THE DAY THE LAUGHTER DIED

We were in the Bronx. We were with our family, in pinstripes, bleeding blue, ready for the Yankees to beat the Tigers and advance to the ALCS. It's the Yankee way, it's destiny. I never like to climb back in games to win, but that's exactly what the Yankees have done so many times before in the playoffs, maybe tonight would be along the same lines. I tell you what though, I was kicked in the gut as soon as the game started.
The first inning was horrible for Ivan Nova and it made me mad nervous. Yes, Austin Jackson got a quick K as did Miguel Cabrera but Don Kelly and Delmon Young both cranked solo shots.
Now it's 2-0. Fister looked good, but hittable. The Yankees usually go through the order before they start hammering, so, I'm not getting crazy yet. Luckily Mark Teixeira cranked a double. To bad they couldn't get him around to score.
The 3rd inning Phil Hughes came in to relieve Ivan Nova. Apparently Nova had tightness in his arm. I was surprised actually, I was expecting another inning. Hughes struck out to first 2 batters he faced. Delmon Young got a single and then he got Miguel Cabrera to ground out.The bottom of the third, Brett Gardner singled. Jeter struck out and Curtis Granderson worked a walk. Robinson Cano came up and I had hope. Cano popped out to center field. Inning over.One thing I need to point out. The strike zone again was horrible. There were pitches that game in too low or off the plate that were called strikes and strikes that were definitely balls. There were many questions by the Yankees tonight and with good reason. Bad calls. Alex Rodriguez had a very very bad night.

The 4th inning gave me another surprise, after the first out and a single, Girardi made yet another pitching change. I'm thinking... man I hope it's not going to be one of those nights. I prayed at that point that Yankees offense would turn it around and the Girardi binder doesn't insert itself all night, otherwise, there's no way to win this damn thing. Boone Logan came in. I groaned. Yes, Boone struck out the side the last time out in the ALDS, but you never know what your going to get with this guy. I started to get pissed, what the hell is Girardi doing? Logan pitched to lefty Alex Aliva, and of course, the guy gets his first hit of the ALDS. Now we're in trouble, men on first and second. Peralta flied out which was great. Luckily with 2 men on Boone Logan got a strikeout.

The top of the 5th brought Alex Rodriguez to the box. I noticed ARod had a quicker swing in the last game. I'm hoping I'm right and he cranks it out. I told someone on my train expect hits by ARod tonight. Yeah right... who am I kidding? Luckily ARod walked this time. Nick Swisher then singled to right. 1 out. Jorge Posada came to the plate. A huge single and now the bases were loaded with 1 out. After a Martin pop up, Brett Gardner was up, our hottest hitter and the whole stadium was into it, Gardner popped out. I was crushed.
CC Sabathia came in to start the 5th. So strange to see him in relief. He allowed a run to score and at this point it's 3-0. I am shocked and I know the Yankees are running out of time.

The bottom of the 5th there were 2 quick outs in Jeter and Granderson. Wimpy outs. Then Robinson Cano came up. He buried the ball into the right field seats and suddenly it was 3-1. I realized right then that this was Yankee Stadium, the best place you want to be in a playoff game. I realized, we can do this, but our pitching needs to be solid and keep the Tigers from scoring. Luckily our pitching was great, the hitting was crap.

Rafael Soriano came into relieve CC in the 6th inning. He immediately got the double play. Good job RaSo.

Looking at the bottom of the 6th, Max Scherzer came in. Mark Teixeira was the first Yankee batter and flew out to Austin Jackson. Nick Swisher continues to disappoint and ground out and then Jorge Posada had a single. Russell Martin came to the plate with Jorge at first. He struck out. Way to kill a rally.

