Turning Point
John Olerud is a guy who acts next-door-neighbor nice, looks
oh-golly-gee-whiz sweet, and plays like one mean mother-something we can't
repeat. Often a quiet force in the lineup, Olerud made noise when he drove a
1-2 Pedro Martinez pitch over the right-field fence for a two-run homer in the
sixth inning of the Yankees' 3-1 win in Game 2 of the American League
Championship Series. His knock gave New York the wiggle room they
needed.
From the Bench
This could be the key managerial move of the series: Boston
manager Terry Francona told reporters he would no longer answer questions
about Martinez's declaration to "call the Yankees my daddy." Francona had less control, however, over his team's offense. While the most popular question posed to the Red Sox was, "Who's your daddy?" the more
pressing question might be "Where's your offense?" While a nearly perfect outing by
Yankees' Game 1 starter Mike Mussina and a dominating performance by Jon Lieber in Game 2 explain part of the Sox offensive absenteeism, the Sox can't find their way onto the basepaths in the early innings. There were
four 1-2-3 innings for the Red Sox on Wednesday, an anomaly for a
team that led the majors in run during the regular
season.
Clubhouse Confidential
Orlando Hernandez pointed reporters to manager Joe Torre's office when asked if he will be taking the mound in the next
few games. El Duque says his tired shoulder is feeling better and his participation on the mound later in the Series will ultimately be decided by the guy who sits in the office just around the corner. ... When Martinez declared that Yankees were "his daddy," he couldn't have anticipated the spawn of T-shirts or taunts that his frankness inspired. Before, during, and after the
game, New York fans chorused, "Who's your daddy" over and over again. Pedro's response? "It actually made me feel really, really
good. I actually realized that I was somebody important, because I caught the attention of 60,000 people ... plus the whole world watching a guy that, if you reverse the time back 15 years a go, I was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to actually pay for a bus. And today, I was the center of attention of the whole city of New York."
Bottom Line
New York's 2-0 jump is a definite shocker and a stake in the
heart of those Bostonians wanting to reverse the curse. Here's a reality check:
the last time the Yankees dropped a series they were leading 2-0 was in 1981
against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
