The Ticket Chest

CC Sensational; A-Rod Still Raking; Yankees Cruise Past Angels 10-1

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB, New York Yankees, Sports | No Comments

WOW – looks like this Yankees team is on a mission.  An offensive explosion and another solid starting pitching effort and the Yankees now lead the Angels 3 games to 1 in the 2009 ALCS.  Game over?  Most definitely.

CC Sabathia has been the man this post-season.  On Tuesday night, Sabathia needed just 101 pitches to throw 8 innings of 1 run ball.  The lone came around on a Kendry Morales solo HR and he gave up just 4 other hits and 2 walks during the outing.  Sabathia also had 5 K’s.  In MLB post-season history, when a pitcher pitching on 3-days’ rest faced a pitcher pitching on regular rest, the team with the regular rest pitcher had won 27 of the 34 games played.  CC erased that trend quickly and easily on Tuesday night with his dominating performance.  In 3 playoffs starts this October, Sabathia is 3-0 in 22 2/3 innings pitched and he has given up just 3 ER, 17 hits and 3 walks during those outings (1.19 ERA and a .200 batting average against).  Pretty amazing, especially for a pitcher who had not had the best post-season track record.

Now to A-Rod – got I hate this guy…  I guess my time to enjoy A-Rod’s post-season struggles has come to an end.  Since A-Rod had 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s during the 2004 ALDS (against the Minnesota Twins) and ALCS (against the Boston Red Sox), A-Rod has been a major disappointment for the Yankees in October.  From 2005 through 2007 (13 games, 44 at-bats), A-Rod delivered a total of 7 hits, 4 runs and only 1 RBI on a solo home run.  A-Rod struck out 15 times and walked only 8 times.  Plain and simple – he was bad and he didn’t come through in the clutch.  But fast-forward to 2009 – A-Rod has been a big reason that the Yankees are where they are.  In just 7 games this post-season (17 at-bats), A-Rod has 11 hits (5 home runs), 9 runs scored and 11 RBI’s.  He has struck out only 4 times and he has an RBI in each game so far.  Last night, A-Rod scored the game’s 1st run after singling to lead off the 4th inning and then his 2-run HR to deep left field extended the Yankees lead to 5-0.  A-Rod kept raking in the 9th inning, leading off with a double and then scoring on Jorge Posada’s line out and subsequent error by Bobby Abreu to add insult to injury.

Sabathia and A-Rod have put the Yankees in a position to finish off the Angels in just 5 games.  A.J. Burnett will have a chance to win the clincher on Thursday night in Anaheim.  Unless the Angels John Lackey can throw a gem against Burnett, I don’t see this series returning to the Bronx for a Game 6…

I Hate Alex Rodriguez, Yankees Top Angels Again…

Monday, October 19th, 2009 | A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, CC Sabathia, Joe Girardi, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Macier Izturis, Mariano Rivera, MLB, New York Yankees, Sports | 1 Comment

It’s plain and simple – I hate Alex Rodriguez.  I was so excited to watch Brian Fuentes close out the 3-2 Angels win on Saturday night.  Fuentes even had lead-off hitter Alex Rodriguez right where he wanted him – 0-2 count with a confused look on his face after he guessed wrong on the first 2 pitches.  Fuentes even had him off-balanced on the 3rd pitch, but A-Rod got just enough of the pitch to drive it a few feet over the right field wall to tie the game at 3.  I would have rather had any other Yankees player tie the game instead of A-Rod.  He annoys me show much – he is all show and he has not delivered in the clutch for the Yankees in his previous post-season at-bats.  But for whatever reason, A-Rod keeps on delivering in October 2009.  Please make it stop soon!

The rest of the game was moot.  You knew the Yankees would ultimately beat the Angels at some point to take a 2 games to none lead over the Angels in the ALCS.  The fact that it came on a Macier Izturis throwing error that allowed Jerry Hairston Jr. to score all the way from 2nd base made it even all the more frustrating.  Once again, the Angels defense allowed the game to get away from them, and they now go back to California with their backs against the wall.  Jered Weaver needs to show up big time against Andy Pettite in Game 3 this afternoon – there’s no way the Angels will be able to come back from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees.

Two other notes – A.J. Burnett threw another solid game for the Yankees.  Burnett gave up just 2 ER on 3 hits and 2 walks in 6 1/3 innings pitched.  He struck out 4.  Sabathia and Burnett – 2 of the Yankees “Big 3″ free agent signings before the season – have really delivered in the clutch this season.

And how about Mariano Rivera – he conserved his pitches so well that he was able to give Manager Joe Girardi 2 1/3 innings from the bottom of the 8th inning through the 10th inning.  He allowed just 1 hit with 2 K’s and kept the game going for the Yankees to have a chance to pull off the win.

Game 3 starts today at 4:13PM EST in Anaheim.  The game will be televised on Fox…

Solid Yankees Pitching, Poor Fielding Doom Angels in ALCS Game 1 Loss

Saturday, October 17th, 2009 | A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Mariano Rivera, MLB, New York Yankees, Sports | No Comments

I must give CC Sabathia all the credit in the world.  After struggling with the Cleveland Indians (10.45 ERA v. Boston Red Sox in 2007 ALCS) and the Milwaukee Brewers (12.27 ERA v. Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 NLDS), Sabathia has played large (almost as large as his midriff) in the 2009 playoffs for the New York Yankees.  Last night in the Yankees 4-1 win over the Angels in Game 1 of the ALCS, he was simply outstanding.  Sabathia needed only 113 pitches to throw 8 spectacular innings of 1-run ball.  He gave up just 4 hits and walked only 1 batter, while striking out 7 Angels.  The key was his command and keeping the speedy Angels baserunners off the bases.  In the past, Sabathia has struggled with his control in the post-season.  Last night, he was on his game the entire night against a patient Angels team that draws a lot of walks.  Manager Joe Girardi could not have asked for a better outing from the ace of his staff.

The same could be said for Mariano Rivera. He is simply the closest thing to perfection when it comes to post-season performance.  Rivera has an ERA of .074 in over 80 post-season appearances and he did not disappoint last night, even after the home plate umpire handed Torii Hunter a lead-off walk in the 9th inning with several close calls that went the Angels’ way.  But it didn’t faze Rivera at all.  He struck out Vladmir Guerrero and got Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales to fly out weakly to the outfield, and just like that the Yankees had a 1-0 lead in the ALCS.  And just like that Rivera had another big post-season save – he has the coldest ice in his veins of any reliever that I’ve ever seen.

As for the Angels fielding – I know the conditions were not great, but 3 errors?  Come on – this is playoff baseball, from a team that tied a record for best team fielding percentage in franchise history (.986) during the course of the 2009 MLB schedule.  A team that committed 85 errors all season long commits 3 errors in 1 game?  It was so disappointing and painful to watch.  In addition to the 3 errors, Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar miscommunicated on an infield popup that allowed Johnny Damon to score the Yankees 2nd run in the 1st inning.  John Lackey wasn’t great – 9 hits, 3 walks and 2 ER (4 runs total) in 5 2/3 innings – but he deserved better fielding behind him.

The 2 teams won’t have much time to react to the Game 1 outcome as they battle again tonight in the Bronx.  Joe Saunders will pitch for the Angels while A.J. Burnett will toe the rubber for the Yankees.  Saunders was not needed in the ALDS series sweep of the Red Sox, so it will be interesting to see how he fares against the Yankees with 2 weeks in between starts…