Series Recap: Rangers v. Yankees

Hey, for once I'm actually kinda on time with my post! Thanks to the off day yesterday and the late start of tonight's game in Oakland, I will hopefully have this series review of the 3-game sweep over the Rangers finished before the punishment of the Athletics begins. What'd ya guys think of my last synopsis of the Angles series? Oh wait, no one read it? Shoot. It was too long again huh? Well, I'll try to do better this time. Deep breath and...

GAME 1: Rangers 1, Yankees 5

Box Score

Perhaps this first summary won't be too painful, seeing as the game only went six innings on the count of weather. Yankee ace C.C. Sabathia was looking to follow-up on his first victory of the season against Tampa Bay last weekend. That's kind of a tough second act though, considering that he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his previous start. Nevertheless, the southpaw was not daunted by the shadow of his own triumph, as he went the distance (so to speak) through 6.0 innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 9. That's four more K's than he had when he flirted with history last Saturday.

The sole earned run and two of the three base knocks came in the top of the first. C.C. got ahead 0-2 to Michael Young, but the veteran hitter managed to get his bathead to a decently-located heater (up and in...maybe not up and in enough for 0-2) and roped one by Jeter for the single. Josh "Kibosh" Hamilton (I don't know, it rhymed I guess) stepped up to the plate with an aggressive strategy in mind, as he poked the first pitch he saw, a fastball in the lefty sweet spot, for a double to the opposite field, creating a second-and-third one-out scenario. Then it was Vlad Guerrero's turn and...wait a minute. Vlad is on the Rangers???!!! Okay, raise your hand if you had no idea that was the case. I must admit that as someone who claims to be an avid fan and follower of the sport, this one totally slid under my radar. Whoops. Guess that's why I don't get paid to do this...yet. Anyway, Sabathia went up 0-2 on the former Expo/Angel and got him to chase a pitcher's pitch, but because it's Vlad who can get the bathead on anything, he managed to reach out and serve it deep enough into center field to score Young. Grandy, who was fresh of an outfield assist from the previous night's game, made a strong throw, but he simply didn't have enough time to get the agile shortstop-now-third-baseman.

Hope Texas enjoyed that run, because there wasn't much else to speak of after that. Starting with Nelson Cruz to end the first, the big man went on to fan six consecutive Rangers on 26 pitches. That string of K's marked the beginning of a larger string of 12 straight outs, with a strike-to-ball ratio of 33:9 in that span. Did I mention it was pouring rain for the majority of this game? You wanna talk about having your A-stuff, double-C was mowing 'em down with three, four pitches max, and he wasn't even using his best pitch (he only threw the change-up twelve times according to MLB.com's pitch tracker). It was pretty much a balanced attack of 2-seam and 4-seam fastballs with some filthy breaking stuff thrown in to keep them honest. Is it possible that he was even more dominant in these six innings than he was in his last outing, a 7.1 inning, 1 hit masterpiece? The short answer: yes. He put away hitters sooner in the count, his stuff was nastier, and he didn't require as much help from his defense (not to mention sheer luck). Plus he hurled this gem outdoors in the rain as opposed to the comfort of a dome. Damn.

C.J. Wilson did not fare quite so well in the precipitation. Wilson, who has traditionally held the closer/set-up role for Texas, is having a go at starter for the first time in his career this seaosn. I suppose the Rangers are short on pitching, and since Wilson had his best year ERA-wise in 2009, Ron Washington and the managers figured, why not? It worked out surprisingly well in his debut performance against the Jays, as the converted starter pitched 7.0 scoreless innings despite picking up a no-decision (his team would lose 3-1). The Yanks were a different story however, as the veteran order tagged the southpaw for 7 hits and 5 runs (albeit just 3 earned) while garnering 3 walks.