Rafael Soriano had a good second inning in relief. The Tigers looked off balance at the plate, I placed my Bucky Dent / Mike Torrez autographed bat on the floor in front of the television. I was desperate.In the bottom of the 7th, Delmon Young came out of the game. I felt the ghosts of Yankee Stadium coming out. I prayed this game would be in our favor. Gardner came to the plate and struck out. Jeter came up and fought hard waiting for his pitch, then, he beat out an infield single and at that point I saw a glimmer of hope. Say what you will about old man Jeter, he can easily set the tone. At this point Scherzer came out and Granderson came to the plate against Joaquin Benoit who had an enormous band-aid on his face and Girardi strategized and asked to have it removed, hopefully it rattled Benoit. Granderson rips one for a single. Now, men on first and second and Robinson Cano comes to the plate. An easy dribbler next to Benoit and he missed it. Bases loaded for ARod. Alex struck out. Unbelievable! Something's got to be wrong with this guy. How could that happen? Teixeira then came to the plate. He walked. 3-2 at this point and the bases are still loaded for Nick Swisher. If anyone needs to deliver tonight, it needs to be Swisher. Swisher struck out. The biggest opportunity of his career and he blew it. Based on this post season alone, I would not pick up Nick Swisher's option. You can't be all flash and show no bash in the playoffs. Pathetic.

David Robertson came in the top of the 8th and showed me why we love him. The inning went quick. The bottom of the 8th needed to be big for the Yankees, they needed 1 run. I took out my 1956 autographed Mickey Mantle Sports illustrated. I was clearly desperate at this point.
Jorge Posada came up in what could be his last at bat as a New York Yankee. Posada has been one of the hottest Yankees all playoffs. He needed a hit right now. We all did. He grounded out. Martin came up and he was overdue. I was sure he'd deliver here with a base hit. Martin struck out. Are you freaking kidding me? 2 outs and we look like crap. Shortly later, with Gardner on base, Jeter cranked one high to the wall, but caught by Don Kelly. So close...but not close enough.
Mariano Rivera came in in the 9th inning. The score is still 3-2 by the way, I'm not getting this, but whatever, this is what Girardi does, he either doesn't pull the pitcher quick enough, or the binder tells him all about match-ups and changes pitchers like Kool-aid. Mo was brilliant, a 1,2,3 inning.

This is it, 3-2 game. The Yankees are down in the Bronx. I have been at games and seen games on TV that have blown me away, always with the ghosts coming out and always with the Yankees winning. I've prayed, I have all my favorite collectibles out. We need alittle hitting now to win this God damn ball game. I do not want to see this clown Valverde dance in the Bronx, we must beat him.

Granderson came up and popped up. Robinson Cano had a broken bat hit that was caught all the way in center field by Austin Jackson. Then, once again it was up to Alex Rodriguez...and with a strikeout, the Tigers won.
Just like last year, Alex Rodriguez strikes out for the last out. Remember when he struck out and Bengie Molina jumped up and ran out to the mound to celebrate? I'm so crushed right now.
(Photo: 2010)
I cannot tell you how disappointed I am. The Yankees season is over. Jorge Posada's career is probably over in pinstripes. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 4 days or so, you start hearing whispers of CC Sabathia wanting to opt-out and questions about whether or not Nick Swisher should come back. After having the best record in the American League, the Yankees lost to the Tigers. The Tigers didn't beat the Yankees, the Yankees beat the Yankees tonight. The pitching was good, the timely hitting was not.

Tip your hat to Jim Leyland, I love that man. He's a true baseball guy and he managed a good team.

If Bleeding Yankee Blue takes a day off, I know you'll understand.

Final Score: Tigers 3 - Yankees 2

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2011 ALDS YANKEES VS. TIGERS GAME 3 PREVIEW

Game 2 yesterday sucked. The Yankees couldn't hit Max Scherzer who has been terrible, to say the least, on the road this season. But guess what, he dominated the Yankees. 6 innings, just two hits on four walks and he didn't allow anyone to cross the plate. The offense came on late against Tigers' closer Jose Valverde, who made a bold guarantee after the game (HERE),
but they failed to complete the comeback.
But today is a new day as the Yankees took batting practice in Detroit earlier today. This is a huge game for the Yankees, as they'll send out their ace CC Sabathia against Detroit ace Justin Verlander tonight. By the way, look for Casey's take on Valverde tonight during the game.

