ALCS Game 2: Dominant pitching and the inept Yankees offense

If you love pitching, you would have loved this game. Anibal Sanchez and Hiroki Kuroda went toe-to-toe Sunday afternoon in Game 2 of the ALCS in the Bronx, and Sanchez and the Tigers ultimately came out on top.

Two story lines dominated this game:

Sanchez and Kuroda were dominant

Kuroda started off the game striking out seven of the first nine Tigers hitters, including both Cabrera and Fielder, and kept the Tigers scoreless until the seventh. The first five innings Kuroda was cruising and faced the minimum number of hitters. He gave up his first hit in the sixth to Peralta, but looked strong. The first crack in the armor came in the seventh. Quintin Berry led of the inning with a ground rule double and Cabrera followed up with single that moved Berry to third. Kuroda then struck out Fielder for a huge first out. Yankee killer Delmon Young stepped to the plate next, and Kuroda executed his pitch, inducing a grounder to Jayson Nix at short and what seemed to be a inning ending double play. Unfortunately for Kuroda and the Yanks, Cano botched the transfer and couldn’t make the throw to first base. That allowed Berry to score and got the Tigers on the board. Replays showed that the play at first would have been close, and I am sure the Yankees (even the seemingly nonplussed Cano) would love a redo.

Sanchez did his best to match Kuroda inning for inning. The game didn’t start as smoothly for Sanchez as Kuroda, but in the end he earned the W. Sanchez worked out of a bit of trouble in the first. After giving up a double to Teixeira and a walk to Ibanez, he induced a groundout from Martin.  He also had a spat of trouble in the sixth, but that was self-induced and not too threatening. After Ichiro reached on an error by Sanchez and advanced too third by two groundouts from Cano and Teixeira, Sanchez intentionally walked Ibanez, but got Martin to groundout again to end the inning. Other than those two instances, Sanchez looked great and was rarely tested. In fact, the only other runner to reach second base for the Yankees was Granderson in the seventh. Granderson walked and then stole second as Swisher struck out.

Both pitchers looked great on the night. Kuroda racked up 11 Ks (zero walks) and five hits. Sanchez added seven Ks (three walks) and gave up only three hits. Hats off to both guys for a well-pitched game.

The Yankees offense looks inept

Sanchez looked masterful. He caused the Yankees to continue their string of seemingly endless crappy at bats and offense ineptitude continued. The Yankees only managed four hits and three walks (one intentional). Granderson was the only Yankee with a positive WPA (WinProbability Added), and he was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts. Good things continue to happen when the Tigers put the bat on the ball with runners on base (see Delmon Young above); the same cannot be said for the Yankees. The Yankees look bad at bat and I am sure they hope that A-Rod’s single in the ninth will get him going a bit. They better hope something changes. Detroit is definitely in the driver’s seat - up 2-0 with Verlander on the mound Tuesday night.

ALCS Game 1: Delmon does New York, Raul for Mayor, and Jeter goes down

Raul Ibanez continued his campaign for Mayor of New York City last night, but ultimately could not knock out the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers took down the New York Yankees 6-4 last night in another improbable extra inning game.

One of the great things about baseball is that no matter how many runs you are down you still have the opportunity to come back as long as you have one out left. You can’t come back in basketball if you are down by 10 with one possession to go nor can you come back if you are down 21 in your final possession in the National Football League. However, as the Cardinals showed Friday night and the Yankees did last night - if you have outs left, you still have a chance.

Here were the main story lines from game one of the ALCS in the Bronx:

Fister works his way out of trouble again and again and again

Doug Fister weaseled his way out of bases loaded jams in the bottom of the first, second, and sixth. In the first, Jeter singled and then Fister walked Teixeira and Ibanez. After fly outs by Ichiro and Cano, none other then Alex Rodriguez came to bat with chance to get some people off of his back. Unfortunately, for A-Rod his sharp grounder in the hole between short and third was stabbed by Jhonny Peralta he and threw it to second for the third out.  

The Yankees loaded the bases again with two outs in the second after three singles by Martin, Jeter, and Ichiro. I’m sure the Yankees were more confident here with Cano at bat instead of A-Rod. Cano almost delivered by smacking a liner up the middle. Unfortunately for the Yanks, the drive ricocheted off Fister’s arm and right to Peralta at short who then threw out a disgusted Cano at first.

The bases were loaded again in the sixth after Teixeira reached on an error, Ibanez doubled, A-rod struck out, and Swisher walked (about time he did something), but Fister got out of it again with strikeouts of Granderson and Martin.

Fister did not have his best stuff or control early, but found his curve ball later in the game. He ended up throwing 6.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 5 and walking 4.

Delmon Young is causing the Yankees problems again in the Playoffs

In the 2011 ALDS, Delmon had 15 total bases and an OPS of 1.170 and it seems like the Yankees still haven’t figure out how to get this career replacement level player out.

Saturday night/Sunday morning Delmon had three hits and knocked runners in on all three, including Miggy Cabrera twice after walking. The last of those three hits was the biggest. He laced a line drive to right center in the top of the 12^th inning off of David Phelps, scoring Cabrera and giving the Tigers a 5-4 lead. The liner by Delmon could have, and should have, been caught by Swisher in right. If Swisher isn’t going to hit (he has been on base 6 times in 27 plate appearances) he needs to play better defense.

Jose Valverde stinks/Ichiro and Raul go deep to bring the Yankees back to life

Jose Valverde came in the bottom of the ninth attempting to protect a 4-0 lead and promptly blew it. After a Martin single and a Jeter strikeout, Ichiro laced a line drive over the right field wall to breathe life into the Yankees chances. Valverde was able to strike out Cano, but he walked Teixeira to bring up 2012 Yankees Legend Raul Ibanez. Summoning the powers he possessed versus the Orioles, Ibanez hit a deep fly to right that landed about three rows deep and tied the game up for the Yanks. Raul is a freaking phenomenon this year in Yankees’ fans eyes and I wouldn’t be surprise to see him start every game in this series. In 2012, lefties slugged .417 versus Valverde, while righties only .246. It looks like Leyland may lean on Smyly versus a string of leftiesfor the rest of the series (like he did in extras).

Down goes Jeter

In the top of the 12^th after Delmon’s double to score Cabrera and give Detroit the lead, the Yankees suffered a loss that will hurt them throughout the series. Peralta hit a sharp grounder up the middle and Jeter dove awkwardly to catch the ball and in the process fractured his ankle. The rest of the Yankees need to step up after loosing Jeter. I for one would like to see Gardner play instead of Swisher, especially since Detroit has all righty starters.