ALCS Game Two: Angels @ Yankees
By
With four days off between the Division Series and the Championship Series, there was plenty of time to focus on the negative, as some are wont to do. There was talk about CC Sabathia‘s struggles in the postseason and against the Angels, Anaheim’s ownage of the Yanks, the weather, and just about everything negative you could possibly think of. Game One, however, could not have possibly gone any better for New York. Sabathia dominated (and J-Poz wrote about it), the Yankees got timely hits and capitalized on Angel errors, and The Sandman closed the door. It all adds up 1-0 series lead.
The Yanks get a bit of a break tonight, because Mike Scioscia is sending Joe Saunders to the bump rather than the grizzled AL East vet Scott Kazmir. It certainly is a curious decision, but I’m not complaining. The Yankees will counter with AJ Burnett, who will have personal catcher Jose Molina behind the dish. It’s a good thing, Jorge Posada did such a horrible job behind the plate last night. Sigh.
Anyway, here’s the lineups.
Angels
Chone Figgins, 3B
Bobby Abreu, RF
Torii Hunter, CF
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Kendry Morales, 1B
Juan Rivera, LF
Maicer Izturis, 2B
Mike Napoli, C
Erick Aybar, SS
Joe Saunders (16-7, 4.60)
Yankees
Derek Jeter, SS
Johnny Damon, LF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Nick Swisher, RF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Jose Molina, C
AJ Burnett (13-9, 4.04)
The weather doesn’t look great, but everyone’s hopefully they’ll get this one. The baseball gods usually take care of these things, so I feel pretty confident that we’ll get nine innings in tonight. FOX has the call yet again, first pitch is tentatively scheduled for 7:57pm ET. Enjoy.





Some friends of mine that do ticket business said that people inside the stadium are of the mind that they’ll go to great lengths to get this game in, due to the impending TV scheduling nightmare that tommorrow would be if this game were to get rained out.
why didn’t they play earlier today? Imagine that, in less than ice cold weather.
I have to finish a damn essay on Shia and Sunni Muslims and then I have to leave to go somewhere so I cant watch the game. But I’ll be sure to follow it on my phone.
Here’s hoping we witness Saunders in the fetal position on the mound tonight.
There’s more than one kind of Muslim?
/American Dreamz’d
.509 SLG against this season, but his control was good against them–just two walks in 13 innings.
.509 SLG?
Man, the Sunni Muslims can rake!
Ah, you were referencing Saunders, darn it.
I was hoping baseball was becoming a truly global phenomenon quicker than I realized.
Nuts.
Heh, my essay is on a book called Shia Revival (which I have not read at all so Im basing my essay on some articles by NYT and from the Harvard website) by Vali Nasr and Im supposed to explain the differences and conflicts between Shias and Sunnis while explaining how this will affect the future in the Middle East and Western policy making.
Yours is slightly more difficult, but I wrote an entire paper on Frankenstein w/o having read a single page.
I did too 11th grade. Though I think I read the first 10 or so pages and read all of sparknotes.
The Shiite’s blow ass!
Abu Bakr FO’ LIFE!!!!!!
/Mike Pop’d
Of the four starts Yankees pitchers have made this postseason, the worst was A.J.’s five-walk, two-HBP performance against a not-particularly-patient Minnesota squad. The catcher for that worst of four? Mr. Jose Molina, of course.
Small sample Size caveats quite obviously apply, but mildly fascinating nonetheless.
In fact, his best three starts of the year were with Posada behind the plate. Apr 14 Tampa, Jun 14 Mets, and of course Aug 7 Boston.
Shhhhh, Vin.
You and your pesky “common sense” and “reality”…you make me sick.
Baseball comes from here (points at lower stomach), in the gut. You nerdlingers and your damn fancy sheetspreads and Wordexcel thingies are ruining the game. Why don’t you stop making believe you enjoy baseball and go do an R-squared Z-score analysis or some shit.
/McCarvermorganbrennaman’d
Well if we’re talking about guts, does Molina have more than Posada, who was and still is a big leader on this club?
