Just 4 more wins to go until number 27!
Recap of the Angels series:
Solid series for both teams. The Yankees did all they could to win every game they played, and lost the third and fifth both on one run. There was a lot of talk about how the Yankees might end up losing the same way this year as they did in 2004, but this is clearly a different team, driven to win in a very different way, and there is a lot of chemistry. Game 1 was a solid performance for CC and the rest of the team, in which the Yankees took the first game 4-1. Game 2 was a fiasco. It's actually hard to remember everything that happened in that game. But from the 9th inning on, the Yankees were resilient with the exception of Aceves' run, who so far has performed below expectations. A-Rod came up big against Fuentes, and the Yankees would win off an error by the Angels. Game 3 was a walk-off victory for the Angels, who managed to score from 2 hits off Aceves. This shifted the momentum of the series for the Angels. However, the Yankees responded with a 10-1 pounding the next day, off another excellent performance by CC. The next game was a nail-biter, in which the Angels won off the very last pitch of the game. Fuentes, who was pitching deserves credit for getting that ball for a strike, but although not many people think so, it really was pure luck. If Swisher hit that thing a centimeter higher or less, that ball would have been out of the park. The Yankees then went home with the intention to prevent a Game 7, beating the Angles 5-2 in Game 6, a nitty-gritty game that did not feature any home runs, a rarity at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte pitched great, Mo did his thing, and the Yankees produced and capitalized off of the Angels' errors. And then comes the champagne.
Ray Stubblebine/Reuters
The Phillies are next. The Yankees beat the second best team in the league this LCS by beating the Angels, but the Phillies are damn good as well, and they may be harder to beat, because they are similar to the Yankees, with a power lineup and excellent starting and relief pitching. I'm excited, the city's excited, and I always felt that if the Yankees could get past the Angels or Red Sox, the Phillies or whatever the team that was coming up would not be much harder to defeat. 4 more wins to go, and hopefully the team will get there.
