ATLANTA – Put the Yankees down two games to none in a best-of-five series against a team about to send young stud left-handers Mark Mulder and Barry Zito to the mound and watch them show about as much nervousness as they would in a series against the Devil Rays in June.
Match the Yankees against the team that surpassed them in the record books for all-time regular-season wins, start the best-of-seven series at that team’s stadium and watch the Yankees fly across the country with a two-games-to-none lead.
If the A’s and Mariners can’t beat the Yankees, how in the world are a pair of shaky National League teams going to stand a chance against them?
If the Yankees hang on to defeat the Mariners and advance to the World Series, only one opponent can beat them: Overconfidence.
If watching the bullpen-challenged, weak-hitting Diamondbacks play the weak-hitting Braves on television isn’t advised for the Yankees. It might bring about overconfidence.
This NLCS should be called the NLCSTOLS, as in the National League Can’t Shine The Other League’s Shoes.
Much is being made of the World Series spilling into November for the first time in history. Wrong. The third game of the World Series will be played today at the Stadium.
The media contingent following the National League Championship Series is smaller than any in recent years. Meanwhile, the throng following Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki et al is gigantic.
“Now I know what it feels like to cover the NIT,” cracked Baseball Weekly’s Bob Nightengale, while standing in a short line to get into the Braves’ clubhouse after Game 2.
Nevertheless, the National League will crown a champion because the rules say someone must play against the American League representative in the World Series.
For which team should backers of the Yankees be rooting? The Braves, for two obvious reasons: Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.
Even though the American League champion will be favored heavily in the World Series, the Diamondbacks at least could make it interesting because they can start Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson in four of the seven games. Beating the Diamondbacks requires winning a game in one of their starts.
The Yankees have been down that road before. The 1998 Padres had the hottest pitcher at the time. Kevin Brown dominated so thoroughly that season he received a $115-million contract from the Dodgers the following winter. The Dodgers were so excited about getting Brown they bid against themselves and were well on their way to giving too much money to a White [Devon], a Brown [Kevin] and a Green [Shawn].
Brown wasn’t so dominating that the Yankees couldn’t sweep the Padres in the World Series, the most predictable World Series outcome in recent memory.
By the time the Diamondbacks get to the World Series, if they get there, Schilling and Johnson each will be approaching 300 innings for the year. It will be all the tougher for them to throw shutouts. If the Yankees get to their bullpen, forget about it.
There is a reason the Yankees beat Pedro Martinez so often. They have pitchers who match him zero for zero and they have a superior bullpen to the Red Sox. The Diamondbacks are a lot like the Red Sox, only they have two healthy Pedros. Pedro Schilling and Pedro Johnson.
Their lineup? Last night against Braves right-hander John Burkett, Matt Williams batted cleanup and Steve Finley hit fifth. Combined, they batted .275, hit 30 home runs and drove in 138 runs. Jason Giambi alone had better numbers than that. Ditto for Bret Boone.
The Braves have a much better bullpen now than in their previous two World Series matchups with the Yankees. They no longer have as deep a starting rotation. They had Brian Jordan and B.J. Surhoff batting fifth against Schilling. Surhoff hit 10 home runs and drove in 58 runs.
The best means for the Yankees to avoid overconfidence is to remember the wise words of former Cardinals right-hander Joaquin Andujar: “You can sum up baseball in one word: You never know.”
