Tale of Two Teams

- The Yankees are out, and it's just amazing the way things fell so totally apart in a matter of 48 hours. You went from wondering how that lineup could possibly lose, to trying to imagine how they would ever even get on base! There was a lot said about how amazing Kenny Rogers was in Game 3, but - and this is not to take anything away from Jeremy Bonderman - I think you have to look now at Rogers the way you would at a thoroughbred who crushes opponents that all come up empty in their next races. Good teams and good players just have to find a way to score in crucial games. And that, Walter, is why New Yorkers are so down on A-Rod. He's 4 for 41 with no RBI's in his last 12 postseason games. (And not only did Joe Torre drop him to 8th in the lineup, he apparently told the media before informing Rodriguez. Bye, bye Alex.)

By contrast, take a look at the Mets. They faced two possible turning points in their three game sweep of the Dodgers. LA scored 3 in the 7th of Game 1 to tie that game; and another 3 spot in the 5th last night to take the lead. In each case, the Mets responded immediately to retake control of the game. And make no mistake, given the state of their starting pitching, a loss last night would have put the series very much up for grab.

After falling behind last night in Game 3, they faced young Jonathan Broxton in the 6th. Now, not to compare Broxton with either of the Tigers' starters who shut down the Yankees, but the kid throws hard, and, at least after Shawn Green led off with a double, the Mets were not getting good swings at him at all. Jose Reyes did well to defensively foul a couple of hard ones off to stay alive. But he hung in, stayed with a slider and punched it to center to tie the game. Then, Paul LoDuca and Carlos Beltran also managed bloop hits on breaking balls, just trying to make contact. Now that was hitting. You can't tell me that Kenny Rogers would have shut down this Mets lineup like he did the Bombers. It's quite possible that we'll get to see if I'm right in the World Series.