Yanks Snatch Game 1 in Texas

I heard commentators talking earlier in the season about how the Yankees didn't have as many walk-off wins as last year. While that is true, the general attitude of that statement was to imply that the Yankees didn't come back on teams like they had the year before.

If anything this one thoroughly proves that the Yankees are never out of a game. The Rangers blew a 5-0 lead and New York survived a CC Sabathia implosion to take Game 1 of the ALCS 6-5.

The Rangers really have to be hurting in the locker room after this one. They had beat on the Yankee ace and had forced the Yankees into using Dustin Moseley. Yet they failed to tack on runs against the mop up man and when Brett Gardner sparked a rally with a huge hustle play to start the eighth, you could see things start to slide downhill for the Rangers and their bullpen.

Ron Washington brought in Darren Oliver and the veteran walked two straight Yankees to load the bases. That forced the Texas manager to go to his second Darren, Darren O'Day. O'Day fluttered one of his side arm offerings down the inner third of the plate and Alex Rodriguez destroyed the ball past Michael Young at third to score tow more and pull the Yanks to within 5-4.

So, after one pitch Washington decided to bring in another lefty, this one being Clay Rapada. Rapada only threw nine innings in the majors this year and really Washington should have taken his chances with a hard thrower like Alexi Ogando, because Cano doesn't care who is throwing the ball, he will destroy it.

Cano led the AL with 13 homer against lefty pitching this season and had just homered off of C.J. Wilson who hadn't allowed a dinger to a same-sided batter all year. Rapada stood no chance and Cano tied the game with a hard single up the middle on the first pitch he saw.

After another pitching change Marcus Thames continued to be an unsung hero for New York this year and gave the Yanks the lead with a broken bat single.

The win is big for New York. Strike that, it's HUGE. They could have found themselves in a bad spot if they didn't rally to save Sabathia's bacon. Texas would have been rolling and licking their chops at the prospect of being up 1-0 in the series with Phil Hughes on the mound versus Colby Lewis and Cliff Lee still lurking in the shadows of Game 3. Now the Yankees have to be feeling like they are never out of the game, even on e where their ace is inept and teh opposing pitch is dealing deep into the game.

Tomorrow brings the previously mentioned match up of Phil Hughes vs. Colby Lewis. Hughes has been great in Texas for his career, throwing 15.1 scoreless innings over four seasons, including his aborted no-hitter in 2007. Plus Hughes has been better on the road in general this season.

Lewis has been solid since returning to the Majors from Japan. Lewis strikes out a lot of guys, but can also have bouts of wildness. The Yankees haven't seen Lewis this year, which usually is a bad omen for them. In this case though, they can probably at least elevate Lewis's pitch count and get into that Rangers bullpen early, much like the Rays did in Game 3 of the ALDS.

Back at it tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Yanks Finally Clinch

Well at least they didn't totally back into the playoffs. CC Sabathia has been what the Yankees have needed all season long and tonight was no different. Sure it was a panic move to start Sabathia against the Jays rather than letting him get his long rest and taking the ball on Friday to put him on schedule, but at least Joe Girardi can finally have a good night's sleep for the first time in about a month.

Sabathia was dominant for 8.1 innings to pick up his 21st win of the season. Once the Yankees pushed across their second run of the night with a Mark Teixeira sacrifice fly in the third, you had the feeling that the game was over. That Sabathia just wouldn't let the Jays get anything going.

But this has been the case for a while now. The Yankees have been playing atrocious baseball for about a month and a half. The only time they look good is when Sabathia is on the mound. Hopefully they get back into a groove before the postseason starts. I hope they don't think they can just turn it on when they roll into Texas or, more likely, Minnesota.

Now the wonder is how the Yankees get set for the playoffs since. I'm imagining that Phil Hughes is done for the regular season and so is Sabathia. Andy needs his start tomorrow to make sure that he gets as close to ready as he can for the Division Series. A.J. Burnett will have to pitch and pitch exceptionally well to garner any consideration for a start in the first round.

The division is probably out of reach with the Rays having a virtual game and a half lead with the tiebreaker they own over the Yankees, so it looks like the Twins are up next.

Yanks Take Rain Shortened Opener From Texas

The Texas Rangers rolled into Yankee Stadium for a three game set and they ran into a brick wall in CC Sabathia. Coming off of his almost no-hit start in Tampa Bay, it looked like Sabathia was even better tonight. He had a rough first inning, but he quickly settled down and began the strikeout parade.

The big lefty struck out nine in six innings and even had an impressive six in a row. It was good to see Sabathia get some strike outs. Something that seemed missing from his debut season with the Yanks was the strikeouts. While his 7.7 K/9 was more than adequate during 2009, it was down a tick from his rate over the last three seasons before he joined the Yankees.

