New York Times writers Billy Witz, Jack Curry and Richard Sandomir provided updates of American League Championship Series Game 4 between the Yankees and the Angels.
Update | 11:34 p.m. Looks as if it will be the Not-So-Freeway series, along the Jersey Turnpike. The Yankees and the Phillies are up by 3-1 in their league championship series with the Angels and the Dodgers after the Yankees’ 10-1 victory Tuesday.
Girardi did not make many good decisions Monday, but all he needed was one good one Tuesday — starting Sabathia, who has been brilliant. That’s two runs and nine hits in 16 innings of this series.
The Angels will have 48 hours to digest their circumstance, then will send John Lackey out against A.J. Burnett, attempting to send the series back to New York for the weekend. That may just be prolonging the inevitable.
There have been two tight games in this series, ones that were deservedly split. But the difference maker has been Sabathia. If he has not earned his money by now, maybe he can umpire on his off days. — B.W.
Update | 11:30 p.m. Cabrera’s two-run single makes it 10-1. That’s the most runs the Angels have allowed in a playoff game since Game 5 of the 2002 World Series. And in comes Chad Gaudin to pitch the ninth. — B.W.
Update | 11:24 p.m. The Yankees are playing with house money. Rodriguez tags up and heads to third, a risk he might not take in a close game. When Abreu’s throw is wide, skittering past Figgins, Rodriguez comes home because Palmer did not back up third base. — B.W.
Update | 11:19 p.m. Another smooth inning for Sabathia, who is at the 100 pitch mark through eight innings. Interesting how for all the bad decisions Girardi made Monday, they should all erased by one good one he made Tuesday — to bring Sabathia back on three days’ rest. — B.W.
Update | 11:12 p.m. Damon just one-hands a breaking ball from Matt Palmer into the right-field seats. That makes it 7-1, and a small band of fans down the right-field line chant: “Let’s go Yankees.”
The Angels are in dire need of a Rally Gorilla. — B.W.
Update | 10:40 p.m. When Fox introduced its graphic that displays the pitch speed when the ball is released and when the ball reaches home plate, I thought it was a nice wrinkle.
Of course, common sense tells you that the ball slows down as it reaches the batter.
One fan, Dave Wallington, wrote to me describing the graphic as meaningless. In an e-mail message, he said: “Who cares at what point the speed of the pitch is measured? The batter certainly doesn’t. He’s not going to start thinking, ‘Now I can start hitting Jonathan Broxton’s fastball because it’s not really going 102 m.p.h., it’s only going 94!’ He’s thinking, ‘This guy has a great fastball, faster than most other pitchers.’ ”
Wallington makes an interesting point, but I like what the graphic quantifies, and satisfies a basic curiosity. Then, tonight, Fox made a smart, informative addition: batter reaction time. When Morales hit a fifth inning homer off Sabathia, we saw that he reacted in .396 of a second to a fastball that started at 95 m.p.h. and arrived at the plate at 88 m.p.h. — R.S.
Update | 10:37 p.m. No love from the Rally Monkey, apparently as Rivera hits into a double play. — B.W.
Update | 10:35 p.m. How big is this game for the Angels? The Rally Monkey, which by rule is not supposed to be brought out until the seventh inning, has just made an appearance after Hunter walked and Vladimir Guerrero singled to lead off the sixth. — B.W.
Update | 10:15 p.m. A stressful inning for Sabathia, but no more. He retires Figgins on a groundout, which was nearly a double play, and gets Abreu on very high
fly to shallow center field. — B.W.
Update | 10:09 p.m. Napoli follows by ripping a single past a diving Rodriguez, and Aybar with a tremendous at-bat, fouling of three consecutive 2-2 pitches before hitting a full-count changeup up the middle. No sign of the Rally Monkey yet — far too early, according to the rules — but the ThunderStix are out in force. — B.W.
Update | 10:03 p.m. Well, well. Deja vu, anyone? Kendrick hit a solo homer with one out in the fifth Monday to begin the Angels’ comeback from a 3-0 deficit. Morales just hit a solo homer with one out in the fifth to get the Angels on the board, 5-1. — B.W.
