Yankees at Angels-ALCS Game 5

The Yankees will play Game 5 tonight in Anaheim looking to win their 40th pennant and head back home going to the World Series. The game is at 8:00PM on FOX. A.J. Burnett will oppose John Lackey. Here are the gamenotes from Chad Jennings and Sam Borden of the Journal News and also from the Yankees press notes. Burnett pitched decently in his first start of the postseason and very well in his second, but hasn’t earned a win in either one. He pitched into the seventh inning of Game 2 and allowed just two runs and three hits, but got a no-decision when the game went 13 innings and 310 minutes. Burnett did come back out to deliver a walkoff pie to Jerry Hairston, who scored the winning run. Alex Rodriguez had a single, double and homer in Game 4, continuing what has been an insane postseason for him. A-Rod has driven in a run in every Yankees playoff game (and eight straight dating back to 2007), and has 11 total RBI. If he continues to hit this well, he’ll shatter the franchise record of 15, held by Scott Brosius (1998) and Bernie Williams (1996). Melky Cabrera had a critical RBI single in the fourth inning of Game 4, and that hit snapped a personal 0-for-7 slide with runners in scoring position, as well as a team-wide 0-for-28 with RISP. As a team, the Yankees are 7-for-45(.156) with RISP during the ALCS. Game 3 was the first time that four teammates – in this case, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon – aged 34 or older homered in any game, postseason or otherwise. Joe Girardi wouldn’t commit one way or another during the off day, but he’ll have a decision to make at DH if Jose Molina is catching. Jorge Posada, who has been on the bench this postseason when Molina catches, is hitting .333 this postseason (8-for-24) with two homers and three RBI and is 12-for-29 lifetime against Lackey. Hideki Matsui is at .261 (6-for-23) during the postseason and is coming off an ugly 0-for-5 in Game 4. The Angels have their ace, Lackey, going in the elimination game tonight and Lackey gave up only two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of Game 1. If you’re looking for a weird prop bet on the game tonight, see if someone will give you action on how long Lackey will stay in the game; in each of his three postseason starts against the Yankees, he’s lasted exactly 5 2/3 innings each time. The Yankees are 33-20 in games where they can clinch a best of 7 series. They lost just one of the previous 13 series where they had a 3 games to 1 lead, that of course was the 2004 series against Boston. The Yankees at 6-1 this postseason have tied their best postseason start. They also accomplished this in 1999 and 2004. They have to remember what happened in 2004 and it doesn't mean anything unless you finish it. The Game 4 win was the Yankees most runs and largest margin of victory since Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS in Boston. CC Sabathia improved to 3-0 and became the 7th Yankees pitcher to ever be 3-0 in the postseason. Melky Cabrera had a postseason career high with 4 rbi's in Game 4. Yankees pitching this postseason has a 1.91 era while their opponents have a 4.41 mark. The Yankees pitchers have gone 6 innings or more with 3 runs or less in all 7 postseason starts marking the best stretch to start a postseason in franchise history. The Yankees pitching has given up 3 homeruns this postseason. The Yankees had 14 unanswered homeruns before an opponent hit one in the postseason which was the best streak in postseason history. A-rod has homeruns in 3 straight postseason games which ties him with Lou Gehrig, Johnny Mize, Hank Bauer, Reggie Jackson, Bernie Williams and Jim Leyritz. He also has rbi's in 8 straight postseason games which is tied for the best ever. The Yankees have come from behind to win 4 of their 6 postseason games. They led the majors with 51 comeback wins in the regular season. Happy Birthday to Robinson Cano who turns 27 today, it would be a nice way to celebrate with a AL Pennant. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF) Molina(C) Angels Lineup: Figgins(3B) Abreu(RF) Hunter(CF) Guerrero(DH) Morales(1B) Izturis(2B) Rivera(LF) Mathis(C) Aybar(SS)