It Wasn't Always Pretty, But Yankees Up 2-0

The Yankees are up 2-0 on the Angels behind strong pitching performances from A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia. The Yankees bullpen has been spectacular and A-Rod has been a huge playoff force. Yet this is definitely not how they drew it up when the Yankees planned their postseason...but they'll take it.

The weather wasn't anything you would want to play or watch baseball in, but the two games were played without delay. The Yankees now will be able to bring CC Sabathia back on short rest for Game 4. The Yankees were not good defensively yesterday with the weather, but the Angels were worse, with 6 errors over the first two games including the critical 6th error which scored the game-winning run last night.

The Yankees starting pitching did well, but the bullpen took them through last night. Overall they pitched 6.2 innings giving up 5 H, 1 ER, and 6 K. The 5 walks was a little too high, but overall, the bullpen was great.

My dad and I disagreed with Girardi's use of his roster yesterday. I had been critical of Girardi's use of his bench and his bullpen all year, but I thought he worked it perfectly last night. I don't have any problem with Girardi using Joba Chamberlain for one out or bringing in Freddy Guzman to pinch run. Those situations are what those guys are there for. I know that the Yankees left themselves with only one pitcher in the bullpen (Chad Gaudin) and one bench player (Francisco Cervelli), but Gaudin could have gone 75 pitches according to Girardi in his postgame press conference and Cervelli was really the only bench player they needed as the third catcher.

Sure they could have used Matsui's bat the lineup when Freddy Guzman batted, but Guzman's speed set up a perfect situation for him to score...before the Yankees hit into one of their 3 GIDPs.

The Yankees were far from perfect in Game 1 (11 men left on base, 3-12 with RISP) or Game 2 (3 errors, 12 men left on base and 0-8 with RISP) but the Angels were worse in both Game 1 (3 errors leading to two unearned runs) and Game 2 (3 errors, 16 men left on base, and 3-15 with RISP).

In the end, they are going back to Los Angeles with a 2-0 lead because of the starting pitching from CC Sabathia and some timely runs last night. The Yankees paid CC Sabathia all that money to pitch games like that in the postseason. Game 1 of the ALCS, he was as good as can be, hitting his spots and holding the Angels, one of the best offensive teams in baseball, to one run over 8 innings. If he isn't as great in Game 4, I'm sure there will be some questions of why Girardi didn't pull the hefty lefty after 7 innings, but why chance it with him pitching so well? It was great to be there among the 50,000 chanting "CC! CC! CC! CC!".

Game 2 was about the timely runs. A-Rod--who I will admit I booed earlier in the season--again came through in a Game 2 with an amazing tying home run. Both came against the team's closer and Brian Fuentes and Joe Nathan are two of the best in the American League. This one was on an 0-2 pitch and helped dispel the rumor that A-Rod could only hit the Twins in the playoffs. During the regular season, A-Rod put up a .194/.219/.194 line on 0-2 pitches in 31 AB. He had zero extra base hits. I think it's time to start the charge for Kate Hudson for MVP campaign.

In the end, the play that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead was a forgettable one. But in 5 years, we'll probably never remember how it ended. Just that the Yankees survived bad weather and a tough Angels team and went up 2-0 in the series. The last time the Yankees were in an ALCS, they were up 2-0 as well. We are all hoping this series has a better ending.