Core Four: The Heart and Soul of the Yankees Dynasty

by Phil Pepe

  Sabathia pitched 6²⁄³ powerful innings to win Game 1 by a score of 7–2, with home runs from Jeter and Matsui.

  The Yankees took Game 2 in 11 innings, 4–3, with ARod tying it with a two-run blast in the ninth and Teixeira winning it with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th. The Yankees then closed out the Twins with a 4–1 win in Game 3, as Andy Pettitte won it, Rivera saved it, and ARod and Posada belted homers.

  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were next for the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, a best-of-seven tournament that began in Yankee Stadium on Friday night, October 16.

  The Yankees jumped out in their first at-bat, scoring twice in the bottom of the first with Jeter jump-starting the rally with a lead-off single. Five innings later, Jeter would drive in the Yankees’ fourth run for a 4–1 lead. Once again, Sabathia drew the honors of opening the Series and delivered another eight dominant innings before turning it over to Rivera for the save in a 4–1 victory.

  Game 2 was a 13-inning nail-biter. The score was tied 2–2 after nine. The Angels scored a run in the top of the 11th and ARod retied the score at 3–3 with a home run leading off the bottom of the 11th. The Yankees scored the winning run on a throwing error in the bottom of the 13th inning for a 4–3 victory and a two games to none lead in the series.

  Back in Anaheim for Game 3, the Yankees and Angels played another extra-inning heart-stopper. Pettitte started for the Yankees and gave his team a chance to win, leaving in the seventh with the score tied 3–3. The Angels took the lead with a run in the seventh, but the Yankees tied it at 4–4 on Posada’s home run in the eighth and the Angels won it with a run in the bottom of the 11th. The final score was 5–4, all four of the Yankees’ runs coming on solo homers by Damon, Rodriguez, Jeter, and Posada.

  Game 4 was the only laugher of the series. The Yankees pounded out 13 hits, including home runs by Damon and Rodriguez, for a 10–1 victory with another overpowering eight-inning effort by Sabathia, who had now started three postseason games in his first year as a Yankee and won all three.

  Trailing 4–0 in Game 5, the Yankees rallied for six runs in the seventh to take a 6–4 lead. But the Angels came back with three in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead 7–6, and that’s how it ended as they returned to New York for Game 6.

  It was Pettitte’s turn to pitch and he turned in another workmanlike effort, leaving after 6¹⁄³ with a 3–1 lead. Brought in for a two-inning save, Rivera was touched up for two hits and a run to cut the Yankees lead to 3–2 and give the Angels hope. But their hope was merely an illusion as the Yankees scored two in the bottom of the eighth and Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to nail down the 5–2 win for his third save and Pettitte’s second win of the postseason.

  Now it was on to the World Series, the sixth time the Core Four would play together as teammates in the World Series, a distinction held by only two other foursomes. It should not be surprising to learn that the two other foursomes to play in six World Series as teammates also were Yankees: Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Elston Howard, who played in eight World Series (1955–58 and 1960–63), and Ford, Mantle, Howard, and Bobby Richardson, teammates in seven World Series (1957–58 and 1960–64).

  Providing the opposition for the Yankees in the 2009 World Series was the Philadelphia Phillies, the defending World Series champs and a powerhouse team with sluggers Ryan Howard (45 homers and a league-leading 141 RBI), Jayson Werth (36 HR and 99 RBI), Raul Ibanez (34 HR and 93 RBI), and Chase Utley (31 HR and 93 RBI).

  With a combined 468 home runs between them (the Phillies had led the National League with 224 homers and the Yankees led the American League with 244), the 2009 World Series figured to be a slugfest pairing two teams that last met in the World Series in 1950. In the 59 years since that meeting the Phillies had reached the World Series only four times and won it twice.

  To open the 2009 World Series in Yankee Stadium on October 28, the Yankees, as usual, sent their new man, the big guy, 6'7" and 290 (or more) pounds, CC Sabathia, to the mound. This time, however, CC was grabbed by the law of averages and he was out-pitched by Cliff Lee, who stifled the Yankees on six hits, three by Derek Jeter, struck out 10, and went the distance in a 6–1 victory. Give Round 1 of this heavyweight slugfest to the Phillies on the strength of two home runs off the bat of Chase Utley, both of them against Sabathia.

