Results tagged ‘ World Series ’
Pedro Martinez: Who's Your Daddy
NEW YORK – Sitting on a podium in front of reporters at Yankee Stadium one day before the start of the Fall Classic, Phillies starter Pedro Martinez was asked about facing the Yankees lineup in Game 2 of the World Series.
He refused to comment.
Another reporter asked the veteran how he would adjust if the Yankees began to hit him hard or took an early lead in the contest.
The pitcher raised his eyebrows and gave the colorful equivalent of a “no comment.”
Martinez was then asked about the Yankees fans, the same boisterous fans that chant “Who’s your daddy?” every time he takes the mound in The Bronx.
Martinez smiled. This time, a “no comment” would not suffice.
“If there is a boo, it’s out of respect. If there is a clap, it’s out of respect,” he said. “Anything they do, it’s acknowledging that I am there and I take it all as a positive regardless of what happens. The fans are here to have fun and as long as they cross the line, I will be pleased with whatever.”
Martinez has a long history against the Yankees. He is 11-11 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 career starts against them in the regular season, and was 8-4 with a 2.95 ERA in 16 career starts at the old Yankee Stadium. He is 1-2 with a 4.72 ERA in six postseason appearances against the Yankees, and is 0-2 with a 5.93 ERA in his past five.
As a member of the Red Sox in 2004, Martinez struggled against the Yankees and playfully called them “my daddy” in a postgame interview. During the 2004 ALCS and in every game ever since, Yankees fans have reminded him of his words by chanting them.
“They’ve never been nice to me here (at Yankee Stadium),” he said. “I’m just going to keep doing what God has meant for me to do and I’m going to try to execute. I enjoy every single moment I have in baseball, not just at Yankee Stadium. … I pitch here just like every other field and I take a lot of pride and joy in doing it but I don’t think this is my house.”
Home, it seems, is in Philly.
A late-season addition in Philadelphia, Martinez went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts for the Phillies. In Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers, he gave up two hits in seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers.
He’s already made quite an impression.
“I used to think he was kind of cocky and arrogant, and he’s a little cocky, but he’s definitely not arrogant,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “ He’s a baseball guy. He has a tremendous feel for the game, and he knows a lot about it, and he loves to compete. The bigger the moment, the bigger the stage, I think the more he likes it. He’s been very good for our club, and he fits real well. “
Near the end of his media session, Martinez was again pressed about his strategy against the Yankees and the crafty veteran finally answered the question.
Sort of.
“The whole game is about adjustments,” he said. ” When you’re high, you come low. When you’re away, you try to come in. I’m a person that will say I do make adjustments in the middle of the game. I invent little things in the middle of the game to try to get an edge and win the ball game. If it’s legal I will try to do it.”
World Series: Running game
ST. PETERSBURG – Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz says he won’t let the Rays steal the spotlight from Philadelphia.
He doesn’t want Tampa Bay to win the World Series, either.
“They are really aggressive on the bases but so are we,” Ruiz said. “I think the biggest thing for us is that the pitchers keep the runners close to the bases. We were able to do that in (Game 1). But if we keep them off the bases, they can’t steal bases.”
Everybody knows what happens when the Rays get on base.
The Rays led the American League with 142 steals during the regular season and entered the World Series with 17 steals in 11 postseason games. But Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett stole the only base for Tampa Bay in Game 1 and Carlos Pena was picked off by Phillies starter Cole Hamels in the Tampa Bay’s only other attempt.
“We are aware of the guys that are running but Carlos is up for the challenge,” Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee. “(Ruiz) has been phenomenal behind the plate. He has a real good feel for what our guys are doing and has take charge attitude. He’s been an unsung hero.”
Sung or unsung, expect the Rays to test Ruiz as the series continues. The Panamanian threw out less than 25-percent of base-stealers during the regular season.
“I know the Rays are going to play their game,” Dubee said. “If the pitchers give him a chance, we’ll throw some guys out. He’s got a great arm and good quickness. Sometimes catchers get criticized for not throwing anybody out, but the pitchers have to give him that opportunity. We have to do our job on the mound.”
The Phillies can also run. The club stole 136 bases during the regular season and stole three bases, including two by Chase Utley, in Game 1.
“The key for is to get our speed on base,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “For the last two years, our base‑running and our stealing bases have definitely improved. From an offensive standpoint, when we get our speed on the base, I think we definitely can take advantage of it.”
Rays: Matt Garza
ST. PETERSBURG – Rays starter Matt Garza won’t apologize for his fiery demeanor when he takes the mound for Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday in Philadelphia.
