Yankees and Angels Take 2-0 Leads

Friday night saw the Yankees and Angels take commanding 2-0 leads in their best of five series. The ALDS will take the night off as the teams travel to Minnesota and Boston respectively. The Yankees have quite a bit of momentum after their walkoff win against the Twins in 11 innings. The Angels, meanwhile, will head to Boston knowing that their own Red Sox killer, Scott Kazmir, will be on the hill and as last night showed, they can run at will against Red Sox catching.

Yankees 4 Twins 3

Heading into the game, the story was all about Jose Molina starting over Jorge Posada. Because Nick Blackburn was dominant early, Molina got all of one at bat before Burnett was gone. Blackburn was dominant early and finished with 5.2 innings of 3 hit, 1 run ball. The decision to catch Molina worked well for Girardi as Burnett had nasty stuff, throwing 6 innings while allowing 3 hits, 1 run, with 5 walks and 6 strikeouts. The Twins took a 3-1 lead in the 8^th inning on a rally keyed by a two out, Phil Hughes’ walk to Carlos Gomez followed by consecutive singles from Brendan Harris and Nick Punto. Mariano Rivera came on to finish the inning, but didn’t do so until he gave up a single to Denard Span to put the Twins up 3-1.

Both teams went scoreless heading into the bottom of the ninth inning with Joe Nathan coming into the game with 12 consecutive saves. Mark Teixeira led off with a single down the right field line bringing up Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez had driven in the Yankees’ run earlier in the game with a single. After working the count into his favor, Rodriguez hit a two-run homerun into the right-centerfield stands to tie the game and get his first curtain call in the post season.

The teams went scoreless in the 10^th, but controversy swirled in the 11^th as Joe Mauer hit a ball down the left field line that was clearly a fair ball. Umpire Phil Cuzzi called it a foul ball. Instead of a double, Mauer singles on the next pitch. With the following batter, Jason Kubel, getting a base hit, the Twins would’ve scored a run to take the lead had Mauer already been on second base.  After a Michael Cuddyer single, rookie David Robertson was called up to get out of a bases loaded, no out jam (which he helped create with a single allowed to Michael Cuddyer). He did just the thing, allowing for the Yankees to get the walkoff win with a Mark Teixeira homerun that barely cleared the right field line.

The win couldn’t have been scripted any better as the Yankees’ plan heading into the season has come to fruition. CC Sabathia won his game one start; AJ Burnett threw a quality 6-inning start; Mark Teixeira had two big hits in the game, and Alex Rodriguez got a big hit in the post season. Joe Girardi summarizes the game quite well for the Yankees, “The emotions in this game are unbelievable. They get the bases loaded with nobody out in that inning. We got Robertson in who has pitched one hitter in playoff baseball in his career and he ends up getting out of it. Emotions were up, down and all around.”

The Yankees will look to close out the series Sunday night at the Metrodome with Andy Pettitte taking on Carl Pavano.

Angels 4 Red Sox 1

The Angels have been in this position before. In fact, it was just one year ago. The Halos will travel east holding a 2-0 series lead against the Boston Red Sox. Much of the game was a tremendous pitching matchup between Jered Weaver and Josh Beckett. Each matched each other for six frames before the Angels got to Beckett in the 7^th. Each starter allowed a fourth inning run with Weaver allowing a Jacoby Ellsbury triple and a Victor Martinez single. The Angels scored their run with Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrerro singling followed by a Kendry Morales sacrifice fly.

The Angels were finally able to play their game against the Red Sox in the 7^th to bust the game open. After a leadoff walk to Guerrerro, Angels’ skipper Mike Scioscia made a somewhat controversial move to pinch run for his cleanup hitter with Howie Kendrick. The move paid off as Kendrick stole second base, which allowed a Maicer Izturis single to score him. Izturis proceeds to steal second; Mike Napoli gets hit by a pitch which sets up Erick Aybar’s triple to put an end to Josh Beckett’s night and the Red Sox hopes of winning the game. Weaver, Darren Oliver, and Brian Fuentes shut down the Red Sox for the final two innings.

Heading into the series, the Angels were looking to exploit the Red Sox catchers. Last night, they were finally in a position to do so even if it meant risking removing their cleanup hitter. Mike Scioscia explains,  “I think the one thing you take away from when you’re facing a good pitcher like Beckett and you’re able to manufacture some runs and hold on to a win is the fact you’re not going to solely be relying on batter’s box offense, and that’s going to give us a chance to maybe create and manufacture some things when there’s not a lot there.”

The two teams head back east for a Sunday night showdown at Fenway Park. The Red Sox will send Clay Buchholz to the mound to face Scott Kazmir. Kazmir has pitched well since coming to the Angels, going 2-2 with a 1.73 ERA in 36.1 innings. Even more importantly for the Angels, Kazmir is 6-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 13 career starts at Fenway Park. The Angels want to close it out Sunday night because if the Red Sox win, the series suddenly shifts back to the Red Sox considering their recent history.

Popularity: 1% [?]