Rany:
There was an inning—the sixth, I think—where I wanted to say to myself, “Geez, here comes the old Yankee luck again.” With Reggie Sanders on second base, two men out, Erubiel Durazo shot a ground ball toward right field, a ground ball that would easily have scored Sanders if it had actually reached right field. It didn’t, though, because Alfonso Soriano launched himself across the grass and snared that ground ball in the furthest regions of his webbing. If Durazo had hit the ball just a smidgeon harder or an iota earlier, the Diamondbacks take a 2-1 lead.
But he didn’t, so Soriano kept the ball in the field. Durazo was safe at first, but Sanders could get no further than third. That brought up Matt Williams, who scalded a liner into left field. If Chuck Knoblauch had been out there, like he usually is, Williams would have had an RBI single. At least. But Knoblauch wasn’t out there, Shane Spencer was. And Spencer made a diving catch of Williams’ liner, keeping the game tied.
Inches, and they all went the Yankees’ way, just like the inches seem to go the Yankees’ way every October.
But it’s not just luck, is it? Soriano’s an ex-minor league shortstop with shortstop quickness. Without that quickness, he doesn’t make the play on Durazo. That’s not luck, it’s raw ability. Spencer’s probably the best defensive outfielder the Yankees have, other than Bernie Williams. That’s not luck, it’s ability.
And speaking of ability, as much as I would love to see the Yankees lose—mostly because I’m sick of their arrogant fans—I still can take great pleasure in watching Mariano Rivera pitch. Because while it does seem as if the Yankees get more than their fair share of luck, there’s nothing at all lucky, or tricky, about Mariano Rivera. Basically a one-pitch pitcher, his style is so simple that it’s elegant, the picture of perfect relief pitching.
Rivera doesn’t throw particularly hard, but have you ever seen a pitcher who could do so much with one pitch? I guess there have been a few other relievers who could get by with one pitch … Goose Gossage and the fastball, Bruce Sutter and the splitter, Dan Quisenberry and the sinker, Sparky Lyle and the slider … but I haven’t ever seen anybody quite like Rivera, who doesn’t throw as hard as Gossage but is just as effective throwing nothing but fastballs. I’m no great fan of Tim McCarver, but he made a great point about the movement on Rivera’s fastball, which moves so much that catchers can’t catch it. You ever heard of another modern pitcher whose fastball couldn’t be caught?
