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.
Showing posts with label Brett Gardner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brett Gardner. Show all posts
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Yankees Chop Down Magic Number; Win in Anaheim
It only took five tries, but the Yankees finally jumped the last hurtle they had waiting for them this season when they defeated the Angels in Angel Stadium. It wasn't exactly a text book win and there where plenty of things that they did wrong, but in the end the Yankees jumped on the Angels, blew the lead and then rallied again for the victory.
The last part is the most important part of the equation. A week and a half ago we saw Brett Gardner come in to pinch run for Mark Teixeira. Gardner then Scioscia'd the Angels by stealing third and scoring on the subsequent Mike Napoli throwing error. The Angels, not to be shown up by their own style of play, did almost the exact same thing last night after Robinson Cano's fielding error allowed the tying run on base.
Howie Kendrick then stole second and moved to third when Jorge Posada threw the ball into center field. Phil Hughes recovered enough to keep the game tied and in the top half of the ninth, the Yankees were able to unleash Brett Gardner again. Gardner has a weapon the Yankees have lacked for years: legs. Gardner's ability to steal bases virtually at will is something that could change their fortunes in any game.
Last night is the perfect example. After his lead-off single in the ninth Gardner took larger and larger leads off of first base. The Angels knew he was going. Everyone in the ballpark knew he was going and Gardner still stole the base easily. That allowed Jeter to walk and then Johnny Damon dropped a perfect two-strike bunt. And of course A-Rod came through with a clutch sacrifice fly, but if not for Gardner running Torii Hunter would have had a shot at throwing out the runner at the plate.
So for the second time in two week the Yankees have hurt the Angels at their own game. In other news from last night, Chad Gaudin was serviceable again and has been solid in his four September starts. Despite that solid effort, I would have to say that discussions of his exploits have been a tad overblown. Sure he is a far better option than Joba Chamberlain at the moment, but Gaudin has only made it past the fifth twice in those four starts and while the Yankees have the depth right now to pick him up, they will be in trouble if the have to worry about covering him or Joba in a playoff series.
Either way it will be nice that these will be the questions discussed over the next two weeks as last night's victory dropped the divisional and homefield advantage magic number down to six. The Yankees can start to get their ducks in a row and prepare to make a mark on the playoffs for the 14 time in 15 seasons.
The last part is the most important part of the equation. A week and a half ago we saw Brett Gardner come in to pinch run for Mark Teixeira. Gardner then Scioscia'd the Angels by stealing third and scoring on the subsequent Mike Napoli throwing error. The Angels, not to be shown up by their own style of play, did almost the exact same thing last night after Robinson Cano's fielding error allowed the tying run on base.
Howie Kendrick then stole second and moved to third when Jorge Posada threw the ball into center field. Phil Hughes recovered enough to keep the game tied and in the top half of the ninth, the Yankees were able to unleash Brett Gardner again. Gardner has a weapon the Yankees have lacked for years: legs. Gardner's ability to steal bases virtually at will is something that could change their fortunes in any game.
Last night is the perfect example. After his lead-off single in the ninth Gardner took larger and larger leads off of first base. The Angels knew he was going. Everyone in the ballpark knew he was going and Gardner still stole the base easily. That allowed Jeter to walk and then Johnny Damon dropped a perfect two-strike bunt. And of course A-Rod came through with a clutch sacrifice fly, but if not for Gardner running Torii Hunter would have had a shot at throwing out the runner at the plate.
So for the second time in two week the Yankees have hurt the Angels at their own game. In other news from last night, Chad Gaudin was serviceable again and has been solid in his four September starts. Despite that solid effort, I would have to say that discussions of his exploits have been a tad overblown. Sure he is a far better option than Joba Chamberlain at the moment, but Gaudin has only made it past the fifth twice in those four starts and while the Yankees have the depth right now to pick him up, they will be in trouble if the have to worry about covering him or Joba in a playoff series.
Either way it will be nice that these will be the questions discussed over the next two weeks as last night's victory dropped the divisional and homefield advantage magic number down to six. The Yankees can start to get their ducks in a row and prepare to make a mark on the playoffs for the 14 time in 15 seasons.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Best Things in Life are Free
Much like the first game of Part I of the Subway Series, the Mets gift wrapped last night's game with three errors in the second inning that lead to four Yankee runs and a seemingly insurmountable lead with CC Sabathia on the mound.
Speaking of the big guy, CC was great last night, dispelling any notion that his $160 million arm was in trouble. If Brett Gardner and A-Rod hadn't padded the Yankee lead with homers in the top of the eighth Sabathia was probably going to come out for an eighth time. CC was touching 98 on the gun and consistently threw strikes with all of his pitches. Ever since Sabathia lost to the Angels on May 2nd he has been every bit the pitcher the Yankees were expecting to get, going 6-1 with a 2.83 ERA while holding opponents to a .195 batting average.
With Yankee fans minds finally at ease we turned our full attention back to A-Rod where it belongs. He continued his rejuvenation and, after taking three walks in his first four plate appearances, smacked an opposite field blast out of cavernous Citi Field. As long as he keeps hitting balls hard to center/right center all will be well with A-Rod.
