Change-UpOctober 10, 2007
Playoff Postmorta - The Blame Game
By Patrick Sullivan

The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs all had their 2007 World Series hopes dashed quickly in the LDS. The four teams were dominated by their respective competition. Have a look:

         AVG   OBP   SLG
NYY     .228  .300  .404
CLE     .315  .417  .524  
LAA     .192  .250  .253
BOS     .269  .369  .495
COL     .267  .339  .495
PHI     .172  .274  .366
CHC     .194  .307  .255
ARI     .266  .358  .532

Let this post serve as your one-stop destination for figuring out whom to rail against when your local sportswriter fails you and is just picking out his or her favorite target again. The fact is that many of the players that the losing teams depended on all season long fell flat on their face in the LDS.

That is not to say they lack the innards to rise to the occasion and get it done when it matters most. No, all it means is that they did not perform as well as they could have - and as their teams needed them to - over a three or four game stretch. Next season, should they be fortunate once again to appear in the post-season, these players may well carry their teams.

These lists will show you what exactly went wrong for the respective losing teams. This will be our last look back at the LDS before we turn ahead with an NLCS preview tomorrow morning and an ALCS primer on Friday. Without further ado, here are the players whose performances most crippled their teams chances of advancing.

New York Yankees

          AVG   OBP   SLG   '07 OPS
Melky    .188  .188  .375     .718
Posada   .133  .235  .200     .969
Jeter    .176  .176  .176     .840
A-Rod    .267  .353  .467    1.067 
          IP  H  BB  K  ERA   '07 ERA
Wang     5.7  14  4  2  19.06   3.70
Clemens  2.3  4   2  1  11.57   4.18

Of note: Derek Jeter had 17 outs in 17 plate appearances.

Los Angeles Angels

          AVG   OBP   SLG   '07 OPS
Anderson .222  .300  .333    .828
Cabrera  .250  .308  .333    .742
Figgins  .231  .231  .385    .825
Vlad     .200  .333  .200    .950
Kendrick .200  .182  .200    .797 
          IP  H  BB  K  ERA   '07 ERA
Lackey   6.0  9  2   4  6.00   3.01  
Escobar  5.0  4  5   5  5.40   3.40
K-Rod    0.3  1  1   1  54.00  2.81

Of note: Los Angeles scored in just two of the 27 innings they came to bat.

Philadelphia Phillies

          AVG   OBP   SLG   '07 OPS
Rowand   .083  .083  .333    .889
Utley    .182  .308  .182    .976
Burrell  .182  .308  .455    .902
          IP  H  BB  K  ERA   '07 ERA
Kendrick 3.7  5  2   2  12.27   3.87  

Of note: It's hard to pass around too much blame here as two of the three games were very much within reach. In short, Philadelphia's bats simply failed them and their surprise rookie phenom Kyle Kendrick appeared over his head in a Game 2 start at Citizens Bank Park.

Chicago Cubs

          AVG   OBP   SLG   '07 OPS
Lee      .333  .385  .333    .913
Soriano  .143  .200  .143    .897
Ramirez  .000  .077  .000    .915
          IP  H  BB  K  ERA   '07 ERA
Lilly    3.3  7  4   4  16.20   3.83
Hill     3.0  6  2   3  9.00    3.92
Marmol   3.0  3  3   6  9.00    1.43   

Of note: When your three offensive superstars let you down the way Chicago's did, you are not going to advance very far.

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OK, that's it for negativity and regret in this space. Starting tomorrow we revel in the excitement of the two League Championship Series.

Comments

I'm surprised it was that different for the Cubs.
They had a similar number of men on base (the Cubs walked more, got HBP, couple errors). I guess with the 9th inning gone twice they had more ABs to generate similar runners. Overall one of many blown opportunities. They got the lead-off guy on often and then did nothing. 100 years now.