Results tagged ‘ Angels ’
2 Games Up
Wow! After the way this team has struggled, I find it amazing that they are now in first place by 2 games. After a 3 game sweep in Oakland, they are not out of the woods yet, though. They play an always tough Anaheim team 3 games this weekend, then it’s back home for 3 against Boston. To illustrate how inconsistent this team has been, this recent streak marks the first time the Yankees have won 4 straight all year. Yesterday, it looked like bad A.J. again as he coughed up the lead in the first inning, then proceeded to struggle with his control (surprise) for most of the game, working himself into bad counts all day. Fortunately, he managed to settle down a bit and actually retired 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced. This guy drives me crazy to watch. Every pitch is an adventure and he just never seems to settle into a groove with his control. Regardless, they Yankees won again on Nick Swisher’s three run bomb. Should be a good weekend series in Anaheim and then maybe they can actually figure out a way to beat Boston this year.
First Week and Joe West
As I stated previously, I was gone for most of the week, but I did catch bits and pieces of the first four games and I watched Saturday’s and Sunday’s games in their entirety. I read with a great deal of amusement all of the “expert” sports writers analysis after each Yankees loss and it seems that each time they lose, the sky must be falling because the writers certainly think so. I have seen some things this week that were questionable, but overall, playing six games on the road against Boston and Tampa Bay and winning four is a damn fine way to open the season. Great job Yanks. It won’t get any easier in the home opening series as the Angels are in town and they always play the Yankees tough. I’m sure it will be good to get back home though and I look forward to another good week of baseball.
I think the only story that is worth mentioning from the first week that I haven’t touched on is Joe West’s ridiculous comments about the Yankees and Red Sox games. He was way off base in my opinion. These games are almost always on national TV, which means an additional minute between innings, so that makes the game 9 minutes longer right off the bat. In addition, both are veteran teams that work the pitchers and take a lot of pitches. That makes for a longer game. What’s worse is, he didn’t offer any specifics as to what they might do to speed up their games, just called them “pathetic” and “embarrassing”. That is not productive and in my mind he should be fined and punished for his comments. Both teams play within the rules of the game, so if you don’t like them, why not propose some changes. One of the great things about baseball is that there is no time clock. I don’t hear any Red Sox or Yankees fans complaining about the length of these games and most of them are classic baseball games. So Joe West needs to shut up and umpire the games. By the way, he has one of the tiniest strike zones in baseball, which leads to more walks and guess what? Longer games. He actually made CC Sabathia change his grey spikes that match his road greys because they didn’t have enough “Yankee blue” in them. He also checked Joba’s cleats, but decided they were OK. Really? Is that what the umpires are worried about? This guy is a joke and like I said, he needs to be fined and or suspended.
Back to the Bronx and Away from the LA *** Fans
After last night’s debacle, we have another off day to ponder the next game. At least we are away from Anaheim and those faggy “thunderstix”. If you can’t generate enough noise with your voices and hands to inspire your team, then by all means resort to artificial noise. What a bunch of lightweights. As for last night’s game, AJ Burnett failed to deliver. The Yankees signed him to pitch in games like this and he failed miserably. First he dug them a huge 4-0 hole in the first inning, then when they gave him a lead in the seventh, he failed to get an out and put two runners on. This loss rests squarely on his shoulders. He needed to shut them down in the seventh and he couldn’t even get one out. Absolutely unacceptable. He needs to dig deep next time, if in fact there is a next time and start pitching like he is capable. Let’s hope that we can close things out on Saturday night, but I am not counting on it. Saunders shut them down in game two and I fully expect he will pitch well again. I expect Andy Pettitte to do the same, but you never know. Until they win that fourth game, anything is possible.
Phils Are In
The Phillies eliminated the Dodgers last night, which is pretty much what I expected. Now it’s the Yankees turn. I believe they will finish things off tonight in LA, but it won’t be easy. Lackey is a bulldog and the Angles don’t have any quit in them. I believe Burnett will match him though and I believe the Yankees offense is a little bit better. The Angels will come out ready to take this back to New York though. I believe it will be another back and forth game, with the Yankees finishing them off in the late innings. That has been the Yankees M.O. all year. They score early and tack on late. It should be a good matchup for the series, but too bad MLB has stretched the schedule out so far that the weather in the east will most likely be brutal.
