(Photo Courtesy of The AP)
- Nice play by Brett Gardner in the 1stinning to get to the ball in left and hold Denard Span to a single. That could have changed the complexion of the innings if Span makes it to 2nd with no outs. THAT'S what Gardner was in the lineup last night against a lefty instead of Kearns.
- Even better play by Cano to end the inning in the 1st, fielding the ball behind the second base bag on the shortstop side and whipping a sidearm through against his body while moving to his right without breaking stride. I didn't hear John Sterling's call on the radio but I'm sure it didn't do the play justice.
- On the Cuddyer home run in the 2nd, I think the Thome HBP rattled CC. His first 2 pitches to Cuddyer after the HBP weren't even close and then behind 2-0 he had to throw one right down the middle. Cuddyer knew it was coming and crushed it. After that CC was able to reset and bear down, but the HBP definitely shook him.
- Jeter looked slow on the fastball in his first two at-bats last night. He swung through one for a strikeout in the 1st and was way late in fouling the first 2 pitches off in the 3rd. After getting down 0-2 in that at-bat, though, it was vintage Jeter as he battled back to a full count and then singled to left on a poorly-placed change.
- Liriano showed the rest of his staff the way to handle A-Rod in the 3rd, fanning him on 3 straight sliders that A-Rod looked awful on. I wouldn't expect to see too many more fastballs for the rest of the series if I'm The Horse.
- Although he looked solid through 3 innings, Liriano was up around 60 pitches already. I said in the preview that if the Yankees could work his pitch count they could get him out early and get to the 'pen and despite being down they were setting that up perfectly through patience on the slider and fouling off pitches.
- Just an awful passed ball by Jorge in the 3rd. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there's no way you can convince me that Jesus Montero is going to be as bad or worse defensively than Jorge.
- Jorge's fuckups aside, CC was not sharp at all through 3 innings. He actually seemed to get worse from the 1st to the 2nd to the 3rd. His command was inconsistent, he was getting behind too many batters by not throwing strike 1, and when he did get ahead in the count his putaway pitches were terrible: either nowhere near the strike zone or catching too much of the plate and being put in play or wasted.
- Liriano cruised through the 4th and 5th once he really got his slider going. He didn't have great command of it in the early innings, but found it in the 4th and 5th and with the faster pace at which he was working, it was obvious he was feeling it.
- The Teix 2B in the 6th was a huge hit for the Yanks because it not only gave them their first scoring opportunity in 3 innings, but it also broke Liriano's momentum and forced him back into the stretch. Once he got back into that, his command seemed to abandon him. Once he had to work hard to get out of the inning, the pitch count came back to bite him and the wheels fell off.
- Big hit by C-Grand in a great at-bat in the 6th. He showed patience against a tiring pitcher, took 2 balls, and sat on the fastball that he absolutely crushed into right field. No way he does that a couple months ago. Thank you, Kevin Long!
- I hate to show no faith in CC, and I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with this statement, but that's a terrible job by Joe in the bottom of the 6th not taking CC out after the Kubel walk. CC started to open his shoulder up and miss with the slider against Thome when he walked him, it got worse against Cuddyer before he grooved another one for a double, and he threw 4 pitches to Kubel that weren't even close. He was done at that point. He was clearly tired and that's why his mechanics failed him. Rookie right-handed hitter or not, CC should have been out of the game to start resting up for Game 4.
I understand he's the ace and that's what you pay him for, but the playoffs aren't about loyalty or reputation or stature, they're about winning. And getting a clearly tired pitcher out of a one-run game for a fresh reliever with a fastball-curveball combo that could have surely struck out Valencia was the winning move in that situation. CC was clearly out there with nothing against Kubel and Valencia and they only reason he managed to get J.J. Hardy out was because he went back to the fastball and because it was J.J. Hardy at the plate.
- Excellent at-bat by Teix in the 7th. He took what Crain gave him, worked some tough fastballs, waited for something off-speed, and made Crain pay for missing way up with a slider.
- The Yankee bullpen was effective, if not a little nerve wracking. Logan did a good job getting the first 2 outs and then fell victim to Joe Mauer being a great hitter, something that there is no shame in. D-Rob was a complete pussy against Delmon Young, the guy he was brought in to face, not even looking like he wanted to pitch to him, then promptly attacked Thome with some of his filthiest curveballs and getting him to strike out. Wood was solid, but experienced some bad luck on the Valencia infield single. I actually thought Joe should have left him in the finish the 8th.
- But alas, Joe went to Mo for a 4-out save and it was the right call to make. After getting behind Denard Span 3-0, Mo battled back to saw him off and then looked like vintage Mo in the 9th, throwing strike one, pounding the zone with the cutter, and getting a 1-2-3-4 innings thanks to some shitty umpiring, breaking multiple bats in the process.
- Francisco Liriano was on early and often, pumping his fastball in for strikes early in the count to set up the slider, which he found in the middle innings. But while it looked like all was well on the surface, the classic Yankee patience worked against him as he reached the dangerous-for-him 100-pitch plateau in the 6th inning. That inning was all it took to turn a dominant outing into a shaky one, and that's what the Yankees can do to you.
- CC was actually worse than Liriano. His slider command was nowhere to be found and his fastball wasn't much better. He had trouble throwing strike one (only 13 of 27 batters faced), and got into trouble by falling behind hitters and then grooving fastballs just for the sake of throwing a strike in obvious fastball counts. Some credit goes to Minnesota for working him, but CC was definitely not as sharp as we're used to seeing him. He'll be working with Eiland before his next start on fixing the mechanical shoulder issue that was his undoing in the 6th.
- It was an up-and-down night for Jeter at the plate. He didn't look great on Liriano's early fastballs, and swung and missed at least once at every type of pitch thrown to him by the Minnesota staff. He showed more patience early in the game and then was first-pitch swinging in the 9th. After getting him to flail on some curveballs in the 7th, keep an eye on how the Twins choose to attack him in Game 2 and beyond.
- Not too much to complain about with EJ, Smoltz, and Ron Darling last night. They did go back and forth a little too much between talking in weird generalities when the situation didn't call for it (i.e.- Darling talking about CC's toughness right after he gave up a home run) and analyzing the action on the field, but overall they were OK. They didn't talk over the action too much, EJ didn't over-dramatize anything, and Darling and Smoltz actually provided some good insight and analysis that you know you wouldn't get from Tim McCarver. At the very least, they're watchable.
- Indian Summers? Artificial dirt in the infield? CC and Orlando Hudson's wives hanging out? Can somebody tell me what the fuck Craig Sager was talking about last night? This ain't "Good Morning America," chief. It's the fucking playoffs. Save the puff pieces and human interest stories for another time and get us viewers some info that actually matters or take your ugly suits and go the fuck home.
- Big fan of the TBS pitch track system and the fact that it actually reverts to a different camera that is squared up to homeplate and shows where pitches truly were when they crossed the plate. Take note, ESPN, since your K-Zone is almost always off.
- Play of The Game- Teix's 2-run HR in the 7th
Granderson's HR had a bit higher WPA value, but the lead he gave the Yankees' was promptly coughed up by CC. Teix came up right after that and regained the lead for his team, sucking the life and energy back out of the stadium that had just been created by the Twins' comeback. Getting the Yanks the lead with their bullpen coming in to lock it down was a huge turning point and turned out to be the game-winning hit.
- Player of The Game- Mark Teixeira
2-5 with a 2B, HR, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, and a couple of solid plays at first base. Yep, that's what Cash signed him for. As bad as he was in the 2009 postseason, this was a great start to get off to for Teix.
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