I suppose it wasn't all Mr. Wilson's fault. For example, the Yanks got an early Christmas present from catcher Taylor Teagarden in the bottom of the first inning. After Jeter singled and Johnson walked, Tex did his best to kill the rally by bouncing into an easy double-play. But Teagarden did him one better, dropping a routine letter-high fastball that ricocheted all the way to the backstop, allowing Jeter to score from third on the passed ball. Just like that, the Rangers' lead was erased on an unearned run.

After a quiet second, and a third that ended with Johnson getting hosed at second trying to steal (with A-Rod up?...why bother?), the pinstripes broke the tie in the fourth, again with some help from their opponents. To be sure, Wilson did not help his cause by beaning A-Rod to lead off the inning and, after a Cano single, walking Nick Swisher after getting ahead 0-1 on a foul bunt. With the bases loaded and no one out, C.J. froze Marcus Thames on four pitches (thanks, benchie). Then Grandy dug in and wrapped a hot grounder to first, snared there by a diving Chris Davis. And just when it looked like Wilson might get the turn to end the inning and escape with the stalemate in tact, Davis's throw to second hit Swisher in the back. The ball took a Yankees deflection into the outfield, giving A-Rod and Cano plenty of time to cross the plate. It wasn't pretty, but regardless of the means, the bombers now had a 3-1 lead. Cervalli followed with a more legit RBI single on a tough cutter inside to plate Swish and make it 4-1.

Just when you thought the Yanks had expended their daily allotment of favors from the baseball gods, along came the sixth inning. Thames smoked a liner through the box (still a benchie) and was replaced by Gardener on the paths with one out and the rain coming down with rising intensity. With two outs and Cervelli batting, Brett jetted to second, and was bumped up to third on another single by the backup catcher (props to the kid with the special helmet for having a multi-hit day...not easy to do when you're only called on every fourth or fifth day). The captain was next, and dipped into the gift-basket one last time to chop one just off the tip of the glove of a outstretched Wilson for the infield hit. As the icing on a dog's-day cake (...what?), the umpire's halted the game at the end of that frame, resulting in a 5-1 Yankee win in six. It's not how you get it done, it's that you get it done. Right, Yogi? What's that? You never said that? Oh...

Game MVP: C.C. Sabathia
Honroable Mention: Francisco Cervelli

GAME 2: Rangers 3, Yankees 7

Box Score

So, remember how the Yanks got really random, sorta cheap, dinky runs in Game 1? Well, they kept right on dinkin' and dunkin' along in Saturday afternoon's affair, this time off of poor Scott Feldman. I say "poor" out of pity, for the Texas chucker lasted just 2.1 innings, suffering 4 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. And he's supposed to be your ace? Oh boy.

The scoring began in the second inning, and like the first game, it was a rather meek tally. Posada led off with a line drive into right on the first pitch he saw, but Feldman recovered to get Granderson and Swisher, the latter on 10 pitches (Nicky always makes 'em work, even when he doesn't get the hit). Then Gardener tapped a sinker back towards the mound far enough away from Feldman that he couldn't make the play in time. Dribble. Then Jeter steps in and punches a fastball through the right side. Dink. With the bases juiced, Johnson took his turn and fought off some pitches to earn an eight-pitch walk. Run. Even Teixeira, who immediately went down 0-2, finally got a hit, a wimpy slow-roller to second base that he was able to leg out. Another dink. Another run. Before Feldman knew what was happening, the pinstripes had nickeled and dimed and rallied against him for two scores with two outs.

