With the uncertainity surrounding A.J. Burnett's ability to pitch in tonight's game and the admitted drop in offense from the potential hall of famer Jorge Posada sitting on the bench in favor of the backup Francisco Cervelli, the Yankees manager Joe Girardi was confident in his decision to play the two. On what turned out to be a historic night for one of his former teammates, Bernie Williams could not have picked a better night to throw out the first pitch.
"I think I still would've went the same way. Being a catcher for years and understanding for years what is what like when you caught the same guy all the time, I believe in that catcher pitcher relationship, that people are able to form," said Girardi before the game. "It really had nothing to do with offense, its just those two have been together most of the time...we have a 39 year old catcher who doesn't play 7, 8 , 9 games in a row...its easier if the backup guy catches the same guy all the time...I believe in continuity."
Coming into this game with a 2 games to 1 lead, the Rangers have all the confidence in the world. They know that no matter what, they will will fly back to Arlington for at least one game. Should the Yankees push it to a game 7, Texas has pitcher Cliff Lee lurking in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to beat the Bombers again.
"Anything is possible...when you're in the playoffs usually that's what gives you the opportunity to be successful, pitching. The only thing we are really concerned about is Tommy Hunter today. We certainly expect him to go out there and pitch his type of game," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "The type of lineup the Yankees have, you don't know what's going to happen until the game is over."
"I'm just goin' at it as my turn to pitch in game 4...I'm not happy with my season," said Burnett before the game.
Alicia Keys and Jay-Z's championship anthem from a year ago played right before the Yankees took the field. Burnett took the mound and warmed up to music from the movie 300. His electric fast ball and curveball captivated a sellout crowd that rose up and carried him through the first inning. Feeding off that energy, he set the Rangers down in order. Pitching at home could have been bad for Burnett, but in the first inning it was the best possible thing for him.
Burnett took an 0-2 count on his first two hitters and struck out Guerrero to lead off the 2nd. From the beginning he looked like the A.J. the Yanks signed to that multi-million dollar deal before last season. Through 2 innings he was perfect, A.J. was back.
Tommy Hunter set down the first 5 Yankees until Cano hit a drive deep into right field that the Rangers right fielder Nelson Cruz followed to the warning track and jumped up to attempt catching before the ball sailed over the fence into the hands of a middle aged Jeffrey Maier wannabe. Cruz immediately pointed up at the stands like Tony Tarrasco did at Maier and started arguing for fan interference to no avail. The ball was ruled a home run without replay assistance and the Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning.
Two batters later, Lance Berkman hit a rocket to right field that banged off the facade of the upper deck; clearly seen in the red LED lights advertising a certain bank, that energized the crowd as he rounded the bases to a raucus standing ovation. Ron Washington immediately bounded out of the dugout demanding a replay. The umpires took about a minute of viewing the replays to determine the ball was foul and sent Berkman back to the plate. He ended the at bat striking out looking on a fast ball on the outside corner at the knees.
Burnett came into the game with the most wild pitches (19) and the second most hit batters (16) in baseball this season. He was perfect in the first two innings until walking David Murphy to lead off the 3rd inning. He then threw a wild pitch to advance him to second and promptly hit Bengie Molina in the elbow with a curveball when he tried to lay down a bunt. First baseman Mitch Moreland laid down a perfect bunt to advance the runners to second and third for Elvis Andrus with only one out.
Andrus then ran the count to 0-2 before Burnett brought it back even and drew the crowd to it's feet. Cervelli ran out to the mound to make sure they were on the same page. That page involved a groundout to Teixeira that scored Murphy from third. Young then came up to record his 7th hit of the ALCS and knock Molina in from third to make 2-1.
The Yanks bats were quiet until Derek Jeter hit a ball exactly 408 feet off the top of the center field wall for a 2 out triple. Had he hit a foot farther it would have been a game tying home run. The next batter, Curtis Granderson, hit a ball off second baseman Ian Kinsler's glove for a single to score Jeter and tie the game. Jeter's run was the 32nd of his career in the ALCS. Enough to pass Bernie Williams' record for the most runs scored in a career in the LCS in either the National or the American leagues.
Rangers designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero led off the 4th with a single and the Rangers looked set to send Burnett home for the season. In September A.J. would've wilted and caved, tonight he battled back and retired the next three hitters to escape the inning unscathed.
With early 90's Yankee anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister playing to start the bottom of the 4th, 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate and was hit in the elbow by a pitch. Derek Holland began to warm up in the bullpen for the Rangers as Robinson Cano began his at bat. Cano singled into left field and Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux made a visit to the mound before Nick Swisher came to bat.
With Cano on first and Rodriguez on second, Swisher struck out swinging at a high fastball that would have been ball four on a full count. The next batter, Berkman, hit a ground ball into right field for a single to load the bases because Rodriguez was held at third base out of respect for the strong armed Cruz in right. With that hit, Ron Washington slowly walked out to the pitcher's mound, motioned for the lefty Holland and took the ball from Hunter. In 3 1/3 innings he gave up two runs on 5 hits with 5 strike outs. He was responsible for all three runners left on base.
Brett Gardner greeted him by hitting a ground ball deep in the hole to Andrus that scored Rodriguez to make it a 3-2 game in favor of the Yanks. Andrus made the force out of Cano at third while Gardner's broken bat tumbled through the air and broke a TBS on field camera. Holland came back to strike Cervelli out looking on a fastball on the inside corner to end the inning.
