WHY THE YANKEES MISS EL DUQUE

Two years after his brother, Livan Hernandez defected, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez also fled Cuba. It was Christmas day in 1997 and eventually he signed with the New York Yankees to play baseball in America.

It is probably the best decision he made in his life, because from between the years 1998-2005 alone, El Duque played a huge roll in the four World Series Championships. He won 3 rings with the Yankees, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 2005, He won with the Chicago White Sox.

In 1998, El Duque joined the Yankees and he had a very impressive season, going 12-4 with a 3.13 ERA, while finishing fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year Award, behind players like Ben Grieve, Rolando Arrojo, and Mike Caruso. Yes, I did not make up those names. Those were really the three players ahead of El Duque for the 1998 AL Rookie of the Year Award.

It really didn't matter winning the Rookie of the Year that year, because it was the Championship that every player really wants and in the post-season in 1998, he flourished. In the ALCS against the defending American League Champion Cleveland Indians, the Yankees were down two games to one, and in Cleveland the Yankees were pretty much in a must win situation. They turned El Duque. And he dominated, pitching seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six. That was a lineup filled with Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, David Justice, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Sandy Alomar Jr. Very impressive.

In the 1998 World Series he dominated again, against the San Diego Padres. He pitched another seven innings, while allowing just one run while striking out seven.

In his career in the postseason Orlando Hernandez is 9-3 in 19 games. 17 with the Yankees, and in 14 starts he has a 2.55 ERA.
In World Series play, he is 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA in five games, four starts. What's even more impressive is that in the World Series, he has struck out 36 batters in 28.2 innings pitched. He has come up big a number of times for the Yankees in the biggest games.

These days, with Yankee icons like Andy Pettitte retiring, the Yankees don't really have "that guy" like El Duque anymore. Someone they can depend on to take care of business. Someone who could go out there in the biggest games and dominate. Pitchers like A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes really aren't "that guy" because they're either hit or miss in the postseason. Not El Duque. He was the exception. In the post season, he turned it on and never looked back.

Believe it or not, the Yankees may miss a pitcher like El Duque in a rotation like CC, AJ, Hughes, Nova and Garcia. Maybe one day, there will be someone like El Duque again, but for now, he will be remembered as a true Yankee Champion.



--Jesse Schindler, BYB Guest Writer
My Blog: The Pinstriped Personality



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