Yanks In (More Than) A Sentence: Yankees 4, Angels 1
1. This one was all about C.C. Sabathia. He pitches like that, the Yankees win.
2. But wait! This can’t be! The Angels are a fundamentally sound team with sound fundamentals that never, ever kicks the ball in the outfield or delivers pick-off throws behind the runner or whips the ball to invisible cut-off men or forgets to call “mine!” on pop-ups! We’ve been misled! With secrets and LIES.
3. And they didn’t scamper to and fro like the mediocre-percentage stolen base stallions they are! Who bungled the prewritten script?
4. Truth is, nobody was running last night on the half-muddy track. So while Sabathia kept the LA runts off base, it wouldn’t have mattered much. Props to the groundskeepers for keepin’ it moist. Chone Figgins looks lost at the plate about now; expect him to lay down 11 bunts in Game 2.
5. It’ll get overlooked among the richly deserved C.C. tributes, but Melky Cabrera had himself a pesky little night, working two walks and chipping a seeing-eye single through the infield. Anytime the opposing hurler has to waste eight pitches on a Melky Cabrera at-bat, he sets himself up for an early departure and/or chaos within a few hitters.
6. Welcome to the postseason, Johnny Damon. He didn’t exactly drive the ball, but he returned to being his usual nuisance self at the plate (few players in the game are tougher to polish off after going down 0-2 in the count) and on the basepaths. In the field? Damon took several Knoblauchian routes to the Angels’ soft liners, proceeding from point A to point B via points C, M and R, but ultimately did no damage. That’s all you can ask for at this point in his defensive de-evolution.
7. At this hour, it’s clear and cool here in New York. That’s gonna change, which will set into motion a series of postponements and reschedulings that will cause me to miss Game 2. DVR, don’t fail me now.
8. Philly/LA: It’s been the opposite-world series so far. Game 1 was supposed to be the one where the ace lefties tamped down on offense, while Game 2 was supposed to be the offensive free-for-all… After some smart early hooks in the NLDS, the bullpen-challenged Torre returned in Game 1. Clayton Kershaw had lost it in a hurry (three walks, three wild pitches) and Torre had Randy Wolf sitting around in the pen without a whole lot to do, yet he stuck with Kershaw for a batter too many… George Sherrill was acquired by the Dodgers for the sole purpose of getting the Philly lefties out in October - it said as much in the official transactions blurb announcing the deal - and yet he proceeded to serve up the game-losing dinger to one of those same lefties. Bad time to have a bad night, dude… Speaking of bad timing, what’s with Chase Utley’s neo-Knoblauchy throws on the back end of double plays?… Yes, I’m proud to have worked two Chuck Knoblauch references into today’s missive… There is nobody in my life as a baseball fan I’ve enjoyed watching more than Pedro Martinez. For the proper visual to accompany that bit of non-specific, old-coot-ish praise, please picture me as a miserable, 24-year veteran of some struggling mid-market newspaper’s baseball beat sitting alone in the bowels of a windowless press room, scarfing down a plate of lukewarm mac-and-cheese while bemoaning all the kids with their blogs, typing away in their momma’s basement, who don’t appreciate the majesty of a well-placed sacrifice bunt, and realizing that he’s going to die soon.
