Game 86 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 LAA 5

(More lefties, please.  Courtesy of The AP)

Mark Trumbo is going to be the next great Yankee killer.  I can feel it in my bones.  Every good team in the AL seems to have one these days, and he just seems like he's the next one in the making for the Angels.  He looked like he was going to be the Angels' hero last night after his big 3-run homer in the 7th, and it took some out-heroing from Mark Teixeira to make sure he wouldn't be, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable pitching around that guy in playoff situations if the Yankees have the opportunity.

Game Notes:

- The Angels got on the board first on an Erick Aybar solo shot in the top of the 3rd.  Hiroki Kuroda left a sinker up, something he did on more than one occasion last night, and Aybar made him pay.

- The Yankees didn't stay behind for long, though, as Mark Teixeira blasted a home run of his own in the bottom half of the inning, this one a 2-run job thanks to Derek Jeter being on base, and the Yankees took a 2-1 lead.

- Curtis Granderson created a primo run-scoring opportunity by leading off the bottom of the 6th with a triple.  But the trio of Teix, A-Rod, and Cano failed to bring him in with a couple of groundouts and a soft lineout.  Props to C.J. Wilson for making his pitches, but goddamn!  Somebody hit the ball in the air.

- Kuroda got through the next 3 innings facing the minimum number of batters thanks to Russell Martin's 2nd caught base stealer of the night in the 5th, and recorded 7 of the 9 outs on the ground, but he was just a little bit off with his stuff all night.

- That offness finally came back to bite him in the 7th when the first 2 batters got aboard on a single and an HBP and Trumbo hit another sinker that stayed up for a 3-run homer and a 4-2 Angels lead.  Those 3 runs, and the bonus one that Albert Pujols drove in the next inning made Kuroda's night look worse than it was.

- Wilson exited after 7 and the Yankees wasted no time going to town on Scott Downs.  Jeter doubled, C-Grand walked, and Teix smoked a hanging 1-2 curve into the left field bleachers to tie the game at 5.

- With nobody out, the rally was far from over, and after Nick Swisher walked and was replaced by Dewayne Wise, the Angels chose to intentionally walk pinch hitter Raul Ibanez to get to Martin.  That plan backfired as Martin hit a single down the right field to score Wise and give the Yankees a 6-5 lead that they wouldn't lose in the 9th.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Teixeira: 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 LOB.  If left-handed Mark Teixeira can hit like right-handed Mark Teixeira did last night, it could be a very good second half for both of them.

- Martin: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 LOB.  Martin was terrible in the first half, no other way to say it.  But he came up big last night, driving in the game winning run, nailing 3 base stealers, the final one to end the game on an absolute bullet to second off a pitch in the dirt.  Martin needed a game like this to get started off on the right foot.  Here's hoping he does something with it.

Oh Nos:

- Alex Rodriguez: 0-4, 1 K, 1 LOB.  His failed attempt to drive in C-Grand may have been the worse.  A 2-0 cutter inside that for some reason he swung at and beat into the ground.  Not the type of approach I'd expect from A-Rod in that situation.

- Andruw Jones: 0-3, 2 K, 3 LOB.  Can't destroy every lefty I guess.

Next Up:

The second game of this series is this afternoon, and it's a real clash of the pitching titans with Freddy Garcia and Jerome Williams taking the mound.  The Yankees upped their division lead to 8 games last night with the Orioles taking a loss, and they've pounded Williams once already this season.  Let's see if we can't make it 9 games today, boys.