  The Yankees got even in Game 2 with A.J. Burnett pitching seven innings for the win, allowing four hits and striking out nine. Mariano Rivera pitched two innings for the save and Teixeira and Matsui each hit solo homers in the 3–1 victory.

  Although playing at home and out-homering the Yankees four homers to three, the Phillies lost back-to-back games, 8–5 on Saturday, October 31, and 7–4 on Sunday, November 1, to fall behind in the Series, three games to one. Pettitte went six innings to win Game 3 and Joba Chamberlain, in relief of Sabathia, got the win in Game 4, with Rivera pitching a perfect ninth for the save.

  The Phillies saved face with their fans by taking Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park 8–6, and thereby avoiding the embarrass-ment of watching the Yankees celebrate their World Series victory on the Phillies’ home field. That only delayed the inevitable. Two days later, in Yankee Stadium, the Yankees completed their mission with a 7–3 victory.

  It was altogether fitting that in the clinching game, Andy Pettitte, the third oldest Yankee, was the winning pitcher, with Jorge Posada, the second oldest Yankee, as his catcher, and Mariano Rivera, the oldest Yankee, pitching the final inning and two thirds. In 16 innings in the postseason, Rivera allowed just one run while collecting five saves.

  The Phillies out-slugged the Yankees 11 home runs (five by Utley) to six, but the Yankees had Pettitte, who won two games, and Rivera, who saved two.

  Their almost half billion–dollar investment had paid off for the Yankees with the 27th World Series championship in their history, but their first in nine years.

  The “Core Four” of Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, and Derek Jeter had earned its fifth World Series ring and would enjoy, one more time, their trip through New York City’s Canyon of Heroes.

  1 The unofficial opening of the new Yankee Stadium was on April 3, 2009, in an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs. Before the official opening of their new home, the Yankees had played nine games on the road, three each at Baltimore, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay, in which they won five games and lost four.

  1 For the comfort of their customers, plans called for the reduction of the seating capacity from over 57,000 in Yankee Stadium II to under 51,000 in Yankee Stadium III.

  CC Sabathia

  On December 18, 2008, the Yankees made CC (it stands for Carsten Charles) Sabathia the highest paid pitcher in baseball history when they signed him as a free agent to a seven-year, $161 million contract. They later added a year for an additional $30 million. Halfway through the contract, the Yankees are satisfied that in the 6'7", 290 pound Sabathia, they got exactly what they paid for, a workhorse and an ace on their pitching staff.

  Sabathia is nothing if not consistent, the true epitome of an ace. In his four years as a Yankee he has made 34, 34, 33, and 28 (he spent almost three weeks on the disabled list with elbow soreness) starts; logged 230, 237.2, 237.1, and 200 innings; won 19, 21, 19, and 15 games; had earned run averages of 3.37, 3.18, 3.00, and 3.38; winning percentages of .704, .750, .704, and .714; recorded 197, 197, 230, and 197 strikeouts; 67, 74, 61, and 44 walks; and 2, 2, 3, and 2 complete games.

  Sabathia’s four-year winning percentage with the Yankees of .718 puts him in first place on the team’s all-time list ahead of Spud Chandler’s .717.

  21. Bye Bye Andy

  There was a gathering at Yankee Stadium on February 4, 2011, of media, team brass, employees, and selected friends, all of them summoned to witness the breakup of the Core Four.

  Andy Pettitte was leaving the Yankees. Again! Only this time, he wasn’t
moving to another team in another league in another state some 1,700 miles away. This time, Andy Pettitte was retiring to spend more time with his wife and their four school-age children. He had made his decision and it was definite, final, and irrevocable.

  Flash back to 2007. Having completed his three-year free agent commitment to the Houston Astros, Pettitte opted not to return to the Astros and came back to the Yankees as a free agent. Over the next three seasons, he won 43 games and lost 31. In 2009, despite a 14–8 record in the regular season, he excelled in the postseason with a perfect 4–0 record, including victories in Game 3 of the World Series against the Phillies and the Game 6 clincher.

