Kirby vs Baltimore red birds G.T. 8/12/25

[Hy Feiber]

Garcia was great, in the regular season. Didn't he lose game one to the Indians? That was always a thorn in my side. It messed up the rotation, and is why Sele started Game 1 against the Yankees. IIRC, we went give games in the first series. Set us up for failure. Because we couldn't dominate on the bump. The Yankees had Clemens, Mussina and Pettitte. I take those three in the playoffs over anyone we had. Sorry, Freddy was good, just not great, and certainly wasn't great in the playoffs.

Moyer was 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA. Outstanding
Freddy was 1-2 with a 3.79 ERA. Not terrible, but not good enough.
Sele was 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA. Not Good.
Abbott was 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA. Ick.
Halama was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. Bad.

Clemens was 1-1 with a 2.36 ERA. Pretty darn good
Mussina was 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Pretty darn good
Orlando Hernandez was 1-1 with a 3.71. Not bad at all.
Pettitte was 2-3 with a 4.55. That surprises me.

As much hand wringing as there is over the pitching? The Yankees were a bit better, but not a ton that year in the playoffs. The Yankees hit 16 HRs and 21 doubles in 17 playoff games with an OPS of .647. The Mariners hit 9 HRs and 12 doubles in 10 playoff games with an OPS of .666.

Maybe it was Yankee stadium and the mystique that did us in more than a team not built for the playoffs?

In round 1, they had to go 5 games to beat the Indians, after being down 2-1!

What a disaster, had they lost the opening series after winning 116!

[DavidGee24]

It wasn't Halama it was Abbott that started game 4. Game 1 was on the 17th and game 4 was on the 21st so Sele would have been pitching on 3 days rest if they went with him. Abbott pitched 5 shutout innings though. That game was a heart breaker. They had a 1-0 lead in the 8th and the elite bullpen couldn't hold it.

More than that, Abbott didn't give up a hit even though he walked eight batters. He was a mediocre pitcher but he gave the team a great chance to win that night and Kaz couldn't close the deal.

[DavidGee24]

Garcia was great, in the regular season. Didn't he lose game one to the Indians? That was always a thorn in my side. It messed up the rotation, and is why Sele started Game 1 against the Yankees. IIRC, we went give games in the first series. Set us up for failure. Because we couldn't dominate on the bump. The Yankees had Clemens, Mussina and Pettitte. I take those three in the playoffs over anyone we had. Sorry, Freddy was good, just not great, and certainly wasn't great in the playoffs.

Moyer was 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA. Outstanding
Freddy was 1-2 with a 3.79 ERA. Not terrible, but not good enough.
Sele was 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA. Not Good.
Abbott was 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA. Ick.
Halama was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA. Bad.

Clemens was 1-1 with a 2.36 ERA. Pretty darn good
Mussina was 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Pretty darn good
Orlando Hernandez was 1-1 with a 3.71. Not bad at all.
Pettitte was 2-3 with a 4.55. That surprises me.

As much hand wringing as there is over the pitching? The Yankees were a bit better, but not a ton that year in the playoffs. The Yankees hit 16 HRs and 21 doubles in 17 playoff games with an OPS of .647. The Mariners hit 9 HRs and 12 doubles in 10 playoff games with an OPS of .666.

Maybe it was Yankee stadium and the mystique that did us in more than a team not built for the playoffs?

Sele was even worse than that, he gave up a lot of unearned runs as well. He was awful.

I think that 9/11 was as big a reason as any that we lost the 2001 ALCS. The Yanks got a HUGE emotional boost from that, just like in 2019 when Tyler Skaggs died of an overdose and in the very next game the Angels beat us 13-0 and we didn't get a single hit against two dogshit pitchers. The only way you were going to beat a stacked deck like the one we had in the 2001 ALCS would have been to have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on your pitching staff.

[Michael K.]

The only way you were going to beat a stacked deck like the one we had in the 2001 ALCS would have been to have Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on your pitching staff.

The way Moyer was pitching that post season? It might have only taken one of those two.