10/04: Game 1, ALDS: Yankees @ Cleveland
Posted by: James
The game starts well for the Yankees as Johnny Damon homers on the fifth pitch of the game, a 3-1 pitch as Sabathia is uncharacteristically wild. There was a lot of discussion amongst the umps about whether that HR was fair or foul but the home plate ump called it fair. First off, why do you have an extra couple of umps out there if they can't actually do their jobs? In any case, replays confirmed it - 1-0 Yankees.
Chien-Ming Wang takes the hill for the Yankees and after two outs, walks Pronk and then gives up single, single, walk and another single before getting out of the inning on a force out. Wow, 3-1 Indians and Wang's sinker is not sinking early in this game - let's hope he settles down real quick or this will be a long night.
Bottom of the third, first man up and Wang gives up a homer to the second baseman Cabrera who had 3 all year. Wang giving up homers is a bad sign. 4-1.
Top of the fourth. Sabathia has settled down a little bit but that adrenaline is still pumping. 96-97 MPH through the zone, even at the 80 pitch mark. Still, when you throw that hard, sometimes, all you gotta do is get that fat part of the bat on the ball and that's exactly what Robbie Cano does. HR Cano. 4-2 Indians.
Mitchell over at The Bronx Block says it best:
I could not agree more especially about Ernie Johnson. Wow. Anyway, back to the top of the fifth. Mientkiewicz is taken out of the game - that freak accident must have hurt more than he thought. Shelly Duncan comes in for Doug and promptly singles to right. Johnny Damon up next and he works a walk. Derek Jeter up and after a failed sacrifice, DJ flies out to right without moving the runners over. Bobby Abreu bails him out with a solid AB as he pokes a double down the left side. 4-3 Yankees and this could be where the Yankees make their charge. They intentionally walk A-Rod (!) to load the bases for Posada. That makes sense - Posada is probably the slowest guy on the team, would be an easy DP.
AWWWW NUTS. I am amazed but C.C. actually worked out of the bases loaded, one out situation. Posada struck out swinging and he got Matsui to pop out to short. Wow - that will come back to hurt them - I am sure of it.
Bottom of the fifth. Come on Chien-Ming - can you gut out one more inning?
The answer is a resounding no. Walk, fly out, home run to Victor Martinez. 6-3 Indians and a coaching visit to the mound. After a quick groundout, we are treated to more hard hits. Double from Peralta who scores on a Kenny Lofton single (what a game for Kenny) and that is all for Wang. Wow. Easily the worst start of the game 1 starters - let's hope he gets a chance to atone.
Ross O. is in and after that push last inning, it now feels like the Yankees have given up on this game. Franklin Guiterrez walks and Casey Blake doubles both guys in. 9-3 Indians. Ouch.
The Yankees go quietly in the 6th and at this point, I'm just hoping Ross gives them some innings. There's still a long way to go in this game and I don't want Torre emptying that bullpen this early in the series. My wish falls on deaf ears and Ross gets hammered in the sixth. Hafner homers. 10-3 Indians. Victor Martinez follows with a double and after a few ground outs, Kenny Lofton kills the Yankees again tonight as he doubles home another run. 11-3 Indians and in comes Jose Veras to close out the inning.
Rafael Perez is now in and man, he just mows down the Yankees hitters. No one even got a decent look off the kid.
Bottom of the 7th and there is Phil Hughes, who looks very good in the inning. Unless the Yankees stage a rally of EPIC proportions, he will close out the game and we can get to the next game.
The Yankees continue to go quietly (this Cleveland bullpen is no joke) and I think that they feel the same way.
Melky is actually putting together a good at-bat in the ninth. Hopefully, that will carry into the next couple of games because he had horrible at-bats prior to this inning. However, at this point, you have no other option than to play him (though you could slide Duncan to left and shift Damon back to center). The announcer just called Hideki "Kaz Matsui". Someone get that man a line-up card. Giambi comes up to bat and that's a good move getting him an AB since he will probably start in tomorrow's game. He puts together a good AB and singles past the shift. Still, I just want this fiasco over with.
Game over. Cleveland wins and you know what - let 'em celebrate. Good win for Cleveland and a BAD loss for the Yankees but hey, this series isn't over and this team has come off the deck before. Heck, maybe the Indians have even exhausted all their offense and good luck here in the first game. The Yankees got a good look at some of the better options in the Cleveland pen, too - maybe that will help them later on in the series. Hey, both have happened before, so here we go. First to 3 - let's go Yankees.
