Game 1 of the ALCS was a definitive statement that this Yankees squad has a different mentality, class, and breed than those teams that folded against the Anaheim Angels in 2002 and 2005. While admittedly New York won the first games of both of those series also and eventually went on to ultimately lose both, the pure fundamental efficiency by which the Bombers disposed of their opponent on Friday made it abundantly clear that the Angels will have to play far beyond their natural skill level to defeat this 2009 version of the Yankees.
First and foremost CC Sabathia was calculated and viscous on the mound, rising to the top of his game on baseball's biggest stage, keeping the Angels' batters off balance all night and over-powering them when appropriate or necessary. Giving the bullpen an extra day of rest, Sabathia went eight strong innings, allowing only one run on four hits, striking out seven and walking only one. Further shedding the absurd accusation/assumption/belief that CC is unable to attain postseason success, Sabathia owned the Angels on Friday night, lock, stock, and one smoking left arm for a barrel (pushing his stat line for the 2009 playoffs to 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA).
The offense didn't display its usual explosive fireworks but nevertheless scrapped across enough runs to win the ball game, ironically much in the same fashion that Mike Scioscia's teams traditionally have done against the power-dependent, Yankees teams of the early aughts.
A-Rod contributed another RBI (furthering his own playoff redemption story) with a sacrifice fly scoring Jeter in the first, but it was Hideki Matsui who put the Yankees over the top in this contest. His infield single — also in the first inning — scoring Johnny Damon would provide all the run-production necessary for Sabathia to notch a victory on this cool, damp, fall night in the Bronx. But for good measure, Godzilla added another RBI, this time lashing a double into the left-centerfield gap in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring Damon once again with Alex Rodriguez getting gunned out at the plate after a hard-nosed collision with Angels catcher Jeff Mathis. And as usual Derek Jeter was not absent from the party, adding an RBI of his own, singling in Melky Cabrera in the bottom of the 6th inning to cap off the 4-1 win.
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