The One That Did Get Away
First, I want to say that I don’t believe this loss was entirely Joe Girardi’s fault. The offense except for hitting home runs, has been putrid. It’s time for Cano, Swisher, Cabrera, Texeira and Matsui to wake up. You can’t depend on home runs to win in the playoffs. The Yankee offense needs to put pressure on the opposition and they haven’t done it. Having said this, the final blow for the Yankees definitely was Girardi’s over managing. He has done it all series, but this time it bit his team where it hurts. There was no logical reason to pull Robertson for Aceves and his team paid dearly for it. There were a few other questionable moves that hurt during the game, but this one put the icing on the cake and handed it to the Angels. I still don’t believe the Angels will beat the Yankees three out of the next four, so I like the Yankees chances. I do however believe there is a very real chance the Yankees will lose two out of three in Anaheim and go home with a 3-2 series lead. Too bad that they had to gift wrap this one. When you’re up 3-0 in the fifth inning of a playoff game, you are supposed to win.
The One That Almost Got Away
I know this is a bit late and I apologize for no entry yesterday, but I have been busy getting caught up on some household duties around here. Also went to the WineFest yesterday and did my best to sample every Shiraz at the show. Then came the game. Wow! This one was back and forth all night with the Yankees jumping out to an early lead, then the Angels tieing it and pretty much owning the middle innings and finally taking the lead in the 11th. Of course Alex Rodriguez made short work of that lead and what a post season he has had. Then the Yankees did their best to give the game away with a series of bad plays in the field and a lack of clutch hitting. Finally the Angels did them one better and threw away the game on the error by Izturis. A marathon of a game, not always pretty, but the bottom line is that the Yanks lead two games to none and I just don’t see this Angels team beating them four out of five. They will be tough at home though and it wouldn’t surprise me if they took two of three from the Yankees at home. Hopefully that won’t be the case and the Yankees can close it out in Anaheim. Overall, off to a great start, and by the way, as usual Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are falling all over themselves in the booth trying to point out anything negative about the Yankees. The “neighborhood play” that didn’t get called was a classic example. They kept making it sound like the umpire blew the call and if the Yankees scored and won, that somehow it wouldn’t be fair. Well last time I checked, you still have to touch the bag on a force play and he wasn’t even close to second base. The umpire made precisely the right call, but they just couldn’t stand the fact that the Yankees had a man in scoring position in extra innings and might win the game. Par for the course and they were visibly dissapointed when the Yankees finally did win.
Thoughts on the ALCS
Just a couple of random thoughts on the ALCS. First, this one will be a battle. I expect the Yanks to win in six. A-Rod will continue his hot streak as will Texeira. At some point NIck Swisher will get a big hit in an important spot. Melky and Cano will continue to struggle. Jeter will be Jeter. The difference in this series will be pitching. The Yankees will pitch better and that will be the difference. The series will unfold this way. The Yankees will win both of the first two games in NY. They will then win only one of three in Anaheim and come home to close it out. That is my prediction, such as it is. My actual hope is for a sweep, but I get the feeling that is not going to happen this time.
So Long Pete
So Pete Abraham of LoHud Yankees is leaving to cover the Red Sox for the Boston Globe, Well I for one, won’t miss him. I think Dave in MD said it best over at Yankees Universe,
“Thank god he’s leaving. He’s was a sanctimonious ***** who censored any criticism on his blog. He actually went to the point of deleting prior interviews that showed his Red Sox bias. His passive aggressive A-Rod bashing was pathetic. He’s going where he belongs.” The censored part has to do with a part of the male anatomy and it starts with a P and ends with a K, with an RIC in the middle.
My experience with Pete was much the same as Dave’s and I’m sure many others had similar experiences as well. Pete valued his own opinion very highly and he would insult you if you disagreed with him. He sent me many nasty and childish e-mails and finally he banned me for logging in to the comments section as “Pete’s Belly”. It was meant to be a joke, but he obviously couldn’t laugh at himself. He took himself much too seriously for that.
I started this blog partly because of Pete, so I can be gracious enough to thank him for that because I enjoy writing my thoughts each day. I said yesterday that I thought our opinions as fans are worth just as much as the so called “experts”. I stand by that. I repsect everyone’s opinion, not just my own. We might not agree, but that doesn’t mean that either my or the other person’s opinion is worth any less. That’s the beauty of blogging. You get to express your opinion and others can agree or disagree.
I don’t know Peter Abraham personally as I have never met him and I wish him the best, but as a blogger for the Yankees, I will not miss him at all.
Now back to baseball. Starting tonight it’s three at Seattle, then three in Anahiem. Have you seen the story about the umpires whining because Angels coaches were jawing at them as they left the field in Boston on Tuesday night? They failed to call Nick Green out on strikes, not once, but twice, then he blooped a double down the line and cost the Angels the game. I for one think the Angels had it exactly right. The umpires were afraid to end the game on a called third strike in Boston and the coaches had every right to complain.
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