With two outs in the top of the 5th, Andrus reached first on a single and Young walked after Andrus stole second during his at bat. Hamilton came up and hit a ball down the 3rd base line that left fielder Brett Gardner appeared to have a beat on, until a fan was in the way and the ball deflected off of him. Gardner walked away with a look of disgust and the Stadium crowd booed the Bartman of New York while Hamilton dug in to finish his at bat. He harmlessly flew out to center field to end the inning.
Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the 5th with his 30th career post season double to pass Bernie Williams on that category as well. Curtis Granderson followed Jeter's double with a 4 pitch walk that brough Mike Maddux out to the pitcher's mound for a chat with his young lefty. Mark Teixeira blew his right hamstring out running up the first base line on a ground ball that caused Jeter to be forced out at third before the inning ended on a double play off the bat of Rodriguez. In a rare American league double switch, Teixeira was replaced in the lineup by Thames who was inserted into right field while Swisher took Tex's spot in the field at first base. "Disappointed, angry. You play all year and you battle all year to get a chance to help your team out in the world series and it's just not gonna happen for me this year said Teixeira.
"He went for an MRI...it doesn't look very good," said Girardi regarding Teixeira's injury. Jeter added: "I thought he was just sliding into first base and then you find out he's hurt. You fell bad for him; but us as a team, you know, we can't feel bad for ourselves. Other guys are going to have to step in."
Burnett gave up a lead off single to Guerrero before retiring the next two batters of the 6th inning. He intentionally walked David Murphy before facing the Rangers catcher Molina. On the first pitch of his at bat he hit a monster home run 15 rows deep into the left field stands just right of the foul pole to give the Rangers a 5-3 lead. "I was actually looking for a good pitch to hit...Murphy is a great hitter, he kills right handers. Why not walk him and face me?" Said Molina, "It's the right move, it went wrong...it's not a bad job for a fat kid that everyone makes fun when he runs, it's a great job."
As the ball sailed through the cold Bronx air Burnett had his hands on his head, Rodriguez doubled over in agony and the boos rained down on the Yankee pitcher like the storms that hit Queens a few weeks ago.
Up to that point Burnett pitched a masterful game. he out pitched the expectations of anyone, maybe even himself. At a certain point we have to realize that Joe Girardi over thinks every move he makes, he left Burnett on the mound too long. Take him out before the home run and he walks to a standing ovation. "The one mistake got me, but I came out and gave all I had on that field tonight...was able to make pitches when I needed to," said Burnett. "I had pretty good command most of the night on my four seamer and it just didn't go where I wanted it to go...I knew when he hit it, I knew when it left my hand."
I didnt really place an expectation on AJ. We all knew what AJ was capable of doing," said Girardi. "You take away one pitch and he threw a really good game. You can't take away a pitch, I understand that...he was throwin' the ball good, it was hard to argue with the way he was throwing the baseball."
Micro Joe struck in the top of the 7th when David Robertson retired both Andrus and Young before his manager took him out so Boone Logan could face Hamilton and give up a home run to right field to make it 6-3 Rangers. Micro Joe trotted out and brought Joba Chamberlain in to give up a run scoring RBI single to Ian Kinsler after Guerrero reached base on a double to make it 7-3 Rangers. Joba mercifully ended the inning striking Murphy out looking.
By the time Derek Holland left the game after surrendering a lead off walk to Granderson in the 8th inning the stadium was half empty, Jorge Posada had struck out pinch hitting for Cervelli and he had pitched 3 2/3 innings of one hit ball; shutting out the yankees and striking out 3.He came up huge and was the most valuable player of the game for either team.
"My main thing was definitely just come in and make sure to get the least amount of damage," said Holland. "You know, I don't want them to score any runs and just make my pitch."
Darren O'Day came in with a man on and no one out. He struck Thames out to start his outing. Alex Rodriguez then came up and earned a walk to bring Cano to the plate and Ron Washington to the mound summoning lefty Clay Rapada. Cano was the only batter Rapada would face, he walked to load the bases. Washington again bounded out of the dugout summoning Darren Oliver.
The first batter to face Oliver was Nick Swisher. Oliver appeared to his Swisher on the right pant leg, but it was not called. Swisher flew out to Hamilton in shallow center field without any runs scoring. That left it all up to Berkman; he hit a rocket that short-hopped Michael Young at 3rd that he gloved, spun and fired to second to force Cano out to end the inning and the last threat the Yankees mounted for the night.
"The played better than us. They pitched better, they hit better," said Jeter. "We can't worry about winning three games, we gotta worry about winning one. We try to do that tomorrow."
For good measure, Hamilton went deep again to lead off the top tof the 9th to make it 8-3 Rangers. As if that wasn't enough, Nelson Cruz hit a ball into the second deck in left to make it 10-0 two batters later, still no outs. Bringing Sergio Mitre in to pitch the 9th was a great idea Micro Joe. Why didn't he bring in Mariano Rivera?
"If we would have got a run or two, we were bringing Mo in. If we didn't score, we were talking about tomorrow might be a day to use Mo for six outs," said Girardi. As far as tomorrow night goes:"Win, just win a game; and then you go from there...we gotta find a way to get it done."
The Yankees hope C.C. will get it done tomorrow night. If not, it's curtains.
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