But Mexican-American knows he will be sorry if he does not keep his emotions in check.
“I just tell myself I’ve got to go one pitch at a time, not look ahead of any hitter, not even look back at any pitch I’ve thrown,” Garza said. “Once a pitch is gone, it’s over. I can’t control what happens after that.”
In his first start of the postseason, Garza allowed seven hits and five runs for the loss against the White Sox in the American League Division Series. He rebounded in the American League Championship Series by posting a 1.38 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox to earn the ALCS Most Valuable Player award.
“I just didn’t want to have that sour taste in my mouth like I did after the Chicago game,” Garza said. “I just kept telling myself I don’t want to end my year like this. I don’t want to have that taste going into the off‑season, because it would be bitter. So I wanted to go out there and kind of make a statement to myself.”
Garza’s statement came in the form of seven magnificent innings in Game 7 of the ALCS. On Saturday, he will square off against Phillies veteran Jamie Moyer. Moyer is 45. Garza is 24.
“That’s a feat,” Garza said. “It’s undeniably amazing, the way (Moyer) does it successful still, and competes at the highest level you can in baseball. It’s absolutely amazing.”
Rays: Joe Maddon
ST. PETERSBURG -At least one trophy has already come in for Rays manager Joe Maddon.
On Thursday, Maddon was named the American League Manager of the Year by the Sporting News. Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez earned the honor for the National League.
“Anytime you win an award or part of a group where you are voted in by a group of your peers, it’s most rewarding, gratifying,” Maddon said. “It means the most. Not to denigrate any other situation, but I think everybody here would agree with that point.”
The Rays finished the 2008 regular season with a 97-65 record. The club finished in last-place in the American League East nine times in their first 10 years of existence.
“It’s nice to get the award but believe me, it doesn’t happen (alone),” Maddon said. “We all know that, the group of players that we have, the front office we have, my coaching staff.”
Maddon’s approach is simple. He wants his players to play the game the right way and respect the game every night. He doesn’t shy away from the “old school” moniker.
“I want our players to understand that if you play the game properly and you execute the game properly, then you beat the game through execution,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees, you beat the game through execution, and you do that through believing, that’s how you win. I think we’re arriving at that point.”
Rays: James Shields
ST. PETERSBURG – Snowbirds, schmobirds.
Youth is being served in Florida.
James Shields will take the mound for the Rays in Game 2 of the World Series as the elder statesmen in Tampa Bay‘s rotation. He is the old man. He is the veteran. He is the wise one.
Shields is 26.
“To me it’s kind of scary, and I don’t think a lot of people understand where we’ve come from and how long we’ve come along,” Shields said. “We talked to each other, and we said, ‘Man, five or so years from now, and we could still be together really doing this thing.’”
Shields is right. Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir are 24 while Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson are 25. Don’t forget that David Price is only 23.
Don’t expect these young arms to tire (or retire) anytime soon.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Shields said. “We have fun with it and the good news is that we all get along and we feed off of each other. We feed off of each others’ outings, and we learn from each other.”
Phillies: Brett Myers
ST. PETERSBURG – Stop joking around.
The first time you see Brett Myers in the World Series he will be on the mound pitching for the Phillies in Game 2 of the World Series.
And no, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel never considered using the hot-hitting pitcher in the batting order for Game 1. Myers will not be in the designated hitter role anytime during this lifetime.
It is kind of funny to talk about, though.
“Myers’ hitting, he had some good at‑bats against CC Sabathia, and then he had a big game against the Dodgers, and I guess he’s been hot,” Manuel said. “But I don’t think I’ve got that much nerve yet.”
All joking aside, Manuel does have confidence in the right-hander’s ability and with good reason. Myers is 2-0 in the postseason so far. He’s been bold, sometimes brazen on the mound.
“He’s one of the reasons why I’m sitting here talking to you today.” Manuel said. “His command has been better, and his attitude has definitely picked up and been better. He’s more in control of himself.”
Myers says to ignore his three-hit game in the NLCS. He is.
“I get paid to pitch,” he said. “I’m going to just try to step back and enjoy this as much as possible. Some guys have waited 22 years, like Jamie Moyer. To get in this situation, I’m just going to go out and have fun and pitch.”
Rays: Willy Aybar
ST. PETERSBURG – Well, at least there is one member of the Aybar family in the World Series.
Tampa Bay switch-hitting utility infielder Willy Aybar is carrying the family name in October. His brother Erick Aybar, the shortstop for the Angels, was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Red Sox.