Update | 10:01 p.m. As bad a night as the Angels are having, McClelland is far, far worse. On a comebacker to the mound, Posada broke for home and was hung up. He retreated to third, where Cano was also. But Posada ran past the bag and Cano, for some reason did not have his foot on the bag either. Napoli alertly tagged Cano first, then as Posada ran past the bag, tagged him, too. McClelland ruled only that was Posada was out. Unless there is some rule that we’re unaware of that allows you to be on the base without touching it, how? — B.W.
Update | 9:55 p.m. Tremendous fake out just now by Hunter on Cano’s double off the left-center wall. He held his glove out as if he had a play, then played the carom perfectly. The end result: Posada froze at second and advanced 90 feet on a 395-foot extra-base hit. — B.W.
Update | 9:52 p.m. Following up on Kazmir, who when he was acquired from Tampa Bay in August was expected to bolster what was at the time a shaky rotation. That Kazmir had enjoyed plenty of success against the Red Sox and the Yankees — including six shutout innings at Fenway Park in last year’s A.L.C.S. — was viewed as a significant bonus for the Angels. As it turns out, it has not been.
In two playoff starts, against the Red Sox and the Yankees, Kazmir has allowed nine earned runs in nine innings. — B.W.
Update | 9:43 p.m. Teixeira singled to left to begin the fifth inning, and after a slow walk to the mound by Scoiscia and a brief discussion, that will be all for Kazmir. In comes Jason Bulger. And there goes the baseball. Home run by Rodriguez and it is 5-0. — B.W.
Update | 9:36 p.m. The Yankees are in the same position as Monday — and so are the Angels, staring up at a three-run deficit. Of course, this time Sabathia is pitching. — B.W.
Update | 9:33 p.m. Layne’s attentiveness sure is not contagious. No sooner does he get the bang-bang play right at home than Dale Scott misses a pickoff throw at second, when Aybar slapped a tag on Swisher before his hand reached the bag. No matter, safe is the call. Then, after Swisher tagged up and scored from third base, the Angels appealed and third base umpire Tim McClelland called him out. The replay appeared to indicate Swisher left after the ball hit Torii Hunter’s glove in center field. But the most disconcerting thing about the replay was that McClelland was watching Hunter the entire time. He never so much as glanced at Swisher leaving the bag. Columnist George Vescey, seated next to me, said it’s like the N.B.A. — a makeup call. — B.W.
Update | 9:22 p.m. Swisher earns a walk to load the bases. The decision by Kendrick was aggressive and ambitious, but will the result open up a big inning for the Yankees. After a visit from pitching coach, Mike Butcher, Cabrera comes to the plate.
Cabrera singles to left, bringing home Posada and Cano — the latter barely. Juan Rivera fired a strike home, but the throw was slightly up the line and Cano just escaped the tag by Napoli. By inches. Home plate umpire Jerry Layne, who correctly saw Aybar miss second base on a potential double play in Game 2, is having a heck of a series.— B.W.
Update | 9:17 p.m. Yankees take the lead, 1-0, on a bang-bang play at the plate. Cano hits a semi-sharp grounder to Howie Kendrick, who charges it and throws on the run. His throw is just high enough that catcher Mike Napoli has to leave his feet. By the time he comes down, Rodriguez has slid hard into home. — B.W.
Update | 9:12 p.m. Posada’s line double inside the third-base bag follows Rodriguez’s scorcher up the middle. Second and third, nobody out and nobody being fooled by Kazmir. Up next, Matsui, Cano and Swisher. — B.W.
Update | 9:02 p.m. Kazmir just struck out Mark Teixeira with Damon at second to end the top of the third — with Rodriguez on deck. It was a big pitch for Kazmir, but he is expending a lot of energy. He has thrown 53 pitches through three innings, though he is pitching on nine days’ rest. Sabathia, pitching on three days’ rest, has gotten through two innings with an economical 19 pitches. With Aybar, the No. 9 hitter, leading off, it will be interesting to see if the usually aggressive Angels try to work deeper in counts. — B.W.
Update | 8:52 p.m. The Bombers are going small. Melky Cabrera neatly pushes a bunt past Kazmir who hesitates on his way to first and has no chance when first baseman Kendry Morales fields the ball and prepares to toss it to him. — B.W.
Update | 8:46 p.m. Mike Scioscia has just spent about a minute between innings out on the field talking with home plate umpire Jerry Layne. Wonder what that was about? — B.W.
Update | 8:36 p.m. Yankees Manager Joe Girardi came to Swisher’s defense before the game, pointing out that he was not the only Yankee struggling to swing the bat.