The bats did their thing against C.J. Wilson. Wilson is no match for a team like the Yankees. He just doesn't have the control to go up against a patient lineup like New York's. It is curious that Texas thinks he can be an effective starter again simply because he seemed to do well enough as a closer unless he was hurt.

The Ranger defense didn't help Wilson either as Chris Davis made a two-run error to give the Yankees the lead and there were a few other plays that could have been made to lighten the load on Wilson that weren't made. Of course there was one where Wilson hurt himself too.

But back to the big man. Last Year it took Sabathia until the second half, more specifically August and September, to go off and put together a dominant run that saw him win nine of his last 12 starts. Sabathia could easily eclipse his 19 wins from last year if he puts everything together sooner rather than later.

Speaking of big win totals, I don't know about anyone else, but I am very closely watching Roy Halladay in Philadelphia to see how much he embarrasses the National League. He has won his first three starts with vicious efficiency and I wouldn't bet against him to be the first pitcher since Bob Welch in 1990 to win 25 games or more.

Yankees Take Two From Rays

You couldn't really ask for a better start to the year for the Yankees. Any team in baseball would love to start the year by taking four of six from their top two division rivals. New York did that by smacking around the Rays for the second consecutive game and taking the rubber match 7-3.

A.J. Burnett showed improvement over his first start of the year against the Red Sox by being very efficient with his pitches, getting nine ground ball outs and pitching seven strong innings. Burnett didn't have his best stuff considering he only managed one strike out, but it was more than enough for the bats as they forced James Shield from the game in the sixth.

Of course the biggest pitching performance came from CC Sabathia who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up a single to Kelly Shoppach. Now, my initial reaction to the hit was, "seriously Kelly Shoppach just broke this up?" My second reaction was, "thank God Kelly Shoppach just broke this up". Sabathia was dominant from the start, but the big lefty worked his pitch count up pretty high and by the time the eighth inning rolled around Sabathia was already north of 100 pitches and if he was going to finish off his gem he probably would have needed almost 130 pitches.

That is not where you want your ace to be in his second start of the year. Joe Girardi claimed that Shoppach would have been the end of the line for Sabathia no matter the outcome of that at bat. Obviously it is easy for Girardi to say that now, but in reality it would have been exactly the right move. If this was June then maybe you let Sabathia go, but not in April.

Aside from the stellar pitching the Yankees also got some big performances from the bats. The most important line from the weekend set was Mark Teixeira's 3 for 4 on Saturday. It wasn't an amazing line, but it will be a lot easier to look at Teixeira's triple slash now that the first number is no longer .000.

And while Jorge Posada had the biggest hit of Sunday's affair with his two-run jack off of Randy Choate to give the Yankees the lead in the sixth, Curtis Granderson is the one who has been the most impressive with the bat. His .348/.423/.652 line is pretty darn good and it is nice to see him get off to a hot start and avoid any tabloid headlines. Granderson has made some solid defensive plays and his three stolen bases are something that I think people might forget about. Somehow Granderson has never stolen 30 bases in a season, but it could happen this year with the way Girardi likes to run the bases. Hell 30/30 might be a reality too.

Those are just some summer dreams though. For now we are still stuck in April with another off day. Today will be even more difficult to get through knowing that those shiny rings are just aching to come out and get some sun tomorrow afternoon.

Game 1 in the Books

And I am sure the Yankees would like to forget a lot of game one. Well at least everything on the defensive side of the ball. While Sabathia was strong early on, he never really had great command and as he tired in the middle of the game he clearly lost his stuff.

Poor defensive plays by both Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner cost the Yankees and after Sabathia, no Yankee pitcher could throw the ball where he wanted to.

The one thing the Yankees will be able to take away from the game is their solid offensive output. Little consolation I know as their bats did what they were expected to do. The hitters will cover up a lot of pitching mistakes this year and they will win games by outslugging teams. That is pretty much a standard feature every season for New York. It was nice to see the bottom half of the lineup do a lot of damage. Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson all came through with big hits early on. It was also nice to see Joe Girardi be aggressive on the basepaths with Gardner's steal of home.

But back to the pitching for a moment. I am not worried about Sabathia and I will say I wouldn't be worried about Beckett either if I was a Sox fan. Sometimes a starter needs a couple of turns throwing the ball when it really matters to get his groove and both Beckett and Sabathia will be fine.

On the other hand you have just about everybody else who came out of the Yankee bullpen. Dave Robertson needed just one pitch to allow his inherited runner to score, Chan Ho Park was clearly in over his head from the first batter, Damaso Marte pitched around the one batter he was in to face and Joba Chamberlain pitched a lot like Joba during his last few starts of 2009.

Park was probably the most disappointing of the four relievers. You could see by his body language that he was not at all comfortable on the mound from the start. His pitches were not close and he had no business trying to sneak a fastball by Dustin Pedroia on the inside half of the plate. It was a stark contrast to his spring training performance.

