Yanks Sweep Angels!

A one game sweep is still a sweep in my book. Well, when the Yankees win, anyway. There's no such thing as a must-win game when you are leading a team by 4 in the loss column for home field advantage, but the Yanks certainly wanted this game more than they have most of the ones they've played in recently. Rightly so, the Angels are 20-34 against them since the beginning of the 2004 season.

It certainly helped that Joba Chamberlain put forth his first respectable effort as a starter since July 29th in Tampa. He uncharacteristically didn't walk a batter in four innings while allowing 4 hits and striking out 2. Three of those were only singles but the other was a solo HR on a 2-2 curveball to Vlad Guererro in the 2nd. That was the only run Chamberlain surrendered and he appeared to be working more quickly on the mound, throwing 41 of his 67 pitches for strikes.

Both Alfredo Aceves and Phil Hughes gave up a run in relief. Aceves' put the Yanks in a 2-1 hole in the 5th and Hughes allowed the Angels to tie the game at 3 in the 8th. The Yanks picked both of them up by scoring 2 in each of the corresponding bottom halves of the inning. It could have been more in the 5th but the Yanks gave away two outs via a Derek Jeter sac bunt and a Melky Cabrera baserunning blunder in which he not only ran in Chone Figgins before he caught the ball, he got hit in the junk in mid-air trying to avoid it.

Mark Teixeira was the man of the night on the offensive side of the ball. He singled, doubled and tripled off the wall in center on an odd play where he both complained that there was catcher's interference and Torii Hunter lost his shoe attempting to make the catch.

Joe Girardi's new toy, Freddy Guzman, made his Yankees debut, pinch running for Jorge Posada in the 8th inning and advancing form 1st to third on a single.

It was one of those tight games where one team times their hits a little bit better. The Angels were 0-9 with RISP while the Yanks were 2 for 9.

Since it was a make-up game and the stands were much emptier than they would have been under normal circumstances, there wasn't much of a "playoff feel" despite being tightly contested and relatively important given the standings and the date. It was certainly a confidence builder for the Yanks though, giving them a chance to take the season series against the Angels for the first time since 2003 when they head out to Anaheim next Monday.

Game 145: Day Tripper

The Angels made their only scheduled trip of 2009 to the Bronx back at the end of April, starting a four game series on a Thursday. The Yanks took the first two, including one of their 13 walk off wins during the Friday night game, before the Halos took the Saturday contest behind journeyman starter Matt Palmer on Kentucky Derby Day. Sunday's series finale was rained out, leaving us with today's make up.

That weekend in early May however was not the last time these two teams met. The Yankees traveled to Anaheim for a three game weekend series just before the All-Star break and completely mailed it in, getting swept despite leading each game at some point. Fortunately, that series marks the last thing remotely resembling a speed bump this season, as the Yanks have gone 41-14 (.745) since.

Joba Chamberlain will oppose Jered Weaver in today's game. Joba has faced the Angels once, on July 10th this year, allowing 10 baserunners, 5 runs, 4 earned, in 4.1 innings. This will be his fourth intentionally truncated start; with any luck he'll be able to get through four innings today and be able to do it something resembling a reasonable pitch count. After a rough first inning his start last Wednesday, Chamberlain had an effective last two plus innings, retiring the final eight batters he faced. He'll look to build on that tonight.

Weaver has faced the Yankees twice this year and is 1-0 with 1.08 WHIP despite a 5.25 ERA over 12 innings of work. For his career, he's 4-1 in six starts against the Yanks but carries a 5.82 ERA against them. For the season Weaver is 15-5, leading his club in starts, innings, wins and strikeouts, and is second amongst Angel starters in ERA. He and John Lackey are the only Halo rotation members with an ERA lower than league average. He's been outstanding over his last three starts: 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 17:3 K:BB over 19.1 IP.

The Yankee bench will be a little more crowded tonight, as the Yankees did what I thought they wouldn't do, and recalled outfielder Freddy Guzman. Peter Abraham speculates that the Yanks are giving him a look as a potential post-season pinch running option. Not only do I think that's a bad idea, I don't even know if it's possible since Guzman was not added to the 40 man roster until today. To make room for him, Anthony Claggett was designated for assignment, becoming the third young, if unspectacular, pitcher the Yanks have DFA'd this year in order to make room for inferior talent. I imagine the Pirates will scoop him up just as they did to Steven Jackson and Eric Hacker. Scranton's already decimated roster is down two more bodies, but they will have Ian Kennedy available to start Game 2 of the IL Finals on Wednesday.

After today's little day trip, the Angels travel to Boston for three then on to Texas for three more. All of that is good news for the Yanks, as they're guaranteed to reduce their various magic numbers by at least one for all six of those days, whether it be to clinch a playoff spot, to clinch the AL East, or to clinch homefield throughout the playoffs. Counting tonight, the Yanks have four more games against the Angels this year. Given their troubles at The Big A over the last several years, it would be awfully nice if the Yanks can beat up on the Halos and ensure they have homefield throughout the post-season.



Bonus version with Jimi Hendrix

Tried to please her, she only played one night stands
Tried to please her, she only played one night stands, now
She was a day tripper, Sunday driver, yeah!
It took me so long to find out, and I found out