ALCS Game 4: Yankees @ Angels -- Live Chat @ 7:45 PM

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ALCS Game 4

Yankees @ Angels

Angel Stadium - Anaheim, CA

Game Time: 7:57 p.m.

TV: FOX | Radio: WCBS 880

Here are the lineups:

YANKEES (2-1)
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (2-0, 1.23 ERA)

ANGELS (1-2)
Chone Figgins 3B
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Juan Rivera LF
Howie Kendrick 2B
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Erick Aybar SS

Pitching: LHP Scott Kazmir (0-0, 7.50 ERA)

Yankees vs. Kazmir

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
D. Jeter	36	4	1	0	1	4	3	11	.111	.220	.222	.442
J. Damon	36	6	1	1	0	5	6	7	.167	.273	.250	.523
H. Matsui	28	5	0	0	1	3	4	5	.179	.281	.286	.567
N. Swisher	27	5	0	0	1	2	2	6	.185	.241	.296	.538
R. Cano	26	4	0	0	0	3	0	9	.154	.154	.154	.308
J. Posada	25	11	3	0	1	5	2	8	.440	.464	.680	1.144
A. Rodriguez	24	3	0	0	0	0	6	7	.125	.300	.125	.425
M. Cabrera	20	8	2	0	0	2	0	5	.400	.400	.500	.900
J. Molina	11	2	1	0	0	0	2	4	.182	.308	.273	.580
M. Teixeira	11	7	4	0	0	3	5	2	.636	.667	1.000	1.667
B. Gardner	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167	.167	.167	.333
J. Hairston Jr.	4	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.250	.400	.250	.650
Totals	254	57	12	1	4	27	31	68	.224	.308	.327	.635

Angels vs. Sabathia

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
T. Hunter	68	20	8	0	3	17	6	16	.294	.351	.544	.895
G. Matthews Jr.	26	5	1	0	0	1	4	10	.192	.300	.231	.531
C. Figgins	16	5	0	1	1	1	3	2	.313	.421	.625	1.046
V. Guerrero	15	3	1	0	1	2	1	3	.200	.250	.467	.717
R. Quinlan	14	3	0	0	0	1	2	2	.214	.313	.214	.527
H. Kendrick	12	8	1	0	0	2	1	1	.667	.692	.750	1.442
J. Rivera	11	3	0	0	0	2	0	1	.273	.250	.273	.523
M. Izturis	10	5	0	0	0	2	2	1	.500	.583	.500	1.083
B. Abreu	9	3	1	0	0	1	1	1	.333	.400	.444	.844
K. Morales	9	3	1	0	0	2	0	0	.333	.333	.444	.778
M. Napoli	9	3	1	0	1	2	2	0	.333	.500	.778	1.278
J. Mathis	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.200	.333	.200	.533
R. Willits	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
Totals	209	62	14	1	6	33	23	40	.297	.368	.459	.827

News & Notes

- At 103-59 the Yankees had the best record in all of baseball. And at 46-35 they had the second best road record in the American League, behind only the Angels (48-33).

- The Yankees and Angels split the season series winning five games each. The Yankees were 2-4 against the Angels this year at Angel Stadium. Including the postseason the Yankees are 7-6 against the Angels.

- CC Sabathia has faced the Angels 14 times in his career, and in those games he's 5-7, with a 4.72 ERA. In Anaheim he's 2-3, with a 4.63 ERA in 7 starts. In two regular season starts against them he went 0-2, with a 6.08 ERA, but did throw a gem in game one of this series, allowing just 1 earned run on 4 hits, walking 1, and striking out 7 in 8 innings.

CC has starting four games on three-days rest in his career and is 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA. In 26.2 innings on short rest he's allowed 3 earned runs on 16 hits, walked 6, and struck out 26.

- In 15 games (14 starts) against the Yanks in his career Scott Kazmir is 6-5, with a 2.67 ERA. Three of those starts came this year and he went 2-1, with a 3.20 ERA. In 19.2 innings he allowed 7 earned runs on 17 hits, walked 4, and struck out 14. His only loss against the Yanks this year came in Anaheim.

In six career postseason starts Kazmir is 1-1, with a 4.83 ERA. In one start against Boston this year in the ALDS he went 6 innings, allowing 5 earned runs on 5 hits, walked 3 and struck out 1.

- Alex Rodriguez has at least one RBI in each of the five postseason games this season, and going back to 2007 he has RBI in his last six postseason games.

- In 89 games regular season games at Angel Stadium A-Rod is hitting .335/.401/.716 with 37 HR and 82 RBI. In six games this season he hit .364/.375/1.091 with 5 HR and 9 RBI. This postseason A-Rod is hitting .348/.407/.870 with 4 HR and 9 RBI

- Derek Jeter is hitting .308/.400/.731 with 3 HR and 5 RBI this postseason.

- Time to show up fellas:

Nick Swisher: .136/.208/.182 (3-for-22) with 1 RBI this postseason.

Melky Cabrera: .200/.259/.200 (5-for-25), 0 RBI

Robinson Cano: .200/.259/.280 (5-for-25) 2 RBI

Mark Teixeira: .120/.241/.240 (3-for-25) HR, RBI

(Update 7:14 p.m.) Joe Girardi continues to defend his decision to bring in Alfredo Aceves in yesterday's ballgame. According to AOL Fanhouse he said this earlier today:

"Bringing in Ace, if it doesn't work, I know I'm going to be second-guessed, but I believed it was the right move," he said. "We talked about it in the dugout and I believed it was the right move. It didn't work."

"I did not have the feeling that it was a mistake because of the preparation that we did before the game and the reasoning for using Ace," Girardi said. "The only reason I don't necessarily tell you exactly why I did it is because then you give away a game plan and what you're trying to do to certain hitters. I did think about it. You always think about it. But I still feel that it was the move that we would have made, and it just didn't work out."

"Yeah, you are under a microscope, but if you manage a game not to be second-guessed, then I don't think you are managing the game correctly," Girardi said.

The last part I can agree with, but the move was still terribly stupid.

(Update: 7:40 p.m.) Mariano Rivera responded to the whole spitting on the ball controversy. Here are a few quotes from Joel Sherman:

"I laughed at the whole thing," Rivera said, at one point excusing himself from reporters to spit on the dugout floor.

"I was on the bus on the way here and my friend called me, he said, 'Stop cheating. Everybody here says you're spitting on the ball, but Major League Baseball cleared it up,' " Rivera said. "I was laughing. I don't know anything about this."

There were also quotes from Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, and Larry Bowa in the article.

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