NakamuraQ&A: World Series Part 4 featuring Hank
This is a simple "Question and Answer" session I had with my friend Hank on the 2009 World Series. To see Part One with "Dangerous" Dan, go to this Really Long Link For Part 2, visit this Really Long Link . For Part 3, head over to this really Really Long Link Otherwise, here it is, Q&A, Part 4!
Question 1: What are your thoughts on Yankees winning the 2009 World Series?
Nakamura: As a baseball fan, I cannot help but be upset about it. They bought the World Series and any one who thinks otherwise is extremely biased. They brought in 3 new players for that season for over 400 million dollars. But at this point in the argument, the Yankee fan would say, "But the 2004 Red Sox bought it too!". There couldn't have been a more saddening statement.
1) You just admitted that you bought the World Series.
2) The Red Sox waited 86 years for theirs, they were going to win it no matter what the cost.
3) All starters for the opening day 2004 Red Sox were already there since at least 2003.
4) Why was their payroll so high? Almost all of their stars were in the last year of their contract.
5) The Yankees still spent 57.6 million dollars than them.
So the fact that the Yankees bought another World Series is hurtful to baseball. Sure, Jeter, Posada, Pettite and Mariano came through the system, but they stayed for the money. Which explains why players like Damon, Pedro, Lowe, Ramirez and Garciaparra are in different uniforms.
Hank: As an absolute die hard Yankee fan, this is the best feeling I've had in a mighty long time. It just makes every thing seem so much better. This year they actually accomplished what they set out to do. As a man I can admit I almost cried. 2000 was incredible, especially since it was against the Mets, but I was still pretty young. So this is the first time they've won when I've been hanging on every pitch throughout the season.
This year's team was different from past years of failures. The three keys were Nick Swisher, AJ Burnett, and Alex Rodriguez. And I'm talking about the team aspect. Nick brought in the fun, joking attitude the clubhouse needed badly. AJ also brought fun to the clubhouse along with the now regular game winning pie routine. But Alex has been most of the reason why there wasn't great chemistry in previous years. But finally, in 2009, he got the monkey (or 10 ton gorilla) off of his back and he was able to focus. He didn't stir up controversy with things ranging from his wife, cheating, teammates, or to a number of other things. This allowed
them to be a group, not just a bunch of talented individuals. At any one point, another player would carry the team through a stretch. They never gave up on each other and fought back with every thing they had and that made them a World Champion team. I could go on for ages about this team, but the point is the Yankees became a real team with a huge heart this year and any one who says they are just a bunch of over paid heartless jerks who didn't watch them day in and day out.
Question 2: Did the Yankees win or did the Phillies lose? (For those of you who don't understand the question, it essentially means "Did the Yankees earn the victory or did the Phillies hand the championship over?)
Nakamura: Game 6, the Yankees won. All of the pieces of the puzzle came in and fit perfectly. Hideki Matsui had an extraordinary game and Pettite pitched superbly. Same with Game 2, even though the Phillies played quite well. But the Phillies lost games 3 and 4. They had two of their big pitchers, Hamels and Lidge, just break apart. There's no way they can win late if the anchor to their bullpen is unreliable. And Hamels was supposed to be the key part to the rotation. Overall, as a series, this should have been much closer, going into seven games and more one run games. The Phillies won Game 1, but the Yankees lost game 5.
Hank: The Phillies were a great team all year and continued that in the World Series. If they had a solid bullpen and the Cole Hamels of last year, there is no doubt in my mind they would have won back to back championships. That said, the Yankees fought so hard that they did win this World Series and obviously didn't have it handed to them by the Phillies. Philadelphia came out every night fighting with everything they had. They didn't make too many mistakes and played great baseball, but in this series the Yankees prevailed as the better team and World Champs.
Question 3: Did Matsui deserve the MVP award?
Nakamura: Matsui hit 3 home runs despite not playing in every game. He was the
offensive key to Game 6, providing them with 6 of the 7 RBIs. He also got 3 of the 8 hits and the only home run. How can you not give the MVP award to someone who had the highest batting average by over 200 points? The only other candidate would have been Chase Utley, but after going 0-3 and leaving 3 runners on base in Game 6, all hopes of that were gone.
Hank: Matsui was huge for the Yankees in the World Series. He batted a measly .615, with 3 Home Runs and 8 RBIs. The key was Game 6, when he tied the record for most RBIs in a World Series game with 6 and guided the Yankees to a 7-3 win. Matsui obviously deserved this award. The only other possible winner would have been Mariano Rivera. He pitched 5.1 innings in all 4 wins. He only got two saves, but closed out all 4 and shut it down in the late innings again and again. I have no problem with giving the award to Matsui, but Mariano finished with a close 2nd.
4) Was starting Pedro the right decision (and was putting in JA Happ a good idea?)
Nakamura: In part 3 of this blog, I said that Pedro was a weapon that could not be used excessively. The Yankee lineup is made up of major league hitters, and they know how to adapt to different types of pitching. But if Pedro didn't pitch, who would have? There was always JA Happ. The Yankees haven't had much success off the left handed pitchers this season. Happ
came in later in the game, providing them with one inning consisting of 3 strikeouts. Cole Hamels was ready on short rest, but after his previous outing, I would have been reluctant to give him the ball as well. But the fact is Cliff Lee was the only reliable starting pitcher. There is no way you can win a best-of-seven series with only one dependable starter.
