Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees Game 5: Live Score, ALDS Analysis
By on October 12, 2012
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CC Sabathia was signed for games like this. Tonight, he performed like the man the Yankees decided to pay $23M/year four years ago.
The New York Yankees finished off the Baltimore Orioles Friday night at Yankee Stadium behind a dominating and gutty complete game gem from CC Sabathia to advance to the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers.
There were only nine hits in the whole game and the Yankees had five of them but Ichiro Suzuki and Curtis Granderson had the two biggest hits of the game and those, along with a Raul Ibanez RBI single, were enough offense for the Yankees' workhorse, Sabathia.
Ichiro nearly put one out of the ball yard but hit the wall on a long double that scored Derek Jeter and Granderson hit a long bomb to deep right field to plate the Yankees' third run.
One of the more dramatic moments in the game was when Nate McLouth blasted a long fly ball to right field that was called foul on the field and then ruled foul after a booth review by the umpires. It's possible that the ball slightly grazed the foul pole but the evidence was inconclusive and too tough to determine by the naked eye even on replay.
The Yankees now meet the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS starting tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. Game 1 and Game 2 will be played on back-to-back days, then a day off on Monday as the series shifts to Motown.
The story of this series was dominant starting pitching, mostly solid relief pitching (with the exception of O's closer Jim Johnson) and really anemic hitting from both clubs. As poor as the hitting was for the Yankees, the Orioles bats were actually weaker and more feeble.
The Bronx Bombers can thank CC Sabathia and the fan base should be grateful for every penny the team is paying their husky ace as this series clincher tonight was all about his masterful pitching performance. Thanks to CC, the Yankees move on. The Orioles dream season is over.
Thanks to all who followed on the live blog, we appreciate your readership and comments. Stay tuned for more MLB Playoff coverage in the days and weeks to come.
Final Score and American League Division Series result:
Yankees Win 3-1 and win series 3-2 to advance to ALCS.
Game 1: New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers Saturday night, 8:00pm
Al Bello/Getty Images
The Yankees advance to the ALCS for the first time since 2010 and will host the Detroit Tigers starting at 8pm tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees will have no rest in between the ALDS and ALCS while the Tigers, who also played a Game 5 in the ALDS, had the day off today after winning last night in Oakland.
In the end, the team with the better pitching won in Game 5 and while that might sound cliche, it really wasn't more of a matter of the Yankees' hitting being much better. This game tonight was about CC Sabathia shutting down the Orioles.
A very warm thank you to all that followed on the live blog tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your comments and appreciate you stopping by to read along.
Will the Yankees actually start to hit now that the ALCS is here? The good news for the Bombers is they won't have to worry about Justin Verlander until Game 3 at the earliest. The bad news is that they likely won't have CC Sabathia until Game 4.
I gave some thought earlier to the possibility of the Orioles returning to the postseason next year. While much can occur in an off season, to count them out after this kind of gritty, gutty season would be ridiculous. They may be here to stay as major competition in the AL East.
My recap will soon follow, otherwise, good night everyone!
TBS shows that Sabathia is the no-brainer choice as player of the game. He will almost certainly be the MVP of this ALDS after delivering two exceptional pitching performances in Game 1 and Game 5. Tonight was even better than the first, as he won both games he pitched.
Very rough loss for Baltimore who fought valiantly until the end. They won the respect and admiration of the Yankees this season, as well as the whole baseball world and fans everywhere.
I had the pleasure of being there for several games at Camden Yards this season and the excitement and emotion were palpable. This Orioles team had a ton of heart and they helped to revive one of the truly great fan bases in all of baseball. A congrats are in order and due to the Baltimore fans and players for an awesome season.
Elsa/Getty Images
CC Sabathia finishes off a masterpiece that will not be forgotten any time soon by Yankee fans. The Bombers' ace throws 121 pitches and dominated the Orioles all game long. An outstanding pitching performance by CC and very good overall pitching by the O's.
The New York Yankees are one out away from advancing to the ALCS.
Take a minute and soak this scene in. What an absolutely incredible battle this season between the Yankees and Orioles. Two teams pushing each other to the limit. Two heavyweights and two darn good teams, regardless of the lack of hitting over the last five games.
Big time pitching when it's mattered most by both teams.
CC Sabathia is now at 117 pitches. This guy is the definition of an ace.
Adam Jones may just be finished in this ALDS and what an abysmal end of the season for one of baseball's better players this season. He weakly flies out to left field. He couldn't buy a hit.
We go to the bottom of the ninth! The Yankees are three outs from the ALCS. Who will come out to the mound to start the ninth? It's CC Sabathia!
SCORE UPDATE:
End of the 8th: Yankees 3, Baltimore 1
All it took was once pitch for Matusz to induce Cano into an easy 4-6-3 double play. Cano has had an absolutely pitiful series, though most writers don't tend to mention that. All we've heard about is A-Rod and Swisher.
Pedro Strop gets the hook after the walk to Ichiro, here comes Brian Matusz whose left arm may actually fall off any minute thanks to the workload he's had in this series.
Elsa/Getty Images
Ichiro up at the plate now, if the Yankees hold this lead and win 3-1, Ichiro will have had the biggest hit of the ball game. Not a bad trade deadline pick up for the Bombers, eh?
And he draws the walk. Hard not to wonder if he'll be back in pinstripes next season.
The Captain grounds out to start the bottom of the eighth.
Pedro Strop did a really solid job last night and he gets the first out tonight.
Baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet!
Unbelievable eighth inning performance by Sabathia. The Orioles just threw and landed a lot of punches right there and it looked like Sabathia was wobbling pretty good (Come on, work with me on this boxing analogy!).
In the end, the Yankee ace worked through the jam and struck out McLouth and got Hardy to weakly ground out to Jeter who made a superb throw to first for the out.
SCORE UPDATE:
Mid 8th: Yankees 3, Baltimore 1
Now, this becomes the biggest moment. Everyone is sweating through every pitch right now!
Biggest moment of the entire game right here.
Lew Ford comes through with a huge hit for Baltimore, Robert Andino now at the plate after Wieters plates the first run for the O's.
SCORE UPDATE:
Top of the 8th: Yankees 3, Baltimore 1
No matter who you're rooting for, these are the moments you live for as a baseball fan. This is what it's all about right here.
Is that big time or what by Sabathia right there? Falls behind 3-1 to a home run hitter and then comes back to put him away.
A hit, a walk and now the Orioles are in business. Sabathia needs to be very careful here but he can't be tentative. Another walk would really hurt.
Big at-bat here for the rookie Machado. How does Sabathia pitch him?
Elsa/Getty Images
The Yankees turn once again to their $23M man to take them to the ALCS.
SCORE UPDATE:
End of the 7th: Yankees 3, Baltimore 0
For all of the poor at bats and all of the grief that Granderson has caught, ya gotta give him big-time props for that blast right there. Suddenly, a 3-0 lead for Sabathia looks nearly impossible to overcome.
Curtis Granderson crushes an absolute bomb deep into the chilly New York night.
SCORE UPDATE:
Bottom of the 7th inning: Yankees 3, Baltimore 0
If you don't believe in the big-game pressure and moments of playoff baseball on some players then you're absolutely crazy. Did you hear that, Nick Swisher?
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