And his day wouldn't extend very far beyond that inning. He succeeded in getting the leadoff out to start the third in the form of the red-hot Cano, but after Posada struck another rope into the outfield and Grandy moved him to third with a one-out double over Josh Hamilton (to left! Grandy didn't pull it!), Ron Washington decided he had seen enough from the righthander. He took the ball from him after just 73 pitches. Premature? If this is your so-called "ace," why wouldn't you want to leave him in there, show him you have confidence in him early in the season. It's not like this is a make or break game by any stretch of the imagination. Unless he got hurt, I don't see any convincing reason to take him out that soon, having aloud just two runs almost entirely on dinks. Nonetheless, he was replaced by Doug Mathis, a young reliever who made sure those runs got charged to Feldman. Surely the dinking wouldn't plague Mathis as well, right? Well, he looked to be out the woods after getting Swisher to fly out in a man-on-third-one-out opportunity, but then Gardner dinked them again, beating out another infield hit to get Posada home. Then when blubhead broke for second, Teagarden had another 'oh crap' moment, flinging a ball wildly off the mark and into center field to score Grandy. That was the second error for a catcher who's been tangled in the mist of this bloop flubbery devastating the Rangers in this series. Not a good look for T.T.

You know what they say. After all those bloops and dribbles is bound to come a blast. Sure enough, Jeter pulled his hands in tight and drove one out to left to cap off a four-run inning and put New York up 6-0. And who do you think tacked on another run in the fourth with a solo launchjob? None other than my boy, Alex Rodriguez, who can finally join the 2010 1-homer club. Whoohoo! Get this man a cake with one candle on it and have him make a wish! Good job buddy. Now let's hope you don't start falling apart like Ortiz did in the middle of this year.

That was pretty much it from the Yanks offense in this one. The Texas bullpen as a whole did a nice job of holding the pinstripes to where they were after four innings. Johnson helped them out by grounding into a bases-loaded inning-ending double play on a 2-1 pitch. But other than that, Ron Washington's pen did one of the better jobs against the Bronxians that I've seen so far.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, A.J. was the C.C. of Game 2. Miraculously, Girardi allowed him to go failry deep into the pitch count, as Burnett recorded 7.0 innings of scoreless work over 111 pitches, conceding 6 hits and 2 walks while strikingout 7, second most on the season only to C.C. Game 1 nine-K show. Interestingly enough, Burnett mixed in his changeup in the first inning, but then never revisited it for the druation of his outing. His 4 and 2-seam fastballs were helpful in helping him get ahead in some instances, yet he lost his command of them somehwhat and fell behind in the count in other ABs. This forced him to rely heavily on the curve ball, which he began to feature with noticable regularity in the last couple of innings. Still, he threw a lot of strikes, got in their heads a bit with the early changeup (possibly), and wasable to pitch out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the fifth, his only real brush with danger. This is Burnett I hope to see more times than not over the course of the season; easy delivery, not afraid to challenge and mix it up, at least slightly. Kudos, blondie.

Aceves has gotten me worried a tad after these last two displays. He walked Vlad on four straight pitches (very uncharacteristic) after a Michael Young single, then served one on a platter for the league's leading slugger, Nelson Cruz, who belted his 7th dong, a 3-run rainmaker that gave the Rangers a sliver of hope. Joba came on to close the door in the ninth 1-2-3, and as of late, he's been the most consistent arm out of the pen outside of Mo. If Joba can stay healthy and focused, this could mean big things for the Yankee's season. All they need is one more guy in the pen to step up, and the team might be on its way to composing the nastiest 7th-8th-9th inning trio of recent clubs. Damn, where's Mike Stanton or Jeff Nelson when you need them?

Game MVP: A.J. Burnett
Honorable Mention(s): Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez for passing his roid buddy Mark McGwire with his 584th jack to claim sole possession of 8th all-time

GAME 3: Rangers 2, Yankees 5

I'm trying to think back to the last time the Yanks top three starters ever looked this good to start a season simultaneously. Seriously, think about this. C.C. (2-0) has chucked 13.1 innings of 1-run ball in his last two starts, A.J.'s (2-0) chipped down 14 frames in his previous two, giving up just 2 scores, and, with this win, Pettitte is now also 2-0, and has put together 20 innings of mastery, allowing just 3 runs his first three appearances. Togehter, this trifecta has combined ERA of 2.20. How can one argue?