Yanks looking to bounce back in Game 4
No doubt about it, there were curious moves being made throughout Game 3 of the American League Championship Series by Joe Girardi. When he came out of the dugout and removed a cruising Dave Robertson in favor of Alfredo Aceves with two outs and nobody on, I actually turned to the person next to me and said, “The losing pitcher is Aceves.” Sure enough…
Well, the Yankees will put their trust in CC Sabathia tonight as they try to take a 3-1 advantage in the ALCS against the Angels. They’ll try to bounce off the positive from Game 3 — how about four home runs; Derek Jeter’s leadoff shot, another Alex Rodriguez blast, Johnny Damon’s wall-scraper to right and Jorge Posada’s game-tying one in the eighth, which looked like it had rescued them after the Rally Monkey did his thing and got to Joba Chamberlain in the seventh.
Of course, then there was the ultimate escape in a postseason becoming known for them. You can’t say enough about Mariano Rivera — bases loaded in the 10th inning, and somehow with a little help from Mark Teixeira at first base, he got out of it. As I put on Twitter at the time, “Guess that’s why he’s The Greatest Closer Of All Time.™”
Bryan Hoch
What better way to bounce back than with CC Sabathia on the mound. After all, this is what he got paid to do. Hopefully everything goes right for the Yankees otherwise I wonder if the Yankees won’t at least consider wooing Mattingly. I know, I know, it’s very unlikely.
http://www.bronxbaseballdaily.com
Once you put it all together it sounds even worse……
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/ben_reiter/10/19/alcs.game.3/index.html?bcnn=yes
I like our chances with CC today; he is our best weapon in our arsenal. He can shut the Angels down but we need to fabricate runs and not relay on the long ball so much. We know for a fact that Jeter and A-Rod are hot and they would not get much to hit today from Kazmir but we need to be patience and avoid swinging at balls on the dirt. Tex, Melky, Swish and Cano need to step up. We need to get going, these Angels are not the Washington Nationals; they can hit! Anyway I’m confident that Girardi learned his lesson and we will move forward.
Go Yankees!!!
yanksfor27,
Girardi better have learned his lesson. Else someone should Velcro his uniform to somewhere in the dugout. Just make him strain a bit before getting out there, should calm him down a bit. The guy has let his incredible bullpen riches get to his head. Just because you have so many weapons doesn’t mean you have to use them all, every single time. This isn’t the All-Star game here
Win or lose, Girardi needs to go & take Cano w/ him.
We need better clutch hitting tonight especially from guys like Tex and CAno and Swisher and Cabrera. They’ve done nothing all series. They really look bad swinging at awful pitches. Like a bunch of little leaguers. They are making the Angels pitchers look like Cy Young award winners. Tex has been getting it done in the field and if he hadn’t caught some of the balls thrown to him who knows what the series would be looking like now. Girardi has to manage well which will mean a big turnaround from last game, the hitters have to hit well especially with guys on base and CC needs to have a big game again. And if we go to the bull pen please no Aceves and no Marte. Go with Hughes and Robertson, perhaps Coke for one or two lefties, and Mo. Leave Joba out of the mix as well. He’s been so screwed up this year with trying to make a starter out of him, the Joba rules etc. etc. it’s done a number on his psyche. The kid doesn’t know where he is or what he’s doing. Way overpumped and excitable.
Articles say Cabrera and Posada have hit Kazmir well and in his last start in the ALDS Boston scored 5 or 6 runs. That should be all Sabathia, Hughes, and Rivera need! But, let’s get greedy. The Phillies had 11 touch the plate the other day. I love the number 13!
I like your optimism Robert, but the guys are going to have to hit a lot better with men in scoring position than they have so far in this series. It is time that they got some big hits with guys on base. Four solo home runs in one game is not much good if the other team scores 5. You need men on base when the homers are hit. That’s where you depend on guys like Jeter and Damon and Swisher and CAno and Cabrera to get on base. Tex needs to get it going. ARod has been hot and Tex has been cold. They need to be hot together.
Did the win by the Angels last night turn the momentum in their favor in this series? I think we’ll find out pretty early tonight. Yankees need to make a strong statement tonight and win this game handily.
What’s with Tex in the postseason? He reminds me of ARod the way he’d have a great batting average in the regular season with home runs and come to the post season he looked really lost at the plate. Tex seems to have no confidence at the plate in this series. He’s swinging at bad pitches and looks bad doing it. He’s got to step up with men on base if the Yankees are going to get to the World Series and win it. They need his bat.