The Red Sox lineup may not have big bats like in year's past, but one thing they still do extremely well is take pitches. They rarely get themselves out and Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis punished the Yankee bullpen for their inability to put them away.

In the end it is still only one game, though I am sure that New York and Boston media will thoroughly over-analyze the game and amazingly forget how little games in April and May meant in August and September. The airwaves will by overwhelmed with panic tomorrow and I'll just have to change the channel.

I do have one interesting question though: What's the over/under on Park being DFA'd or traded by July 1? I get the feeling the under is the safe bet. He has a real Latroy Hawkins feel to him.

State of the Rotation: Sabathia vs. Lester

Last season my Spring Training comparison of the top two rotations in the AL East brought about a lot of discussion regarding the starting staffs of both the Yankees and the Red Sox, so I figured now would be as good a time as any for an encore.

Today we will start with the top of each rotation and coincidentally enough the two big lefties for each team: CC Sabathia and Jon Lester.

We'll start with Sabathia who really needs no introduction. The man is a beast among men and his huge frame allows him to maintain his velocity deep into games while his athleticism allows him to consistently repeat his delivery giving him excellent command. The big lefty led the Yankees with 230 innings pitched and a 3.37 ERA. While Sabathia wasn't that great in the first half, he went on a crazy tear in the second half to boost the Yankees and return his own numbers back to 2008-09 form. He was also great in the playoffs, dispelling any notion that he is "unclutch", whatever the hell that means.

Even though Beckett regained some of his luster after a substandard 2008, Lester held onto his title as the ace of the Boston staff. He cracked 200 innings for the second consecutive year and also finished third in the AL with 225 strikeouts. It is also worth noting that Lester went 5-1 in September. His only loss came after he was knocked around by the Yankees and took a line drive off his right leg, forcing him from the game.

It's easy to say Sabathia is the winner of this debate like I did last year, but Lester got even better last season. His K/9 jumped almost four all the way to 10 and he maintain the same walk rate, meaning that his K/BB rate jumped up to 3.52. So Lester has made a tough decision even more difficult.

Verdict: I'm inclined to give the edge to Sabathia because he can give his team more innings in a season and more innings per start. I suppose the question comes down to when the quality of those innings diminishes to the point that Lester's quality outweighs Sabathia's quantity. To me that point has not yet arrived, though it may in the next season or two. The first match up goes to the Yankees.

Some Parade Photos

So here are a couple of shots I took while taking in the ticker-tape parade down Broadway. I might have gotten more except it is difficult to take a good shot when you are only 5'5" tall and in a sea of three million people. Here are some of the better ones including some of what might be the overzealous moron who actually tossed real documents and paperwork out of his office window when he ran out of shredded paper.

Yankees Jump on Phils; Take 3-1 Lead

If the Phillies feared any scenario after they split in New York it has to be this one. The match ups favored the Yankees and while the Phillies had their chances to swing momentum in their favor they could not capitalize.

On Sunday night the Phillies decided it would be wise to throw Joe Blanton instead of Cliff Lee. Their logic? Lee has never had to throw on three days rest. Well, while there is an unknown factor as to what you can expect from Lee doing something he had never done there is also the fact that this is the World Series and your team is in a 2-1 hole. If there ever was a time to start on three days rest Sunday night would have been the night to find out if Lee could handle it or not. I would rather have Lee at 80 percent against the Yanks than a 100 percent Joe Blanton any day of the week.

But Charlie Manuel went with Blanton with the hope he could stifle the Yankees as he had the Rays in 2008. The plan didn't quite work out that way. Blanton pitched well enough, but not well enough to match CC Sabathia on three days rest. Sabathia struggled through the Phillie lineup for the second straight start. He had trouble with his command and each inning seemed like a battle for him, but if it wasn't for Chase Utley he might have walked away with an easy victory.

After the Yankees jumped out to a quick two-run lead in the top of the first, Shane Victorino blooped a double to shallow left and the Utley ripped a bullet off of the right centerfield wall. Sabathia would give up the tying run in the fourth when Ryan Howard singled and stole second with no throw. Pedro Feliz would tie the game for the first time when he ripped a bullet at Johnny Damon. Initially it looked as though Howard touched the plate, but further replays showed that all 6'4" 203 lbs. of him missed the plate.

The Yankees responded the next inning. Swisher worked a four pitch walk and when Melky Cabrera grounded a ball up the middle Chase Utley attempted a highlight reel double play by flipping the ball to Jimmy Rollins with his glove. He could have easily got the force out at second, cutting of a potential big inning for the Yankees, but instead he flipped the ball ten feet in the air and the Yankees had first and second and nobody out.

