Dave Righetti pitched in the World Series in his first full season of a stellar 16-year career. He didn’t make it out of the third inning for the Yankees in a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981. That was it. Just two innings and then two more batters in the third and Righetti was done. That outing proved to be forgettable and unforgettable.

After that debacle of a start and a six-game loss to the Dodgers, Righetti kept trying to get back to the World Series with the Yankees, the Giants and in cameo appearances with three other teams. He made it there as a 22-year old. Surely, there would be another chance, he thought. But that next chance never came. Righetti retired with a 13.50 earned run average in his lone appearance in the World Series.

“If you ask me if I

Pablo Sandoval was about to play an exhibition game against the Chinese Taipei National Team in Taiwan last November, but he wasn’t comfortable. Sandoval needed to get some swings. He needed to find a batting cage. So, as his teammates relaxed in the dugout, Sandoval bolted past them to find a place to hit.

Sandoval’s determination to get his pre-game hacks was surprisingly intense. As important as it was for Major League Baseball to send a team to play in Taiwan, Sandoval’s at-bats weren’t going to be scrutinized. No one was going to criticize or praise Sandoval for what he did against a bunch of 20-year olds. But Sandoval, the San Francisco Giants’ third baseman, treated those at-bats seriously.

As I watched Sandoval’s magical three-homer performance

It was bold, gutsy and daring. When Joe Girardi decided to use Raul Ibanez as a pinch-hitter for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning on Wednesday night, it was one of the more delicate decisions he has made as a manager. It was also one of the smartest decisions he has made.

Even before Ibanez drilled a game-tying homer off Jim Johnson and a game-winning homer off Brian Matusz in the 12^th inning, inserting Ibanez for Rodriguez was the proper move. Even if Ibanez had made an out and the Yankees had lost to the Orioles, I believe Girardi did the right thing. The manager’s job is to give his team the best chance to win. That’s what Girardi did.

Because Ibanez had a dream of a postseason game, the Yankees defeated the Orioles, 3-2, in Game 3 of the American League Division

Before Alex Rodriguez took his first swing against the Orioles in the American League Division Series, I exchanged text messages with an AL scout. I asked the scout for his evaluation of Rodriguez, who had been repeatedly beat on fastballs as he faltered at the end of the regular season. His response was blunt.

“A-Rod will only show up if the pen does not have good stuff,” the scout wrote.

In one brief and damning sentence, the scout gave an accurate appraisal of what has happened in the first two games of the best-of-five series. While Rodriguez is 1-for-9 with five strikeouts overall, he is 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against Baltimore’s relievers. He is 0-for-2 off Darren O’Day and 0-for-2 off Jim Johnson.

With each unproductive at-bat by Rodriguez, the questions

Sometimes, you actually get to save your season at the end of the season. Sometimes, the travails of April through August are pushed aside because of what you do in September and October.

Russell Martin is experiencing that rare opportunity now. He is saving a season that had been woeful.

As CC Sabathia used a fastball, slider and changeup combination to fluster the Orioles for 8 2/3 innings and help hoist the Yankees to a 7-2 victory in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Sunday, he was the most important player at Camden Yards. The Yankees need Sabathia to be their ace and their guarantee. When Sabathia starts, the Yankees want to believe they are as close to notching a win as they can get.

The second-most important Yankee on the field was Martin, the catcher who called

When Andy Pettitte was six years old, he cried after a flag football game because he couldn’t understand why his teammates were so casual. Pettitte wanted to win. They wanted to play. The boy that wept in the backseat of his father’s white Plymouth developed into the determined pitcher who always wants to win, too.

As Pettitte tossed six scoreless innings in a much-needed 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night, the image of him as a feisty six-year old flashed into my head. Pettitte has always been a tenacious competitor, a pitcher who scolds himself on the mound after poor results and a pitcher who has fashioned a superb career out of dodging dangerous situations.

The familiar sight of Pettitte allowing baserunners and stranding those baserunners played out

As Robinson Cano stood on the eighth-floor patio of a hotel in Taiwan last November, he raved about what it meant to see and hear how many fans he had “halfway across the world.” Those devoted fans inspired Cano, who said he would work even harder because he realized how people from distant places were watching him.

Lots of fans were watching Cano and the Yankees on Monday. There were fans from New York, from the Dominican Republic and even some bleary-eyed souls in Taiwan who were wondering if Cano could help push the Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays. Instead, during a disappointing sequence in the eighth inning, Cano helped sabotage the Yankees.

Cano is an excellent player, the best player on the Yankees. He has the sweetest swing on the team, a swing that he perfects in

Derek Jeter sat about three feet away from me and we were the only two people on the private plane, which was the perfect setting for an interview. For as long as it took us to travel from Tampa to New York, Jeter couldn’t escape my questions. Actually, that was our plan since we were collaborating on a book more than a decade ago.

I learned a lot about Jeter on that day, about his family and his friends and what motivates him. But, whenever I tried to get Jeter to speak in specifics about the future, he didn’t bite. He just wanted to keep on playing baseball for the Yankees. Discussing specific career goals, the type of chatter that thrills fans and interests sportswriters, didn’t interest Jeter. He was worried about the next game. That’s it.

As Jeter has compiled

As the baseball clock crept closer to Tuesday's 4 P.M. non-waiver trade deadline, the Yankees were taking calls and making calls and trying to improve themselves. Before the deadline, the Yankees acquired infielder Casey McGehee and $250,000 from the Pirates for reliever Chad Qualls. Since Qualls was likely to be jettisoned once Joba Chamberlain was activated, the Yankees added a potentially useful player for a player who wasn't going to be with them much longer.

While the Yankees also spoke to the Cubs about pitcher Ryan Dempster, one club official said that those discussions weren't very serious. The Yankees might have been interested in adding Dempster if they could have obtained him for a modest price. In the end, the Cubs dealt Dempster to the Rangers for two minor leaguers. With