“Willy Aybar is a baseball player,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s playing in (Dominican Republic‘s) Licey or San Pedro de Marcoris or La Romana, he’s playing the same game. He gets ready in the same way. He thinks the same things. He likes the big moment. He’s a baseball player. And that’s what he’s trained himself to do all his life.”
The Dominican proved it during the American League Championship Series as Aybar hit .421 with two home runs and six RBIs. Perhaps the biggest key to Aybar’s success is his ability to keep his focus.
You could say he “zones out.”
In a good way.
“You’re talking about keeping things in a very simplistic form,” Maddon said. “And more power to him. I think a lot of us could learn from him. That’s why he rises to the occasion. That’s the beauty of him, and that’s what we really appreciate about him.”
Look for Aybar to split time in the outfield with Rocco Baldelli, Gabe Gross, and Fernando Perez during the World Series. He could also serve as the team’s designated hitter.
“Right field is the revolving door, we’re just going to go based off what we perceive to be the best match‑up, hitter‑pitcher match‑up kind of a thing,” Maddon said. “And kind of what we’ve been doing all year right there.”
World Series: Philly's Cole Hamels
ST. PETERSBURG – Phillies starter Cole Hamels knows that his start in Game 1 of the 2008 World Series is a big deal.
He’s just not going to let you know that he knows it’s a big deal. Why make a bigger deal out of a big deal, you know?
“I think from everybody that is outside, there’s a significance with the game that we’re playing, but for us, the World Series is something that you look back on,” Hamels said. “It’s something that I think I will cherish probably ten years from now, and I’ll probably go through my head with what was going on, what I was thinking, who I was playing, what results I had.”
No, Hamels is not kidding. He’s not bluffing. The left-handed pitcher is as famous for his laid-back Southern California attitude as his blistering fastball and offspeed pitches. With all apologizes to the Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Hamels is the real Joe Cool. There’s a joke that says Hamels doesn’t sweat when he’s nervous. He only sweats when he is hot.
He’s confident, borderline cocky, and all Californian. He also has the reputation as one of the nicest players in the Phillies clubhouse.
“When you play 10, 15 years and never make the World Series, then I think this kind of stage becomes a little bit more, and it can be either more burdening or it can be more exciting,” he said. “For me, because I played three years, been in the playoffs twice, World Series once, I think it’s kind of a normal thing, and I hope it is. But going out there knowing that you have to get a job done. I know with the extra added attention it’s more excitement, with family coming in. You just have to push that aside and let people know I have a job to do.”
The pitcher’s numbers are impressive. He is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in the postseason this year and was named the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player after going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA against the Dodgers.
Hamels is also 24.
“Every time he walks out on the mound I expect him to win a game,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “He’s definitely capable of shutting a team out. He’s capable of throwing no‑hitters; I look for him to throw a good game. Every time he goes out I look for this guy to throw a good game and put us in a place to win the game.”
Don’t expect Hamels to change a thing come Game 1. That’s not his style.
“I know there is an excitement level and I think I’ve been able to hone in on it and control it,” he said. “It’s just one of the biggest stages in sports, and I think going out there and being able to succeed is what you want to do, but you can’t necessarily go into the game knowing that you’re going to do it. You really have to go in there and let it happen. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
No big deal.
World Series: Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena
ST. PETERSBURG – The book on Rays first baseman Carlos Pena in the past was that he read too much into everything. He was a thinker, not a player, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get out of his own way.
At best, Pena was an above average fielder and a streaky hitter with limited power. At worst, he was a case of wasted potential. Then he joined the Rays before the 2007 season and everything changed.
Pena found his power.
“Our intent is not to win the World Series. That’s so many steps ahead of what we are trying to do,” he said. “Our intent is to play within ourselves, to be focused on the task at hand and only that. If we can do that, it’s a victory. It’s simple but it’s powerful. Simplicity is power.”
The power of simplicity has propelled the Rays to the World Series and Pena into a comfort zone he never plans to leave. Gone is the anxious Pena that bounced around from Texas to Oakland to Detroit to Boston and almost every Minor League stop in between and in his place is a mature Pena that has figured out how the game works.
“There were times in my career when I look back when I was younger and I say ‘Man, I had it for that moment,’ but then something happened and I was trying hard again and I wasn’t having fun,” he said. “I was working too hard. It’s one of those things that embedded in you when you are a kid, the whole ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality. But baseball is graceful and you can’t force things.”
Pena hit 46 home runs in 2007 and won the American League Comeback Player of the Year. He hit 31 home runs and drove in 131 RBIs during the regular season in 2008 and is hitting .333 during the postseason.
