Oh Yankee fans, how I love this.  Every Yankee fan has already punched their ticket to the World Series to play the Phillies and have an east coast battle, but Thursday night’s game 5 just shows the Angels haven’t given up quite yet.  The Angels made a statement by scoring 4 runs in the 1st inning of the game on a 2-run single by Torii Hunter followed by an RBI hits by Vlad and Morales.  John Lackey looked very impressive and held the Yankees scoreless until the 7th inning.

Celebrating momentum.

John Lackey started the 7th inning with an out but then Melky Cabrera doubled followed by walks to Posada and Jeter to load the bases with still only one out.  Johnny Damon then flew out without a runner advancing and that is when Mike Scioscia put his job on the line and took out John Lackey.  If you can read lips you know Lackey was furious in the dugout and he had every right to be.  Scioscia was stupid for taking him out and it cost him because Darren Oliver didn’t even get an out before giving up three runs for Lackey as well as three towards his own ERA.  So now the Angels found themselves down 6-4 after 7 after being up 4-0 going into the inning.

Luckily for the Angels, they fought back and scored three more runs in the bottom of the 7th because Joe Girardi left Burnett in a little too long.  Burnett gave up a single and a walk to start the inning and then Chone Figgins bunted them over to put the Angels in a position to tie the game; which they did.  Vlad and Morales each had an RBI in this inning as well.

What a shame.

Scioscia made a great move by putting Jered Weaver in to pitch the 8th inning.  He proved to his players he will do what it takes to win this game and try and regain momentum in this series.  It worked out nicely and Weaver pitched a perfect 8th, striking out 2 batters.

In a gusty move, Scioscia decided to take out Weaver and put Brian Fuentes in for the 9th.  The reason being is he is your closer, BUT Weaver was so awesome and Fuentes has been so bad; I wouldn’t have run that risk to be honest.  Teixeira is a switch hitter and if he got on he would have had to pitch to A-Rod.  Lucky for Fuentes he got the first 2 outs and walked A-Rod intentionally. However, he then unintentionally walked Hideki Matsui (a lefty) and hit Robinson Cano.  Nick “Ice Cold” Swisher popped out to end the game though.  He shouldn’t show his face in NY, every Yankee fan now hates him because he didn’t get a hit.  THAT’S BASEBALL FOLKS, get over it.  You can’t get a hit on command unless your name is Joe Mauer or Ichiro.  You DEFINITELY can’t expect a hit from Swisher, he has a career .245 BA, odds are he was getting out.

What the loss means for the Yankees:  Well, to them, not much.  They have Andy Pettitte going next game and if it does go to a game 7 they are throwing CC.

What the win means for the Angels:  They have the momentum now after getting out of tough jams and making a late great comeback against Burnett and the ‘pen.