Hank: At some point you have to start blaming the players. In this scenario, Charlie Manuel did everything right and his players couldn't quite get it done. Pedro's sharp stuff wasn't there. Or maybe it was just Matsui who hit him well. All of Manuel's other options were much more of a risk so you can't look to blame Manuel. You can choose to blame Pedro or just congratulate the Yankees.
This concludes the series "Q&A WORLD SERIES". Thanks to Hank and Daniel for participating. Next up, is the "OFF SEASON OUTLOOK"... stay tuned!
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura.
Question 1: What are your thoughts on Yankees winning the 2009 World Series?
Nakamura: As a baseball fan, I cannot help but be upset about it. They bought the World Series and any one who thinks otherwise is extremely biased. They brought in 3 new players for that season for over 400 million dollars. But at this point in the argument, the Yankee fan would say, "But the 2004 Red Sox bought it too!". There couldn't have been a more saddening statement.
1) You just admitted that you bought the World Series.
2) The Red Sox waited 86 years for theirs, they were going to win it no matter what the cost.
3) All starters for the opening day 2004 Red Sox were already there since at least 2003.
4) Why was their payroll so high? Almost all of their stars were in the last year of their contract.
So the fact that the Yankees bought another World Series is hurtful to baseball. Sure, Jeter, Posada, Pettite and Mariano came through the system, but they stayed for the money. Which explains why players like Damon, Pedro, Lowe, Ramirez and Garciaparra are in different uniforms.
Hank: As an absolute die hard Yankee fan, this is the best feeling I've had in a mighty long time. It just makes every thing seem so much better. This year they actually accomplished what they set out to do. As a man I can admit I almost cried. 2000 was incredible, especially since it was against the Mets, but I was still pretty young. So this is the first time they've won when I've been hanging on every pitch throughout the season.
This year's team was different from past years of failures. The three keys were Nick Swisher, AJ Burnett, and Alex Rodriguez. And I'm talking about the team aspect. Nick brought in the fun, joking attitude the clubhouse needed badly. AJ also brought fun to the clubhouse along with the now regular game winning pie routine. But Alex has been most of the reason why there wasn't great chemistry in previous years. But finally, in 2009, he got the monkey (or 10 ton gorilla) off of his back and he was able to focus. He didn't stir up controversy with things ranging from his wife, cheating, teammates, or to a number of other things. This allowed
Looks like he's finally come around...
Question 2: Did the Yankees win or did the Phillies lose? (For those of you who don't understand the question, it essentially means "Did the Yankees earn the victory or did the Phillies hand the championship over?)
Nakamura: Game 6, the Yankees won. All of the pieces of the puzzle came in and fit perfectly. Hideki Matsui had an extraordinary game and Pettite pitched superbly. Same with Game 2, even though the Phillies played quite well. But the Phillies lost games 3 and 4. They had two of their big pitchers, Hamels and Lidge, just break apart. There's no way they can win late if the anchor to their bullpen is unreliable. And Hamels was supposed to be the key part to the rotation. Overall, as a series, this should have been much closer, going into seven games and more one run games. The Phillies won Game 1, but the Yankees lost game 5.
Hank: The Phillies were a great team all year and continued that in the World Series. If they had a solid bullpen and the Cole Hamels of last year, there is no doubt in my mind they would have won back to back championships. That said, the Yankees fought so hard that they did win this World Series and obviously didn't have it handed to them by the Phillies. Philadelphia came out every night fighting with everything they had. They didn't make too many mistakes and played great baseball, but in this series the Yankees prevailed as the better team and World Champs.
Question 3: Did Matsui deserve the MVP award?
Nakamura: Matsui hit 3 home runs despite not playing in every game. He was the
Congrats to World Series MVP Hideki Matsui
Hank: Matsui was huge for the Yankees in the World Series. He batted a measly .615, with 3 Home Runs and 8 RBIs. The key was Game 6, when he tied the record for most RBIs in a World Series game with 6 and guided the Yankees to a 7-3 win. Matsui obviously deserved this award. The only other possible winner would have been Mariano Rivera. He pitched 5.1 innings in all 4 wins. He only got two saves, but closed out all 4 and shut it down in the late innings again and again. I have no problem with giving the award to Matsui, but Mariano finished with a close 2nd.
4) Was starting Pedro the right decision (and was putting in JA Happ a good idea?)
Nakamura: In part 3 of this blog, I said that Pedro was a weapon that could not be used excessively. The Yankee lineup is made up of major league hitters, and they know how to adapt to different types of pitching. But if Pedro didn't pitch, who would have? There was always JA Happ. The Yankees haven't had much success off the left handed pitchers this season. Happ
Who's Your Daddy?
Hank: At some point you have to start blaming the players. In this scenario, Charlie Manuel did everything right and his players couldn't quite get it done. Pedro's sharp stuff wasn't there. Or maybe it was just Matsui who hit him well. All of Manuel's other options were much more of a risk so you can't look to blame Manuel. You can choose to blame Pedro or just congratulate the Yankees.
This concludes the series "Q&A WORLD SERIES". Thanks to Hank and Daniel for participating. Next up, is the "OFF SEASON OUTLOOK"... stay tuned!
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura.
