We knew this would be a difficult series, and Philly did not disappoint. They came to the Bronx, and on the first pitch Jimmy Rollins made his statement: The champions are in town, and you'd better compete. Home run.
The Phillies are no ordinary champions. They have character, poise, and no weaknesses. They earned their world series victory last year, and their veteran core is virtually unchanged. They remind me a little bit of the great Yankee teams (they're not that good, though). And they have by far the best road record in baseball, an astounding 15-5, which indicates uncommon mental toughness.
Unfortunately, we might not be able to say the same about these Yankees. Is this team truly mentally tough? Joba didn't demonstrate it. And neither did Burnett today. Bruney has followed Joba's lead and is now complaining about his own phantom injury. Cano played badly and Damon had an off-night when his hitting would have been huge. After all, Jeter and Tex, the hitters before and after Damon, had 2 hits each. I also doubt that CC has the toughness to compete at a championship level, but we'll see on Sunday. And we know that whatever toughness A-Rod had early in his career evaporated the minute he donned pinstripes. We're still waiting for it to return.
Here's what we DO know. Teixeira has it. Matsui has it. So do Jeter and Posada. And one of the toughest pitchers in baseball, Andy Pettitte, has it. Good thing he is pitching tomorrow, because the Yankees will need him to be awesome.
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