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10/18: Rivera Pitches Two and One Third of Scoreless Relief In Yankee Win
Posted by: David
This game will probably be an instant classic on ESPN Classic or the MLB Network, the YES Network and any other station that appreciates a great postseason game.
The Yankees went up early 2-0 with the aide of an RBI triple from Robinson Cano and a solo home run from Derek Jeter. The Angels battled back in the fifth when Burnett got wild with walks, wild pitches and hit batters. All in all he was fortunate to hold them down to two runs. A.J. left after 6 1/3 and was followed by Phil Coke who struck out Bobby Abreu and Joba Chamberlain who struck out Vladimir Guerrero. In the eighth the Yankees went to Phil Hughes and he gave up a one out single. He then induced a perfect potential double play ball but Jeter bobbled it right near second and both runners were safe. Hughes struck out Gary Matthews, Jr. on three pitches but then Girardi summoned the Sandman. It only took one pitch to finish off the eighth inning as Mo jammed Erick Aybar with a cutter and got him to ground to second to end the inning. Neither team could push across a run until the 11th inning when Aybar walked, was sacrificed to second and then scored on the first 2009 postseason hit from Chone Figgins. The Angels took a 3-2 lead off of Alfredo Aceves and tried for more but the inning ended on a double play started by A-Rod. Did I mention A-Rod? He just happened to be the first batter up in the bottom of the 11th against Angels closer Brian Fuentes and on a 0-2 pitch lined a home run just over the outstretched glove of Bobby Abreu in right to tie the score at three. A-Rod would get another chance in the bottom of the 12th with two outs but popped up to end the inning. Damaso Marte pitched a third of an inning and then David Robertson struck out Gary Matthews, Jr. to end the inning with two runners on. In the 13th, Cano committed his second error, Abreu was walked intentionally, but Robertson pitched out of the jam by retiring Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero on ground balls to end the inning. In all the Yankee bullpen pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing only one run. Jerry Hairston, Jr. led off with a pinch hit single and was sacrificed to second by Brett Gardner. Melky Cabrera grounded a ball in the hole at second and Izturis tried for the force at second and threw wild past Aybar covering. Figgins then bobbled backing up and it allowed Hairston to score the winning run and give the Yankees a 4-3 win and a commanding 2-0 series lead with the team's heading to Anaheim for the next game on Monday afternoon. Rivera's postseason ERA now stands at 0.72. CommentsAdd CommentREAD BEFORE COMMENTING: Participation constitutes agreement to our User Guidelines, which are stricter than most other blogs', so please read them before commenting. No advertising (posting links to your site), inflammatory (flaming) remarks, vulgarities (any kind of profanity that you can imagine) or questions about our guidelines or comment deletions. We generally try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere here. Please keep this in mind. A few common examples:
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Moises Young Diaz wrote:
On Saturday Night, Mariano Rivera, was at his most dominating, needing only 24 pitches to get 7 outs, while allowing 1 single in his 2 1/3 innings. Mo was so efficient to pitch the 8th, 9th, and 10th, innings; this is when Mo is at his best, allowing only a bloop single by V. Guerrero.
It was awesome to be at the Bronx, cold, winding and raining, but definetely, it was a great game.