The Rangers on the other hand took it to Game 5 on Tuesday in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays—a major upset against the team with the best record in the AL. It is the Rangers first ever ALCS appearance after winning their first ever playoff series.
Experience and Pitching
New York’s wealth of experience in playoff baseball and a 9–1 record over the Rangers in postseason play, combined with a well-rested and seemingly healthy pitching staff all point to the Yankees coming out on top.
The Yankees will be turning to the same pitching lineup they used to sweep the Twins, except Andy Pettitte will pitch in Game 3 while Phil Hughes moves up to Game 2. Veteran ace CC Sabathia will start in Friday’s opener in Texas.
“We need to come out and play well; play good defense and have good pitching and just play the way we have been playing all year,” Sabathia said in Thursday’s news conference.
Pettitte’s health was questionable heading into Game 2 against the Twins after coming back from injury in September.
But the decision to play him was a good one; the lefty proved himself in a big way over seven innings, retiring 12 straight Twins batters at one point. Game 3 against the Rangers will be Pettitte’s 42nd postseason start.
The 24-year-old Hughes doesn’t have the postseason experience that Sabathia and Pettitte draw on, but he had the Yankees second best regular season record (18–8) behind Sabathia (21–7) and delivered a stellar performance last Saturday in seven innings of shutout ball.
Add to that the reliability of Yankees veteran closer Mariano Rivera—who saw action in all three ALDS games, earning two saves—and you have solid pitching.
Of course, the weakest link in the Yankees starting pitcher rotation comes with A.J. Burnett, who will likely be called upon in Game 4.
Burnett’s last start was perhaps his worst of the season, pitching for 2.1 innings and giving up seven runs in seven hits, including two homers, against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 27.
The biggest threat the Texas Rangers pose to the Yankees is the arm of Cliff Lee, but he won’t be available in the Friday opener after being used in Game 5 against the Rays.
Lee got the win in both Games 1 and 5 of the Rays series, and pulled off the heroic feat of delivering 120 pitches for a complete game in Game 5. Lee also had the only two Philadelphia Phillies wins against the Yankees in last year’s World Series.
The Rangers will rely on C.J. Wilson in Game 1 and possibly Colby Lewis in Game 2 before they turn to Lee again. Wilson can be a tough left-hander for the Yankees to deal with.
Big Hitting
Offensively, the Yankees have the edge with the likes of slugger Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher.
The Rangers are going to rely heavily on Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and Vladimir Guererro to get the hitting done.
Kinsler drove in six runs and had three homers against the Rays, and Cruz hit three homers and had two doubles. The others were much less productive and are going to need to turn it up a notch to overcome New York’s powerful offense.
“We’re very excited,” Hamilton said. “We’ve always lost in the first round to the Yankees. It’s kind of bittersweet that we get to the championship of the American League with those guys.”
The Rangers have home field advantage in the series, but that might not make any difference—their three ALDS wins against the Rays all came on the road.
Yankees Stadium is a much more formidable venue than Tropicana Field, though, especially against the defending World Series champions.
The Rangers lost all three regular season games in the Bronx, and were 4–1 against the Yankees in Texas, splitting the season series 4–4. The Rangers are going to need to look back to that regular season experience and find a way to win at home.
