Yankees Game 1 Recap

Russell Martin broke a 2-2 tie in the 9th with a big solo home run

The Yankees upended the Orioles in Baltimore tonight 7-2 to take a 1-0 lead in this best-of-5 series. The game was closer than most Yankee fans would have liked it to have been, but the way in which the Yankees won has to have fans and the team feeling better about themselves. They won with stellar pitching, timely hitting, and saved their bullpen.

The stellar pitching is all in regard to the dominant performance CC Sabathia displayed throughout the entire game and I mean literally the whole game. Sabathia pitched 8 2/3 innings surrendering only 2 runs on 8 hits and 7 strikeouts, while throwing 120 pitches.

At no point were the Orioles hitters comfortable stepping into the box against Sabathia. They rarely had good at-bats, rarely going forcing CC to throw more than 3 or 4 pitches. They were able to string a few hits together in the 2nd inning to jump out to a 2-1 lead, but after that Sabathia buckled down and limited any other opportunities.

The biggest spot in this game for Sabathia was during the bottom of the 8th inning, after Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy started the inning with a lead-off double. Manager Joe Girardi, who often has a short leash with his pitchers when the game gets into the later innings, stuck with his workhorse and it payed off. Sabathia attacked the middle of the order, striking out Adam Jones, getting Matt Wieters to foul out, and forcing the Yankee killer Mark Reynolds to groundout, stranding Hardy at second.

The timely hitting finally picked up Sabathia in the top of the 9th when lights out Orioles closer Jim Johnson allowed 5 runs to seal the game. Russell Martin, provided the big blow with his big time solo home run to break the tie and start a rally to lead off the inning. 8 Yankee batters came to the plate in the 9th including a two-run double by Robinson Cano putting the nail in the coffin.

Perhaps the best thing besides being up 1-0 in the series was that virtually no bullpen arms were used. Sabathia gave the Yanks 8 2/3 strong innings, with the reliable David Robertson striking out the final batter. This is huge, especially since tomorrow's starter Andy Pettitte hasn't pitched past the 6th inning since returning to the Yankees rotation. Baltimore on the other hand, used 5 guys out of the bullpen, including their closer. This is a huge advantage for the Yanks.

One Last Thing: Game 2 of the series will be tomorrow night at 8:07 PM ET in Baltimore, with Pettitte on the mound, as I mentioned earlier, and 27-year-old rookie Wei-Yin Chen for the Orioles. The game will be on TBS once again, and if the Yankees can find a way to win tomorrow, they will have 3 chances to advance to the American League Championship Series at home in the Bronx.