For Yankee fans Thursday night couldn't have been much better. Sure they might have been able to score a few more runs and Pettitte was shaky early, but they won and they did it by slapping around Carl Pavano a little bit and that's all New York needed.
There were several questions about Pettitte coming into this game and his seven inning two-run performance was impressive, especially after the second inning when he really settled in and mowed down Twins. After Danny Valencia's second inning sac fly, the veteran lefty set down the next 11 batters before surrendering a solo homer to Orlando Hudson.
By that point the Yankees had started to figure out Pavano and although they only had two runs, they were scorching balls of the Twins starter.
But the story of the game will be the non-strike call on Lance Berkman in the seventh. The pitch was strike on the inside corner, but really home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt wasn't giving that pitch most of the night and was giving a generous amount on the outside part of the plate. It shouldn't be a big issue, but like the non-call against Michael Young in Tampa Bay earlier in the day, it will stand out as the next pitch in each at bat cost the home team.
The Yankees will focus on what they did though and not the calls the umpires made. Tonight two players stand out besides Pettitte and those two are Lance Berkman and Curtis Granderson.
Berkman finally showed some of that power that the Yankees were hoping to get when they traded for him at the Deadline in July. Since his days in Houston Berkman has always shown huge power to the opposite field from the left side of the plate, and that finally came out tonight. Both his home run and his double were absolutely scorched to left-center.
Joining Berkman in the on hot-hitters club, is Curtis Granderson who is in full-on beast mode right now. Granderson banged out three more hits tonight including one that drove in an insurance run in the night. Granderson is really playing to his potential since Kevin Long adjusted his stance and swing in Texas back in August and now the Yankees are reaping the benefits of the patience they've had with him.
Granderson has four hits in the first two games of the series and he has the biggest one of the series so far with his two-run triple off of Fransisco Liriano in Game 1. If there was an MVP for the LDS, Granderson would be the front runner so far.
Now it's a day off and then back to New York with two chances to close out the series for the Yanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment