Angels finally prevailed. Fittingly, they closed out a sweep of the Red Sox on the road with a late-inning comeback, scoring two runs in the eighth inning and three in the ninth.
Before a workout at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ captain, was asked how he defined team toughness.
“Teams that play all nine innings,” he said. “Knowing you have to come in and play all nine innings, regardless of what the score is, whether you’re ahead or behind, you have to continue to play hard. We’ve done that throughout the course of the year, they’ve done that — they’ve done it against us,” he said referring to the Angels.
“Teams that don’t ever give up, teams that continue to try to play hard and fight through the course of a whole game.”
If the Yankees hope to reach the World Series, they will have to defeat an Angels franchise that has had their number. In 2002 and 2005, the Yankees lost to the Angels in the division series. The Angels won their regular-season series against the Yankees from 2005 to 2008. This season, the Yankees split the regular-season series, winning three of the last four games.
One of the most fascinating parts of the postseason is fan reaction to their team’s ups and downs.
Angels and Phillies fans are united in indignation by calls that the most desirable Fall Classic would have been Yankees vs. Dodgers.
Yankees fans, at least those who call in to talk-radio shows, are in a panic. They have been on an emotional roller coaster since the A.L.C.S. began: buoyant at two games to none, nervous at 2-1, supremely confident at 3-1 and concerned at 3-2.
After the Game 5 loss, some Yankees fans were full of second-guessing: Andy Pettitte should have pitched an inning of relief; outfielder Nick Swisher should be benched; reliever Phil Hughes should be demoted. Small wonder that no one suggested closer Mariano Rivera be put in the rotation.
“They’re fans,” Pettitte said Friday. “They don’t have the opportunity to go out there and play the game and be on the field, so you expect that out of them. They’re passionate, they want us to win. So, there’s definitely a little bit of a disconnection there as far as realistically what should be done and can’t be done in certain situations.
“We’re playing a tough team; it’s not easy. I said before the series started, it was going to be a war. I think people thought that we won the first two and it was just going to be over with. It ain’t that easy.”
Someone asked Jeter whether it discounted how good Los Angeles was that many expected the Yankees to roll over the Angels.
“Who expected us to roll past them?” Jeter asked.
“A lot of people were saying five games,” the reporter responded.
“Yeah, what? After it was 3-1,” Jeter shot back. “People weren’t saying five games when it started. Coming into the series all the talk was how they’ve dominated us over the years and how they were going to be a big problem for us. We’re up, 3-1, and lose one game and people say we wasted an opportunity and what’s wrong with the Yankees. Last I checked, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
But for fans whose peace of mind often rests on every win or loss, that’s little comfort.
E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com
As they contemplated Game 6 of the American League Championship Series, pensive Yankees fans also contemplated a nightmarish possibility: could the tough Los Angeles Angels come back in this series the way they’d come back in their previous playoff series?
The Angels kept their season alive in California on Thursday by beating the Yankees, 7-6, in Game 5. Los Angeles scored four runs in the first inning, then answered the Yankees’ six-run outburst in the seventh inning by scoring three of their own in the bottom half.
The thread that connects each of the remaining contenders — the Yankees, the Angels and the defending champion Phillies — is resilience, tenacity and toughness.
Philadelphia advanced by staging a ninth-inning comeback against Colorado in Game 4, then manhandling the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The American League Championship Series in particular has been defined by the challenge of defeating a nettlesome rival.
Los Angeles snapped a postseason jinx against Boston that began in the 1986 A.L.C.S. The Angels were swept in the division series by Boston in 2004 and 2007, and lost in four games in 2008.
This month, the Angels finally prevailed. Fittingly, they closed out a sweep of the Red Sox on the road with a late-inning comeback, scoring two runs in the eighth inning and three in the ninth.
Before a workout at Yankee Stadium on Friday, Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ captain, was asked how he defined team toughness.
“Teams that play all nine innings,” he said. “Knowing you have to come in and play all nine innings, regardless of what the score is, whether you’re ahead or behind, you have to continue to play hard. We’ve done that throughout the course of the year, they’ve done that — they’ve done it against us,” he said referring to the Angels.
“Teams that don’t ever give up, teams that continue to try to play hard and fight through the course of a whole game.”
If the Yankees hope to reach the World Series, they will have to defeat an Angels franchise that has had their number. In 2002 and 2005, the Yankees lost to the Angels in the division series. The Angels won their regular-season series against the Yankees from 2005 to 2008. This season, the Yankees split the regular-season series, winning three of the last four games.
One of the most fascinating parts of the postseason is fan reaction to their team’s ups and downs.
Angels and Phillies fans are united in indignation by calls that the most desirable Fall Classic would have been Yankees vs. Dodgers.
Yankees fans, at least those who call in to talk-radio shows, are in a panic. They have been on an emotional roller coaster since the A.L.C.S. began: buoyant at two games to none, nervous at 2-1, supremely confident at 3-1 and concerned at 3-2.
After the Game 5 loss, some Yankees fans were full of second-guessing: Andy Pettitte should have pitched an inning of relief; outfielder Nick Swisher should be benched; reliever Phil Hughes should be demoted. Small wonder that no one suggested closer Mariano Rivera be put in the rotation.
“They’re fans,” Pettitte said Friday. “They don’t have the opportunity to go out there and play the game and be on the field, so you expect that out of them. They’re passionate, they want us to win. So, there’s definitely a little bit of a disconnection there as far as realistically what should be done and can’t be done in certain situations.
“We’re playing a tough team; it’s not easy. I said before the series started, it was going to be a war. I think people thought that we won the first two and it was just going to be over with. It ain’t that easy.”
Someone asked Jeter whether it discounted how good Los Angeles was that many expected the Yankees to roll over the Angels.
“Who expected us to roll past them?” Jeter asked.
“A lot of people were saying five games,” the reporter responded.
“Yeah, what? After it was 3-1,” Jeter shot back. “People weren’t saying five games when it started. Coming into the series all the talk was how they’ve dominated us over the years and how they were going to be a big problem for us. We’re up, 3-1, and lose one game and people say we wasted an opportunity and what’s wrong with the Yankees. Last I checked, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
But for fans whose peace of mind often rests on every win or loss, that’s little comfort.
E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com
Source: New York Times
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