I believe that Mariano Rivera deserves MVP consideration. How can a player who played "only" 78 and 1/3 innings be the MVP? For me, it's about reliance. How much did we rely on Mo? How important was he to us? Is there a way to measure? The award is the Most Valuable Player and the title fits Mo. There are 3 points in history where relievers have won the MVP award. 1981, 1984 and 1992. Let's look at all three.

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Well, I said he wouldn't be... I was fairly certain he wouldn't be... but he made it. Somehow, someway, he made it. I don't really know why. I mean, he's a lefty who can't get lefties out. Virtually every other pitcher we have has been better against lefties than him. So, in the end, I was off on the following:

Off: Matt Lawton (that was more of a shot in the dark, anyway)
Off: Felix Rodriguez
Off: Jaret Wright

On: Tony Womack
On: Alan Embree
On: Scott Proctor

So far, so good. They didn't score any runs after the 2nd inning, but the Yankees were able to hold off the Angels to win 4-2 in game 1 of the ALDS.

We started the postseason on the right foot. After Jeter and A-Rod started off the 1st with 2 outs, the Yankees were able to put together 4 straight hits - singles by Giambi, Sheffield and Matsui, capped by a 3 RBI double by Robinson Cano to hand the Yankees the 3-0 lead. It was a great example of taking what you can get. The big bats took their singles and Cano made them pay. During the game, they listed some of Cano's idols (Bernie Williams) and favorites, etc. The Fox graphic said "Favorite Musician". And it said 50 Cent. Joe Buck made a point to say musician twice, but I doubt that that was how it was even posed to Cano. What's his favorite musical artist, his favorite type of music? 50 Cent. A musician is, of course, a person who plays a musical instrumental. Fox should have made their graphic reflect that. So, that's Fox's fault, not Cano's, even though the way Buck said it made it seem like some sort of reflection on Cano. Anywho...

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Check it out. Here is the breakdown.

Losing ALDS: Peter Gammons, Jayson Stark, Jerry Crasnick, Buster Olney (next book: "The Last Week of the Yankees Dynasty"), Jim Caple, Steve Phillips, Eric Neel, Gary Miller, Eric Karabell, Pedro Gomez, Phil Rogers and Sean McAdam.
Losing ALCS: Nobody.
Losing WS: Rob Neyer, Tim Kurkjian and Bob Klapisch.
Winning it all: Alan Schwarz.

Wow, that's rough. We love you, Alan! Whoever you are... lol...

Via Steve Lombardi.

Sportsbook.com has listed odds for the MVP and Cy Young races. A-Rod is the leader in the MVP (5-13) where Ortiz is second (2-1) and Mo is second in the Cy Young (8-5) to Bartolo Colon (1-2). Not really all that meaningful, but interesting nonetheless.

On June 16 and August 5, I wrote about the pace that various Yankees players were on as far as what their final numbers would look like. Now that it's all said and done, let's take a looksee here...

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As if this season wasn't difficult enough, the Yankees will open up the postseason against the team that's given them more problems than anyone else during the Joe Torre era. The Yankees will be at Angel Stadium Tuesday night to begin the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (second time I've used that phrase). This will be the second time the Yankees have faced the Angels in the postseason. The first was in 2002 when the Angels defeated the Yankees 3 games to 1 in the ALDS en route to their first World Series championship. Here's a look at some of the matchups:

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The Red Sox went into today with their postseason hopes on their shoulders. Sure, Cleveland had to win too, but it wouldn't have mattered if the Red Sox lost. And they didn't. They came out with much more intensity and fire, and it showed by beating the Yankees 10-1.

With the loss, the Yankees lost home-field advantage in the opening divisional series against the Angels this week.

Jaret Wright gave up three runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Torre took Wright out and put in Scott Proctor. And Proctor does what you expect him to do, gives up 3 runs in 2/3 innings. This coming off a three run blast from Manny Ramirez in the fourth.

With the game out of reach (or was it?), Torre emptied his bullpen and started pulling his starters to give them rest. The game was put further out of reach in the sixth with Doug Mirabelli hit a three run homer off of Felix Heredia ...err, Felix Rodriguez.

The Yankees are off to play the LA Angels with the BoSox off to play the White Sox. Who got the better match up? Boston or New York?

The Angels finished off the month of September and this weekend with a 21-9 record. Their ace Bartolo Colon finished with a 21-8 record for the season. Paul Byrd is right behind him, and had an absolutely great September pitching nearly 30 innings and only giving up three earned runs.

The White Sox went 19-12 in the month of September and October. They made a statement over the weekend by sweeping the Indians, and taking them effectively out of the wild card. They are led by pitchers Mark Buehrie who went 16-8 for the season. The staff of Buehrie, Garcia, Garland and Contreras is very tough.

Well this is it. The Playoffs. Mike "Moose" Mussina takes on Bartolo Colon for the Angels on Tuesday night at 8pm ET at Angel Stadium.

Let's Go Yank-ees!

The Yankees went 19-9 in September. Key performers:

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Well, we're not resting our regulars (except for Mussina and Giambi, I suppose). We're going with Jeter, Cano, A-Rod, Sheff, Matsui, Posada, Williams, Sierra and Tino. Wright gets the start against Schilling, who is 1-2 with a 5.17 ERA against the Yankees this year (2 starts). They are 1-3 when he has pitched against us. If we take a 2-1 lead into the 9th, do we go with Mo? If Cleveland won, we do.