Yankees Use A CC Rider...

On a cold night in the Bronx, the Yankees used their horse, CC Sabathia in a 4-1 win over the Angels in game one of the ALCS. It's not a shock that the Yankees defended the home field, however to me, it is a shock the way the Angels lost. Committing errors. Even Torrii Hunter committed one in the game, just his second error in 2009. Hunter is such a good centerfielder that since 1998, that was his 30th career error. The three team errors led to a couple of unearned runs, and that spelled doom for the Angels.

Either way it was going to be a tough chore to get to a "locked in" CC Sabathia. He went 8 dominant innings, and is proving to be quite worthy of the lucrative deal he signed in the off season. He's showing why they were crying in Lake Erie when the Indians traded him to the Brewers. Sabathia almost single handedly led the Brewers to the playoffs, but since he was being used seemingly every day he ran out of gas. He then ran out of Milwaukee and signed the "big bucks, no whammy's deal" with the Yankees. How nice must it be for Joe Girardi to throw Sabathia for 8, then turn to Mariano Rivera in the 9th? Trivia: What does CC stand for? I'll answer that later in the blog!

Game 2...

Another one of the Yankees big money free agents will go in tomorrow's game two, AJ Burnett facing the Angels, Joe Saunders.

NLCS Game 2...

That's the way the Dodgers have been winning games all year long. Andre Ethier is usually in the middle of it as well. Such was the case today in LA, when the Dodgers evened up the NLCS with a 2-1 win over the Phillies. Both starters were dealing (pardon the cliche) in the game. Vicente Padilla, an unwanted man in Texas, found a home in LA, going 7 1/3, while striking out 6. He gave up a homer to Ryan Howard for the only Phillies run. Pedro Martinez was his usual post-season self, going 7 scoreless innings while striking out 3...

Crazy 8...

Then there was the 8th inning...and a typical Dodger rally. Here's the official play-by-play since it's too crazy to recap myself...(courtesy of CBS Sportsline.com)

DODGERS 8TH
Chan Ho Park pitching:
Casey Blake:	Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Blake singled to left
Juan Pierre ran for Casey Blake.
Ronnie Belliard:	Pickoff attempt to first, Bunt foul, Pickoff attempt to first, Belliard reached on bunt single to first, Pierre to second.
Russell Martin:	Ball, Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Bunt foul, Martin reached on fielder's choice to third, Pierre to third, Belliard out at second,Pierre scored on Utley's throwing error
Jim Thome hit for Hong-Chih Kuo.
Scott Eyre relieved Chan Ho Park.
Jim Thome:	Pickoff attempt to first, Ball, Thome singled to right, Martin to third
Juan Castro ran for Jim Thome.
Ryan Madson relieved Scott Eyre.
Rafael Furcal:	Ball, Foul, Ball, Ball, Furcal walked, Castro to second.
Matt Kemp:	Foul, Foul, Ball, Kemp struck out swinging.
J.A. Happ relieved Ryan Madson.
Andre Ethier:	Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Ball, Ball, Ethier walked, Martin scored, Castro to third, Furcal to second.
Chad Durbin relieved J.A. Happ.
Manny Ramirez:	Ramirez popped out to third.
End of Inning (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error)

Jonathan Broxton would then come on in the 9th and go 1-2-3 and even the series at 1-1. It was a much needed victory for the Dodgers with the next 3 games to be played in much chillier Philadelphia.

Game 3...

We have to wait until SUNDAY for game 3. Unbelievable. It's going to be Hiroki Kuroda going for the Dodgers, against another former Indian, lefty Cliff Lee for the Phillies. I still like the Phillies in this series, they play great at home, and their pitching still makes me a believer.

McCourt Case...

I'm not a Dodger fan by any stretch of the imagination. But I am rooting for them in this respect. I certainly hope that the impending divorce of owner Frank McCourt and wife Jamie McCourt. Padre fans know already that this can and will affect ownership and play on the field if it gets out of hand. At first glance, it's not looking good, consider this from today's Los Angeles Times:

Dennis Wasser, who represents Jamie McCourt, on Thursday rebutted claims that Frank McCourt is the club's sole owner.

"We disagree," Wasser said. "We are confident that, if the ownership issue must be adjudicated, the Dodgers will be determined to be community property, owned 50% by each of the McCourts."

But Marshall Grossman, who represents Frank McCourt, said he has documents to back up his assertion that his client is the sole owner.

"Anyone reading them will readily see that Mr. McCourt's ownership is 100%," said Grossman, who declined to release the documents.

Wasser said he was unaware of any such documents and said he knew of no reason why California's community property law would not apply.

This could get ugly LA, enjoy this playoff run...

Odd Pair...

Tommy Lasorda and Kobe Bryant were seen sitting together, in Tommy's seats right next to the Dodgers dugout. LaSorda who is an active Twitterer, tweeted about Kobe today: @TommyLasorda may not know this but Kobe bleeds Dodger Blue just like I do. And we both speak Italian!

Final Musings...

Full disclosure, I'm on vacation now for a couple of weeks, and will certainly try to update the blog as much as humanly possible. Please forgive me if there are a few lapses over this period of time. I'm visiting family out of town and it's great to see them after a long baseball season. Looking forward to getting back to SD though and the start of USD's basketball season which tips off November 13 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion against Stanford.

Have a great night!

Andy

TRIVIA ANSWER: CC Sabathia's full name is...Carsten Charles Sabathia