10/06: Yankees' Poor Defense Allows Angels to Tie Series
Posted by: Seamus
The Angels are heading back to the Bronx on Friday with the series tied at a game apiece. The Angels took Game 2 by a score of 5-3 courtesy of a solid performance by the Angels' bullpen and poor defense by the Yankees' infield. Chien-Ming Wang made his first career post-season start and was superb, but left the game with the Yankees trailing 4-2 as the Yankees allowed three unearned runs behind him on three errors by Yankee infielders, albeit one by Wang himself. The first Yankee error was by Robinson Cano in the 2nd inning, but it turned out to be harmless as the inning ended with the Yanks still leading 1-0. The next came in the 6th inning via Alex Rodriguez on a ground ball by Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera later came home to score on a single by Bengie Molina. In the 7th, a throw by Chien-Ming Wang pulled Tino Martinez off first base, allowing Steve Finley to reach on a sacrifice bunt. Both runners came around to score with two outs as Cabrera drove them home with a big single. Ben Molina put another run on the board with a homer in the 8th, but it wasn't needed as the Yankees would only get one more, courtesy of a home run by Jorge Posada.
As mentioned, aside from his error in the 7th, Wang was pretty good. The line score for him was 1 ER on 6 hits in 6 and 2/3. John Lackey pitched okay, as he allowed just two, but did not get through the 6th inning. The Yankees' bats were pretty quiet, as only Posada had a multi-hit game. Jeter, A-Rod, and Gary Sheffield were all held hitless. The Angels' offense all came from three players, as Juan Rivera and Ben Molina both had 2 hits including a dinger for each, and Orlando Cabrera drove in 2 runs with that single in the 7th.
Well, I don't know what purpose I could serve by trying to analyze why the Angels won this game and why the Yankees lost. It's quite simple. When your team gives up as many unearned runs as your team scores runs, you have nobody to blame but yourself. With all due respect to the Angels, as they did of course have to actually bring those runs home, this game was not as much a matter of the Angels winning as it was the Yankees losing. The Yanks found a way to beat themselves this time.
So now this best-of-5 series becomes best-of-3 as the teams will head back to Yankee Stadium Friday night with the series tied at 1. On the upside, the Yankees have taken over home-field advantage in this series by splitting the first two games in Anaheim. The Yankees will send Randy Johnson to the mound to face Paul Byrd Friday night at 8 p.m. If the Unit can give us what he's given us over his last 6 or 7 starts, I think we should be fine.
As mentioned, aside from his error in the 7th, Wang was pretty good. The line score for him was 1 ER on 6 hits in 6 and 2/3. John Lackey pitched okay, as he allowed just two, but did not get through the 6th inning. The Yankees' bats were pretty quiet, as only Posada had a multi-hit game. Jeter, A-Rod, and Gary Sheffield were all held hitless. The Angels' offense all came from three players, as Juan Rivera and Ben Molina both had 2 hits including a dinger for each, and Orlando Cabrera drove in 2 runs with that single in the 7th.
Well, I don't know what purpose I could serve by trying to analyze why the Angels won this game and why the Yankees lost. It's quite simple. When your team gives up as many unearned runs as your team scores runs, you have nobody to blame but yourself. With all due respect to the Angels, as they did of course have to actually bring those runs home, this game was not as much a matter of the Angels winning as it was the Yankees losing. The Yanks found a way to beat themselves this time.
So now this best-of-5 series becomes best-of-3 as the teams will head back to Yankee Stadium Friday night with the series tied at 1. On the upside, the Yankees have taken over home-field advantage in this series by splitting the first two games in Anaheim. The Yankees will send Randy Johnson to the mound to face Paul Byrd Friday night at 8 p.m. If the Unit can give us what he's given us over his last 6 or 7 starts, I think we should be fine.
Michael wrote:
Well put Seamus.
I believe Torre needs to look at juggling the lineup too. Move A-Rod down in the batting order to 5th, and move Matsui up to 2nd. A-Rod is hitless thus far in the postseason, and has reached base only by the 2 walks he has drawn. By putting Matsui in the 2nd slot, you don't give up much as far as taking anything away from Giambi batting 3rd. Here I go 2nd guessing Torre again. Thoughts?