Pressure in the Big Apple

I don't get to see as much baseball as I'd like. I've only had cable TV three times in my life: my apartment in college, my apartment during a three-month summer job in Puerto Rico, and in a basement apartment with my wife for 16 months (but it was basic cable, so no FSN and none of the ESPN channels). If we had cable, I'd watch every Royals game, and many other games as well. 

But today I'm watching the Royals-Yankees game. Always a treat to see a game during the day. And anytime you see the Yankees, some of the League's best talent is on display. The Royals are 3-17 in their last 20 games. The Yankees are, well, the Yankees. The pressure is clearly on the boys in blue. 

Funny how pressure can affect the game. Take a one-run ball game in the ninth inning, for example. Who is feeling the most pressure? The hitter or the pitcher? Depends on the hitter and the pitcher. As a fan of your team, you know your guys better than the other guys. So you know their weaknesses. So you assume the worst. Or, maybe that's just me. There is (or should be) plenty of pressure on the hitter. After all, he has a tough job. He has to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely. Did I mention the round ball is curving, sliding, cutting, and sinking?

Then again, the pitcher's job isn't much easier. This guy has to throw a ball 60 feet, 6 inches, and he has to throw it well enough to be both a strike and hopefully something the batter can do little with. The easiest way for the pitcher to relieve the pressure is to attack the hitter, thereby announcing to the hitter that the pressure is clearly on him, putting him on the defensive. 

The problem with the Yankees is that it never quite seems that the pressure is on them. You can attack the strike zone all you want, but they can just as easily attack you right back. The Royals have had multiple leads in their series with the Yanks, but they have always come back. Except for today. They put some pressure on Joakim Soria in the last inning to the tune of a bases-loaded jam, but Soria recorded the final out for the save and the win.