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Rodriguez, Yankees aim to continue domination vs. Indians

Oct 4, 2007 - 2:41 PM NY Yankees at Cleveland 6:30 pm EDT American League Division Series Game One

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees righted themselves early on to reach the postseason. Now they have to exercise some recent playoff demons.

Rodriguez and the Yankee look to continue their regular-season dominance of the Cleveland Indians when the clubs face off in Game One of the American League Division Series on Thursday.

New York was a season-low eight games under .500 on May 29 when Rodriguez and the Yankees reeled off 12 wins over their next 14 games and finished out the year 73-39 (.652) to run away with the AL's wild card berth.

Rodriguez was the catalyst, leading the majors with 54 home runs, 156 RBI, 143 runs scored as well as a .645 slugging percentage to almost guarantee himself a third career AL Most Valuable Player trophy.

It's familiar ground for the Yankees, who have participated in every American League Division Series since the best-of-five round was introduced by Major League Baseball in 1995.

"My feeling is that we've gone through our pennant race, and we've gone through playoffs," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "The only thing I've said to our ballclub is go out there and just let her go and play and we'll see what the results are."

However, for New York and especially for Rodriguez these playoffs are a cause for redemption.

The favored Yankees have exited the playoffs in the opening round in both 2005 and 2006, coming on the heels of blowing a historic three-game lead to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 AL League Championship series.

The 32-year-old Rodriguez has especially been a non-factor in the last two postseasons, producing a .103 batting average (3-for-29) - including just one hit for extra bases. Against the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 ALDS, the 11-time All-Star was a dismal 1-for-14 and was relegated to batting eighth in the fourth and final game.

Rodriguez says he will not let a bad start affect him, even if the New York fans and media start to grumble.

"Honestly, I don't even care about any reaction," Rodriguez said. "I care about playing baseball and I care about winning. I haven't cared all year, so why am I going to start now?"

This time Rodriguez and the club will look to Chien-Ming Wang (19-7, 3.70 ERA) to help continue the pounding they gave to Cleveland in the regular season. The Yankees went 6-0 against the Indians in 2007, outscoring Cleveland to a tune of 49-17 in the process.

The 27-year-old Wang, who tied a career high in wins he set in 2006, did not face the Indians this season, but is 2-1 in three career starts.

"For me, I'm very excited and very happy to pitch Game One," Wang said. "I will go out and try to win the game."

Torre, who has taken the Yankees to the postseason in all 12 of his years wearing pinstripes - winning six AL pennants and the World Series four times, picked Wang over veteran Andy Pettitte, who goes in Game Two.

The Indians will counter with C.C. Sabathia (19-7, 3.21), who along with teammate Fausto Carmona, Wang, the Angels' Jon Lackey and Jake Peavey of San Diego, came within one win of matching Boston's Josh Beckett for the most wins in the majors.

The 6-7, 290-pound Sabathia put together his best season, posting career highs in wins (19), starts (34), innings (241), and strikeouts (209) along with career bests in ERA (3.21) and walks (37).

The big lefthander was a key player down the stretch as Cleveland was swept for a second time by New York on August 10-12, and followed that up by a loss to the Tigers two days later to drop one game back in the AL Central standings.

"We talk about those losses all the time," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "It's such a long season. It's such a grind and you're going to have different points in time over the course of the season where different areas of your club are going to struggle. And we've had those peaks and valleys with different areas of our club, and at that particular time we were scuffling a little bit."

The Indians did rally though, going 31-12 over the rest of the season. Sabathia led the way, going 4-1 with a 2.40 ERA in his last eight outings.

The Cleveland ace feels some pressure about his postseason start but is ready for the responsibility.

"I'm feeling the pressure," Sabathia said. "It would be big to win the first game definitely. We're starting here at home and get a chance to use the home field advantage. So I feel like it's going to be a big game."

The seven-year veteran, who has not faced the Yankees in three years, has not fared well against the Bronx Bombers, going 1-7 with a 7.13 ERA lifetime. Sabathia, who nearly became the Indians' first 20-game winner in 33 years, last faced New York on September 1, 2004.

Cleveland, which has not been to the playoffs since 2001, will host Game Two on Friday.