Chien-Ming Wang takes the hill for the Yankees and after two outs, walks Pronk and then gives up single, single, walk and another single before getting out of the inning on a force out. Wow, 3-1 Indians and Wang's sinker is not sinking early in this game - let's hope he settles down real quick or this will be a long night.
Bottom of the third, first man up and Wang gives up a homer to the second baseman Cabrera who had 3 all year. Wang giving up homers is a bad sign. 4-1.
Top of the fourth. Sabathia has settled down a little bit but that adrenaline is still pumping. 96-97 MPH through the zone, even at the 80 pitch mark. Still, when you throw that hard, sometimes, all you gotta do is get that fat part of the bat on the ball and that's exactly what Robbie Cano does. HR Cano. 4-2 Indians.
Mitchell over at The Bronx Block says it best:
And Ill say something I never thought Id hear myself say&I really wish this series was on FOX. As horrendous as they are with the things they do to a baseball game and their awful announcers, theyre still far better than the horrible crew, the cheap cameras and the lack of enough cameras for multiple angles were dealing with on TBS.
I could not agree more especially about Ernie Johnson. Wow. Anyway, back to the top of the fifth. Mientkiewicz is taken out of the game - that freak accident must have hurt more than he thought. Shelly Duncan comes in for Doug and promptly singles to right. Johnny Damon up next and he works a walk. Derek Jeter up and after a failed sacrifice, DJ flies out to right without moving the runners over. Bobby Abreu bails him out with a solid AB as he pokes a double down the left side. 4-3 Yankees and this could be where the Yankees make their charge. They intentionally walk A-Rod (!) to load the bases for Posada. That makes sense - Posada is probably the slowest guy on the team, would be an easy DP.
AWWWW NUTS. I am amazed but C.C. actually worked out of the bases loaded, one out situation. Posada struck out swinging and he got Matsui to pop out to short. Wow - that will come back to hurt them - I am sure of it.
Bottom of the fifth. Come on Chien-Ming - can you gut out one more inning?
The answer is a resounding no. Walk, fly out, home run to Victor Martinez. 6-3 Indians and a coaching visit to the mound. After a quick groundout, we are treated to more hard hits. Double from Peralta who scores on a Kenny Lofton single (what a game for Kenny) and that is all for Wang. Wow. Easily the worst start of the game 1 starters - let's hope he gets a chance to atone.
Ross O. is in and after that push last inning, it now feels like the Yankees have given up on this game. Franklin Guiterrez walks and Casey Blake doubles both guys in. 9-3 Indians. Ouch.
The Yankees go quietly in the 6th and at this point, I'm just hoping Ross gives them some innings. There's still a long way to go in this game and I don't want Torre emptying that bullpen this early in the series. My wish falls on deaf ears and Ross gets hammered in the sixth. Hafner homers. 10-3 Indians. Victor Martinez follows with a double and after a few ground outs, Kenny Lofton kills the Yankees again tonight as he doubles home another run. 11-3 Indians and in comes Jose Veras to close out the inning.
Rafael Perez is now in and man, he just mows down the Yankees hitters. No one even got a decent look off the kid.
Bottom of the 7th and there is Phil Hughes, who looks very good in the inning. Unless the Yankees stage a rally of EPIC proportions, he will close out the game and we can get to the next game.
The Yankees continue to go quietly (this Cleveland bullpen is no joke) and I think that they feel the same way.
Melky is actually putting together a good at-bat in the ninth. Hopefully, that will carry into the next couple of games because he had horrible at-bats prior to this inning. However, at this point, you have no other option than to play him (though you could slide Duncan to left and shift Damon back to center). The announcer just called Hideki "Kaz Matsui". Someone get that man a line-up card. Giambi comes up to bat and that's a good move getting him an AB since he will probably start in tomorrow's game. He puts together a good AB and singles past the shift. Still, I just want this fiasco over with.
Game over. Cleveland wins and you know what - let 'em celebrate. Good win for Cleveland and a BAD loss for the Yankees but hey, this series isn't over and this team has come off the deck before. Heck, maybe the Indians have even exhausted all their offense and good luck here in the first game. The Yankees got a good look at some of the better options in the Cleveland pen, too - maybe that will help them later on in the series. Hey, both have happened before, so here we go. First to 3 - let's go Yankees.
Patrick wrote:
Anyway, if there is any good in this, it's that we didn't use Joba or Mo. Pettitte needs to go out and give us at least 6. Then we can use Joba for 2 and Mo 1 for, get a victory, a day off and head back to the Stadium. Let's go.