New York Yankees

Throughout the playoffs, Joe Girardi has turned to Joba Chamberlain in high-leverage situations. My question is, why? I haven't seen Chamberlain do anything to warrant trusting him in a big spot.

Chamberlain has been inconsistent all season and there is no doubt that David Robertson is a better option out of the bullpen at this point. Now, I'm not trying to knock Joba; I am actually not as down on his season as most people are. He was only slightly below average for the season, which is just fine for a back-end starting pitcher.

During the 11th inning on Monday, seconds after Dave Robertson had registered the second out of what seemed to be an uneventful half inning, FOX cameras cut to Joe Girardi.

The Yankees manager looked discombobulated...even frantic. He took three quick steps toward his matchup binder sitting on the dugout bench, hurriedly flipped through the first few pages, and then he quickly turned around and shot up the dugout steps to pull Robertson from the game.

That was the precise moment when I knew for sure that Girardi was in over his head.

The Yankees outlasted the Angels in Game Two of the ALCS on Saturday, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The series continues this afternoon in Anaheim. River & Sunset takes a look at some of the subplots orbiting Yankee Universe.

We're not close to the celebration yet

In a season full of dramatic ballgames, the context of the drama of Game Two of the American League Championship Series can only be described as What We Have Come to Expect.

"One relief pitcher left in the bullpen, one position player left on the bench, in a five-hour affair featuring pitchers getting into and out of jam after jam..." kind of sounds like the conclusion to the fifteen-inning epic the Yankees played against Boston at the beginning of August.

Alex Rodriguez has become the new Yankee October hero this postseason with unbelievably timed hits and home runs. In Game Two of the ALCS versus the Angels, A-Rod did it again. Leading off the inning against Angels closer Brian Fuentes, who saved 48 games this season*, the Yanks' chances didn't look so hot.

When Alex Rodriguez flies the other team dies…eventually. That seems to be the formula of the 2009 playoffs.

Prior to the 2009 postseason, Rodriguez struggled immensely at the plate when it mattered most. The three-time regular season Most Valuable Player seemingly could not hit anything after Game Three of the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Most fans of Major League Baseball can remember the Fall of 1996.

Back then, the New York Yankees were a far more lovable bunch (unless you were a Boston Red Sox fan). There was no clubhouse glittering with All-Star after All-Star, no recent history of dominance.

New York did represent the American League also-rans as the 1995 Wild Card, but they floundered away a 2-0 lead in the Division Series to the Mariners. The Yanks proceeded to drop the next three games in Seattle and saw their season end on that memorable, game-winning slide from Ken Griffey, Jr.

There were five other at bats that played out eerily similar to those of Alex Rodriguez's past postseason failures. 

He came up empty in his first four plate appearances, where only once did the ball leave the infield. Then there was his weak pop-out to shallow center that left the bases loaded in the 12th inning as the rain picked up and the temperatures dropped in the wee hours of the morning at the new Yankee Stadium.

But there were no boos from the exhausted New York fans afterwards and it wasn't because their jaws were frozen shut.