Preview of the ALCS-Yanks/Angels

The New York Yankees and Anaheim Angels played 10 games in 2009 and went 5-5. 6 of those games were played in Anaheim where the Yankees went 2-4 getting swept there right before the all star break but then winning 2 out of 3 in the middle of September. The Yankees won 2 out of 3 at home early in the season and then a makeup game in September. The Yankees historically have had their problems with the Angels as is well documented. They lost to them in the playoffs twice in 2002 and 2005 but that was a long time ago. The Yankees only have played them in the ALDS, never in the ALCS. This will be the Yankees first appearance in the ALCS since 2004. Pitching- The Angels ace is John Lackey who was hurt earlier in the year but pitched very well in Game 1 against the Red Sox in the ALDS. CC Sabathia pitched very well also in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Twins. This should be a good matchup but I think the Yankees have a slight advantage here. John Lackey has made 10 postseason starts and has a 3.02 era while Sabathia has struggled before Game 1 of the ALDS. Lackey has had less strikeouts and more walks since his arm injuries the last two seasons. Lackey has made 3 appearances in the playoffs against the Yankees, two as a starter. He has surrendered 3 earned runs and 10 hits in 14 1/3 innings which is a 1.88 era. Lackey won his only start against the Yankees this season on July 12th against CC Sabathia. He gave up 2 earned runs in 7 innings. He is 5-7 with a 4.66 era in 16 career starts against the Yankees. CC Sabathia was 0-2 with a 6.08 era against the Angels this season in 2 starts. A.J. Burnett will be pitching at home once again in game 2 where he really flourishes and has good feelings now that he got his first postseason start out of the way and pitched well. The Angels rotation won't be announced until tomorrow but it looks like they may go with Joe Saunders in game 2, the manager said he wants a lefty going in Yankee stadium so it could also be Scott Kazmir but it looks like they are leaning towards Saunders with Weaver going in game 3 and Kazmir in game 4. I think the Yankees have the slight edge in pitching but the Angels starters aren't so bad themselves. The main difference with the pitching is the bullpens where the Yankees have a much better and deeper bullpen. Brian Fuentes is a good closer but the Angels don't have much other then that. Jepson has been pretty good but overall the weakness of their team is the bullpen. Hitting- The Yankees have arguably the best lineup in baseball and A-rod is hot and carried the Yankees in the first round but other then him and Derek Jeter they didn't hit much against the Twins. Johnny Damon had a really rough series with 1 hit and 4 strikeouts. Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Hideki Matsui, Nick Swisher none of these guys really did anything or not much at all and the Yankees will look for the offense to really get going now in the ALCS. The Angels were carried by Bobby Abreu who batted close to 600 in the ALDS. Vlady Guerrero is a big bat still and Torii Hunter is a solid player. The key for the Angels is to get chone figgins and Maiztur Izturis on base and then start the running game. If the Yankees pitchers keep them off of base then they will have success. The Yankees want to grind out at bats and get to the bullpen early and go to work on the Angels weakness. I would give the Yankees the edge in hitting but the Angels are pretty good. I would think this series is going 6 or 7 games and I am going to pick the Yankees in 6. The Yankees will have confidence that they finally won a couple of games in Anaheim and they played well at home against them and they have the homefield advantage. I think everything so far has gone the Yankees way and they are capable of playing even better and will to get back to the World Series.

The Yankees have lost six of their last 10 and are 1-3 on a road trip that has two games left. They lead the Red Sox by five games in the division and the Angels by 4.5 games for best record in the AL and home-field advantage. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham. The Yankees are 0-4 at Angel Stadium this season, getting outscored 34-20. They are 5-18 here in the last five years in the regular season. Hideki Matsui is 19 of his last 45 (.422) with four homers and 13 RBI along with seven walks. Robinson Cano is hitting .364 (157 of 431) without runners in scoring position. He is hitting .208 (36 of 173) when there are runners in scoring position. This to me is unbelievable, how is such a good hitter that bad with runners in scoring position? Melky Cabrera is 1 of his last 19. He really goes up and down a lot. Brian Bruney has allowed 28 hits — six of them homers — and 15 walks in his last 21.1 innings. It may take a small miracle for him to make the postseason roster. Gaudin is 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA in eight appearances for the Yankees. He does not have a decision in four starts but has a 3.20 ERA over 19.2 innings and the Yankees have won all four of those games. I think the Yankees should sign him for next year. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Gardner(CF)

