New York Yankees resting hopes on ace C.C. Sabathia – MLB Update
Eduardo Nunez’s leadoff home-run in the ninth inning was the extent of New York Yankees’ offensive attack against the Detroit Tigers. The only four runs scored by the Yankees in first two games came on back-to-back two run home-runs by Raul Ibanez and Ichiro
Suzuki in Game 1 of American League Championship Series.
Manager Joe Girardi shook up the batting line-up to tackle Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander but nothing stood in his way. Verlander pitched eight shut-out innings in Game 3 to set up a 3-0 series lead for his team.
Nunez, Eric Chavez and Brett Gardner were included to the batting line-up, with Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher taking seats on the bench. Nunez moved to the shortstop position for the first time this season to fill Derek Jeter shoes, whose season ended
with a serious left ankle fracture in Game 1.
"What has happened has happened," Girardi said, "and you have to find a way to score runs tomorrow. You have your ace on the mound, and you see what happens. Win a game tomorrow and then let's see what happens."
"Hopefully, we're going to come out loose [against Scherzer] and try to get one. He's tough. What you don't want to do is expand the zone against him. His ball's a little different than Verlander's -- more deception and late run. The radar gun says 95 [mph],
but that's where the comparison stops," Eric Chavez said in a post game interview.
Surely, the Yankees will be having serious regrets about losing American League Division Series Game 4 against the Baltimore Orioles. Had Sabathia not started Game 5, he would have been fresh for the Game 1 of the ALCS. He crushed the Orioles single handedly
in that game but it made him unavailable for the next three games.
Now Sabathia can start only one of the remaining three games. Yankees making it to the World Series final seems very unlikely under the current circumstances.
Sabathia has looked in dominant form since the start of the post-season. In fact he has been as good as Verlander, allowing just three runs while striking out 16 in 17 plus solid innings.
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