Top of the Ninth
Willits not scoring in that inning could be a factor as the game enters the ninth inning. Angels closer Brian Fuentes comes on to face Damon, Teixeira and Rodriguez.
The Yankees have had a knack for coming back late in games this season. Fuentes has to be careful not to make a mistake as all three Yankees hitters this inning have long-ball potential.
Damon gets good wood, but lines it right at Morales for the first out. That ball had double written all over it, but Morales didn't have to move.
Teixeira swings at the next pitch and flies out to Abreu in right.
Two down for A-Rod.
Scioscia elects to intentionally walk A-Rod. He likes the Fuentes-Matsui matchup better. So much so that he's willing to put the tying run on base with two outs.
Matsui walks and the runner that Scioscia put on is now in scoring position. Two on and two out for Robinson Cano.
Freddy Guzman and Brett Gardner on as pinch-runners.
Fuentes hits Cano. Bases loaded, two down, Nick Swisher up.
Swisher grounds one near the third-base bag, Figgins fields and tags the base, but the ball is ruled foul. New life for Swisher.
Swisher works a full count, the runners will be off on the pitch.
Swisher pops up to shortstop Erick Aybar. Fuentes pumped his fist as soon as Swisher made contact.
The Angels win and force a Game 6. They showed some nice resiliency tonight, but still have a tough test ahead of them.
Final: LA 7 NY 6
WP: Kevin Jepsen
LP: Phil Hughes
S: Brian Fuentes
If the Angels force a Game 7, check here at the Make Plays Blog for all the action. Good night America.
***
Bottom of the Eighth
Joba Chamberlain on to pitch for the Yankees.
Juan Rivera greets him with a double to left field. Rivera is then lifted for pinch-runner Reggie Willits.
Chamberlain gets Mathis swinging. That's the first time Mathis has been retired tonight.
An infield single by Aybar puts runners at the corners with one out. Robinson Cano made a nice back-hand stab to keep the ball in the infield and prevent Willits from scoring. Figgins up next.
Girardi comes out to lift Chamberlain. It will be Mariano Rivera coming in for the Yankees.
Aybar steals second with no throw. Both runners in scoring position now.
Figgins lines one to right, but it's caught by Swisher.
Willits runs off third, but goes back to the bag. The ball was hit pretty shallow, but with Willits' speed it would have been a close play.
Abreu flies out to center to end the inning. Rivera strands the runners. Yankees down by one.
LA 7 NY 6
***
Top of the Eighth
Final line on Burnett: 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO.
Starting pitcher Jered Weaver in to pitch for the Angels. Weaver started for the Angels in Game 3. Weaver starts it off with a strikeout of Melky Cabrera.
Posada grounds out to Weaver for the second out.
Weaver gets Jeter swinging to end the inning.
Weaver does the job and shuts down the Yankees after his team takes the lead.
LA 7 NY 6
***
Bottom of the Seventh
Burnett still in for the Yankees. He's thrown 80 pitches: 51 strikes, 29 balls.
The final line for Lackey: 6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO. He is not on the hook for the loss.
Mathis greets Burnett with a base hit. His third of the game. He's on first for Aybar.
Two pitchers warming up in the Yankee bullpen.
Aybar works a walk after falling down in the count 0-2. Girardi lifts Burnett after allowing to first two Angels' hitters to reach base and he'll go with the lefty Damaso Marte to face Chone Figgins.
Don't be surprised if Scioscia asks Figgins to bunt here with the heavy-hitters coming up behind him.
He does. Nicely placed bunt a little bit down the first base line and both runners advance. Runners at second and third with one out for Bobby Abreu.
Abreu hits one softly on the ground to Teixeira. He makes the out, but Mathis scores on the play. Angels down one and that'll be it for Marte. Phil Hughes will come in to face Torii Hunter.
Hunter works a walk. Runners at the corners for Vlad Guerrero.
Guerrero singles up the middle to tie the game and Angel Stadium comes back to life. Hughes made an ill-advised pitch opting to go with the fastball against Vlad.
Angels tie it up. Still two on and two out for Kendry Morales.
Morales singles through the hole in the right side. Hunter comes in to score and Vlad moves up to third.
Huge response from the Angels to battle back after giving up six runs in the top half of the inning. They lead by one, and Phil Hughes stays in the game to face Izturis.