I hope that this is one of those games that just follows the status quo. Nothing would be more frustrating than watching an inferior pitcher like Saunders mow us down as he did his last start. A lot of our big hitters have great numbers vs Saunders, and I just hope everything goes to plan. I’m looking for 4.1 IP, 5 ER from Saunders. He gives up way too many HR. Someone goes deep against him.
By “looking for 4.1,” aren’t you just setting yourself up for disappointment? He’s been pretty good over the past 5 or so weeks.
I’m just looking for a dubya.
Good point. I just mean I’m really not in the mood for a nail-biter against this guy. They should crush him and I hope they do.
+1
They usually hit Saunders hard, but we can’t expect too much.
Who else got free tickets to last nights dominance?
I did. It’s weird you should ask.
Where were you sitting? 407B on my part.
219 row 9, 1B corner of home plate, got free Audi Club passes too. That place is awesome. It makes me wish I was made of money. It was all Sushi and Champagne in that place.
Mike,
Your MLBTR post on red sox SS options for 2010 included a mention of trading Hanley Ramirez. Was that a throwaway name you decided to tack on the last second to add some zist to post, or is he a real possibility?
Just a tack on.
They’re going to trade Buchholz and Lowrie for Santana, Reyes and cash.
/Sox Fan’d
i was on yahoo answers the other day and a sox fan seriously suggested putting a package together consisting of Mike Lowell, Papelbon, and Buchholz for Reyes and Wright
i had the craziest dream that the sox would trade for Prince Fielder. is there any merrit to that?
Considering you first heard of it in a dream, I’m going to say no.
I think the Sox have a better chance of trading for Cecil Fielder.
Anything is possible!!!
/KG’d
We’re going to fly this boat to the moon somehow.
I’m ridin on a dolphin, doin flips and shit.
Fuck trees. I climb buoys, motherfucker.
Dammit Jimmy Clausen wtf was that?
That was two deviously fiendishly brilliant playcalls by offensive supergenius Charlie Weis. Do you see how he totally flummoxed the haplessly out of position Trojan defenders with all that clever trickeration and motion? He totally caught them off guard and set up Clausen with an easy, wide open reciever.
What’s that? That totally didn’t happen, and the Irish called to boring ass, vanilla slants that USC easily shut down because they’ve seen that play over and over again since Pee-Wee football?
Oh, nevermind then. Forget I mentioned it, my bad.
Hey dude, Duval Kamara fell down. That play was wide open.
I was at that game! 1998 Game 1. That was the loudest I’ve ever heard the Stadium. But I haven’t been to more than a handful of postseason games….
last night was my first postseason and new stadium game, i saw one game at the old stadium…carl pavano beat aj burnett 2-1
Hell I wish I could be there tonight. I’m 5 for my last 5 wins in the games I’ve gone to, from the 2007 ALDS Game 3 to last night. And I’m 3 for 3 in playoff games!
/The world revolves around me’d
/The world revolves around me’d
(door flies open)
Hey, sorry I’m late. Were you guys just talking about me again? Fantastic.
Could have sworn I heard my phone ring, thought you might have called. That ever happen to you? Anyway call me…we’ll talk about it.
Hey Steve I’m on a pay phone, so if you’re there pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, well OK, call me back.
Let’s fucking go Yankees!!!!!!
who do you like tomorrow – Giants or Saints?
The G-Men!
Giants. They’re just so good man. Eli has really just been phenomenal.
Saints are a great team too, so I guess it can go either way.
I got GMen winning though.
I want Eli Manning to smash Jeremy Shockeys face into the ground though I don’t know how to manage to get him on defense for one play.
Eli Manning on defense would be all kinds of epic fail pathetic.
He’s a good QB. He’s not a toughguy.
maybe we line up justin tuck against him one play, tuck decks him
That works for me.
I’m a Miami Hurricane fan, but I never ever liked Shockey. He’s an asshat.
I can’t wait for the first pitch.
Me too.
Wait, you said first PITCH? Oh, well, that’s good too.
