The Yankees put themselves in a great position to win the World Series with their 8-5 game three win Saturday night. They regain home field advantage. The worst than can happen to them is that they go back to New York to try to win two. The win also put them in a great position to take a 3-1 lead, as the Yankees are sending their ace, CC Sabathia against Phillies fourth starter, Joe Blanton.
Sabathia starts on three days rest for the second time in this post season. The Yankees were up 2-1 against the Angels when CC took the mound and held LAnaheim to one run over eight innings, allowing just five hits. If you wanted to design a pitcher to go on three days rest, Milliliter would be the man. He’s a veteran, but not old. He’s a big, heavy player, nothing fragile about him. He also has the even temperament to handle the situation. The Yankees wrapping up a playoff spot early helped here also. In 2008, Sabathia needed to pitch as often and as many innings as possible to help get the Brewers into the playoffs. The Yankees had the luxury of scaling back his innings by 23 this season, leaving him fresh for the playoffs.
Sabathia pitched well in game one, but was out dueled by Cliff Lee. Joe Blanton will try to do the same tonight. Blanton is a pitcher whose strength matches well against the Yankees. He’s a right-handed pitcher who pitches better against left-handed batters. With four switch and three pure lefties in the Yankees lineup, Blanton may be able to take advantage of his effectiveness against lefties.
He’s also a bit of a different pitcher than the Yankees faced in the past. He upped his strikeouts and lowered his walks. That resulted in fewer hits, and despite more home runs allowed, he posted a lower ERA.
All that said, Blanton did post a 4.05 ERA, good but not great. While Blanton does pitch better against lefties than righties, he doesn’t exactly shut them down. This matchup favors the Yankees quite a bit.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at 11:03 am | World Series | Permalink | 3 Comments
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November 1st, 2009 @ 11:19 am
This game in effect has become a must win for the Phillies. Yankees win tonight they are up 3-1, with the worst thing being to have to return to the Bronx up to 3-2.
The Phillies really need to pitch Lee tonight
November 1st, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
“He’s also a bit of a different pitcher than the Yankees faced in the past. He upped his strikeouts and lowered his walks.”
Of course he did.Being in the NL as opposed to AL can do that.
November 1st, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
Unless Lee is literally incapable of starting tonight, starting Blanton is foolish. Of course, Hamels has been useless during this postseason, so maybe the real mistake was not dumping Hamels for Blanton from the beginning.