Pedro in the spotlight, Swisher on the bench.
NEW YORK — Let’s face it: Pedro Martinez is more than just a bit of a drama queen. It’s hard to tell what he is enjoying more — his renaissance as a big game pitcher, or the media attention that goes with it.
On Wednesday, the day before his Game 2 start, he called himself “the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium.”
Do you mean, visiting players, he was asked?
“I think in every aspect, the way you guys have used me and abused me,” Martinez said to the gathered media.
Pull-eeze.
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Yankees manager Joe Girardi couldn’t protect Nick Swisher anymore, and went with Jerry Hairston Jr. in rightfield for Game 2. Swisher has had an abysmal post-season, hitting just .114 with 1 RBI and no home runs, while Hairston brought a lifetime .370 average against Martinez into Game 2.
The Yankees skipper didn’t like giving up on Swisher, who hit 29 home runs this season, but this is the World Series, and the Yankees bats were silenced by Cliff Lee in Game 1. The only thing a manager can be loyal to here is production.
“The guys that got us here, there's a reason we're here and it's because of the way the guys have played,” said Girardi, who talked a lot about Hairston being a good matchup against Pedro. But would he have made this move if Swisher weren’t struggling?
“I can't tell you because we're in a position where he is struggling,” Girardi admitted. “But Jerry has real good numbers off of Pedro.”
Of course, the other change was Jose Molina in to catch in place of Jorge Posada. Molina always catches A.J. Burnett.
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In the other dugout, the Phillies leaned on St. John N.B. native Matt Stairs to DH in Game 2. Raul Ibanez DH’ed in Game 1 but drew into leftfield for Game 2.
“I’ve got (Stairs) hitting behind Ibanez because I want to put as many left-handers in there as I could on (A.J. Burnett),” said manager Charlie Manuel, who liked one more thing about Stairs, with Burnett on the hill. “He’s got a couple of home runs off him in 11 at bats.”
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Cole Hamels was a postponement away from possibly going 5-0 in the 2008 playoffs. This year he has been far less dominant, taking a 1-1 record and a 6.75 ERA into his fourth post-season start in Game 3, Saturday at Philadelphia.
What’s the biggest difference in Hamels from last year to this?
“Location,” Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said bluntly. “He hasn’t been able to place his fastball where he wants it. You see the catcher setting up outside and he’s pulling the ball (inside). When he’s spotting his fastball he can throw the change-up in the same spot 10, 12 miles per hour slower. It becomes tough to hit.”
Hamels hasn’t been tough enough to hit this year and everyone on this Phillies team knows it. Last year’s World Series MVP went 10-11 this season with a 4.32 ERA — the highest of his four-year career.
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Johnny Damon was not splitting any hairs on Thursday. He knows that Alex Rodriguez has carried the Yankees offensively thus far.
“We probably wouldn’t be in this situation right now if Alex hadn’t hit like he had. We probably would not have advanced… He’s the one putting up the production numbers,” Damon admitted. “We have to be better than what we have been.”
He laughed when asked to recall the brawl in old Yankee Stadium in ’03, when Yankees coach Don Zimmer came out of the dugout at Pedro Martinez, and the much younger pitcher threw him to the ground.
Zimmer late apologized and took all the blame for the incident but all Damon can recall of the dance that ensued was that he was nursing a concussion and didn’t want any part of it.
“But now,” he laughed. “Who knows?”