  In 2010, Pettitte got off to the best start of his career. By mid-July, a month after his 38th birthday, Pettitte had a record of 11–2, an earned run average of 2.70, and was on pace for his first 20-win season in seven years when he suffered a groin strain that would sideline him for two months. He returned in September to make three starts and he would not win another game. But he was ready for the postseason.

  He pitched seven innings against the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of the Division Series and was the winner in a 5–2 victory. Mariano Rivera got the save, the 10th time Rivera and Pettitte had partnered on a postseason win. (Rivera would save 68 of the 203 regular season victories Pettitte accumulated as a Yankee, the most of any starter/closer team in baseball history.)

  Pettitte pitched Game 3 of the 2010 American League Champ-ionship Series against the Texas Rangers and again was effective, but this time he ran up against a red-hot Cliff Lee. Pettitte left after seven innings trailing 2–0, a game the Rangers eventually won 8–0.

  With his groin strain completely healed, Pettitte pitched well and could have continued to pitch in 2011, but after much deliberation decided to call it a career. To clear his head and think about his future, Pettitte went alone to his ranch in a remote part of Texas, four hours away from his home. He told the assemblage at the Yankee Stadium press conference on February 4, 2011, it was on his drive home that he came to a decision.

  “When I got by myself and thought about it, I said ‘I’m going to play. The fans, the Yankees, need me to play. My wife supports it, my kids support it. I’m going to play.’ But when I dug deep down and did some soul-searching, I don’t know how to explain it; it wasn’t there. It just didn’t feel right for me anymore. I didn’t have the hunger, the drive that I felt I needed.

  “My arm feels great, my body feels great. I’ve been working out extremely hard for about the last three and a half weeks, and I know my body would get to where it needs to be. But my heart’s not where it needs to be.”

  Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, whose job it was going to be to find a replacement to fill Pettitte’s spot in the starting rotation, was lavish in his praise of the left-hander.

  “He’s going to be tough to replace, clearly, on the mound” Cashman said. “But he’s going to be even tougher to replace in the clubhouse, because he’s been a glue guy. He’s been a guy that, whatever another teammate is going through, he’s going to be there and help them through it and be there for them.”

  No other member of the Yankees Core Four attended Pettitte’s press conference, but two of them were contacted and bid their teammate and fellow Core Four member a fond farewell.

  Rivera: “Andy was a great teammate and a wonderful guy. He was a fighter and all about winning, and he was respected by every person in the clubhouse.”

  Posada: “I’m really sad that Andy is going to retire. He was so much more than a teammate to me; he was one of my closest friends. I admire everything that he has accomplished as a Yankee, but Andy was someone who always put the team first. I’m going to miss him deeply.”

  It was hardly surprising that, even in an emotional and celebratory occasion, someone would raise the question of Pettitte’s involvement in baseball’s ongoing substance abuse problem. Pettitte’s name had come up in the Mitchell Report (The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, a 409-page report of a 21-month investigation headed up by former United States Senator from Maine, George J. Mitchell).

  Pettitte, who admitted taking human growth hormone twice, in 2002 and 2004 (he said he took HGH not to get a competitive edge, but to speed up recovery from an elbow injury in order to return and help his team), was scheduled later in the year to testify as a government witness in the perjury trial of his former friend and teammate, Roger Clemens. He was asked if that had any impact on his decision to retire.

  “None, zero,” he replied. “I would never let that interfere with a life decision that I’m going to make for me and my family.”

  And so Andy Pettitte faded into retirement, taking with him 240 victories in 17 seasons with two teams, the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros, a .635 winning percentage, a 3.88 earned run average, 19 postseason wins, five World Series rings, and a solemn vow.

  “I can tell you one thing: I am not going to play this season. I can tell you that 100 percent. But I guess you can never say never. If my stomach was just churning once Opening Day started, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve made a huge mistake,’ and I’ve felt like that the whole season, I can’t say that I wouldn’t consider coming back. But I can tell you right now I’d be embarrassed because of what I’ve done.”

