ANAHEIM – The repercussions of this loss will not be felt until the end of the series or even as early as the end of Game 4, but Joe Girardi is going to have plenty to answer for if the Yankees allow this to get away from them.
Leading 3-0 in the fifth inning with a chance to put a chokehold on the Angels, they saw their lead dissipate in the middle innings, only to fall 4-3 in 11 innings to see their lead in the American League Championship Series shrink to 2-1 in front of 44,911 at Angel Stadium.
The move that will be discussed in length will be Girardi’s decision to remove pitcher David Robertson, who arguably has been the team’s best reliever (outside of Mariano Rivera) with two outs and bases empty in exchange for Alfredo Aceves, who has struggled throughout the last six weeks of the season. In Game 2, he gave up an RBI single to Chone Figgins in Game 2 on Saturday.
Aceves came in to face Howie Kendrick and gave up a solid single up the middle and the game ended when catcher Jeff Mathis smashed a double to left center to win the game as Kendrick scored from first.
The Yankees were paced early on by three solo homeruns. Derek Jeter led off the game with a blast on a 2-0 pitch from Angels starter Jered Weaver. Alex Rodriguez continued his impressive postseason crushing a 3-1 fastball deep over the wall in left. Johnny Damon made it 3-0 when he homered to right.
In between, there were additional chances to increase the lead as they had runners on first and second with no one out in the second and with one out in the fourth, but did not score.
Andy Pettitte was on his game early and was able to bail himself of any trouble by inducing double plays in both the first and the second and picking off Torii Hunter in the fourth.
The Angels finally got on the board when Kendrick homered to left in the bottom of the fifth. Needing one more out to finish the inning, both Pettitte and Posada appeared to have a miscommunication. This brought Girardi to the mound for a conference. On the next pitch, Vladimir Guerrero took a 2-2 cutter and homered to left to tie the game at 3-3.
Pettitte would depart with one out in the seventh and Joba Chamberlain came in. On the afternoon, Pettitte gave up those three runs, seven hits, walking one and striking out two. However, Chamberlain quickly gave up a triple to Kendrick and then a sacrifice fly to Macier Izturis to give the Angels a 4-3 lead.
Hideki Matsui lead off the eighth with a walk and pinch runner Brett Gardner would be caught stealing second when the Angels pitched out. Jorge Posada would then homer to dead center to tie the game at four, making Gardner being caught look awful.
The Angels were primed to tie the score when Bobby Abreu took a Phil Hughes to deep center for a double. However, in sprinting for third, Derek Jeter cut off the throw by Melky Cabrera and Abreu put on the brakes and tried to return to second, but Jeter threw to Mark Teixeira, who backed up the play and tagged Abreu out.
In the tenth, Mathis led off with a double and Mariano Rivera was brought in. Erick Aybar attempted a sacrifice and Rivera’s throw to third base went wide, but Damon was backing up the play. After Chone Figgins grounded out, Abreu was intentionally walked to load the bases. Hunter would hit into a force play where Teixeira came home to get Mathis as the lead runner. Guerrero would end the threat by grounding out to Teixeira to end the inning.
Because of the changes with the pinch runners and double switching Johnny Damon for Jerry Hairston, the Yankees were left with only Freddy Guzman and Francisco Cervelli on the bench as the final reserves. This came into play when Cervelli was forced to bat for Rivera, whose spot came up third in the inning. Cervelli promptly struck out.
Robertson would start the eleventh and get the first two men out before Girardi turned to Aceves, his seventh reliever of the game, leaving only Chad Gaudin as the last man left in the bullpen.
The Yankees will try to take a 3-1 lead in the series with CC Sabathia starting on three days rest on Tuesday night against from Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir.
No comments:
Post a Comment