Here are the lineups, via Peter Abraham (LoHud):
YANKEES (95-56)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Gardner CFPitching: RHP Chad Gaudin (1-0 3.68).
ANGELS (90-60)
Figgins 3B
Izturis 2B
Abreu RF
Guerrero DH
Hunter CF
Morales 1B
Rivera LF
Aybar SS
Mathis CPitching: vs. RHP Ervin Santana (7-8, 5.43).
TIME/TV: 10:05, MY9/MLB Network.
Boston is currently losing to the Royals, 0-5, in the bottom of the 7th. Future Cy Young winner Zack Greinke gave up 2 hits over 6 innings while striking out 5 (he walked 3). Barring a Royal collapse, he’ll get his 15th victory of the season. The Yankees could really use a win here to further separate themselves from the Sawx.
UPDATE – Thanks to the Rangers, who lost to Oakland, the Yankees are officially in the playoffs.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
32 Responses to Game 152: Yankees @ Angels
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
The Red Sox do indeed lose to the Royals 5-1 and open up an opportunity for the Yankees to pull ahead 6 games in East. I like that the Yankees are getting hits, however I hate the fact we aren’t finishing anything leaving the bases loaded in the first inning and leaving Cano at 3rd in the 2nd.
EDIT: Just as I am typing the Yankees don’t fini… Arod hits a 2 run home run in the 3rd and now the Yankees are leading 2-0 early on and Santana looks good but hittable.
Chad Gaudin is looking pretty decent through 2 innings but who knows how long he can go 5 or 6 innings seems to be when he has been gassing so Girardi really needs to manage the pen well in this one in order to not lose a lead if we have one when Gaudin starts to gas.
Gaudin is definitely looking good. We haven’t seen Alfredo Sauce in a while, so perhaps he’ll be in there if Gaudin gets gassed.
I didn’t think about it but considering the last time we lost a series to the Angels we didn’t have Ace (because he started against the Twins) so maybe Joe used Mitre to shadow Joba the other day so he knew he would have a fresh and ready to go Alfredo for the Angels for exactly this type of situation.
Good things come in 2′s and Posada just hit a 2 run HR and the Yankees now lead the Angels 4 nothing in the 3rd with 1 out and the team is one win away (or Rangers loss) from clinching the playoffs before we enter Boston, which places all the pressure squarely the on the shoulders of the Sox.
Thank goodness we finally scored some runs. I was getting really tired of hearing Sterling go on and on every inning about how the team keeps leaving men on base.
Yeah and just for the sake of not always playing behind the Angels it’s a load off, they really are the only team I “fear” in the playoffs because they just always seem to have us where they want us.
For all who think I am crazy for putting Arod as my Yankee MVP you just saw one reason, this year more than any other that he has been Yankee he has been the tone setter for this season, every time you need a big hit or HR you can almost pencil in Alex to come through this year. Without Rodriguez we are the Tampa Bay Rays he is more valuable than just about any in the AL because of his bat and his emotional lift to the team when he is around. I really think him having the first month off really gave his teammates a new found respect for what Arod truly means to this team and they realized how important he is to success.
He has definitely been clutch this year. His defense and the missed time hurts him, though. Beyond that, his offense has been great.
And when you consider that the first month he was back was basically like going through spring training but the numbers count… He has had a great year.
A .331 BA with RISP for a switch hitting lead off man who can steal 50 bases is exactly why I would be willing to take a risk with Chone in LF, I think he is athletic and smart enough to play the position at least better than Damon and at least at league average ability or more and hit lead off on the best offense in baseball.
Also the fact that he kills us is another big reason I would want to sign him!
I feel like Brett Gardner can do everything he does (or at least he will, given enough playing time). Might as well stick with Gardner and hope that he develops into a mini-Chone.
Why not have both? They don’t play the same position and no way Gardner plays LF anyway so whats your point? Gardner also can’t lead off next season he would be hitting 9th no matter who we sign so why bring that up in regards to Gardner one doesn’t have anything to do with the other.
Also your argument doesn’t make sense when you consider one of the reasons to sign Chone is to have the line up turn over with the 9 hitter being Gardner then Chone and Jeter in the two hole that way you have speed through out your line up and you aren’t limited going first to third, stealing bases and calling hit and runs.
