Championship Series Roundup

Yankees 6 Rangers 5: CC Sabathia was flat out awful giving up 3 runs in the first and another 2 in the 4th.  I'm not sure if you can blame a little bit of rest on his total ineffectiveness but clearly something was off.  CJ Wilson pitched excellent and The Rangers were up 5 runs in the 7th inning until Robinson Cano hit a solo home run, no matter thought because Wilson then got Thames, Posada and Granderson and after 7 innings the Rangers were up 5-1.  In the 8th things started to fall apart. CJ Wilson came out to start, which was a questionable decision but since the Rangers pen was so dreadful it hardly mattered.  Here is how the 8th inning went:

Ed O'Neill Nolan Ryan and GW watch as their current and former

 team blows a 4 run lead in the 8th inning.  Ryan's reaction: Priceless.

• Brett Gardner singled on a head-first slide that illustrated he had more hustle and heart than anyone even though the slide slows you down
• Derek Jeter doubled, Gardner scored
• Darren Oliver relieved CJ Wilson
• Nick Swisher walked
• Mark Teixeira walked
• Darren O'Day relieved Darren Oliver
• Alex Rodriguez single, Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher scored 
• Clay Rapada relieved Darren O'Day
• Robinson Cano Singled, Mark Texiera scored
• Derek Holland relieved Clay Rapada
• Marcus Thames singled, Alex Rodriguez scored

In the 8th inning Ron Washington brought in 4 relievers before bringing in his closer Neftali Feliz and proceeded to watch his team blow a 4 run lead.  This blunder is on par with Grady Little leaving in Pedro Martinez, maybe worse.  It wasn't like Washington went down with what he thought his best pitcher was, he lost the game watching Darren Oliver (ex-Met), Darren O'Day (ex-Met), Clay Rapada (who?) and Derek Holland* lose the game, without even having his closer warm up!!!!!!

*Derek Holland is a lefty, he was brought in to face Marcus Thames.  You know what Marcus Thames' job on the Yankees is?  TO HIT LEFTIES. What was Washington thinking?  I guess the problem is he wasn't.

In the bottom of the 8th Kerry Wood looked pretty wild but got out of it because Ian Kinsler was picked off at first, which again is totally inexcusable for the Rangers.  In the 9th Mo came in, 'nuff said.

It may be cliche to say, but this is what the Yankees do:  They stick around  and wait for the opposing team's manager to make horrible, horrible decisions and at some point they start to string together some hits.   Colby Lewis will be taking the bump this afternoon facing off against Phil Hughes as the Rangers try to recover before they can lean on Cliff Lee to throw a complete game shutout in game 3. Neftali Feliz will be fully rested.