Jeter and Damon followed with RBI singles and the Yankees were again in control. The game stayed stable until Chase Utley went to work on Sabathia again. It looked as though Sabathia would work his way through an easy seventh until Utley strode to the plate again. Again Sabathia got ahead of Utley and again Utley crushed a ball to deep right. That was the end of Sabathia and in came Damaso Marte who's postseason resurgence continued as he retired Howard for the second consecutive night.

In the eighth Joba Chamberlain looked good in relief for the first time since early 2008. He struck out Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez in convincing fashion and had Pedro Feliz set up before leaving a 3-2 fastball down the middle. Feliz crushed it to tie the game and while he made Carlos Ruiz look foolish on a slider to end the inning, the game was tied and things did not look good for the Yankees.

Brad Lidge came on and for the first two batters he looked like vintage Brad Lidge. He had Johnny Damon down 1-2. Damon worked the count full then slapped a 3-2 fastball to left. Damon took off for second on the first pitch and when Feliz stepped in front of the bag to field the throw Damon took advantage and stole an unattended third base. From that point on Brad Lidge circa 2005 showed up. Scared to throw his slider he plunked Mark Teixeira before A-Rod ripped a double to give the Yankees the lead. Jorge tacked on two more with a single and Mo slammed the door with eight pitches.

Now with a 3-1 lead the Yankees will face Cliff Lee who will battle with A.J. Burnett. Burnett has always been solid on three days rest. In four starts he is 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA. He was also dominant in his Game 2 start with seven solid innings. Lee will be on full rest and is still in the midst of one of the most dominating starting performances in postseason history. The Yankees go for the series, and they will need just 27 outs for their 27th title. This is what the season is all about.

Lee and Utley Dominate Yanks

So it is apparent that Cliff Lee is disgusting and could be a huge force in the series. Same goes for Chase Utley. It is not like anyone didn't see these two guys coming, both have been close to the best at what they do for the past two or three seasons. Still, it is a bit disheartening that the Yankees would go down so easily in Game 1.

CC Sabathia was good for the Yankees. He was shakey all night but only made two real mistakes, both to Utley. Still seven innings of two run baseball is a solid effort for the big lefty. It is the Yankee bullpen that was the biggest disappointment of the night.

After Sabathia held the Phils in check for seven innings, the bullpen utterly collapsed. Phil Hughes looks like he is scared these past few rounds, and Brian Bruney should be nowhere a baseball diamond at this time of year. Combined all four relievers allowed four hits, three walks and four runs.

That simply will not get it done and if the bullpen continues to falter as it has then this could be a short series.

As for Game 2, the Yankees should destroy Pedro Martinez and with A.J. Burnett on the mound this game could easily end somewhere around 11-10. But here is the thing. The Yankees normally destroy pitchers like Pedro. He pitches to contact and can't really strike anyone out anymore. He doesn't have overly powerful stuff and relies on location and deception. These are all characteristics of pitchers the Yankees normally hit, meaning that in a playoff setting he is bound to dominate. Think Kenny Rogers circa 2006 (although he clearly cheated with his pine tar palm) or even Paul Byrd in '07.

No matter how Pedro pitches A.J. Burnett can do a lot to rehab his image after his poor performance in Game 5 of the ALCS. The Yankees need this game and Burnett needs a good showing.

ALCS Game 6 Recap

So the Angels did their part to help the pathetic airline industries by hitching a ride back across the country for little to no reason. After making the two teams wait for two days the Yankees and the Angels finally got their shot to conclude their series and see who would get the chance to take on the Phillies in the World Series.

As has happened throughout this postseason, the Yankees began the game by leaving numerous runners on base and allowing Joe Saunders to work out of trouble in the first, second and third. Saunders ran out of magic in the fourth inning when he allowed a lead off walk to Robinson Cano and a single to Nick Swisher. After another ill advised sacrifice bunt by Melky Cabrera moved the runners into scoring position Derek Jeter worked a walk.

That brought up Johnny Damon who had already failed to come through for the Yankees in the second inning with the bases loaded and two outs. This time Damon didn't miss his pitch, lining a two-run single into left-center field. After a Mark Teixeira infield hit, Alex Rodriguez worked a walk to give the Yankees a two-run lead.

The game remained relatively stagnant for the next four innings until, of all things, Mariano Rivera surrendered his first earned run at home during the playoffs since 2000. At that point it seemed that those damn Angels were gonna work a rally, this time against the best the Yankee bullpen had to offer. But in the bottom of the eighth the Yankee bats started scraping together some runs to give Rivera breathing room and with the help of Scott Kazmir's latest implosion this October they did just that.