Izturis strikes out swinging, but the Angels re-take the lead.
LA 7 NY 6
***
Top of the Seventh
Nick Swisher is 2-for-14 in the ALCS, and he steps in first against Lackey. Swisher flies out to center for the first out.
Melky Cabrera hits one down the first-base line past an outstretched Morales. He's in at second with a stand-up double. One out with a man in scoring position for Posada.
Posada struck out in his first appearance. Joe Girardi put him in to get some more offense going, let's see if Posada can deliver here.
Posada draws a walk. Lackey hit the inside corner with a 3-2 curveball, but home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth called it a ball.
Lackey gestures toward Culbreth asking where the pitch was and Culbreth walks out to the mound to discuss the call with the pitcher.
Two on and one out for Jeter. Two pitchers get going in the Angels bullpen.
Lackey walks Jeter on four pitches. Bases loaded with one out for Johnny Damon. Scioscia elects to stay with Lackey.
Damon flies out to left. Not deep enough to score Cabrera from third. Huge second out for Lackey.
Scioscia comes out to lift Lackey for the lefty Darren Oliver. Lackey leaves with 104 pitches and he is responsible for the three runners on base.
Angels going with the lefty Oliver to face Teixeira. You have to believe this will be Oliver's only batter with Rodriguez looming in the on-deck circle.
Teixeira crushes Oliver's first pitch and sends it off the wall in left. All three runners score and the Yankees cut the lead to one. No doubt, Scioscia will second-guess lifting Lackey for Oliver.
Teixeira was 1-for-3 with one strikeout tonight against Lackey.
A-Rod gets the free pass. Oliver will face the lefty Matsui.
Matsui singles up the middle and Teixeira scores to tie it. Huge hit for Teixeira and some nice base running as he has brought the Yankees back in this game.
Scioscia has seen enough and lifts Oliver despite the fact that the left-handed hitting Robinson Cano is due up.
He goes with rookie right-hander Kevin Jepsen.
Cano triples to the wall in the right. Rodriguez and Matsui come around to score. The Yankees take a two-run lead and this game has completely fallen apart for the Angels.
Swisher steps in and ends the inning the same way he started it, with a fly out.
The Yankees put up six runs in the inning.
NY 6 LA 4
***
Bottom of the Sixth
Kendry Morales strikes out after a long at-bat.
Izturis grounds out to second for out No. 2.
An Angels fan is apparently bored with the game and has taken it upon himself to jump around in the fountain beyond the center-field wall.
Juan Rivera grounds out to Alex Rodriguez to end the inning.
Burnett has dominated the Angels since the fourth inning.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the Sixth
Damon swings and grounds one to Morales over at first for the first out.
Teixeira gets a nice piece of one, but he gets underneath it a little and it's caught near the track in left by Rivera.
A-Rod hits one off the wall in right, the ball gets off the wall quickly to Hunter whose throw to second nearly gets Rodriguez. The Yankees threatening with two outs and a man on second for Hideki Matsui.
A run here puts the Yanks right back in the game with still a lot of baseball left to play.
Matsui works a walk, putting two and two out for Cano. Mathis goes out to talk it over with Lackey who in his most dangerous spot of the game right now.
Cano is a notorious first-pitch fastball hitter. Lackey starts him with a curve and Cano swings over for strike one. Cano then grounds to Aybar who flips to second and the inning is over.
Lackey avoids the threat and that could really take the wind out of the Yankees sails. The top of the lineup will have one more shot at Lackey, but that inning could have been a killer.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Bottom of the Fifth
Figgins can't check his swing and strikes out for the first out.
Abreu grounds out to second for the next out.
Had it not been for a rough first inning for Burnett, this game would be a nice pitchers' duel.
Hunter singles through the infield. He's at first with one out for Guerrero.
Guerrero skies one to right for the final out.
Burnett seems to have settled in and had no trouble that inning with Posada now calling the game.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the Fifth
Although he hasn't been sharp, Burnett has kept his team in the game. The Yankees need to string together a couple of hits off Lackey and see if they can get a run this inning. Swisher will lead it off.
Swisher swings over a Lackey curveball and the righty has the first out of the inning and his fifth strikeout.
Cabrera swings and lines a single into center field.