Although most people call this a "must win" game tonight, it's really not, because if the Yankees lose tonight they're not eliminated. Sure AJ Burnett would be going tomorrow with the season on the line which is certainly ideal, but it's no guarantee that he'll implode. But, with that being said, this is still the biggest game of the year. If the Yankees can win this game it'll be huge. It will obviously give the Yankees a 2-1 series lead, thus having to win one more game to advance to the ALCS. It also guarantees that worst case scenario that there will be a Game 5 back in the Bronx with Ivan Nova against Doug Fister. We've seen that movie before.
CC Sabathia has started 32 career games against the Detroit Tigers and has gone 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA. This season he's started against them twice, technically three times though if you include Game 1 of this series. His first start against them was on Opening Day in which he went 6 innings, allowing three runs--two earned--while striking out seven and getting a no-decision. His second start against Tigers came on May 3 in which he went 7 innings allowing four runs while striking out six. He got the loss, and he also allowed a season high tying 10 hits in Comerica Park that night. His third start against Detroit came last Friday, and we all know what happened that night, 2 innings, one run on a solo homer--a Yankee Stadium special to Delmon Young--and four strikeouts before the skies opened and washed the game out.

There's really only one hitter on the Tigers who has "owned" CC in his career, and that is Miguel Cabrera who has softball type numbers against Sabathia, a .529 average (9 for 17) with two homers and 11 driven in. Other than that, no one really else has hit Sabathia well. Victor Martinez is hitting .231 (6 for 26) with a couple homers, and Magglio Ordonez is hitting .264 (19 for 72) with three homers and 18 RBI. Sabathia has "owned" guys like Jhonny Peralta (.059 average in 17 AB's) and Brandon Inge (.190 average in 58 AB's) during his career.Justin Verlander has also faced the Yankees three times this year. On Opening Day he went 6 innings allowing three earned on three hits and three walks while also striking out eight. He also had to throw 114 pitches during his outing. His second start against the Yanks came on May 2 in which he allowed three runs in six innings while striking out eight, but he allowed eight hits and threw 127 pitches during his outing. His most recent start against the Yankees was Game 1 of this series. He allowed one run in one inning, but had to throw 25 pitches in the process. So, this season Verlander has had to average over 20 pitches this season against the Yankees. That will be key, because if that trend continues, Verlander may not be able to go as deep into the game as he would like to.

Verlander career against the Yankees is 4-3 with a 3.97 ERA in 10 career starts, and there aren't too many players who have hit Verlander well in their career for the Yankees. Derek Jeter has hit .345 (10 for 29) and Jorge Posada has hit .333 (7 for 21) against Verlander in their careers. But what's really concerning is that the middle of the order, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez--who is 0 for 8 in the series while hearing the Boo birds in Game 2--and Mark Teixeira have combined to hit .161 (11 for 68) with two homers and eight RBI against Verlander in their careers.

This is close to a must win game as they come for the Yankees. You do not want A.J Burnett to have the ball with the season on the line tomorrow if the Yankees lose tonight. There's a reason why CC Sabathia got paid the big bucks before the 2009 season, it's to pitch in these games aginst the best pitchers and to pitch well and more importantly, win.

And one more note, incase you missed it, check out our BYB EXCLUSIVE: DANTE BICHETTE JR.

Go Yankees!!!




--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer




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ONE GAME AT A TIME

(Photo: AP)
The Yankee Stadium crowd was hushed today by Max Scherzer, doing his best Cy Young impersonation. Look, Scherzer is not an incredible pitcher, but for some reason, he has the Yankees number. You have to give him credit, he came into our house and took over. I watched today in frustration, but I didn't watch it real time believe it or not. Thank God for my DVR.