13 pitches later and another poor at bat by Gary Matthews Jr. the Yankees were celebrating and moving on to the World Series. CC Sabathia now has hardware to dispell any notion he isn't a big game pitcher. Sabathia was every bit the ace the Yankees paid a $160 million for this off-season. He stifled the Angels for eight innings on two separate occasions, once on short rest. The Yankees will need the same thing if they expect to defeat the Phillies.

Rodriguez deserves mention as a runner-up to Sabathia in that MVP voting, and if not for the Angels giving him the Barry Bonds treatment for the last two games he might have stolen the honor from Sabathia. Five walks in the final two games made sure he didn't have a chance to have a huge impact with his bat. His final line for the series though, .429/.567/.952 was out of this world and should dispel any idea that he can't perform on a big stage.

This win wasn't only big from a historical standpoint for the Yankees, who finally overcame their regular season and playoff demons against the Angels, but also from a strategic standpoint. The Yankees now have all their ducks in a row for the World Series. CC Sabathia will be able to take the ball for Game 1 and the extended rest he is now getting will probably convince the Yankees to use him three times during the Series if necessary.

The World Series analysis will begin shortly, but at least for today, it is time to enjoy what the Yanks have gotten so far and get excited about what is to come.

Sabathia and A-Rod: Beasts Among Men

Watching both CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez play this postseason has been beyond belief. Both have done everything that Yankee fans could ask for. They have stepped up their game to a different level and they did it again last night.

On three days rest Sabathia completely overpowered the Anaheim while Rodriguez continued to pound Angels pitching, and pitching in general this postseason.

The victory left the Yankees one game away from the World Series and it is really Rodriguez that has the Yankees on the precipice of their first World Series in six years.

Rodriguez just has a different look at the plate than before. Every time up he gives off this aura that he is going to pound the ball somewhere. Even the opposing teams are noticing. Rarely do you ever see the opposing manager walk the potential winning run, but that was exactly what Mike Scoiscia did in Game 3 and it was the right move. After his home run off of Jason Bulger in the fifth Rodriguez surpassed his home run and RBI totals from his first four postseason's with the Yankees. His line for this postseason now stands at .407/.469/1.000.

Sabathia has been almost as equally dominant on the other side of the ball. The lefty continues to prove that any previous notion that he lacked the fortitude to win big games was just ludicrous. In three postseason starts Sabathia has three victories, a K:B ratio of almost 7:1 and an ERA of just 1.19. He has pitched into the seventh inning of every start and completed the eighth in the past to trips out to the hill. He has proven he can be every bit the horse he is in the regular in the playoffs if he is not worked into the ground just to get there.

Many speculated the Yankees would only go as far as Sabathia and A.J. Burnett would take them in the playoffs and while Burnett is still a big key to Yankee success, A-Rod has done much to overshadow the stellar Yankee pitching of this postseason and bring the Yankees to the brink of the World Series. If Sabathia continues to pitch the way he has and A-Rod keeps mashing it will be difficult for anyone to slow down the Bombers.

ALCS Game 4

Ok here we go into Game 4. CC Sabathia is on the mound hoping to put the Angels in a 3-1 hole. The reality is the Yankees should be looking to move on to the World Series tonight, but no team has ever gone undefeated in a postseason since the installation of the Division Series in 1995.

I wont speak too much about Girardi's over-managemant of the bullpen in Game 3 since it has been discussed ad nauseum for the entire day. I will sum up my feelings by saying Dave Robertson is good and should be trusted more than Girardi is trusting him. Girardi really only trusts Mariano Rivera, and after last night's magic act in the 10th he has thoroughly proven he is from another planet, but I would trust Robertson almost as much as Phil Hughes after his playoff performance so far.

Anyway back to tonight. There will be much talk about Scott Kazmir and his history against the Yankees. While the numbers are good for his career against the bombers, from my experience of watching Kazmir against the Yankees, the key will be how quickly they elevate his pitch count. The Yankees have success against the lefty when the work the count and many times they get him out of the game before the sixth.

There shouldn't be too much worry about Sabathia. The big man has had success on three days rest and the Yankees purposefully under used him September for this very reason. He should be on point again, but the key to the game will be how quickly the bats can get to work on Kazmir.

Yankees-Angels Game 1

Most people during and after the game made note that last night's game had the feel of a role reversal. The Angels were making mistakes while the Yankees continued to try and pressure opposing defenses with running first to third and trying to force them to make plays.

But the story is more about CC Sabathia who continued to show what he can do in playoffs. Really talk about his inability to pitch on the big stage was ridiculous and these first two starts have done much to rebuild his playoff legacy in the right direction. Sabathia's biggest reason for success is his command so far. The big lefty has only walked one batter in his 14.2 playoff innings.

Sabathia even made a big defensive play on a Torii Hunter bunt. A controversial play at the time, for once the umpires could go back to their locker room and be relieved that they actually got one right.

