Blog post

October 21, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Yanks & Phils are stayin' alive

The Yankees redeemed themselves before the home crowd in New York yesterday, staving off elimination and beating the Texas Rangers in convincing fashion, 7-2. This time, C.C. Sabathia got credit for the win, even though he allowed nearly twice as many hits (11, compared to 6) as he did in ALCS Game 1, when he lasted only four innings. The Yankees scored three times in the second inning, getting maximum use out of two singles, two walks, and a throwing error. The three home runs they hit later in the game did not change the outcome, but they probably helped the nervous home crowd feel a lot better. So now the series returns to Texas, with the Yankees in the unusual position of having to overcome heavy odds, on "alien turf," without the ghosts of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle to inspire them.

Across the continent, meanwhile, the Giants and Phillies battled each other in two very tense and close games. Last night Jayson Werth made a couple fine defensive plays in right field to prevent Giants from scoring, but "relief pitcher" Roy Oswalt faltered in the final clutch situation, giving up a long sacrifice fly to Juan Uribe, who got credit for the game-winning RBI. Werth's efforts were all for naught. In tonight's game, the Phillies took the lead after a dubious call by the home plate umpire, when a bunt by Roy Halladay was called fair, starting a weird chain of events that resulted in the Phillies scoring three runs. See MLB.com. Jayson Werth hit a homer to the right field corner in the top of the ninth as an insurance run, and the Phillies escaped from San Francisco with a win, 4-2. In the encore matchup between two of the greatest pitchers in the majors today, Roy Halladay prevailed over Tim Lincecum. The NLCS resumes in Philadelphia on Saturday.