Yankees Comeback And Pull Off An Improbable Game 1 Win

Like the Goonies, the New York Yankees never say die. What an incredible Yankees victory! Unbelievable. I'm still kind of shocked that they pulled it out. If you told me before the game that CC Sabathia was going to get pulled after 4 innings I'd have thought that the Yankees would have been blown out. I'd have to think that tonight's come-from-behind victory took all of the wind out of the Rangers' sails. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yankees sweep this series now. CC Sabathia was terrible. C.J. Wilson was awesome. Yankees have a 5-run 8th inning and win 6-5. Sorry Texas. You guys are done. You can't beat up CC like that and lose the game. Again, you're done.

Play of the game had to be Brett Gardner's leadoff single in the 8th inning. That was a great heads up, or should I say heads down play. They always say that diving into first base is not as fast as running through the bag. If GGBG doesn't dive there he's probably out. If that had happened this would be a totally different blog.

The 8th inning was a great inning. After Jeter doubled Gardner home I said to myself that if Cano made it to the plate that the Yankees would win this game. I would have tweeted that but I had my hands full. Literally. Stay tuned for the story. The back-to-back walks by Swisher and Teixeira were almost as huge as Gardner's single. Those were two great ABs. I loved seeing the Yankees hammer one Texas RP after another. A-Rod sees 1 pitch and knocks in a run. Cano sees 1 pitch and knocks in another. When Robbie was up I said to myself, "C'mon Robbie. One pitch, one out. I mean one pitch one hit." Thank God I corrected myself. Cano had a monster game. M-V-P! M-V-P! Robbie is quickly becoming my favorite Yankee. I hope he's a Yankee-for-life.

There were a lot of huge contributors in tonight's win. The bullpen came up big. Joba, despite looking like he's packed on a few pounds, looked good. Dustin Moseley, of all people, looked phenomenal. He had a huge 2 innings. Kerry Wood had a HUGE pickoff of Ian Kinsler to wipe out a leadoff walk. For shame Ian. Talk about a boneheaded mistake. You can't be doing that at this level and in the ALCS. But thanks for doing it. I think I speak for Yankee fans everywhere when I say, thanks! And as we've seen so many times before in October, the Almighty Mo picks up the save. Mo is a God and I worship him. I think that statement violates one of the 10 Commandments. I think God would agree with me though. Mo is God.

The worst part of this great Yankee victory was CC's performance. He looked downright awful. It could have very well been his worst start of the season. Had the Yankees lost it definitely would have been. Let's chalk this one up to rust and inactivity. Everyone knows pitchers are creatures of habit and pitching every 5 days is what they're used to. It's been 10 days since his last start. I won't worry too much about it. But if his next start isn't vintage CC, I'll begin to worry.

The real hero of this great Yankees win is my little 2 year old daughter. I originally put her to bed at about 10pm. She woke up at around 10:35 or so. My wife wasn't home so I was on a solo mission with her. I went up to get her and brought her back downstairs to get her back to sleep. I brought her down right before Brett Gardner's 8th inning leadoff single. I stood there in our dark living room, holding her and rocking her back-and-forth. Jeter doubles. Swisher walks. Teixeira walks. A-Rod singles. Cano singles. Thames singles and the Yankees are winning. It was during that rally that I dubbed my daughter "The Rally Baby." Being a baseball nut I'm very superstitious. I stood in my living room, holding and rocking her until Mo got the final out. There was no chance I was putting her down. My arm was killing me when all was said and done. But no pain no gain, right? LOL.

Phil Hughes gets the start tomorrow, err, I mean later today. I'm expecting big things tomorrow. The Yankees have all of the momentum right now and the Rangers have to feel defeated. I'm confident the Yankees will be leaving Texas up 2-0. 4 down, 7 to go.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie