My first mission today is just to prove that it is, in fact, possible to write about the Yankees without mentioning you-know-who. So I'm kicking off today's Three Strikes with this little item:
STRIKE ONE -- MISSING OCTOBER PERSONS DEPT.: The calendar said it was October. Your local TV listings said the baseball postseason would go on as scheduled. But how could that be?
It was still October? Without the Yankees? What a concept.
Want to know how long it had been since we witnessed a Yankee-free October? Sheez, last time it happened (non-strike-year division), in 1993, Joba Chamberlain was in third grade.
But as weird a phenomenon as that was for us regular old residents of Planet Earth, we found another segment of the population that thought it was way weirder:
That fabled Mariano Rivera-Jorge Posada segment.
Like Derek Jeter, those two men had never played a major league season that didn't include a visit to the major league postseason. Never.
While men like Mike Sweeney and Damion Easley were playing in zero postseasons, Rivera played in 13 in a row. Posada appeared in 12. So I asked both of them: How strange was it?
"It was hard," said Posada. "It was hard not being there. That last day of the season last year, knowing that it was over, that was tough. … My season ended a little earlier because of surgery, but being in Yankee Stadium and not knowing you had a game the next day, that was tough."
And Rivera used the identical phrase: "It was hard," he said. "It wasn't strange, but it was hard, because we didn't make the playoffs. And for me, being able to be in the playoffs all those years, it was a blessing. … There's nothing better than that. That's what we play for -- to go to the World Series and win it. And that tells you how hard it is."
Oh, the games went on without them, obviously. But both these men said they barely watched. Rivera said he caught a piece of "a game here, a game there," just because he flipped on his TV and they were on. But Posada said he never watched a pitch until the World Series -- and even then, all he watched was "six innings."
"Why? Because I didn't want to," Posada said. "I was away. And to tell you the truth, I wasn't interested."
So I wondered one more thing: When you come to think of October as a regular part of the package, a regular way of Yankee-type life, was it a good thing, in any way, for this group to be reminded how hard it's supposed to be to get there?
"It's always good to be reminded," Rivera said. "I don't think it hurts. But you have to be willing [to be reminded]. Sometimes, you just take it for granted."
What I wonder most, though, is if this will change the perspective of the tunnel-visioned Steinbrenner family. Will the Steinbrenners now have a different perspective -- that it DOES mean something just to make the postseason, that the season ISN'T a disaster if the Yankees don't win the World Series?
If the Yankees were allowed to play in October and feel a sensation other than relief if they win something, that would be a good thing, it seems to me. But when I suggested to Rivera that it wasn't fair to any team to be asked to win the World Series every single year, he couldn't have disagreed more vehemently.
"I take that," he said. "I love that. I love that challenge. I love that motivation. Why not? You don't want to just get there and fall short. You want to get there and win the whole thing. That's the whole purpose of being in the playoffs."
Those words remind us what makes this man great. But they also remind us that nothing has really changed in Yankee Land. In fact, if anything, their desperation to win now may be even greater than before. What we'll all find out this summer is whether that's a good thing -- or not.
STRIKE 1½ -- YANKEES PERSPECTIVE DEPT.: More on the excellent October adventures of Rivera and Posada:
No catcher in history has played more postseason games than Jorge Posada's 96. Next-most: 77, by Yogi Berra.
Only five players in history, at any position, have played more postseason games than Posada. Four were Yankees teammates of his -- Derek Jeter (123), Bernie Williams (121), David Justice (112) and Tino Martinez (99). So who has played the most postseason games in history without ever suiting up for the Yankees? Manny Ramirez (103 games).
Then there's Rivera, who has pitched in 76 postseason games. That's more than the other five relievers in the top six on the all-time saves list combined: Trevor Hoffman 12, Lee Smith 4, John Franco 15, Dennis Eckersley 28 and Billy Wagner 11 -- for a total of 70.
And consider this: In those 76 games, Rivera has racked up an insane 0.77 ERA. Now say we consider those 76 games to be an extra season in his career. How many pitchers in history have compiled an ERA that low in a season in which they appeared in at least 76 games? That would be NONE, of course. Lowest ERA by any pitcher in a regular season like that: 1.20, by Eric Gagne in 2003.
STRIKE TWO -- LOVE OF LEATHER DEPT.: The number on Ryan Howard's stat sheet that got the least attention last year was 19. Which happened to be the figure in the old error column. And it wasn't pretty.
It was the most errors by a Phillies first baseman in history. It was the second most by any first baseman in the past quarter century. And it was the most by a first baseman on a World Series team since 1967 (when George Scott also lit the E light 19 times, for the '67 Red Sox).
So after the season, Howard came to a potentially career-altering conclusion: That wasn't good. So he passed that message along to his agent, Casey Close, who told the Phillies, who got their new third-base coach/infield instructor, Sam Perlozzo, on the case.
"I just wanted to get better," Howard told Three Strikes investigators. "I want to be as good defensively as offensively, just solidify my game all around."
So what was the upshot of all those phone calls: Last month, Howard and Perlozzo spent a couple of weeks together, working to upgrade Howard's leathercrafting skills. And "so far, so good," Howard reported Friday.
"Ryan Howard can play better defense," his manager, Charlie Manuel, said, flatly. "I know he can do it because I saw it in the minor leagues. In fact, that was one of the first things I noticed about him. …
"He made two plays in the first inning, and that's what really got me talking about him. He made one to his left and one to his right. And I thought, 'Damn, look at that.' Then I followed him all through the minor leagues. … He can definitely improve. And he wants to. And he will."
So will he? It's worth watching, for two reasons: (1) because if Howard proves he's a better defender, it will stop all that he's-gotta-be-a-DH talk; and (2) because all he really wants in life is to make it onto the Web Gems.
"Yeah, I've been kind of getting the shaft on that," Howard confessed. "But it's OK. I'm gonna work them in this year. Definitely."
STRIKE THREE -- HIGH JUMPERS DEPT.: This is where I do advertising -- for myself. I have a column on our site about The Year After for the Tampa Bay Rays.
For those of you who haven't seen it, there's a chart that goes with that column that answers the pivotal question: When a team like the Rays makes the kind of leap in the standings it made last year, is it even possible to have a BETTER season the next year?
And here's the answer, based on that research: Impossible? No. Unlikely? Absolutely. Take a look:
Jayson Stark
