ALCS Game 1 Recap

Anyway, Game 1 in the books the Yanks are looking good.  It was a well played game, that really the Yankees dominated from start to finish.  Though it was 2-1 in the 5th, it was never a doubt in my mind that Angels would rally and win the game.  It just had that feeling, especially when Aybar and Figgins let that Matsui ball drop, you knew it was not a good sign for the Angels. 

My expereince at Game 1 was great, we arrived at my place at 4:00, I took a nice hot shower, still not believing Russo and Fatcessa had a reunion hours before (more on this in a seperate post) and at 5:00 we hopped on the subway and embarked for the New Yankee Stadium.  At around 5:45 we get to the New Stadium and go to "The Dugout" but not without passing Jim Leyritz who was sitting outside by himself signing autographs.  At "The Dugout" I ran into my old ESPN friends from when I interned at ESPN Radio and had a nice chat with my former boss.  The place errupted when David Cone was brought on stage accompanied by....Peter King.  

When the craziness of Cone died down, we went to the game, section 203 bleachers.  The crowd was really into it, especially the bleachers, and I stood for 90% of the game.  Very intense atmosphere, in fact these bleachers are much better than the old ones because they are on an angle, and your higher up.  

- Right from the get go, the Yankees just seemed to have it.  Jeter single, Damon single moving Jeter to third, and then it was 3-0 on Tex before he got out and then Arod came through with a sac fly.  Then the fun started to happen.  Matsui pops a ball in between Figgins, the third baseman, and Aybar the shortstop, and it just dropped.  The place is in shock and were up 2-0.  Lackey on the mound looked like Patrick Bateman before cutting off some girls head when that ball dropped, and then he finally got out of it.

- No action until the 4th when Vlad, who by the way put on more weight than Matthew Perry after a rehab stint, hit a booming fly ball that everyone thought was gone and it hit the base of the wall in left center.  After Juan "I tore my MCL while running into a golf cart" Rivera grounded out, Kendry Morales singled and runied C.C's potential shutout.  C.C buckled down and got out of it.

- The big play of the game, with two on and one out in the bottom of the 5th, Matsui "doubles" to left which scores Damon easily, and Arod ran through Rob Thomson's stop sign and tried to score.  He was thrown out by a mile.  I was listening to WFAN all night and today and for some reason that became a huge deal.  Guys, its not a big deal, he got thrown out, it was a dumb play, move on the game was never in doubt.  I guess because nothing really happend in this game, people have to nitpick, but its stupid to pick on Arod, who granted made a dumb play, but its not the end of the world.

- The last run of the game came courtesy of who else, The Shortstop Formaly Known as Old Man Jeets, who singled up the middled and put the game away.  Now to the notes.

- John Lackey quietly has not done much for the Yankees in the playoffs.  He has never gone passed 5 2/3 in all three starts he has had in the postseason vs the Yankees and though only 3 runs of his were earned, he still walked 3 and gave up 9 hits.  Typical A.J start, not one you expect from John Lackey.  Not sure if he puts up another bad outing if the Angels bring him back, hes from Texas, wears that state on his sleeve, and maybe going to the Rangers or Astros would suit him better than staying in L.A.

- Time to start Gardner?  I dont kow about that yet, after Melky put on a solid game yesterday going 1-2 with 2 walks, but you got to winder about trying to emulate the way the Angels play, and the only way to do that would be to put Gardner in center.

(Probably cant tell but thats David Cone)

- The big thing C.C did yesterday was keep Figgins off the base path.  Figgins is our worst enemy, he gives up nightmares and fits, but he went 0-4 yesterday and the more he is off the base path, the better.

- Lew