Timeout! Posada drives crowd crazy, leads Yanks

[November 02, 2009]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Timeout!

Jorge Posada pops out of his crouch, stands up in the catcher's box and raises both arms above his head. Hang on, everybody. He's going to need a minute to chat with his pitcher.

And then, here it comes ... BOO!!

Restless fans, jeering loud enough to hear all over Philadelphia.

"I don't care," Posada said. "It's just a big situation. Every time I got out there, it was big."

Posada and the Yankees are driving the crowd crazy here, but whatever they're saying during all those meetings on the mound, it's working. New York scored three runs to snap a ninth-inning tie and beat the Phillies 7-4 on Sunday night for a commanding 3-1 cushion in the World Series.

Posada came through with a big hit, too. After Alex Rodriguez's go-ahead double with two outs, his two-run single to left-center off Brad Lidge gave the Yankees a three-run lead.

"I got a great pitch to hit and I stayed back and kept it in the middle of the field," Posada said.

That made things easy on closer Mariano Rivera, who got three quick outs for the save.

No meetings necessary.

"When you're in a visiting ballpark, you're going to hear boos about everything," Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland said. "That doesn't affect us. It's part of it. You take great pride in shutting those boos up."

Posada also had a sacrifice fly in a two-run first inning. He's hitting .308 in the World Series (4 for 13) with five RBIs.

Along with Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, Posada is one of four veteran Yankees who date back to the late-1990s dynasty under manager Joe Torre. After all those bumps and bruises behind the plate, he's waited a long time to get back here.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself, but obviously you know in what situation we are," Posada said with a smile as he walked through the tunnel under Citizens Bank Park.

Looking for their 27th championship, and first in nine years, the Yankees are being careful with every detail this postseason.

Over and over again, Posada goes out to the mound to talk to his pitcher and make sure they're on the same page regarding signals.

"I think it's important," Posada said. "Just want to make sure that we knew the location of pitches that we wanted to throw."

Posada and ace CC Sabathia had eight meetings in the fifth inning alone Sunday night. As the crowd hollered, four came with slugger Jayson Werth at the plate.

"There was runners on first and second, two fast guys, and we were just trying to keep them close," Sabathia said. "We were just trying to make sure we were on the right page, getting the pitches right, whatever it takes. There's really no time limit on the game, so it's up to us to make sure we're making the right pitches and doing the right things."

 

Sabathia struck out Werth with runners at first and second to end the inning.

"Guy on second base, I just wanted to make sure that he knew what signs and all that stuff," Posada said. "I don't want to second-guess myself, really. And that's the reason why."

Eiland hasn't been shy about visiting the mound, either. He can only come out once an inning without removing a pitcher, but baseball rules give Posada carte blanche.

"We want to make sure we're all on the same page with the game plan on how we're going to pitch certain guys," Eiland said. "A lot of times we change signs. Sometimes it's a momentum-breaker. If we feel like they have the momentum we kind of want to take a little momentum timeout and stop it and regroup, and I want to make sure the pitcher's mind is right. So a lot of things go into it."

The 38-year-old Posada, who had shoulder surgery last offseason, doesn't start behind the plate when right-hander A.J. Burnett is on the mound. Light-hitting catcher Jose Molina has become the personal catcher for Burnett, who gets the ball Monday night as the Yankees try to clinch the title.

Posada, however, hasn't sulked. Instead, he's been guiding the rest of New York's pitchers through the postseason.

After reliever Joba Chamberlain gave up a tying homer to Pedro Feliz with two outs in the eighth, Posada hugged the 24-year-old Chamberlain in the dugout and whispered wisdom in his ear for several moments.

Chamberlain came away nodding, and the Yankees came away with a win.

[Associated Press; By MIKE FITZPATRICK]

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