At 3 o'clock, I was at my kid's Little League game. There's a lot going on as you can tell. My son told me as we pulled up to the baseball field, "Today, I'm going with my Cano stance." He was clearly honoring Cano after last night's grand slam. I looked at him and said "Just be you." My guy was on his own mission today, he was fighting for more playing time next game as well as a shot at moving up in the batting order. To him, the playoffs and his personal challenge we're similar. You have to give him props, he's hungry.(Photo: AP)
Meanwhile, Freddy Garcia gave us a good pitching performance today and delivered what we needed him too. In 5.1 innings, he allowed 6 hits and 4 runs and struck out 6. Although, it started out rough, with a quick 2 run home run by Miguel Cabrera and by the bottom of the first inning, it was 2-0 Tigers. The only thing that would make that worse would be Max Scherzer man-handling the Yankees... and he did. The Yankees we no-hit for the majority of 6 innings. Scherzer left the game just giving up 2 hits.

Meanwhile, back at the Little League field I was constantly pacing, watching my son play and listen to the radio at the same time. I was a wreck. My boy creamed a liner down the first line in his first at bat, but right at the first baseman. 0 for 1. Then, he worked a walk and came around to score. The next time up, he singled on a softy dribbler...my man beat it out. Then, in his fourth time up today, a nice line drive over the head of the second baseman and into right center. 2 for 3 today and a smile as he stood base. Good. One stress is over, my kid did good today, but now the Yankees need to win.

As we came in the house, we turned on the TV. It was 4-0 Tigers and then Curtis Granderson came to the plate and crushed a homer run to make it 4-1. The Tigers got the run back making it 5-1 in the top of the ninth off of Luis Ayala. More on him in a moment.
In the bottom of the ninth, Nick Swisher came up to face a lethal Jose Valverde. Well, he wasn't that lethal to Swisher who crushed a solo shot to make it 5-2. Then Jorge Posada came up and he cranked a shot to center and Austin Jackson was lost. Posada got a triple. Next, Russell Martin worked a walk and Andruw Jones who was 3-7 lifetime against Valverde came up. He had a nice shot to right, but ran down by Don Kelly . Jones sacrificed Posada home. One out.

Derek Jeter came up. Russell Martin was on first. After Jeter had him chucking pitch after pitch, Jeter eventually struck out. 2 outs now and hope was dwindling. Curtis Granderson came too the plate and it was a huge moment. Martin is now on second base. Granderson hits a high pop up to the Tigers side in foul territory. Alex Avila slips on the Yankees on-deck circle logo trying to catch ball, but misses... how ironic. I thought for sure, that would be the turning point. Then... Granderson walked.The table was set for Robinson Cano. Men on first and second and Cano is up. The score was 5-3. The rain was now pouring in the Bronx and with an 0-2 count on Cano, a soft grounder to second... Game over... Tigers win. The ALDS Series is now tied at 1-1.

Now I mentioned Luis Ayala and I noticed the Twitter world is hammering Ayala. Yes, Ayala is giving up runs, but I think I understand Girardi's thinking. I think Joe wants to have the big guys fresh for the next 3 games and if Ayala can get some outs and not allow games to get too out of control, that's a good thing in Joe opinion. Look I don't know if that's what he's doing, and if it is, I don't agree, but I think that's what his thinking is. My thinking is, this is the playoffs, we need to shut down the competition. Look, I really don't think we're going to see Ayala much more this ALDS. I really think it's a strategy by Girardi. All I'm saying is don't panic yet.

Final Score: Tigers 5 - Yankees 3.

Tomorrow in Detroit is Game 3. It's being billed as the Matchup of the Century...CC Sabathia vs. Justin Verlander. Interesting stat for CC... As a Yankee, his record in Comerica Park is 0-3 6.00 ERA. Now, stats don't mean much because CC could come in tomorrow night shut down Detroit. The good news is, if for any reason CC can't hack it, the Yankees have a well rested bullpen in Rafael Soriano, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera.

Justin Verlander at home is 10-3 with a 2.37 ERA but with no day off, anything can happen. Don't forget, Verlander has never pitched on short rest, CC has. It's going to be a tough pitched game.

