Oct 17 2012

2012 AL Championship Series- Yankees at Tigers, Game 3

As all my readers know I’m just a warm fuzzy teddy bear of nurturant positivity, so as I promised last night I’m going to attempt to alleviate the anxieties of the Yankee fans in my audience.

First of all I can’t help but feel that Derek Jeter’s unexpected injury has opened Yankee management’s eyes to the vulnerability of their current line up.  Win or lose the team of destiny has all the resources they need to make dramatic changes (I understand the Cardinals are lousy with minor league pitching prospects) and as I think I’ve made clear I have no quarrel at all with their goals (173 victories) or strategy (whatever it costs), but merely with some tactical decisions ($27.5 Million a year until 2017?!  What were you thinking?).

Other positive signs include the fact that the Tigers are terrible at Comerica.  Didn’t they just lose 2 straight to the As there?  Also in playoff games without Alex Rodriguez the Yankees are an undefeated 1 – 0, you can’t beat that.

Tonight we’ll have Phil Hughes (16 – 13, 4.23 ERA) on the mound who is their 3rd best pitcher after Sabbathia and Kuroda.  Girardi has changed his mind and will pitch Sabbathia on full rest in Game 4 tomorrow.

On the other hand the Tigers will be starting Verlander (17 – 8, 2.64 ERA) and he’s an unstoppable winning machine.  Leyland probably won’t even have to call on the questionable Valverde though he says he’s willing to if necessary.

Still it’s not hyperbole to call this a ‘must win’ game.  In a playoff you have to do everything you can to avoid being placed in a elimination situation.  If the Yankees lose tonight they’ll have to win every single one of the remaining 4 games to advance or it will be a whole 3 years since their last World Championship in 2009 (their average is 4).

Unacceptable!

Junior League Games will be carried on TBS.

rustymancuso581

68 comments

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  2. Girardi has a game to win:

    When the Yankees announced their lineup for Game 3 just a few minutes ago, it did not include Nick Swisher. That was not that surprising as many expected Brett Gardner to get the start in left and Ichiro Suzuki to move over to right field.

    But Yankees Manager Joe Girardi is also keeping Alex Rodriguez on the bench for the second time this postseason and that is a bit unexpected, regardless of how much he has struggled.

    Rodriguez is 8 for 30 with three home runs off of tonight’s starting pitcher Justin Verlander, including two homers this season. But he is also 0 for 18 with 12 strikeouts against right-handed pitching this postseason.

  3. I’m sure anything the Mets can do the Yankees can do better.

  9. I can.

    You’re an idiot.

  10. And he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Yankees either.

    He got his.

    He’s probably a Republican too.

  23. how many Yankee fans are going to tune into the debate because the game is too painful to watch.

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