The New York Yankees and Ira Riklis

The World Series began last night, and it’s clear that Ira Riklis’ Yankees face their toughest postseason challenge yet. Behind masterful pitching by the Phillies’ ace, Cliff Lee, the defending champions beat the Yankees 6-1. Lee struck out ten and gave up no walks. C. C. Sabathia pitched well for the home team, but not well enough. He gave up just four hits in seven innings, but two of those were home runs. Chase Utley became the first left-handed batter to hit a homer off of Sabathia this year. He hit another later in the game to become the first player since Babe Ruth to hit two homers against lefties in the same World Series game.

The opening win was nothing new for the Phillies, who’ve won the first game of their last six postseason series. The Yankees hope to get their bats back in action tonight against Pedro Martinez. Fans like Ira Riklis will be watching and rooting them on.

The 6th game of the ALCS—postponed by rains— took place a day late. But it was worth the wait as the Yankees beat the Angels 5-2 to advance to the World Series! This is the 40th time the Bronx Bombers have made it to the Fall Classic, but for fans like Ira Riklis, each time is still a thrill. They won in front of their hometown fans at their new stadium.

That’s where the Series will start on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies come to town. The Yankees own the best record in baseball this year, but Ira Riklis knows that this series against the defending World Champions won’t be easy. Still, fans are confident. The Yankees have great pitching, lots of playoff experience and a true “Murderer’s Row” lineup of hitters. A-Rod’s been hitting well in this post season, and C.C. Sabathia’s been in a groove, so all the signs look good!

The New York Yankees are just one win away from reaching the World Series. For fans like Ira Riklis, it looked like they’d get that win last night in LA. But the Angels came back in the bottom of the 7th to retake the lead then blanked the Bronx Bombers in the 8th and 9th innings to win the game. The Yankees, who lead the series three games to two, will have a chance to close out the Angels Saturday night back at home in New York.

If they do, they’ll battle the Philadelphia Phillies—who have already won the National League Championship—for the title of world champions. Should they make it, it would be the team’s fortieth appearance in the Fall Classic, the most of any team in baseball. But the last time they made it was in 2003, when they lost to the Florida Marlins. That’s too long for both players and dedicated fans like Ira Riklis.

Over the years, Ira Riklis has enjoyed many outings to Yankee Stadium to watch his home-town heroes play ball. This year is no exception, as he and his friend Shelly have spent three pleasant afternoons relaxing in the sun while playing hooky from work as they reveled in America’s pastime. But this year, these outings also brought a sense of culture shock as the games were played in the new Yankee Stadium, not the familiar old stadium that had been the team’s home since the 1920s.

The seats are pricy, especially in the Legends Suite section closest to the field and between the two dugouts. But they’re comfortable and offer an umpire’s-eye view of the batters and pitchers. If you can only make it to a few games each year and can find a good deal on the tickets, this section makes for a most memorable outing. Ira Riklis still feels strange not being in “Yankee Stadium” anymore. But he has come to enjoy Yankee Stadium.

Baseball fans like Ira Riklis know that one of the compelling aspects of the game has always been statistics. RBIs, ERAs, OBPs, SLGs and an alphabet soup of other abbreviations provide ways to compare teams and players year to year and over the history of the game. But while these statistics may not lie, they don’t always tell the whole story either. Consider the statistics that show that most players reach their peak performance between the ages of 27 through 29 then slide downhill from there. By their mid-30s, most have lost their competitive edge.

Yet one of the most remarkable things about the Yankees this year is the play of a group of veteran stars ages 35 and older. At age 39, pitcher Mariano Rivera has the highest ERA+ and the second most saves of any pitcher over 35. And this year’s team was the first in baseball history to have four players 35 years old or older with an OPS+ (a ratio of on-base percentage and slugging percentage) of 120 or more (a mark of 100 is considered average). How will these “aging” stars hold up during the ALCS series against the Angels? Ira Riklis and other Yankees fans expect them to do just fine! Weather permitting, the series starts tonight.

Yankees fan like Ira Riklis celebrated Sunday night as their hometown heroes swept the Minnesota Twins 3 games to none. This wasn’t quite the nail biter the first two games in the series proved to be. After the Twins went ahead 1-0 in the sixth inning, the Yanks came back in the seventh to take a 2-1 lead. Solid Yankee pitching and some nifty fielding by Derek Jeter held the Twins in check the rest of the way. And to seal the deal, the Yankees added two more runs in the top of the ninth.
Now it’s on to the ALCS series, which starts Friday. The Yankees will go up against the Los Angeles Angels to see which team goes to the World Series. The Angels came back in the ninth inning last night to sweep the Boston Red Sox While Ira Riklis and many others might have preferred a shot at the archrival Sox, the Angels promise to be a strong opponent. The teams split their games this season, 5 and 5. And beating the Angels will be a form of revenge, since they took playoff series from the Yanks in 2002 and 2005.

October 10, 2009

The Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins in extra innings last night. Once again, they did it in a dramatic fashion as Mark Teixeira stroked a screamer down the left-field line. The ball cleared the wall in just 2.88 seconds: the fastest of any homer in the majors this season. For fans, Ira Riklis, things didn’t look good for a while. The Yankees trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, before A-Rod, who’s broken out of his playoff slump in this series, crushed a 2-run homer to tie the game.

Things got tense again in the top of the 11th when the Twins loaded the bases with no outs. But Ira Riklis’ Yanks pulled themselves out of the jam with the help of great pitching from reliever Dave Robertson. That paved the way for Teixeira’s heroics as the first batter in the bottom of the inning. His homer was the team’s fourth walk-off hit in the last five games at home against the Twins. Now it’s on to Minnesota where the Yankees hope to wrap up the series Sunday night!

The Major League Baseball playoffs start today, with Ira Riklis’ hometown Yankees hosting the Minnesota Twins! The Twins, who edged out the Detroit Tigers in twelve innings last night to win the AL Central title, are riding a 5-game winning streak. But the Yankees, who won the Eastern Division with the best record in baseball, have won all 7 games with the Twins this season. And at the Bronx, the Twins are just 3-22 since 2002.  But during the postseason, it’s been a different story; the two teams have split 4 playoff games in the Bronx.

After several disappointing years, the Yankees hope to go deeper this October with the help of a revamped line up of pitchers and solid hitting. Perhaps die-hard fan, Ira Riklis will be there tonight as pitching ace C. C. Sabathia (19-8, 3.37 ERA) faces the Twins’ batters. Meanwhile, Twins pitcher B. Duensing (5-2, 3.64 ERA) will have his hands full. Eight Yankee batters have career averages of .300 or better against Minnesota. And overall, the Yankees, in addition to hitting a franchise record 244 home runs this year, also ranked second in the league in batting average (.283) and had the third-fewest strikeouts.