Game 1 recap: what year is it again?
Posted by Fred on October 5, 2007
On a night that ace C.C. Sabathia was stymied by old fogy umpire Bruce Froemming’s paper-thin strike zone, it was 1995 all over again as Kenny Lofton helped the Indians spank the Yankees to take a 1-0 series lead. Lofton, Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko went a combined 9-17, with 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 R and 9 RBI. Kenny even had his 33rd postseason stolen base. Asdrubal Cabrera added a HR and scored twice. In the 44 games since Cabrera was inserted as the regular second baseman and #2 hitter, the Indians are 32-12. In the 36 games since Lofton was put in the 7 hole on a fairly regular basis, he is hitting .296 and the team is 27-9.
Sabathia ended up walking six in five innings (including an intentional pass to A-Rod to get out of a dicey 5th with a one-run lead intact), but was able to limit the damage to three runs. He clearly didn’t bring his A game - those six walks match his total for all of September - but Froemming’s strike zone clearly didn’t help matters any. More importantly, he put the team in a position to win, and Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez finished with four strong innings, giving up only a meaningless ninth inning single and striking out six while walking none.
On the other hand, Chien-Ming Wang looked like a shell of an 18 game winner, A-Rod went 0-2 with two walks, and Joe Torre’s bizarre decision(s) to start Doug Mientkiewicz (0-1 before being lifted in the 5th) and Hideki Matsui (0-4, 2 Ks, 5 LOB) backfired as the Yankees lost their fourth postseason game in a row.
One game does not a series make, and the Tribe remains in a tenuous position. Andy Pettitte starts tonight for the Yankees, who has a reputation as a stopper (70-39 career in games following a Yankees loss). The Yankees are also a veteran team unlikely to be fazed by being blown out - in games following losses of five runs or more in 2007, the Yankees went 10-5. Fausto Carmona takes his 19-8 record to the hill for the Tribe. It will be important for Carmona to eat some innings, as Wedge used his three best relievers for four innings last night. Perez pitched two innings, which would suggest he may be unavailable. Twice this year he has pitched following a 2+ IP appearance. On August 8 he pitched 2 1/3 innings against the White Sox, and pitched an inning the next night (0 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB). Then on August 26 he pitched 2 innings against the Royals, appearing the next night against the Twins for a three-pitch inning (the 5-4-3 triple play). Overall, Perez has been pretty good pitching on no rest (7 appearances, 7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 0 BB).
