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Oswalt, Burrell, Lee, Wood made a difference
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By USA TODAY staff
October 14, 2010
At some point this season, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Kerry Wood and Pat Burrell each experienced the feeling of walking into a foreign clubhouse, bags in hand, and meeting teammates receptive and possibly wary of their arrival. Months later, all four are secure in the knowledge they significantly impacted a playoff team. USA TODAY examines these now-indispensable pickups:
Playoff ringer Lee boosts Rangers
Cliff Lee understands the hired-gun reputation he's gaining. The Texas Rangers left-hander doesn't shun it, nor does he embrace it. He just wins games in the postseason.
"I had no control or choice," says Lee, traded in July from the Seattle Mariners to Texas, 20 days short of a year from when he was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies.
The results have been nearly identical — playoff success. Lee's two victories against the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series make him 6-0 with a 1.44 ERA in seven postseason starts. This is why the Rangers, comfortably in front of the AL West at the time of the trade, got him.
ALCS MATCHUP: Rangers vs. Yankees
NLCS MATCHUP: Phillies vs. Giants
SCHEDULE: Postseason schedule, results
"To go from last place to first place, that's a pretty good deal," says Lee, 4-6 in his 15 regular-season starts for Texas. "I don't think I came in and carried the team. They were already in a good spot. I would have liked to have done better."
He's more than made up for it.
Club President Nolan Ryan and his group didn't get control of team ownership until after the trade, but he worked hard to find ways to allow the Rangers to add players with the playoffs in mind.
Lee can be a free agent after this season, and questions about his future — especially in Texas — have begun. Lee is enthusiastic but careful.
"It's been a good ride so far," he says. "And, yeah, I could see myself being here in the future. I'm not going to corner myself into anything. It looks like a good team for years to come, and that's what I want to be part of. Hopefully, we do some damage here, win the World Series and that will make things a lot easier for me."
By Paul White in Arlington, Texas
Wood provides Yankees' bullpen with missing link
The New York Yankees weren't sure what they were getting in July when they acquired reliever Kerry Wood in a deadline deal.
Wood concedes he wasn't quite sure what he was bringing to New York, either.
"Really, I didn't have any expectations," says Wood, acquired July 31 for cash. "I just wanted to kind of mix in."
Just 2? months later, Wood has not only become instrumental in the Yankees' return to the American League Championship Series, but he has revitalized his career. He went 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA during the final two months of the regular season and was the eighth-inning setup man in all three games in the Yankees' sweep of the Minnesota Twins in the division series.
"He couldn't have pitched any better for us than he has," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says. "He's like the perfect part that was missing."
The Yankees were mixing and matching nearly every game trying to find relievers who could get the ball to closer Mariano Rivera. Joba Chamberlain was supposed to be that man. Yet, he was inconsistent, striking out the side one night and giving up four runs the next. He had a 4.40 ERA, allowing 94 baserunners in 71? innings.
The Yankees, concerned they could no longer rely on Chamberlain, decided to take a shot with Wood. He had a 6.30 ERA with the Cleveland Indians and missed the final 2? weeks in July with a blister on his right index finger. But after only a one-inning rehab stint at Class AA Akron (Ohio), the Yankees liked what they saw and traded for him.
"We knew we were taking a chance on something," Cashman said. "Great if it worked. If not, it was a chance worth taking. Obviously, it's worked out."
Wood stepped in and almost instantaneously revitalized the Yankees' bullpen. The relievers were yielding a 3.95 ERA and .238 batting average. But after Wood's arrival, the bullpen posted a 2.79 ERA and .218 batting average during the final two months.
"He's really been big for our bullpen," Yankees manager Joe Girardi says. "He's added a lot of depth. He's everything we've been looking for."
Wood doesn't have the 98 mph fastball he possessed while pitching for the Chicago Cubs from 1998 to 2008. He doesn't have the same electric slider that helped him strike out 20 in a game against the Houston Astros during his rookie year in 1998. Yet, he has become more of a complete pitcher, developing a cut fastball while his control has improved.
"To me, he's a better pitcher than he was in Chicago," says Yankees teammate Lance Berkman, who faced Wood during his 11 years in Houston. "He'll still challenge you with that fastball, but with that cutter he's got now, he's more in control."
