Friday, October 12, 2012
New York v. Baltimore
There are still a bunch of empty seats in Yankee Stadium, as many Yankee fans either: (1) haven't yet made it through rush hour traffic; (2) assume that the game is starting at the usual 7:30 game time, or (3) have given up in disgust after last night's 13-inning defeat. At least the Yankee fans won't have to worry about booing A-Rod in tonight's deciding Game 5 -- he has been benched.
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On the Yankee Radio Network, the announcers are assuring us that at 5 PM on Friday, the subway is an unholy mess and that traffic is terrible.
ReplyDeleteThey also tell us that the Deegan Expressway is "the worst road in America."
The little band of Yankees fans are seeing yet another pitching duel so far. It's 0-0 in the top of the 3d.
ReplyDeleteThe story of this series is actually quite simple: the Yankees and Orioles are both slugging teams who go for a home run on almost every at bat, but they also have really good pitching staffs. The result is a series with lots and lots of strikeouts and pop-ups, and few runs.
The Nats/Cards game yesterday was in a similar vein.
In the bottom of the fifth, Mark Teixeira gets the Yankees' first hit of the game -- a single to left. He then steals second -- only his third stolen base of the year -- as Yankee manager Girardi goes in for small ball. This tactic works, as Raul Ibanez -- who is in at DH with A-Rod on the bench -- raps a single to center. The Yankees take a 1-0 lead.
ReplyDeleteIn the last few days, two old Phillies -- Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth -- have had some great playoff moments. That Phillies team from 2008-2010 was a really good team.
The Yankee fans have shown up in great numbers, and they are pretty happy right now. In the bottom of the sixth, Ichiro doubled in Jeter to make the score 2-0. And in the bottom of the seventh, Curtis Granderson slammed a homer to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, C.C. Sabathia is pitching a 1-hitter through 7 innings. As we head to the top of the 8th, the O's are six outs from elimination.
ReplyDeleteNow here come the O's. Wieters singles to open the 8th, and Machado draws a walk. And just like that, the tying run comes to the plate in the form of Mark Reynolds.
ReplyDeleteOn WCBS, Yankee broadcaster John Sterling says, "this isn't like other sports where you can run out the clock. You have to get 27 outs."
Reynolds strikes out, but Lew Ford singles in Wieters to make the score 3-1. And after an infield single, the bases are loaded. A single will tie the game.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees leave Sabathia in the game. He strikes out Nate McLouth, the O's leadoff hitter.
ReplyDeleteThat's two outs. And now it's up to J.J. Hardy, whose double won the game last night. Can he come through with the bases loaded:
1: Ball
2: Called strike
3: Swinging strike
4: Hardy hits a weak grounder to short, Jeter charges hard -- zips the throw across the infield -- and just barely gets Hardy.
The O's are out and Yanks lead 3-1 going into the bottom of the 8th.
It is really hard to overstate what Sabathia has done so far tonight. The Yankees played 12 innings on Wednesday, and 13 innings last night, and their bullpen was pretty much worn out. They desperately needed a great performance for Sabathia, and that is what they got.
ReplyDeleteThat's it. Sabathia pitches a complete game four-hitter, and the Yankees win 3-1.
ReplyDelete