(AP Photo/Chris Carlson) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |  | R | H | E | |
NY Yankees | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | |
LA Angels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
WP - Ervin Santana (1-1)
LP - Alfredo Aceves (0-1)
LP - Alfredo Aceves (0-1)
They had every opportunity in the world to win this game, but wasted most of them and fell 5-4 to the Angels in the 11th. It should be 3-0 but the Yankees now lead the series 2-1, with Angels feeling great about their extra inning win.
As a team the Yankees went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, left ten men on base, and Joe Girardi managed the final innings as if this was his first game in the dugout. All of the Yankees runs came on solo homers. Derek Jeter in the first, Alex Rodriguez in the fourth and Johnny Damon in the fifth to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Then after the Angels had gone up 4-3 in the seventh, Jorge Posada tied it in the eighth with the Yanks fourth solo blast.
About those blown opportunities, they had a runner on third base with less than two outs in both the second and fourth, and both times Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera stranded the runners. Had they drove one of these runs in they probably win the game. Following Posada's homer they put two on base with just one out before Melky struck out and Jeter grounded out. Later in the
As a team the Yankees went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, left ten men on base, and Joe Girardi managed the final innings as if this was his first game in the dugout. All of the Yankees runs came on solo homers. Derek Jeter in the first, Alex Rodriguez in the fourth and Johnny Damon in the fifth to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Then after the Angels had gone up 4-3 in the seventh, Jorge Posada tied it in the eighth with the Yanks fourth solo blast.
About those blown opportunities, they had a runner on third base with less than two outs in both the second and fourth, and both times Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera stranded the runners. Had they drove one of these runs in they probably win the game. Following Posada's homer they put two on base with just one out before Melky struck out and Jeter grounded out. Later in the
Andy Pettitte was great four innings and then ran into some trouble in the fifth and sixth. The Angels got their first run of the game on Howie Kendrick's fifth inning solo homer. Then Vladimir Guerrero tied the game at three with a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth. It's a home run that proved to be a turning point in today's game, and could prove to be a turning point in the series if the Yanks can't win tomorrow.
Pettitte would remain in the game for first batter of the seventh. When he was done he has thrown 6.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, walked one, and struck out three. Overall it was a pretty good game, and had his offense done a little more would have been good enough for a win.
Joba Chamberlain relieved Pettitte in the seventh and was very shaky. He allowed a triple to Kendrick on the first pitch he threw out of the pen. Maicer Izturis hit a sac fly give the Angels their first lead of the day. Next up was Erick Aybar and he doubled to knock Joba out of the game. Damaso Marte came in to replace Joba and got Chone Figgins for the final out of the inning.
For the next three innings the Yankees pen did their job and kept the Angels off the board. Phil Coke retired the only batter he faced thanks to Bobby Abreu's terrible base running. Abreu hit what should have been a leadoff double, but got caught in between second and third and was thrown out trying to get back to second. It was very similar to the Carlos Gomez play in game 2 of the ALDS. By the way, why would you bring in the left-handed Coke to replace the left-handed Marte, and waste the only other lefty you have in your pen?
Anyway, Phil Hughes added 1.2 shutout innings. But then Hughes got into trouble by allowing a leadoff double in the bottom of the tenth. Joe Girardi called on Mariano Rivera, at the time I thought it was one batter too late. Mo proved me wrong.
It didn't start out well, as he took a bunt off the bat of Aybar and threw it away. Luckily Damon was backing the play up and stopped the run from scoring. He then got Figgins to ground out, walked Bobby Abreu to load the bases, and got two more ground outs off the bat of Torii Hunter and Guerrero. He's the best, what else can you say?
A little while after Mariano was added another chapter to his Hall of Fame résumé, Joe Girardi was acting like this was his first game. First of all he managed his way into losing the DH and forcing himself to limit Mo to only one inning, then came the move that really had you scratching your head.
With the score still tied he brought David Robertson for the bottom of the 11th. After retiring Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales fairly easily, for some reason Girardi popped his head out of the dugout and went to the mound. Then he shocked people again by signaling to the bullpen and bringing in Alfredo Aceves. There are three reasons why this move bothers me: Robertson is throwing the ball extremely well, he has much better stuff than Aceves, and Aceves hasn't been effective all postseason. To me and many fellow Yankees fans it was a serious case of over-managing. Sure enough, Kendrick singled and then Jeff Mathis ended it with a double just over Hairston's outstretched glove in left-center.