He is making it look easy. It’s not.
“The hard work is really making it simple,” he said. “The hard work is learning how to not work too hard. But it’s easier to go the other way and go crazy trying to do more than you are capable of doing. The hard part is having trust in your ability.”
A winning record and a successful season don’t hurt trust levels.
A clubhouse full of young players and a deep-thinking manager like Joe Maddon also make it easy for Carlos to be easy-going Carlos. Maddon wants his players to embrace every player like a family member and savor each moment in the moment, then let it go. It’s the exact opposite of what Pena used to do when he was with other clubs and he would lose sleep worrying about the present, future and past.
“He just needed the right situation at the right time of his life to have all of this coming forward and I think that’s what you are seeing,” Maddon said. “Carlos is a very talented baseball player but he’s an exceptional person. It’s not surprising at all.”
Pena has not completely changed. He says he stills stays up at night but now he lies awake in a bed of gratitude.
“I’m very happy that every moment, every breath, every second that went by in that celebration after we won, that I enjoyed it to the max,” he said. “I’m so happy I allowed myself to do that. We want to be as present as possible. We want to stay in the moment and nothing else matters. It’s easier said than done but it’s so much fun and so satisfying.”
And so memorable. Pena said he’ll never forget the feeling of exhilaration after defeating the Red Sox, his childhood team, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to earn a spot in the World Series because of the celebration that followed.
After the final out, the Rays ran, screamed and dog-piled each other on the mound like school boys.
“We weren’t trying to play it cool. We weren’t saying ‘We have to be professionals about this,’” Pena said. “I’m sorry. This is my childhood dream coming true and I’m going to enjoy it and I don’t care what people say. If anything, it’s refreshing to see 30-year old men crying and cheering like little boys like we just won the Little League World Series.”
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Phantastic Phillies
LOS ANGELES – The smell of champagne was eye-stinging and the music blasted to speaker-busting levels.
Grown men acted like little boys.
The Phillies had just topped the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to win the National League pennant for the first time in 15 years so the atmosphere was understandably out of control in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium.
In the corner of the training room, Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz was on his cell phone addressing another party in Panama.
It turns out that the people in Central America are celebrating the team’s World Series appearance just like the people are in Philadelphia. Both should thank Cole Hamels and his soft-spoken battery-mate Ruiz for the party favor.
“We were able to get on the right page all year and when it comes to postseason, you definitely need to have that and see eye-to-eye,” Hamels said. “You really have to have confidence in your catcher and know what you have to do to the hitters. Carlos is good at that.”
Hamels didn’t disappoint. The left-hander was solid, as usual, allowing only one run on five hits in seven innings for his second victory in the NLCS. Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Brad Lidge shut the Dodgers down in the ninth to send his club to World Series for the first time since 1993.
Ruiz eventually joined the clubhouse party and was showered with beer and champagne. Praise for the catcher also came pouring in.
“He is a catcher with a lot of potential and will only get better in the future,” said Phillies reliever JC Romero said. “Once he gets a better feeling of what to do on offense, he is going to be really good. Defensively, he might be one of the best I have
ever played with.”
Hamels won two games was named the NLCS Most Valuable player but like Romero, credited his light-hitting catcher for helping make it possible. Make no mistake, Ruiz is hardly an offensive threat (he hit .219 during the regular season) but he sure can play defense.
That’s the reason why he has played in every postseason game for the Phillies this year. It doesn’t hurt that the Phillies pitchers posted a 3.89 ERA during the NLCS. Ruiz went 0-for-4 Wednesday but he did finish the series with a .313 batting average.
“I stuck with him because he’s a good catcher,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “He can hit better than what he hit this year but at the same time he does a good job and is a tremendous catcher. Once we started winning, it was easier for me to keep playing him.”
Defense is important to Manuel. It’s the reason Dominican Pedro Feliz saw significant action during the NLCS and why he will get plenty of playing time in the World Series. Feliz only hit .154 but his play at third base during the postseason was crucial to the team’s success.
“These are going to be the most important games in baseball,” Feliz said. “I am so proud of what we were able to do. I know we are prepared for whoever we face. It doesn’t matter who we play from the American League.”
It doesn’t matter to Ruiz, either. What does matter is getting a good cell phone signal so he can speak to his loved ones back home if the Phillies win the World Series.
“Everybody is at my mom’s house right now celebrating,” Ruiz said. “I am so happy. I’m sure all of Panama is really happy right now. I just hope we can win a World Series trophy for all of us.”
Jesse Sanchez
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