LA angels, postseason, Yankees

Angels beat Yankees ALCS Game 3 Extra innings


Obviously the laws of physics change when playing in the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward (also called Angels Staduim), and Evil prevails over Good. Since the Yankees were undefeated all year when tied in the 7th inning, what should have been a Yankees victory became a Yankees loss.

See Tony’s Vahl’s comments about the ALCS Game 3, in which the Angels defeated the Yankees in the 11th inning in another classic game between the two best teams in the American League.

This was a close, close game so I will not review or second guess every little play, base running blunder, or non-hit in with runners in scoring position for both teams. The Angels finally displayed power, and the Yanks continued to hit HRs- Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Jorge, and Johnny Damon all got into the act.

However  I will nitpick Joe Girardi for this one. He was doing his Tony LaRussa impersonation tonight. The MEDIA will kill him for tonight’s game, and in this particular case I have to agree with them no matter how Joe rationalizes or justifies it. You can always blame the players for not executing, but you can also blame a manager for not putting the right people in at the right times.

#1 Girardi seemed to disrupt Andy Pettite’s focus before pitching to Vlad Guerrero by coming to the mound and speaking to Andy It’s a shame when a manager and catcher speak to a pitcher about what pitch to throw and he winds up giving up a game tying HR- not the best example of good communication.

#1.5 Taking Andy out instead of letting him work through the 7th- Andy still looked strong. It seemed like a quick hook, and Joba Chamberlain stunk the the joint up.

#2 Why did Joe Girardi take out Dave Robertson for Alfredo Aceves in the 11th? I mean EVERYONE watching the game knew it was a bad move before the game ending hit. Answer: That matchup book Joe was reading in the dugout. According to the post game interview, Joe said the hitter Jeff Mathis handles pitchers like Robertson (I guess fastballs) better than pitchers with Aceves’ stuff (El Duque-light). LAME. Talk about thinking too hard. Note to Joe: keep it simple- keep the hot hand and handle the bullpen better in this series.

Anyway, props to MARK TEIXEIRA’S GLOVE and MARIANO RIVERA’s GUTS. Mo got out of an IMPOSSIBLE inning. Tim McCarver used his JINX powers and actually brought up Mo’s error in Game 7 against the Diamondbacks in 2001, and then MO MADE THE SAME ERROR TO THIRD BASE right after Tim said it.

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