It didn't start out well, as he took a bunt off the bat of Aybar and threw it away. Luckily Damon was backing the play up and stopped the run from scoring. He then got Figgins to ground out, walked Bobby Abreu to load the bases, and got two more ground outs off the bat of Torii Hunter and Guerrero. He's the best, what else can you say?
A little while after Mariano was added another chapter to his Hall of Fame résumé, Joe Girardi was acting like this was his first game. First of all he managed his way into losing the DH and forcing himself to limit Mo to only one inning, then came the move that really had you scratching your head.
With the score still tied he brought David Robertson for the bottom of the 11th. After retiring Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales fairly easily, for some reason Girardi popped his head out of the dugout and went to the mound. Then he shocked people again by signaling to the bullpen and bringing in Alfredo Aceves. There are three reasons why this move bothers me: Robertson is throwing the ball extremely well, he has much better stuff than Aceves, and Aceves hasn't been effective all postseason. To me and many fellow Yankees fans it was a serious case of over-managing. Sure enough, Kendrick singled and then Jeff Mathis ended it with a double just over Hairston's outstretched glove in left-center.
One positive from today's game was the defense played by Mark Teixeira. Not only did he cover second on Abreu's blunder, but he made three or four great plays over at first that saved at least a few runs. One of the plays was a fantastic diving play to save the game (at the time) in the tenth during Rivera's Houdini act. Now if he could only start hitting, then we'd be set.
Still, there's no need to panic, they're still up 2-1 and CC Sabathia is on the mound tomorrow. But this one is still painful to lose because they really should be up 3-0 right now. Game 4 is tomorrow in night @ 7:57 p.m. on FOX. CC will face off against another southpaw, Scott Kazmir.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 |
| Damon, LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .313 |
| Rivera, Ma, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b-Cervelli, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Robertson, D, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Aceves, A, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .077 |
| Rodriguez, A, 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .250 |
| Matsui, H, DH | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .444 |
| 1-Gardner, PR-DH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| a-Hairston, J, PH-DH-LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| Posada, C | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .300 |
| Cano, 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .231 |
| Swisher, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | .200 |
| Cabrera, Me, CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .231 |
| Totals | 40 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 22 | |
a-Struck out for Gardner in the 9th. b-Struck out for Rivera, Ma in the 11th. 1-Ran for Matsui, H in the 8th. | ||||||||
BATTING HR: Jeter (2, 1st inning off Weaver, Jr, 0 on, 0 out), Rodriguez, A (2, 4th inning off Weaver, Jr, 0 on, 0 out), Damon (1, 5th inning off Weaver, Jr, 0 on, 1 out), Posada (1, 8th inning off Jepsen, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Jeter 4; Damon 4; Rodriguez, A 4; Matsui, H; Posada 5; Cano 2. RBI: Jeter (3), Rodriguez, A (3), Damon (1), Posada (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cabrera, Me 2; Jeter. Team RISP: 0-for-8. Team LOB: 10. BASERUNNING CS: Gardner (1, 2nd base by Jepsen/Mathis, J). FIELDING Outfield assists: Cabrera, Me (Abreu, B at 3rd base). DP: 2 (Jeter-Teixeira, Jeter-Cano-Teixeira). Pickoffs: Pettitte (Hunter at 1st base). | ||||||||
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Pitches-strikes: Pettitte 95-59, Chamberlain 10-6, Marte, D 1-1, Coke 3-2, Hughes, P 19-15, Rivera, Ma 17-10, Robertson, D 11-6, Aceves, A 7-3.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Howie Kendrick (3-for-5, HR, 3B, 3 R, RBI)
HONORABLE MENTION: Jeff Mathis (2-for-3, RBI, walk-off double in the 11th)
GOAT OF THE GAME: Joe Girardi (Nice managing!)
GAME 4
Yankees @ Angels
Game Time: 7:57 p.m. TV/Radio: FOX, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (1-0, 1.35) vs. LHP Scott Kazmir (0-0, 7.50)
