Do you smell that? It’s blood… Yankee blood. The Angels finally handed the Yankees their first loss of the post-season and now have an opportunity to steal the momentum of the series from the wounded juggernaut, all they need to do is get aggressive and attack.
Just when the Yankees thought it was safe to go back in the water… Jeff Mathis strikes!
This isn’t just an opportunity to even up the series, this is an opportunity to grab the ALCS by the horns. The Yankees aren’t acting scared but in the back of their minds they have to know how very close they are to being down 2-1 instead of up 2-1. They’ve seen their bullpen get very shaky and their manager make even shakier decisions. Plenty of doubts are creeping up into their brains and if they lose tonight, then their seemingly unwavering confidence has to start cracking. Sure, they still have homefield, but they would have just seen their ace lose and know they have to face John Lackey on Thursday. That is enough to make any team doubt themselves.
But the Angels simply must not relent. There is blood in the water, but it just a small trickle right now. If the Angels go into a passive shell again, that wound will heal right up. Instead they need to go for the kill and turn that small cut into a gaping hole right where the Yankees’ heart used to be.
New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Yankees Lead 2-1)
Starters: NYY – CC Sabathia LAA – Scott Kazmir
Game Info: 4:57 PM PT TV-Fox, Radio-ESPN Radio, KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM
THREE Questions:
- Why is Mike Napoli starting over Jeff Mathis? Nap is hitless in the ALCS while Mathis appears to be locked in at the plate in addition to being a superior defender. Man, a guy wins a game for you and this is the reward he gets?
- Will the Halo pitchers be able to keep the Yankees in the ballpark? The Yanks will have a much harder time hitting homers tonight since the ball doesn’t travel nearly as well as it does during the day. The Angels just need to make sure they take advantage of that because the Yankee offense actually hasn’t been that good in the post-season at producing runs without homers.
- What kind of performance will Scott Kazmir turn in? He was less than stellar in his ALDS start, but he does have an excellent track record against the Yankees.
TWO Predictions:
- Fox, ever angering the Yankees, will make just one passing mention of the alleged Mariano Rivera spitball accusations and absolve him quickly.
- CC Sabathia will be far less effective than in Game 1 due in part to working on short rest but mostly on him being constantly distracted by his desire to get out of the game as fast as he can so he can go pound some double-doubles at In-N-Out.
ONE Wish:
- I wish that the bullpen could figure out how to hold a lead or at least quit giving up home runs, preferably the former.
ZERO Tolerance for… all the loud Yankee fans. There was WAAAAAY too much noise coming for Yankee fans at Angel Stadium last night. This is the playoffs people, any Angel fans at the game have a duty to shut the NY fans up (non-violently, of course).
Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or wishes as a comment or just hang out with us during the game or even chat with us on twitter (@MonkeyWithAHalo).