Angels at Yankees

The New York Yankees play a makeup game with the Angels tonight at 7:00PM from the Stadium. They enter tonight 5 games up on them for homefield advantage. They are 2-4 against them this season and 18-32 against them over the last 5 years including postseason. It is a understatement to say the Yankees have their problems with the Angels. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham and his Louhud Yankees Blog. Joba is 1-3 with a 7.76 era in his last 7 games allowing 40 hits and 18 walks over 29 innings. Opponents have hit 323 against him over that stretch. Joba has faced the Angels once which came on July 10th. He allowed 5 runs on 9 hits over 4 1/3 innings. Johnny Damon needs one homer to reach his career high of 25. Mariano Rivera who hasn't pitched since last Tuesday is 2 strikeouts shy of 1,000. A-rod is 18 of 42 this month with 6 runs scored, 14 rbi's and 5 xbh. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yankees at Orioles

The New York Yankees take on the Baltimore Orioles in game 2 of their 3 game series. The game is on at 7:05 on the YES network. The Yankees start the day 6 1/2 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for first in the AL East and 4 1/2 ahead of the Angels for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. Here are the pregame notes and lineup from Peter Abraham and his Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees are 10-3 against the Orioles this season and have won 8 straight. A.J. Burnett is 0-4 with a 6.03 era in his last 6 starts. He was 5-0 with a 2.01 era in his 6 starts. Burnett is 9-1 with a 4.61 era against the Orioles in his career. Robinson Cano is 22 of his last 48 with 5 homeruns and 15 rbi's against Baltimore this season. MO is 5 strikeouts away from 1,000 and one game away from tying Cy Young for the 20th most appearances all time. A-rod needs 2 more hits for 2,500 in his career. Phil Hughes in his last 9 outings has gone 8 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts. Johnny Damon has a 7 game hitting streak. Melky Cabrera is 6 of his last 15, Damaso Marte has not allowed a hit in 2 1/3 innings since he came off the DL. These guys are all hot. The guys who aren't so hot are Brian Bruney who has put 14 runners on base in his last 8 2/3 innings. Phil Coke has a 10.64 era in his last 14 outings. The callups are Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena, Mark Melancon, Edwar Ramirez and Mike Dunn. Austin Jackson was named the International leagues rookie of the year today and Shelly Duncan was named the MVP. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(DH) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(LF) Hinske(RF) Cabrera(CF)

Yanks go for the sweep

The New York Yankees take on the Chicago White Sox today in the last game of the three game series and 6 game homestand. The Yankees have won the first two games of the series and are going for the sweep. Joba gets the start with the new Joba Rules making their debut. Joba will only pitch 3 or 4 innings most likely, 5 at most and then Alfredo Aceves and Dave Robertson will serve as his caddies. Here are the pregame notes and lineups courtesy of Peter Abraham and his Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees now lead the Angels by 4 1/2 games for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The two teams will meet 4 times, once at Yankee stadium and 3 times in Anaheim. The Yankees are 18-4 in their last 22 home games. Derek Jeter is now 14 hits away from surpassing Lou Gehrig for most hits in franchise history. He needs two steals for 300 in his career and has 43 hits in August which is the most of any month since August 2001 for him. Jerry Hairston Jr. has hit safely in 9 of his 11 starts since joining the team. The White Sox are 1-6 in their last 7 and have fallen to third place in the AL Central and are 5 games behind Detroit. This will be Freddy Garcia's 3rd start in his latest comeback. A-rod is 12 of 32 against him with 7 xbh and 5 homeruns. Eric Hinske is 6 of 13 against him with 2 xbh. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Hinske(RF) Cabrera(CF)