I don’t know. I just totally miss your meaning. I’m probably being totally dense along with you probably being a little obtuse. Oh well. It’s always interesting here.
I saw the game at a bar with friends last night but I missed the fun here at RAB.
Think of words that rhyme with “pitch”. Be juvenile. It’ll come to you.
witch?
Bitchin’ man.
I’m watchingthis with my sister. She wants to know if all us RAB commenters are male chauvinistic sexist pigs.
No, just the smart ones.
Are some of the commenters TV dinners? My sister was just asking.
Let’s do this shit.
Let’s bring the friggin roof down.
Seriously. I’m ready to annoy my elderly neighbor downstairs.
So is it just me or do these Fox guys want to give no credit to the Yankees for winning last night?
It’s funny the guys at Halo Heaven or whatever the hell they are called think that the announcers are giving massive blowjobs to the Yankees. I think it’s a perspective thing.
Honestly, I’m a huge homer, but it’s been all about the Angels mistakes; the Yankees can’t win close games, and because they played good defense and went 1st to 3rd once, they played “Angel baseball.”
I was thinking all day that they should have been playing baseball today. WTF does television dictate this crap?
It is really annoying. When you’re playing somewhere with potential weather issues (north and east in the fall and spring), you should really play in the daytime. The priority should be getting the games in.
WTF does television dictate this crap?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money
This FOX pre-game team is utterly unwatchable. Is anyone listening to this right now?
Unfortunately.
I’ve got the music pumped up and the pre-game clown show muted, they had me hyped with “Empire State of Mind” so I loaded up JayZ,LP and JayZ+LP.
I share the same birthday as Jay-Z.
Yep.
Absolutely ri-goddamn-diculous.
Not the best pregame ive ever seen.
We “got away with it last night”?
Mark Grace is an idiot. That guy needs a mental slumpbuster.
Just giving no credit to CC or the Yankees team.
Victory will be sweet.
If FOX going to institute the K cam? A camera on Kate Hudson in the entire game that shows her in a box in the corner the whole time.
only during Arod’s ab’s
‘Picture and picture, with one camera always on me’
If FOX going to institute the K cam? A camera on Kate Hudson in the entire game that shows her
in aboxin the cornerthe whole time.I approve and believe it should be a staple of Yankees baseball.
Does anyone have information regarding the weather? Not as in the forecasts for tonight, but right now, is it raining at the stadium? Is the tarp on? or are things looking like we’ll be on time?
not much rain right now.
http://www.wunderground.com/ra.....el=Stadium
That green shit by the target is just interference and maybe some small showers.
Looks pretty good right about now.
It’s not raining at the stadiunm right now. A great web site for the precipitation map and forecast is http://www.wunderground.com.
i am so fucking pumped for this game
The Yankees are just like me.
We both have a refrigerator full of whipped cream.
you pie yourself after walkoffs?
thats what she said?
This guy knows what I’m talking about…
IETC
My sister says whip cream is good but it’s not the same as the real thing.
Refrigerator full or not.
Can I have your sister’s number?
setcvm
LOL, was JoPO all teary eyed talking about the pies?
Nah, Jorge’s all torn up because his manager is putting an inferior team on the field tonight.
+1
LOL, funny how my friend just said that out loud as well.
that was a great piece about the pies
[/pun intended
Okay Burnett you heard those two bastards, prove those assclowns wrong!
Hooray for more baseball!
lol.. They say they think AJ will struggle, I suppose Saunders is teh Ace.
Yeah, that was pretty dumb. I think they could both struggle, pretty easily. Burnett is already prone to wildness, he may have a tough time getting a grip on the curveball, and the Angels WILL take advantage of free baserunners in a way that the Twins couldn’t.
Yeah, the guy with average stuff, bad numbers, and around 50 HR allowed (roughly) should cruise.
Asking these guys for predictions are stupid. Why would they predict a bad start for AJ? Who knows how he is going to pitch. I know everyone loves the predictions and stuff, but it just rubbed my as a bit bush league right there.
they forgot the guacamole
BUSHLEAGUE, BRO!
Hey McCarver, why are you choking up a bit?