Yankees need to pull this off... and I know they can. Let's Go Yankees!

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2011 ALDS YANKEES VS. TIGERS GAME 2 PREVIEW

(Photo: AP)
Last night's resumption of Game 1 was awesome. Ivan Nova proved to everyone he can pitch on the big stage against a very good Detroit Tigers team, while Robinson Cano continues to become a great postseason hitter. Did you know, that in Cano's last 10 postseason games--three series--he's hit .375 (15/40) with five homers, and 12 RBI (six in last night's game)? He's been amazing, and he's really one of the best hitters and probably the best second baseman in all of baseball, and because of it the Yankees have a 1-0 lead in the best of five ALDS against the Tigers.

Anyway, the game this afternoon is huge. In a best of five--or seven--series, visiting teams like Detroit really aim to win one of the first two games in the series so they can go back home and win their home games and win the series. With that being said, it's very important that the Yankees get this one. Justin Verlander is going on Monday in Game 3, so the Yanks would love to have a 2-0 lead.The pitching matchup for Game 2 is Freddy Garcia (12-8, 3.62 ERA) for the Yanks, against Max Scherzer (15-9, 4.43 ERA) for the Tigers. Garcia has an 18-8 career record against Detroit with a 3.88 ERA while losing his only start against the Tigers on May 4 in Comerica Park while going 7 innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits and two walks while striking out a season high eight batters. Some guys who've had good success against Garcia in their careers are Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Avila, and Delmon Young. Ordonez is hitting .327 (17-52) with a homer and six RBI while Cabrera is hitting .391 (9-23) with three homers and six RBI career against Garcia. Some hitters who don't fare quite as well against Garcia include, but aren't limited to, Victor Martinez, Austin Jackson, and Ryan Raburn. Martinez is a .233 hitter (7-30) while Jackson and Raburn each hit .222 (4-18) and .111 (1-9) against Garcia, respectively.(Photo: AP)
Max Scherzer is 3-0 in three starts with a 2.84 career ERA against the Yanks, while going five innings and allowing six runs in his first start of his season on April 3 at the Stadium, and pitching eight shutout innings while striking out eight Yankees at Comerica Park on May 4. It's tough to find too many players who've had good success in a big sample size against Scherzer, but Mark Teixeira is 3 for 10 with a solo homer and Curtis Granderson is 3 for 12 against Scherzer. After last night's 0 for 5 Alex Rodriguez probably won't enjoy seeing Scherzer because he's 0 for 8 in his career against him.
(Photo: Getty)
The other starters that include Russell Martin, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, and Brett Gardner have combined to hit .166 (10-60) against the Tiger right-hander in their career. It should be interesting how this one will turn out.

This would be a huge win for the Yankees if it can happen. Being up 2-0 and putting Detroit on the brink of elimination would be great.

Go YANKEES!!!




--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer




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RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY

Obviously, you know by now tonight's game was rained out. The game was tied 1-1 and the Yankees were to come up to bat in the bottom of the second inning. This game, according to Joe Torre, will be resumed tomorrow evening where the game left off.

First pitch of the new Game 1, will be tomorrow evening at 8:37pm ET. Both managers will go with their Game 2 starters. Ivan Nova vs. Doug Fister.

Then, Game 2 of the series is now scheduled to be played at 3:07 p.m. on Sunday, Freddy Garcia vs. Max Scherzer.

Game 3 would then be Monday... CC Sabathia vs. Justin Verlander.

One final thing, the rain is supposed to fall all day tomorrow. Tom Verducci just said that there was possible discussion that if it rains all day tomorrow, there could even be a double header on Sunday to get the games in. But we have to just take it one day at a time.

WTF.

By the way, my personal observation... TBS doesn't do baseball too well. during this whole mess tonight, I found myself longing for Craig Sager, at least I could chuckle at his outfits. My guess is he refused to have any rain get on his blazers so he bailed. That's a joke Mr. Sager... don't get upset.


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