An encore of 2004 would be heavenly

What a game last night. Despite being wiped out, I made it to the last out. My eyes were closed, but I heard Brian Fuentes get Nick Swisher to pop out with the bases loaded to end the 7-6 Angels win and send the ALCS back to New York, where whispers of the ghosts of 2004 are already popping up.

New York Newsday columnist Bruce Matthews suggests that if the Yankees blow this 3-1 lead to the Angels, it could be worse than blowing the 0-3 lead in the great 2004 ALCS. I disagree just because of the teams involved, but sentiment aside, he's got a point:

Last night's 7-6 loss to the Angels - who suddenly seem to have remembered that their strategy of creating havoc on the basepaths works only if they actually get on base - did more than cut the Yankees' lead in the ALCS to 3-2.

It also raises the specter of another catastrophic failure, but for this one, there would be no excuse or any consolation. You see, these Angels are not nearly as good as the 2004 Red Sox. And these Yankees are a lot better than the 2004 Yankees. At least, they're supposed to be.

The New York Times suggests the odds are against the Yankees being the fourth team with home-field advantage to blow a 3-1 lead in a best of seven series. But no team had blown a 3-0 lead before 2004:

Five other times, Jeter's Yankees have been in this position, ahead by 3-1 in the A.L.C.S. Three times, the Yankees won the series in five. Another time, they won it in six. Then there was 2004.

Every pinstriped fan knows what happened then. The Yankees won the first three games against Boston, and lost the fourth game in 12 heart-stopping innings. They lost the fifth game, too, and the last two at Yankee Stadium.

I don't think the Angels will win both games in New York, but the fact that they're making the Yankees and their fans squirm is good enough for me. And they have made it close enough to stop us from talking as if we definitively know who will face the Phillies next week.

Red Sox: They continue to lose: Assistant GM Jed Hoyer is going to be the man in San Diego, and Brad Mills (a SoxandPhil) could be the Astros manager.

Look back at 2008: The Phillies lost Game 2 of the World Series - Christine's favorite Phillies loss ever because it guaranteed the series would last five games. (We had tickets for Game 5.)

Poor showing

Jacoby Ellsbury finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting announced today. You could argue that his showing mirrored where the Red Sox ultimately ended up. I'm not certain, however, that Ellsbury deserved to finish that high. His showing might have more to do with his play in last year's World Series than this season. Although this year was disappointing for him, I still have high hopes.

The Phillies had no viable Rookie of the Year candidates, although Christine's preseason pick, Geovany Soto, won it in the NL. This year's winners, Soto and Evan Longoria, were about as clear-cut as you can get, but the NL voting was a travesty that won't get any attention because it didn't cost a deserving winner.

Under the vote totals is an asterisk: *(Edinson) Volquez received votes despite being ineligible as a rookie. What the (insert your favorite Chase Utley word here)? About halfway through the season, I wondered why Volquez wasn't getting any ROY buzz. So I looked it up and saw he shed his rookie status last year. Three writers, whose jobs it is to know stuff like this, couldn't be bothered to do the same.

I bet they'll overlook Cole Hamels in the Cy Young vote that is announced tomorrow. OK, postseason doesn't count, so he doesn't deserve it. He'll have to be content with his NLCS and World Series MVPs.

One Phillie who does deserve an award is Charlie Manuel, but he's getting no hype. Sports Weekly (it finally arrived Saturday) had its writers pick the awards. Where did Cholly rank? I can't tell you; they list only the top three. Yeah, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre had much better seasons.

Other news: Brad Mills is interviewing for the Mariners job. So is DeMarle Hale and Alex Cora's brother Joey. John Farrell isn't. Scott Eyre is coming back to Philly. Jimy Williams isn't. And it looks like Matt Holliday won't be coming to town.

{My theory on Williams: Maybe he thought he would be next in line for the manager's job if Manuel were ever fired. Well, it's clear that Cholly won't be fired and won't be going anywhere, so maybe Williams decided it was time to cut his losses.}