The game also lead to a break out from a couple of the Yankee bats. Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui finally put together a few hits, though one of Matsui's was a blatant error but MLB refuses to acknowledge mental errors. Having a couple more hitters behind A-Rod and Jeter will do wonders for the Yankee offense. At some point they will need their bats to slug it out with an opponent and the sooner they can get some of these hitters out of their funk the better. The good sign last night was that the Yankees were able to hit with two outs as both Jeter and Matsui put runs on the board with two-outs and runners in scoring position.

Tonight will match up Joe Saunders with A.J. Burnett, that is, if they can actually get the game played. This could be one of those games that the Yankee offense needs to step up. It could also be a game fought out between the bullpens as any long delay could knock both starters out of the game early.

Looking at ALCS Pitching Match Ups

So it looks like the Yankees are pretty well set for their rotation and with the Angels announcing their official ALCS rotation we can finally take a look at what each side is bring to the mound. Here are the first two match ups for this weekend.

Game 1 Match Up: CC Sabathia vs. John Lackey
We will start with Sabathia since he will be on the mound first. Everyone knows what the big lefty brings to the table; power fastball, hard slider, change up and an occasional curve. Sabathia did get roughed up by the Angels both times he pitched against them, but both of those starts came before the All-Star break when the big guy had yet to hit his stride with the Bombers in the second half. The Yankees are essentially putting their playoff existence in the hands of Sabathia by taking advantage of their off-days and using him three times if necessary during the ALCS. People like to judge Sabathia by his playoff record and to date he only has two quality playoff starts. The reality is that with his team's season on the line the man became an absolute beast with the Brewers and saved their season. The man can pitch when it counts.

Lackey is someone else who knows how to pitch when it counts. Lackey pitched well this year despite missing a month and a half due to injury. He has the guile to go into most stadiums and win in a hostile environment. Lackey pitched well against the Yankees the one time he faced them, outdueling CC in Anahiem during the first half finale. Lackey is the kind of pitcher that can always hurt the Yankees. He is fearless and he works with good command. The thing is he is hittable and the Yankees can get to him. This will easily be the best match up of the series.

Game 2 Match Up: A.J. Burnett vs. Joe Saunders
We all know what Burnett does. He is very predictable in that he can be unpredictable. Burnett could throw a no-hitter or he could give up seven runs, although I doubt Girardi is giving him that long of a leash in the ALCS. People are constantly worried about Burnett or who is catching him. Really I think his Game 2 performance will be what Burnett does this time around. He will walk a tightrope and give up a few runs, but I think he keeps the Yanks in the game.

Many would have criticized Mike Scoisia if he had let Jered Weaver start Game 2. Weaver isn't particularly good against the Yankees and he is particularly bad away from home. Joe Saunders is definitely a better choice than Weaver but he is not as good a choice as Scott Kazmir. Kazmir is someone who usually gives the Yankees all they can handle. Saunders had one bad start against New York and one good one after he returned from a stint on the DL. Things could go either way for him.

Each match up is close and could go either way. I think the Yankees get the edge in these first two only because of home field advantage. That last at bat will be huge, especially with the Yankees bullpen death. Each game should be close as Sabathia and Lackey probably trade zeros most of the way while Saunders and Burnett see who can put up fewer crooked numbers. I sure both games will take forever with the way the weather looks this weekend. Yet another reason the MLB's idiotic lack of flex scheduling kills the excitement of the playoffs.

Game 1 Recap: Yankees 7, Twins 2

It didn't start the way the Yankees were hoping. While CC Sabathia had good stuff, he and Jorge Posada failed to get into a groove early on. In the first inning with Denard Span on second and Joe Mauer at the plate Sabathia uncorked a slider when Posada was looking fastball. Sabathia was able to bear down and strike out the AL Batting champ to negate the miscue.

What Sabathia could not prevent was a run from scoring when he and Posada were crossed up a second time in the third. He also couldn't prevent Posada from lallygagging to the passed ball, allowing Mauer to correct his hesitation and score the Twins second run. Posada may not like Jose Molina starting over him on Friday night, but his performance wasn't going to give Girardi too many second thoughts.

This, of course, set the stage for the Captain. After Melky Cabrera squeaked out an infield single, Derek Jeter drove a 1-0 pitch from Brian Duensing into the left-field seats to tie the game at two. From then on it was all Yankees. Sabathia found his groove and with the bats finding their stroke the Twins couldn't touch him the rest of the way. He struck out eight Twins over his 6.2 innings, dispelling myths that he could not perform on the big stage of postseason play. Sabathia made it a good night in Yankeeland.

Hell even A-Rod was hitting, that's how good things got for the Yankees. But speaking of A-Rod, can this finally stop? The constant analysis of his performance and the state of his psyche is bordering on the absurd. The reality is that players will have ten, sometimes 20 at bat stretches where they can't get themselves together. You can't take such small sample sizes, spread out over several years and say that he cannot perform in the postseason.