Gaudin’s biggest problem seems to be his stuff isn’t over powering so when he has to finish off innings he sometimes gets himself into trouble by trying to make the perfect pitch and it can really kill him with 2 outs.
EDIT: I should keep calling out the faults in the whole team for the rest of the night because both times my remarks have been answered by the Yankees, first with Alex’s HR and now with Gaudin’s strike out of Bobby Abreu (who I don’t think should even be approached about a contract).
Say the Yankees sign Matt Holliday—at what point do you start picking Hideki Matsui over Johnny Damon for DH? I like Johnny, but he’s awful in the OF (his arm cost us a run last night) and is probably as dinged up as Matsui is for most of the season. Matsui has taken to the DH role really well.
Yeah but Damon can also hit for more average than Matsui and unlike Damon Hideki could fall apart at any second, Damon may have dings here and there but Matsui’s knees are always going to be a question mark and could fail and land him on the DL at any point next season.
I would also highly doubt they sign Holliday to play LF over Chone because Chone is a 3 year commitment and Jeter will need to play LF if he is still around at that point and Chone will come a lot cheaper with a more valuable skill set.
Jeter will never play LF. It makes no sense to stick a SS in LF, especially a nearing 40 SS who has never been that good, range-wise. To be honest, this Jeter in LF idea is so problematic I’m surprised people believe it’s a possibility.
Because no other position fits and I really doubt you could justify putting him at DH permanently now or ever…
Either way you still have no real justifiable reason to hate getting Figgins other than you “don’t know if he will be anything other than average” which I think is a weak argument for not signing him.
He has never played left field full-time. His WAR is so high this year because of his defense at third base. Why sign him when there are better options out there? I think that’s as good as any reason.
Who cares about his WAR he is a .300 switch hitter who can steal 50 bases and hits .320 career RISP that’s as good as any reason to sign him. You are saying the reason not to sign him is because he has never played LF full time and that is foolish when he is athletic enough to play the position and would add a great lead off bat to the order and allow Jeter and Damon to slot down into more natural positions for both given Damon’s increase in power and decrease in speed.
All I am saying is the “he hasn’t done it full time” argument doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because he has played the out field and can do it as well as Hairston JR or better and can hit .300 and steal 50 bases while switch hitting in the lead off spot, whats not to get?
You were right Chris Ace was being saved for this game and he can pick up his 11th win out of the pen in this game now… wow…
Yankees holding on 5-3 with runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the 6th with Ace on the mound but the Rangers are losing 7-1 in the 7th against Oakland so no matter the out come of this game the Yankees are probably going to clinch the playoffs tonight! Now with that said I think the team needs this win for morale against a great team who has owned us!
Pretty inconsistent strike zone tonight he started out real wide and it has shrunk as the night has gone along.
EDIT: It pains me to watch this lead slip down to one on a walk… and just as I type that Arod makes a great play at 3rd and saves the lead and the win for Ace.
I wish we had Robertson. Getting through the bottom of the 7th looks like a question mark unless they decide to go with Hughes for 2 innings.
Yeah Robertson would have been a guy idea there but he does walk a lot of people and the Angels can take advantage of that with guys like Abreu and good veterans.
What the hell was Girardi doing leaving Al in there against Abreu? How do you not put Marte in there? Al had nothing and if you don’t use Marte against the lefty, when do you use him?
I think he talked himself out of using Marte there because Damaso has looked shaky last two times out and he looked shaky once again tonight.
He brought him in to face a 3-for-3 guy and didn’t have faith in him beyond that. It made no sense. Marte has only had 1 bad outing since his return from the DL.
Yeah but he looked real bad in that outing and tonight was no better, either way he flinched on bringing in Marte once Ace got the second out and once Marte was warmed he wanted to pitch him and Morales was the excuse… not saying I agree but that is what happened.
Also, why bring in Marte to face Morales? If you’re willing to bring in Hughes once Morales got on, why not just bring him in to face Morales?
Because you warmed up Marte for Abreu but talked yourself out of it because he has been rocky lately but you don’t want him to know you aren’t confident in him so you act like you wanted him to face Morales all along.
Yankees win even though Mo was wabbly with his command to say the least and the team comes out with it’s first win @LAA this season which is a good thing heading into the post season, hopefully we can take the serious and go into Boston with a good lead and a lot of confidence to end the year and start the season that matters!