BTW, old timer… STFU.
the yanks HAVE to win this game, because i don’t know if they can take 2 in anaheim
LETS GET IT YANKS
the yanks HAVE to win this game, because
i don’t know if they can take 2 in anaheima loss would make for a shitty Saturday nightLETS GET IT YANKS
I certainly know they can. I don’t know if they WILL, because I can’t tell the future. But to say they can’t is absolutely absurd.
i don’t know if they can take 2 in anaheim
I find your lack of faith… disturbing.
Have you ever seen this?
why are they giving all of the credit for last night’s win to the Angel’s miscues?
Alright Burnett, let’s keep that control in check.
why the hell is Wanda Sykes getting her own show???
Hasn’t she had her own show a couple of times? What’s going to be different about this one?
This one is a terrible TALK show, not a terrible sitcom or comedy show.
Because George Lopez and Monique have their own shows, and she’s funnier than both of them combined?
Granted, that’s a low bar, but technically it works.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am getting crazy shivers over how friggin awesome all this shiet is.
GREAT scouting report there Timmy.
Let’s fuckin’ roll, A.J.!
LET’S GET IT ON!
I waited until the last minute to turn to FOX and the first thing I see is still Joe Buck’s emaciated face.
Just ain’t right.
Still, LET’S GO YANKEES.
“Turn up the heat?!” That’s really all they could think of for the Yankees keys? That means nothing!
Bring this shiet on!
Joe Buck/Tim Mcarver are retards.
A media question that i hope someone can answer: the foxsports Spanish channel in new york (on IO cable)has the rights to broadcast tonight’s ALCS game but instead of showing it on channel 223 its on channel 9 and 9 HD.
My question has been like this before or is this the first for an arraignment like this?
good start!
good second start!!!
AJ ks Figgins.
Boom. Great pitch, A.J.
Hah, the “I got ripped in 4 weeks” ad changed into “I got ripped in 3 weeks!
OOH he dropped the hammer on him.
Figgins missed that by a mile. He’s all sorts of fucked up right now.
3/45 Million. Now.
Make him play LF again.
0-16 make that 17 9 k.
That 0-1 pitch had FILTHY movement on it.
Yeah it was, that shit looked like it was going to hit Bobby, and it wound up in the middle of the plate.
wow that was a sick 2 seam fastball to Abreu
“It’s easier to get the first two strikes on Bobby Abreu, than the third strike.”
Wait, you sure about that now? Let’s ask ZZ… wait he Ked him twice. STFU McCarver.
Really, Joe? 1 finger usually means fastball.
Who let Timmy out of the nursing home to call this game.
Come on AJ.
Oh here we go again with the whole Molina > Posada blablabla
Didn’t you hear earlier? This battery is “just better”, beause Joe Buck says so.
Make him chase it now, A.J.
hahaha they played the PC Richards whistle on hunter
This is the hardest he’s thrown in a Yankee uniform!!
What, really? lol
dammit
damn those fucking bloop hits
cmon AJ!
bull crap.
Go AJ, go AJ, GO!
lucky hit, crap.
With the damn two out hits. Oh Well.
That is some BS luck man.
Uh-oh, they played the PC Richards whistle preemptively on that foul tip. That’s why that bloop fell in.
I hate that whistle
That’s the second nutball-to-double of the playoffs.
Gah, little bloop shit.
On the replay, he’s pretty luck Hunter didn’t rip that. It was right over the plate.
Bear down w/two outs here, A.J.
Just like that.
I love that Vlad runs like and old lady!
Nice inning Burnett.
attaboy AJ
LETS GO PUSSYTUBE AND BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA SAUNDERS BABAY!!!
Nice inning AJ. The bloop double was just one of those things.
Yeayer!!!
Does anyone else find it annoying that haf the channels broadcast in 4:3 broadcast ratio and the other half in 16:9?
I’d just love it if FOX could stick to one shot for more than 5 seconds.
Action cut shots = Ratings.
RAB should take notice.
Good start.