With those stigmas wiped clean, the onus now falls on whether A.J. Burnett and his battery mate Jose Molina measure up on Friday night.

In other news the Rockies were knocked around by the Phillies 5-1. Cliff Lee was spectacular and it is hard to envision the Rockies putting up much of a fight against the defending NL Champs. Cliff Lee was on point the entire game. So that is one way for Charlie Manual to avoid using his suspect bullpen. I would have preferred to see Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain dismantle people in the playoffs, but alas Brian Sabean has never been able to put together a decent lineup behind his ridiculous pitching staff.

The Dodgers and the Cardinals squared off in the nightcap. The Cardinals, with Chris Carpenter on the mound, dropped the opener 5-3. The scary thing about playing the Cardinals, aside from Albert Pujols, was facing Carpenter and Adam Wainwright at the top of the rotation. With Carpenter flopping in Game 1 the Cardinals are in bad shape. It seemed that every pitcher that came in for the Cards was scared of the Dodger lineup, consistantly pitching around hitters. The problem is that eventually you have to pitch to somebody.

Bring on the Twinkies

Well it took an extra two days and one hell of a playoff game, but the Yankees finally have an opponent for their Division Series. The Twins are the lucky winners of Who Wants to Play the Yankees Sweepstakes. Although I'm not sure you could call them lucky as the match up against the Yankees is a landslide on paper in favor of the bombers.

The bombers have better hitting, better starting and a bullpen that slightly outmatches a solid Twins crew led by Joe Nathan. The Twins are coming off an exhausting run to the playoffs where they had to win 17 0f 21 including a one game playoff. Now they are flying halfway across the country to take on a team they failed to defeat once this season.

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Ron Gardenhire and the Twins ability to constantly compete for a playoff spot regardless of their roster deficiencies or when their owner decides to be absurdly cheap, but can you really choose anybody but the Yankees to win this series? Just look at the Game 1 starters: Brian Duensing vs. CC Sabathia. This is a David vs. Goliath match up in every respect for these two teams except of course for Joe Mauer.

I also think that any Yankee player who previously had post-season struggles (Sabathia/A-Rod) will be able to get beyond them in this time around. Sabathia hasn't worn himself out while carrying his team to the playoffs, and Rodriguez has had a different aura around him since he came back from hip surgery early this season. Both should be ready to step up during this October.

I've learned that in the playoffs, any team can beat any other team in such a short series, which of course is part of the problem with the MLB playoffs, but in this case I can't see the Twins pulling out more than one game. I predict the Yankees in 4.

Dice-K Good, Sabathia Better

Matsuzaka was his old self last night as he pitched around five walks en route to allowing just one run in seven innings. Unfortunately for the Sox, C.C. Sabathia looked masterful again. If he's finally learned how to pitch to the Sox, we're dead. In spite of it all, Dice-K looks more than adequate to serve as the Sox fourth starter in the playoffs considering how well Lester, Buchholz, and Beckett have pitched lately.

I was hoping the Sox could make things a little tougher on the Yanks and delay the inevitable a bit longer. I at least wanted NY to have to work to clinch the division and expend just a bit more energy prior to the post season, but it was not to be.

This may be the last time we see Sox and Yanks this season, and to tell the truth, I'm not sure if I care to see another match up in the ALCS. I can't stay up for five hour games that don't start until 9 PM. I can't stomach the Fox coverage and the Bucky Dent/Aaron Boone/Big Papi/ Curt Schilling mini feature film montage at the outset of every game. When you watch that, it's no wonder why the rest of the country can't stand either team.

Tonight we've got two old, crafty pitchers on the mound in the form of Paul Byrd and Andy Pettttitttte. I predict that they will both be out by the fourth inning. Final score: Sox 12, Yanks 10. It will be over just before I go to work tomorrow on account of four or five rain delays.

Considering the Playoff Rotation

Obviously the Yankee playoff rotation begins and ends with CC Sabathia. He will need to be an ace if the Yankees expect to go anywhere beyond the first round. But Sabathia has been remarkably consistent in the second half so really the question marks begin with spot number two. Right now the debate rages over whether A.J. or Andy deserves that honor.

The Yankees must be hoping that A.J. Burnett has pretty much gotten out of his funk with two start solid starts. I honestly don't understand why people were freaking out about him. Burnett is a Jekyll and Hyde pitcher. Everyone who knows anything about baseball knows that he has the stuff to be amazing, but his inconsistency has always kept him from being one of the better pitchers in baseball. I guess it just makes good copy to worry about something when the team has every conceivable objective virtually locked up.

Burnett was slow out of the gate in April and passable in May. In June and July he was the best pitcher on the team and we all know about his August trials and tribulations. Now it seems that he has found his stride again in September, which of course makes the Yankees feel better about their October rotation.