“Guys are going to struggle during the course of the season, and you just don’t give up on a guy if he’s struggling because usually the flip side of that is they’re due to get hot,” Girardi said. “So we feel good about Swish today. You know, he had a big R.B.I. right-handed the last round for us, so we feel good about Swish today.”
So, too, do the Angels. Swisher flies out to right on a 3-2 pitch. — B.W.
Update | 8:32 p.m. Hideki Matsui hits a pop-up on the left side of the infield. Chone Figgins waves his arms to call it. Aybar shouts him off. No Alphonse & Gaston this time. The ball lands in somebody’s glove — Aybar’s. Another catch of a pop-up by Aybar, this one down the left-field line on a ball off the bat of Robinson Cano. After walking Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, Kazmir is a cold-hitting Nick Swisher (.136 in the postseason) from escaping unscathed. — B.W.
Update | 8:28 p.m. Sabathia is following in Pettitte’s footsteps in terms of trying to contain the Angels’ running game. After walking Bobby Abreu in the first, Sabathia made two pickoff throws to first. Pettitte made 19 pickoff throws in Game 3. Pettitte made several throws during the same at-bat, which was his way of preventing runners from going the first time he threw a pitch or going on his first move. Because Pettitte’s pickoff is so slick, the runners who dare to try and steal against him often go on his first move. The runners figure that might be their best shot to steal, whether Pettitte throws the ball to the plate or not. Pettitte picked off one runner and the Angels had one stolen base Monday. — J.C.
Update | 8:23 p.m. Alex Rodriguez walks and steals second on the first pitch. The Yankees are clearly going on the first move against Kazmir, who has a deceptive move but a high kick. Jeter was wrong, Rodriguez was right. — B.W.
Update | 8:11 p.m. Derek Jeter cannot win against Scott Kazmir. He inside-outs a ball down the right-field line that lands for a single, giving him five hits in 37 at-bats against Kazmir. Then he promptly gets picked off. With so many left-handers in this series — Kazmir, Joe Saunders, C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettitte — stolen bases have been hard to come by. There have been two stolen bases in the series, both by Erick Aybar, in six attempts. — B.W.
Preview
Jeff Mathis’s game-winning double Monday in the 11th inning got him mobbed by his teammates and earned him some prime time camera time for a national audience. What it did not do
is earn him a spot in the starting lineup tonight.
Mike Napoli will be behind the plate instead for Game 4. As usual, when catching decisions are made by Angels Manager Mike Scioscia — a former catcher — it is rarely about hitting. Napoli, who batted .272 with 20 home runs this season in 432 plate appearances, is catching because he has regularly caught Scott Kazmir since he was acquired in August from Tampa Bay.
So, Mathis, who after hitting .211 in the regular season, has doubled in his last three plate appearances, will be back on the bench, but he will be ready in case his superior defense — or his suddenly surprising offense — is needed.
“You always come to the field ready to play,” said Mathis, who caught Kazmir’s final start of the regular season. “But the way it worked, Nap caught 99 percent of the time he pitched, so I kind of figured he’d be in there.”
Howie Kendrick, who homered, tripled and singled in Game 3 and has a .426 career regular-season batting average against the Yankees, is even better against C.C. Sabathia, who is starting for the Yankees on three days’ rest. Kendrick is 8 for 12 (.667) against Sabathia.
Angels starter Scott Kazmir is 6-5 with a 2.87 earned run average in 15 appearances against the Yankees, and has handled many of the them well (Alex Rodriguez .125, Derek Jeter .111, Johnny Damon .167, Hideki Matsui .179).
One Yankee who has hit Kazmir well is one who has not been in New York long — Mark Teixeira, who is a .636 hitter against him. — B.W.
Billy Witz has the lineups for Game 4:
Yankees
1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Johnny Damon LF
3. Mark Teixeira 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Jorge Posada C
6. Hideki Matsui DH
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Nick Swisher RF
9. Melky Cabrera CF
C.C. Sabathia LHP
Angels
1. Chone Figgins 3B
2. Bobby Abreu RF
3. Torii Hunter CF
4. Vladimir Guerrero DH
5. Juan Rivera LF
6. Howie Kendrick 2B
7. Kendry Morales 1B
8. Mike Napoli C
9. Erick Aybar SS
Scott Kazmir LHP
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