  22. Jorge’s Rebellion

  For 16 years, Jorge Posada had been the most loyal of employees, a good soldier, the ultimate competitor, the consummate team player. He had always done as he was asked, never questioned authority, swallowed his pride, suppressed his ego, sacrificed his body, played through pain—all for the good of the team.

  Now, after so many productive, borderline Hall of Fame seasons, Jorge Posada was being disrespected, insulted, put upon, taken advantage of, in danger of being held up to ridicule, losing face, all of his past achievements forgotten and dismissed with a wave of the hand and the stroke of a pen.

  Jorge Posada was as mad as hell and he wasn’t going to take it anymore!

  The first sign of trouble in Paradise, Bronx division, came in the off-season between the 2010 and 2011 baseball seasons. In 2010 Posada, at age 38, had batted .248, hit 18 home runs, and driven in 57, which represented a decline from the previous season of 37 batting points, four home runs, and 24 RBI. He had appeared in 120 games, but only 83 behind the plate, as Francisco Cervelli began getting more playing time at catcher as the season wore on.

  Posada’s contract was due to lapse after the 2011 season and he hoped for an offer that would extend his career, but when that failed to come, combined with his advanced age and reduced playing time, Posada could clearly read the handwriting on the wall. To add to his dismay, he was informed after the 2010 season by general manager Brian Cashman that in ’11 Posada would be used exclusively as a designated hitter and that he would no longer be a catcher, except in the direst emergency.

  It was a blow to his pride, but one Posada sucked up with a personal vow to be such a productive DH that the team would have no choice but to return him to his natural habitat behind the plate. It was wishful thinking on Posada’s part. It never happened.

  He started the season well enough, 4-for-14 with three home runs and six RBI in his first four games, and then came the decline, slowly at first and then precipitously.

  On May 14, the Yankees were in Boston preparing to face the Red Sox in the second game of a three-game series. The Yanks had lost three straight to fall to 20–16, which left them in second place, two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, and Posada was mired in a severe slump. His average had plummeted to a microscopic .165 with six homers and 15 RBI. What’s more, he was hitless in 24 at-bats against left-handers, making it difficult for manager Joe Girardi to justify using the veteran as a right-handed batter.

  On this Saturday, however, the Red Sox’s scheduled pitch
er was right-hander Josh Beckett, so Posada had every reason to believe he would be in the starting lineup as he followed his normal routine of arriving at the ballpark several hours before the start of the night game and checking the lineup card that had been made out by Girardi.

  When he did so, and found his name, Posada was stunned. He was in the lineup, all right, but he was listed in the ninth batting position, which he considered an unforgivable slight. He hadn’t batted ninth since early in the 1999 season, before he had become an All-Star.

  Several emotions coursed through Posada. Not only did he feel hurt and disrespected, he wondered if this was payback. He and Girardi had never been close, much of their coolness toward each other dated back to the late 1990s, when Posada was the up-and-coming future star being primed to take away Girardi’s job as the Yankees starting catcher.

  Instead of confronting Girardi to seek an explanation for this decision, Posada chose another way to express his displeasure. He marched into the manager’s office and told Girardi he was unable to play.

  Girardi characterized their conversation as “really short.” Girardi said, “He came into my office and said he needed a day, he couldn’t DH today. That was basically the extent of the conversation.”

  According to Posada, “I told him I couldn’t play today and that I needed time to…first to clear my head. That was it. My back stiffened up a little bit. I was taking a lot of ground balls at first base and worked out, and I wasn’t 100 percent.”

  You couldn’t find anyone who bought into Posada’s explanation. For one thing, baseball protocol normally dictates that a player report any physical ailment to the trainer, who in turn passes along the information to the manager and/or the general manager. Posada never talked with the Yankees trainers. They, like everyone else, knew nothing of the catcher’s stiff back. Cashman, traveling with the team, said he knew nothing of Posada’s back stiffness and Girardi said Posada never mentioned a problem with his back when Jorge was in the manager’s office.