(Mike Blake and Lucy Nicholson of Reuters, and Lenny Ignelzi from the AP)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| NYY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0 | |
| LAA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
WP - CC Sabathia (2-0)
LP - Scott Kazmir (0-1)
So much for momentum. CC Sabathia's second gem of the series was enough to do away with any momentum the Angels gained yesterday. The Yankees pounded the Angels 10-1 tonight in Anaheim to pull to within one game of the pennant. CC was once again masterful as he dominated the Angels over eight innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits, walked two, and struck out five. He had everything working, the fastball, the slider. and the change, with the changeup being especially nasty. On just three-days rest he threw 101 pitches, 69 of them for strikes.
In three starts this postseason the big lefty is 3-0, with a 1.19 ERA. In 22.2 innings he's allowed 3 ER on 17 hits, walked just 3 and struck out 20, and that's just ridiculous.
Pitches-strikes: Sabathia 101-69, Gaudin 13-9.
He did get into a couple jams; one in the fifth, and another in sixth. The lone Angels run came in the fifth when Kendry Morales took CC deep for a solo home run. The Angels would go on to put runners on first and second with one out, but CC was able to avoid any further damage. Then in the sixth Torii Hunter led off with a walk, which was followed by a Vladimir Guerrero bloop single, but once again CC got out of it. A double play off the bat of Juan Rivera and a Howie Kendrick line out ended the threat.
Really, enough cannot be said about what CC has done this October, but I'll say this: He's been worth every penny.
Another guy whose performance can hardly be described is Alex Rodriguez. He had another big game tonight, going 3-for-4 with a walk and stolen base in the second, a single in the fourth, a two-run homer in the fifth, and a double in the 9th. Later in the ninth moved to third on a fly out and then scored on Bobby Abreu's throwing error. The guy did everything tonight.
He's now hitting .407/.469/1.000 with 5 HR and 14 RBI, and going back to 2007 has driven in a run in eight straight playoff games. That tied a record held by Ryan Howard (still going) and Lou Gehrig.
In the end it was a great night for the offense, but early on they continued to miss opportunities and let Scott Kazmir -- who had nothing tonight -- off the hook several times. They could have easily been up five or six runs after four, and seven or eight after five. They also made a couple mental errors on the bases, but luckily the umpiring was so bad they usually got away with it.
Speaking of the umpires, they were awful tonight. Four calls that could have changed the game were completely blown, two by Tim McClelland. The first blown call came in the fourth with Nick Swisher on second. He was clearly picked off, but Dale Scott at second missed it. A couple batters later, with Swisher on third now, Johnny Damon hit what looked like a fairly routine sac fly. The Angels decided that they felt Swisher left early and appealed at third, and McClelland agreed and Swisher was out. Replays showed that not only did Swisher leave after Hunter caught the ball, but that McClelland wasn't even looking at Swisher.
One inning later, Swisher (again) was up with Jorge Posada second and Robinson Cano at third with one out and hit a grounder right back to the mound. Darren Oliver fielded and threw home to put Jorge Posada in a rundown. But when Posada got back to third he overran the base and Cano was still standing just shy of the base. Mike Napoli tagged both Posada and Cano, which should have ended the inning, but once again McClelland somehow missed it. For a better explanation of the play, check out this picture from Jason over at It's About The Money (Stupid!).
The final mistake of the day came in the bottom of the sixth and Torii Hunter at the plate. On a three-two pitch Hunter clearly swung for what should have been the third strike, but Fieldin Culbreth over at first said he held up. This was nowhere near as bad as the first three, but still it looked like he clearly swung. It would also have helped if FOX had a side view replay, but they were too busy showing Vlad's homer from yesterday.
At least none of the mistakes ended up hurting either team, but these kinds of mistakes in the playoffs are unacceptable.
Some other bright spots in the Yankees offense include Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon. The Melk-Man reached on a slump-busting bunt in the third. He would add a two-run single in the fourth to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead, walked in the eighth, and doubled in his third and fourth RBI in the ninth. Damon seems to have found his home run stroke, hitting his second homer in as many days, a two-run shot in the eighth. They also hit a little bit better with runners in scoring position, going 4-for-17 tonight. Not great, but better than the 0-for-23 that preceded it.
Oh, and Derek Jeter picked up another two hits and a walk. He's now hitting .323 this postseason.
With CC pitching like he did there wasn't much work for the bullpen. Joe Girardi called on Chad Gaudin for some mop up work in the ninth and he retired the Angels 1-2-3 on 13 pitches.
The Yanks have tomorrow off before Thursday's game five. A.J. Burnett will take the mound hoping to send the Yanks into the World Series. John Lackey will try to play spoiler for the Angels.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .286 |
| Damon, LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .286 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .111 |
| Rodriguez, A, 3B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .375 |
| Posada, C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .308 |
| Matsui, H, DH | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | .286 |
| Cano, 2B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .235 |
| Swisher, RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .167 |
| 1-Gardner, PR-CF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 |
| Cabrera, Me, CF-RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .353 |
| Totals | 38 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 25 | |
1-Ran for Swisher in the 8th. | ||||||||
BATTING 2B: Posada (1, Kazmir), Cano (1, Oliver), Rodriguez, A (1, Palmer), Cabrera, Me (1, Palmer). HR: Rodriguez, A (3, 5th inning off Bulger, 1 on, 0 out), Damon (2, 8th inning off Palmer, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Jeter 2; Damon 4; Teixeira; Rodriguez, A 7; Posada 2; Cano 2; Gardner; Cabrera, Me 4. RBI: Cano (2), Cabrera, Me 4 (4), Rodriguez, A 2 (5), Damon 2 (3). 2-out RBI: Damon 2; Cabrera, Me 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Swisher; Teixeira; Cabrera, Me; Rodriguez, A; Jeter. Team RISP: 4-for-17. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Posada (1, 2nd base off Oliver/Napoli), Rodriguez, A (1, 2nd base off Kazmir/Napoli). CS: Gardner (2, 2nd base by Santana, E/Napoli), Jeter (1, 2nd base by Kazmir/Napoli). PO: Jeter (1st base by Kazmir). FIELDING DP: (Jeter-Teixeira). | ||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Sabathia (W, 2-0) | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1.13 |
| Gaudin | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Pitches-strikes: Sabathia 101-69, Gaudin 13-9.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: CC Sabathia (W, 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)
HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rodriguez (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 3 R, SB)
GAME 5
Yankees @ Angels
Game Time: 7:57 p.m. TV/Radio: FOX, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (0-0, 1.50) vs. RHP John Lackey (1-0, 0.00)