Burnett really should be the number two starter no matter how he was pitching during this stretch run. He is a far better pitcher at home where he seems to be more comfortable and Andy Pettitte also seems to be a better pitcher on the road. It also splits up the two lefties and your two power pitchers. The question also arises of who you would rather have pitching in certain situations.

If Sabathia and Pettitte were your first two starters and both falter at home, leaving you in an 0-2 hole, do you really want someone as volatile as Burnett making his first playoff start on the road? Conversely if Sabathia and Burnett both go down you have your playoff hardened veteran lefty to face a hostile road crowd in a situation where he tends to thrive.

Thankfully Burnett is starting to make the decision easy for Joe Girardi. With those three at the top the Yankees will have the ability to match up with any front three in the league.

Now any four in the league is an entirely different question. The Yankees have huge questions about who would start game four. It is possible that they could avoid such a dilemma during the first round but if they were to make it to the ALCS then a fourth starter is a must. So far it can't be Joba Chamberlain. While the ability is there the execution is nowhere to be found. After getting bombed by the Mariners on Sunday it would seem that unless Joba shuts down the Sox and the Royals/Rays he may be watching the first round from the pen.

If that is the case then clearly Chad Gaudin is the number four for the Yankees. Though he leaves much to be desired in terms of pitching deep into games, he has been very effective of late and right now the Yankees have to have far more confidence in his ability to keep them in a game than Joba's.

The Yanks will begin the playoffs at home. The rotation should stack up as Sabathia in Game 1, Burnett in Game 2 and Pettitte in Game 3. Then repeat. At least that's the way it should be.

Yankees Continue to Roll O's

It's always nice when the Yankees get to ease out of a homestand by going to their secondary digs just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. It is a perpetual joke among Yankees and Sox fans that Baltimore is either Yankee Stadium South or Fenway South when each team roles into town.

Now it is becoming downright sad. Now I despise competitive balance, but with certain teams I always feel bad because at one point they used to be good and due to incompetent leadership they have continued to falter.

The Yankees can have little sympathy for the O's right now and they were unrelenting against an awful bullpen. After A-Rod's clutch single in the seventh to give Sabathia the lead, the bats went to task on the Baltimore bullpen, scoring seven in the ninth.

Speaking of Sabathia, the big man continued his unmitigated dominance of opposing bats. Over his past six starts Sabathia has an ERA of 1.83 and has struck out 53 batters in 44 innings of work. Opponents are hitting a minuscule .206 off him. It is the performance Yankee fans have been hoping for since the big man signed his name on the dotted line last off-season.

With Sabathia on point and Andy Pettitte looking like the Andy Pettitte of 10 years ago the Yankees appear to have their top two lined up for the playoffs. Now they just need A.J. Burnett to come around, and while things might not look good right now, everyone knows that he can be streaky. Personally I would rather he suck right now than a month from now. He still has at least four starts to straighten things out.

It is off to Toronto now and a series of unfortunate pitching match ups. The Yankees may just be hoping for a split as they toss out Chad Gaudin, Joba Chamberlain, Andy Pettitte and Mitre against the Jays.

Yankees Keep Knocking On Sox

So as things go the Yankees ripped on the Sox on Friday and then the Sox got their revenge on Saturday. Sunday was set up to be the rubber match on the series with both teams sending their aces to the mound. Everyone was expecting to see a scoreless duel between the major league leaders in wins, so of course it was another sloppy slugfest.

Well to be fair Sabathia was pretty much on point except for that rough little second inning he had, but really those were the only two runs he should have given up if the Yankees defense had simply remembered how to catch a pop up.

Either way, Sabathia out pitched Josh Beckett by a mile. Beckett was tagged for a career high in home runs, five, as the Yankees attacked him early in the count to avoid seeing any of his nasty breaking pitches. Not much else you can really say about it except that Beckett didn't adjust to the Yanks new strategy, although I'm sure he will have a completely new attack plan by the next time the Yanks see him.

The other star of the game and perhaps of the series (excluding Saturday's performance) was Hideki Matsui. Matsui had his knees drained in Seattle last weekend and every since he has been back to his mid-season form. He slammed four homers this series and has quietly been a big force in the middle of the Yankee lineup.

Obviously Matsui is near the end, but right now he is a big part of the Yankee lineup and he can still make pitchers pay for mistakes. Keeping him healthy for the playoffs will be a priority for Girardi down the stretch.

This win was big for the Yankees. Sure they would have still been safe with a 5.5 game lead, but taking two of three really buts another dagger in the division race and prevents the Sox from gaining any downward momentum towards the Yankees. It also keeps them looking over their shoulder at both the Rays and The even closer Rangers. It will be an interesting final month for the Sox to say the least.