Wood, who elevated his arm slot on the advice of pitching coach Dave Eiland, has never pitched better in relief. He did not permit a run in a career-high 21 consecutive appearances, spanning 23 innings. It was the fifth-longest scoreless skein by a Yankee reliever since 1920. And his 0.69 ERA was the lowest by a Yankee in franchise history with at least 25 innings.
"It's like a second life," Wood says. "I haven't had this much fun in years.
"Really, this couldn't work out any better for me."
And, what better place to return to baseball's center stage of postseason than New York, where the lights are brighter and performances are magnified?
"I think just coming here has given him a little extra boost," says Yankees outfielder Austin Kearns, traded from Cleveland one day before Wood. "But you knew he could do this. In Cleveland, he missed a lot of spring training. He had a lot of DL time. Now that he's healthy, he's getting a good feel for everything."
Wood, just one game away from the World Series in 2003 with the Cubs, now can smell the World Series. He is just one series away from the place he's always dreamed about.
"This is why I've played the game," Wood says, "and have gone through all of the rehab and surgeries and things I've been through. I want to take advantage of this opportunity.
"I want that ring. I want that championship. It would mean everything."
By Bob Nightengale in New York
Giant adjustment fuels Burrell
It was the perfect combination of factors for Pat Burrell: a National League team in his hometown with an opening for a power-hitting outfielder.
Not that he was in position to get all that picky. Burrell, who hit 251 homers in nine seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies from 2000 to 2008, acknowledges teams weren't clamoring for his services after the Tampa Bay Rays released him.
Burrell, 34, batted .221 in his first season as the Rays' DH in 2009, then skidded to .202 in 24 games this season. The longtime NL outfielder said it wasn't so much the change in leagues as the unfamiliar role of DH that proved his undoing.
"I committed to the role down there in Tampa, and I had a hard time making the transition," said Burrell, who grew up south of San Francisco. "As a matter of fact, I didn't make the transition. If the Giants had not given me the opportunity, who knows what would have happened?"
With little to lose and much to gain, the Giants signed Burrell in late May, observed that his bat had plenty of life during a brief minor-league stint, then brought him up figuring he would play a part-time role.
Instead, he has taken over as the regular left fielder, batting .266 with a .364 on-base percentage, 18 homers and 51 RBI in 96 games. He belted a three-run homer in Game 2 of the NL Division Series and drew a walk in the seventh-inning of Game 4 as the Giants rallied for the series-ending victory.
Burrell, who won a World Series ring with the Phillies in 2008, has provided a veteran presence in a clubhouse with little playoff experience before this year.
"For me, it was just coming to play baseball, and the attitude I have about it is I want to win," Burrell said. "It's pretty easy when everybody has the same goal, and that's to win."
By Jorge L. Ortiz in San Francisco
Oswalt, Phils jelled at same time
Roy Oswalt was headed toward the first losing season of his 10-year major league career. Then, he waived his no-trade clause, approved a deal to Philadelphia and both he and the Phillies took off.
Oswalt was 6-12, despite a solid 3.42 ERA for the Houston Astros. After the trade, he was 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA for the Phillies. He had a 0.895 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) after his arrival for a league-best 1.025 this season.
"It's been fun, definitely a different atmosphere," Oswalt says. "You've got guys here that want to win. It's a lot easier coming to the park and playing.
"They said I was washed up at the beginning of the year. Everybody's got opinions. When you win 20 games a few times (20-10 in 2004 and 2005) and you don't win too many the next year (it's), 'Something's wrong' or 'He's done' or 'He's old.' Somebody's got to write something."
These days, folks are writing about the Phillies' chances to win the World Series for the second time in three years.
"We've got two of the premier guys in the league (Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels)," Oswalt says. "Any time you feed off each other, it helps. I feel like I'm trying to push them as much as possible, and that's what they're doing to me.
The Phillies, looking to bolster their rotation with an eye toward the playoffs, acquired Oswalt on July 29. They went a combined 41-17 in August and September.
"When we got Roy Oswalt, that really set us off," manager Charlie Manuel says.
Oswalt's .644 career winning percentage (150-83) is fifth-best among active pitchers. He's also 4-0 in nine postseason appearances.
"I knew that he'd come here and step up his game," says closer Brad Lidge, who played with Oswalt in Houston. "You just had to look at his numbers in the postseason to understand what we were getting."
By Seth Livingstone in Philadelphia
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