Yankees send Burnett to hill looking for 2-0 lead over Angels in ALCS
On the frozen tundra of Yankee Stadium…Ok, not exactly frozen but it will once again be cold, nasty weather waiting for the Yankees and Angels in the ALCS.
First game jitters, Game 1 chills or just too much C.C. Sabathia? Likely it was a combination of all three for the Angels Friday night when they fell 4-1 in the ALCS opener in New York.
It was indeed a damp, blustery evening in the Bronx with the thermometer around 45° at the start of the game and the wind chill in the 20s. The forecast for Game 2 might be even worse. But some uncharacteristic shoddy fielding cost the Angels in this one however, not the weather. And given an early 2-0 lead, Sabathia did the rest. The lefthander toiled through eight innings striking out seven and allowing just four hits, one an RBI single in the fourth to account for the Halos’ only run.
Now the two teams have to throw on the layers and fans have to button up those overcoats once again for what could be the series on Saturday night when LA sends lefty Joe Saunders to the mound to face New York’s A.J. Burnett. Both hurlers tossed twice against their present foes in the regular season, and both saw their team win those two games. Something has to give in this one, and if it’s the Angels then it’s all over.
Saunders’ two assignments against the Yankees came on July 10 in Anaheim (a 10-6 Angels win) and Sep 21 in New York (5-2 win), accounting for 13.1 innings and seven earned runs. This will be just his second postseason start, the other coming in the 2008 ALDS at Fenway, ultimately a 5-4, 12-inning win for the Red Sox.
We might know just what sort of game Saunders will have once we see the very first hitter to face him. Derek Jeter is 7-for-15 lifetime (.467) against the Angels southpaw, and if Saunder can’t retire the Yankee captain then it means that Alex Rodriguez (7-14, 2 HR) will likely come to the plate in the opening frame.
Like Saunders, Burnett split his two starts against the Angels on the road and at home, working 12.2 innings and having six runs charged to his ledger with New York victorious both games. Former Yankee Bobby Abreu has had success facing Burnett, batting .313 (20-64) with a homer. Torii Hunter has just two hits in 23 at bats against the righthander, but both hits went into the bleachers for home runs.
While I fully expect the Angels to arrive at the park minus any first game tension they may have had on Friday, they will arrive with added pressure to get a win in order to avoid going back to Anaheim down two games to none. New York will have some pressure on their shoulders as well and not want to let LA have the split in the first two games, but the Yankees simply seem too strong and too focused on the end prize right now.
The Yankees are getting the -180 moneyline with the total set at 8½. I’m going to split a unit on the run line for New York (-1½, +105) and the Over.
STARTING PITCHERS
ALCS Game 2, Fri, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Joe Saunders (21-11, 4.60 regular season) vs. A.J. Burnett (21-12, 4.04 regular season; LDS 1-0, 1.50)
UMPIRE
Working in just his fourth postseason series, Laz Diaz has the plate for Game 2. Diaz brings a 14-19 Home/Visitor record into this one from the regular season with a 19-13-1 O/U tally.
The last time he was behind the plate for a playoff game was Game 2 of the '07 World Series in Boston. The Red Sox won that one 2-1 over the Rockies, and Diaz was responsible for Nine Ball 4 calls, seven of the free passes issued by Colorado hurlers.
WEATHER
As the afternoon progresses, so will the rain. The forecast is for a 90% chance of it this evening with low-to-mid 40s for the temperature and winds blowing up to 25-30 MPH from the NNE (in from left field to 1B).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
On the frozen tundra of Yankee Stadium…Ok, not exactly frozen but it will once again be cold, nasty weather waiting for the Yankees and Angels in the ALCS.
First game jitters, Game 1 chills or just too much C.C. Sabathia? Likely it was a combination of all three for the Angels Friday night when they fell 4-1 in the ALCS opener in New York.
It was indeed a damp, blustery evening in the Bronx with the thermometer around 45° at the start of the game and the wind chill in the 20s. The forecast for Game 2 might be even worse. But some uncharacteristic shoddy fielding cost the Angels in this one however, not the weather. And given an early 2-0 lead, Sabathia did the rest. The lefthander toiled through eight innings striking out seven and allowing just four hits, one an RBI single in the fourth to account for the Halos’ only run.
Now the two teams have to throw on the layers and fans have to button up those overcoats once again for what could be the series on Saturday night when LA sends lefty Joe Saunders to the mound to face New York’s A.J. Burnett. Both hurlers tossed twice against their present foes in the regular season, and both saw their team win those two games. Something has to give in this one, and if it’s the Angels then it’s all over.
Saunders’ two assignments against the Yankees came on July 10 in Anaheim (a 10-6 Angels win) and Sep 21 in New York (5-2 win), accounting for 13.1 innings and seven earned runs. This will be just his second postseason start, the other coming in the 2008 ALDS at Fenway, ultimately a 5-4, 12-inning win for the Red Sox.
We might know just what sort of game Saunders will have once we see the very first hitter to face him. Derek Jeter is 7-for-15 lifetime (.467) against the Angels southpaw, and if Saunder can’t retire the Yankee captain then it means that Alex Rodriguez (7-14, 2 HR) will likely come to the plate in the opening frame.
Like Saunders, Burnett split his two starts against the Angels on the road and at home, working 12.2 innings and having six runs charged to his ledger with New York victorious both games. Former Yankee Bobby Abreu has had success facing Burnett, batting .313 (20-64) with a homer. Torii Hunter has just two hits in 23 at bats against the righthander, but both hits went into the bleachers for home runs.
While I fully expect the Angels to arrive at the park minus any first game tension they may have had on Friday, they will arrive with added pressure to get a win in order to avoid going back to Anaheim down two games to none. New York will have some pressure on their shoulders as well and not want to let LA have the split in the first two games, but the Yankees simply seem too strong and too focused on the end prize right now.
The Yankees are getting the -180 moneyline with the total set at 8½. I’m going to split a unit on the run line for New York (-1½, +105) and the Over.
STARTING PITCHERS
ALCS Game 2, Fri, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Joe Saunders (21-11, 4.60 regular season) vs. A.J. Burnett (21-12, 4.04 regular season; LDS 1-0, 1.50)
UMPIRE
Working in just his fourth postseason series, Laz Diaz has the plate for Game 2. Diaz brings a 14-19 Home/Visitor record into this one from the regular season with a 19-13-1 O/U tally.
The last time he was behind the plate for a playoff game was Game 2 of the '07 World Series in Boston. The Red Sox won that one 2-1 over the Rockies, and Diaz was responsible for Nine Ball 4 calls, seven of the free passes issued by Colorado hurlers.
WEATHER
As the afternoon progresses, so will the rain. The forecast is for a 90% chance of it this evening with low-to-mid 40s for the temperature and winds blowing up to 25-30 MPH from the NNE (in from left field to 1B).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