Good stuff. A.J. threw some good pitches that inning.
it is fun having Jorge bat b4 Jeter
why not have molina bat 8th so you can have someone who could get on base for jetes?
ugh jeter…
Come on, Jeet. Make him establish command first; he hasn’t pitched in a long time.
Lame, Jetes.
1 pitch = 1 out = not a good start
Saunders has a Power Sinker? Really?
Oh, Jeter, you still have the patience of a much younger man.
Look to turn on one here, Johnny.
Gaaaaah, just under it and not off the fat of the bat.
Yeah, FOX missed how Damon didn’t get that ball on the sweet spot.
But the weather and bandbox are more fun to talk about.
This weather fucking sucks.
soooo fucking lucky
damn, this wind is nuts!!
sheeeeet, wind blowing in again, anyone?
Where the fuck is the Jet Stream?
at least damon hit the ball hard
Jeter hit the ball pretty hard too, for that matter…
Eh…not really. If he hit that hard it would’ve gotten out. He got under it and it wasn’t off the fat part of the bat.
time for Tex to wake up
At least it was seven pitch at bat. Only one really “bad” swing too.
why did the HP ump turn to the yanks dugout?
Wanted to remind them that they’re bad for baseball.
That two seam is buzzing tonight.
damn, saunders mowed down tex there
Time for the Saunders fauning to start.
Yo Tex really needs to start hitting.
true dat, he’s got what 3 hits all postseason?
Yeah, he’s had like…one or two at bats since he ripped a ball all the way to the wall, and a whole TWO GAMES since he won a game with a screaming line drive of a homer.
Outside of that hit, he has been struggling with the his offense.
beautiful pitch by burnett!
That pitch was F I L T H Y
filthier than a dirty whore.
is aj the one that switched to going 1-seam/sideways2-seam or is that CC?
i like this fox trax plus thingy
sounds cool
I’m pretty sure it’s just pitchfx.
open up gameday, if you hover over any pitch in the display in the middle, it shows release and result speed.
Juuuuuuuust a bit outside.
lol @ mccarver not knowing the ball ends at teh plater slower
yeah i was going to say… didn’t this guy pitch with bob gibson back in the day?
LET’S GO A.J!!!!!!!!
wait that first pitch was a ball?
Tim McCarver is brain dead.
“We’re a better team with you sitting”
Oooooh God, please, someone, make it stop!!
where is that from?
They said it in the broadcast while talking about Posada.
Boy, PeteAbe sure never gets bored of cracking jokes about empty seats, huh?
Some clown named Passan at Yahoo wrote about it too.
Hey, it’s tough when you jump on a sinking ship, and are suddenly a non-entity among better the beat writers there.
IETC.
Did you folks out back realize the ball doesn’t go 94 mph forever! This is unbelievable!
Actually, it depends on who the catcher is. If Molina is behind the plate it actually adds 1.5 mph to Burnett’s fastball in flight.
If it’s Posada a 93 mph fastball is arrives at 76 mph up against the backstop.
Well that’s what Tim McCarver told me, anyway.
Oh yeah geniuses, objects don’t lose any speed/force/power while traveling a certain distance. Because this is earth. Nothing loses speed/force/power while in motion.
99 mph fastball thrown across the stadium will stay constant.
McCarver you’re a bumbling moron.
don’t forget seam friction
ugh, there’s so much science to just pitching along that if we explained it to McCarver his head would explode.
Wow, AJ looks on tonight.
AJ GREAT INNING AGAIN!
Like a cat, baby. Like a cat.
Have I mentioned recently how much I love good pitching?
2 great innings by A.J.
Fox trax plus. Not new. At PNC Park they have it on the scoreboard after every pitch
Huh. That’s an odd choice. I guess it’d be kind of interesting on breaking pitches and stuff, to see how much more velo they lose than the 4-seamer or something.
They also have vertical and horizontal break.
MLB.com has had both starting and ending velocity on their online draft scouting videos since 2003.
It’s been on gameday since they clocked velocity.
nice quick inning
For real man. He acted like that ‘Fox trax’ thing was the greatest invention.
