HOW THE YANKEES WERE ABLE TO STAVE OFF THE ORIOLES

After going 9-9 against the Baltimore Orioles in the regular season, it was only fitting that these two teams would have to play the entire five games of the ALDS. Thanks to some great pitching and some clutch hitting (though they did fail a number of times in the clutch this series), the Yankees were able to advance to their third ALCS in the last four years.

To put it simply, the reasons why New York won the series were because of Raul Ibanez, pitching, Derek Jeter, pitching, Mark Teixeira, pitching, Russell Martin, and more pitching. Did I mention pitching? Now, hyperbole aside, the pitching in the series on both sides, especially with the Yankees, has been dominant. Both the starters and relievers were absolutely fantastic, and you couldn’t have asked for more.

Let’s start with the starting pitching, specifically CC Sabathia. CC was utterly dominant in his two ALDS starts, going 2-0, posting a 1.53 ERA with 16 strikeouts to just three walks. He also pitched 17.2 innings in the series. His latest gem came in the do-or-die Game 5, pitching a complete game, one run, nine strikeout win to put the Orioles away for good. Words cannot describe how awesome CC was in the ALDS, and we hope he can keep this run going.

The other three starters, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda, and Phil Hughes all pitched very well, too. Pettitte allowed three runs in his seven innings in Game 2, though the Yankees lost that game 3-2. Kuroda followed by pitching 8.1 while allowing just two solo homers as the Yanks won a classic, 3-2 in extras. And finally, Phil Hughes allowed just one run in 6.2 innings, though he had to shake off some rust early on. All told, Yankee starters pitched to a 2.04 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, while logging 39.2 innings in five games (nearly 8 IP/start). If the starting pitching can come close to what they did against the O’s, expect the Yankees to win the ALCS against Detroit.

Along with the rotation, the bullpen was also great, most notably Rafael Soriano and David Robertson. Soriano pitched in two games, allowed two hits and no runs in 3.1 innings of work while punching out a pair with no walks. Setting him up was DRob as he allowed just one hit (a pop up that fell in in Game 3 in the infield) in 4.1 innings of work spanning three games. Of course he didn’t allow a run, and he punched out five while not allowing a free pass. In total, the Yankee ‘pen pitched to a 0.79 ERA and a 0.53 WHIP in 11.1 innings.

But let’s not forget the offense. Hell, the Yankees don’t advance if it weren’t for Raul Ibanez’s two insanely clutch home runs in Game 3. Russell Martin’s go-ahead homer in Game 1 was huge as well. In the series, Ibanez drove in three big runs while batting .444 in the series. Also, guys like Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira posted batting lines of .364/.391/.500, and .353/.500.353, respectively. 

Finally, struggling stars Curtis Granderson, and to a lesser extent Ichiro, each reached base twice in Game 5 (single, homer for Granderson, single, walk for Ichiro), so maybe they’re starting to get hot. With the offense ice-cold for basically the duration of the ALDS, we need to get some guys going and fast.

Now, I know the RISP issue reared its ugly head again, but let’s try to be positive here. Yes, they did go 7-for-32 with RISP (.218 BA) in the series, but that should correct itself. In the regular season, the Yankees hit .256 with RISP, good for fifth in the American League. Although Detroit has a tough pitching staff, I really see some guys getting hot (Ichiro, Granderson, and hopefully Robinson Cano who hit .091/.130/.182 in the five game LDS), while guys like Jeter and Tex stay hot, so that RISP average should correct itself. Not to mention, their 3.2 runs scored per game ( 2.25 runs/game in games 2-5) will correct itself, too, as they were able to score nearly five runs per game in the 2012 regular season.

Though the series against the O’s was great, the Yanks have a quick turnaround (you can thank Bud Selig for that) as they have to play games one and two on Saturday and Sunday against the Tigers. The pitching has been great all around, and though the offense as a whole has struggled, there are some bright spots. If certain guys on offense get hot, I can see this run for a 28th World Championship go deeper.




--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse



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