In the shadow of those big stars was little Brett Gardner. Gardner seemed to toy with the Mets, first flaring hits to left and center field before ripping a homer and a triple to right. Gardner elevated his OBP to a very respectable .374. If he can keep getting on at that rate he will be a very dangerous weapon for the Yankees. Gardner may never be more than a fourth outfielder, but he can be very dangerous in that regard. He can steal bases and play a solid center, which is more than can be said about Melky Cabrera. For the time being Gardner has won his job back from the Melk Man and with Xavier Nady out for the rest of the season he will be on the field for the foreseeable future.
Tonight matches A.J. Burnett against Tim Redding. Like the other pitching match ups, this one heavily favors the Yankees. Burnett shut the Mets down back on June 14 against Johan Santana and then had a solid start against the Marlins, allowing one earned run over 6.1 against Josh Johnson. I've only seen Tim Redding pitch once aand it was four years ago in a Yankee uniform. It was only one inning but it obviously left an impression. He gave up six runs to the Red Sox in just one inning of work.
I would expect nothing less out of Redding this time around.
Speaking of the big guy, CC was great last night, dispelling any notion that his $160 million arm was in trouble. If Brett Gardner and A-Rod hadn't padded the Yankee lead with homers in the top of the eighth Sabathia was probably going to come out for an eighth time. CC was touching 98 on the gun and consistently threw strikes with all of his pitches. Ever since Sabathia lost to the Angels on May 2nd he has been every bit the pitcher the Yankees were expecting to get, going 6-1 with a 2.83 ERA while holding opponents to a .195 batting average.
With Yankee fans minds finally at ease we turned our full attention back to A-Rod where it belongs. He continued his rejuvenation and, after taking three walks in his first four plate appearances, smacked an opposite field blast out of cavernous Citi Field. As long as he keeps hitting balls hard to center/right center all will be well with A-Rod.
In the shadow of those big stars was little Brett Gardner. Gardner seemed to toy with the Mets, first flaring hits to left and center field before ripping a homer and a triple to right. Gardner elevated his OBP to a very respectable .374. If he can keep getting on at that rate he will be a very dangerous weapon for the Yankees. Gardner may never be more than a fourth outfielder, but he can be very dangerous in that regard. He can steal bases and play a solid center, which is more than can be said about Melky Cabrera. For the time being Gardner has won his job back from the Melk Man and with Xavier Nady out for the rest of the season he will be on the field for the foreseeable future.
Tonight matches A.J. Burnett against Tim Redding. Like the other pitching match ups, this one heavily favors the Yankees. Burnett shut the Mets down back on June 14 against Johan Santana and then had a solid start against the Marlins, allowing one earned run over 6.1 against Josh Johnson. I've only seen Tim Redding pitch once aand it was four years ago in a Yankee uniform. It was only one inning but it obviously left an impression. He gave up six runs to the Red Sox in just one inning of work.
I would expect nothing less out of Redding this time around.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Yankees on the Rebound
I'll be honest. I didn't watch the game last night until the encore presentation this morning because of the two-hour Lost season finale. As great as it would have been to see a Yankee win finally, that finale was amazing, but I digress.
You can't really blame the Yanks for losing to Roy Halladay Tuesday night, I mean it's Roy Halladay. The guy is a beast, and though you would like to see a better effort from Burnett, I don't think anyone expected him to measure up to one of the Gold Standard pitchers in the game.
For once the Yanks scored the majority of their runs without the benefit of the long ball. Although they have put up a ton of runs this season, I think that their inability to hit with men in scoring position has seriously curtailed their ability to win close games, the few they have had.
It was a good win against a pitcher the Yankees need to beat with a lineup that was below its normal strength with Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui sitting on the bench with nagging injuries. We will know if Matsui's hamstring is really bad tonight if he sits against Blue Jay starter Brian Tallet. The hobbled DH is 6-9 off of the lefty with four extra base hits.
FYI... Brett Gardner has more homers in fewer at bats this season than David Ortiz. Kinda puts the size of Big Papi's slump is into perspective.
You can't really blame the Yanks for losing to Roy Halladay Tuesday night, I mean it's Roy Halladay. The guy is a beast, and though you would like to see a better effort from Burnett, I don't think anyone expected him to measure up to one of the Gold Standard pitchers in the game.
For once the Yanks scored the majority of their runs without the benefit of the long ball. Although they have put up a ton of runs this season, I think that their inability to hit with men in scoring position has seriously curtailed their ability to win close games, the few they have had.
It was a good win against a pitcher the Yankees need to beat with a lineup that was below its normal strength with Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui sitting on the bench with nagging injuries. We will know if Matsui's hamstring is really bad tonight if he sits against Blue Jay starter Brian Tallet. The hobbled DH is 6-9 off of the lefty with four extra base hits.
FYI... Brett Gardner has more homers in fewer at bats this season than David Ortiz. Kinda puts the size of Big Papi's slump is into perspective.
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