I guess it’s interesting that the pitch lost 7 mph as it travelled, but they need to show me how that relates to different kinds of pitches, and different qualities of pitches. Does this measurement relate to the so-called “late life” you hear about and which I was always skeptical wasn’t an illusion of some kind? Can pitchers really somehow control something about a pitch’s aerodynamics that makes it lose less speed? If they actually did work, their Trax dealy could be very cool, instead of just a gimmick.
Backspin won’t really make it lose less speed, but it will make the pitch drop less, yeah.
CC should def do vw comerciales. good inning for allen J
No reason to chase that, Alex!
damn it, right at Aybar
Dammit, Rodriguez got jammed.
Do you mean fisted?
joe buck, your knowledge of teletubbies makes you lose a ton of man points
excellent tellitubbie reference, JOE, good for youuuu
Hey Joe Buck, you can’t think of something more manly than… Teletubby? You could’ve said wanna be ninja.
That outside corner is huge.
So, AJ looks good so far.
that 2-2 pitch was bullshit
that ball was way out
Is Cano dressed like an awesome ninja again tonight?
I can only hope so.
Gonna be a quick night for batters if that 2-1 pitch keeps getting called.
As long as AJ gets that call too, I’m okay with that.
ok. so there’s a wide zone tonight.
Joe Saunders = Nick Blackburn?
shady strike zone right now.
I would like to see the QuesTech data regarding umpire accuracy in calling strikes.
If these TBS and Fox pitch trackers are at all accurate, MLB must be complacent with having their umpires basically flip a coin on anything not directly down the middle.
i want someone to stare back at a catcher when his eyes peer in on a batter
Swisher doin’ what Swisher does.
Let’s go, Robbie.
great eye swish
NINJANO TIME!
I love how the Fox guys completely ignore the outside call. Fuckers.
Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but does it look like Saunders doesn’t actually look so good, despite not giving up a hit yet? He’s missing a lot of locations, and his breaking pitches don’t look under control.
here comes that ninja magic!
Hey Joe Buck, is your middle name “Captain Fucking Obvious” ? Goes well with your partner, “Captain Fucking Clueless”.
No shit you’re going to get pounded when your sinker doesn’t sink.
ooo, cano wanted that 0-1 pitch
Is this the same ump that did the Twins Series..
if so, he sucked and then really sucked!
Come on Ninja Cano.
YEAH NINJA CANO!
NINJANO W/THE RBI! Woo!
ROBBIE CANOOOOOO!!!
1-0 yankees!!!
Oh Man, we love that Ninja!
Ninjason Cano!
Robbie Cano!!!!!!!
CANO DONT YOU KNOW!!! TRIPLE!
HASSAN CHOP!!
It took FOREVER for someone to get to that ball!
Nice.
Finally they pull that two-out bullshit on the other team. Great job Robbie. Two strike hits are a bitch.
Wow just terrific hitting by Cano.
Cano!
JUDO CHOP!!!!!!
Cano swats a triple !
i love me ninja cano!
Cano is my favorite Yankee hitter. 0-2 count triple? Badass.
man no team goes 1st to home like the Ang…er..YANKEES!
I like 2 out rbi triples.
Ninja heard your fucking comments, so he said “I’ll slaughter the ball”.
Joe Buck, patience if a virtue and silence is golden… so STFU guys.
Okay Melky, at least pass the pitcher’s spot in the lineup…
mewants robinson to pull his shaw up to his eyes
Anyone else occasionally hearing a clicking sound?
Yes.
Yes. Couldn’t figure it out though.
how come when swisher takes two pitches its “patient”, but when cano takes two pitches hes “passive”
He was waiting for that pitch and now the yankees are ahead.
We love you robbie!
Because Robbie’s asleep on those 2 pitches.
ninja cano baby!
man, they might just walk melky and let molina bat
ugh
Id rather have CC DH, than watch Molina bat.
62-20 is obviously a fantastic mark when you score first, but don’t most teams win most of their games when they score first?
Melky is awful from the right side.
Fail, Melky. Needed to take that walk!
damn it
well at least they got the lead
now AJ, let’s hold em down
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