Girardi sees his chance to get back into the game and brings in Jorge Posada to hit for Jose Molina. Posada is a career .389 hitter against John Lackey, which begs the question of why Posada did not start the game in the first place.
Lackey is not fazed by Posada's success against him and freezes the Yankee catcher with a fastball low and away. Two outs.
Two breaking balls get away from Lackey, but Mathis does a nice job of sliding over and blocking both to keep the runner at first.
Lackey goes with the breaking ball again and gets Jeter swinging. He strikes out the side and the Yankees look dumbfounded at the plate right now.
Damon and Matsui are the only Yankees still in the lineup who have not struck out tonight.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Bottom of the Fourth
Maicer Izturis leads off for the Angels and grounds one over to Jeter for the first out.
Juan Rivera pops one out to left. Damon calls off Jeter and makes the catch for the second out.
Mathis takes a Burnett curveball and hits to the wall in left for a double. That is Mathis' fourth double of the series and Burnett still can't put together a 1-2-3 inning.
A little dribbler in front of the plate, but Molina jumps on it and throws to first to get the speedy Aybar to end the inning.
Burnett allows another hit, his sixth in four innings, but hasn't allowed a run since the first.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the Fourth
Teixeira gets the inning started with a single. The Yankees desperately need to get something going this inning down by four.
Lackey gets A-Rod looking for the first out. Lackey just kept pounding Rodriguez inside with fastballs and Rodriguez couldn't pull the trigger.
Of course, Tim McCarver follows the at-bat by saying that A-Rod has been handling the inside pitch. So far he's gotten jammed on a inside fastball and struck out in an at-bat where he saw nothing but inside fastballs.
Matsui hits one off the glove of Morales who collects himself and throws to first for the second out. Teixeira advances to second on the play.
Lackey gets Cano swinging and pumps his fist as he walks off the mound. Lackey is dealing so far and the Yankees can't seem to figure out the Angels' righty.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Bottom of the Third
Burnett gets his first strikeout as he whiffs Abreu for the first out. His curveball looked a lot better there. Some nice late movement and Abreu swung right over the top of it.
Hunter works a one-out walk. He's at first for Vlad Guerrero. Burnett has been the beneficiary of some timely double plays tonight, let's see if he can induce another one.
Hunter gets a huge jump on Burnett and steals second base standing up. Burnett threw over to first a couple times, but his high leg kick is easy to run on and Hunter swiped the bag without trouble.
A wild pitch from Burnett gets by Molina and Hunter scampers to third. Burnett is beating himself right now. He's leaving pitches over the plate and seems to flustered by base runners.
Guerrero hits one hard on the ground to Jeter. Hunter runs on the crack of the bat, but with the infield in, Hunter is easily thrown out by Jeter.
After making a mistake by running on contact with one out, Hunter stays in a run-down long enough for Guerrero to advance to second. He's there with two outs for Kendry Morales.
Morales gets a nice cut at a fastball, but gets under it and the ball is caught at the wall by Cabrera.
Burnett gets helped by Hunter's base running blunder, but still seems off a bit. Base running has been a problem this whole series for the Angels, and even with a four-run lead, this could back to bite them.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the Third
Jose Molina leads it off for the Yankees, then back to the top with Jeter and Damon.
Another bad at-bat, as Molina swings at the first pitch and flies out to right. The Yankees need to show more patience and get some more pitches on Lackey's arm.
Jeter takes one pitch, then swings and grounds out to Izturis for the second out. Even the Yankee captain is being aggressive with Lackey, but he had a pretty good pitch to hit there, just missed it.
Damon hits one hard to the right side, Morales makes a diving stab and flips to Lackey covering for the third out.
The Angels get a little help from the first-base umpire as it looked like Damon beat that play. Regardless the Yankee bats are silenced again and Lackey is rolling.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Bottom of the Second
Despite the rough first inning, Burnett threw just 20 pitches. He needs to have better location with his off-speed stuff this inning to keep the Angels from keying on his fastball.
Jeff Mathis will lead it off for the Angels. He takes a 2-2 fastball from Burnett and shoots it into right field for a base hit. It will be interesting to see how long of a leash Joe Girardi will keep his starter on after allowing five hits to the first eight batters.
Erick Aybar rolls one over to Cano who starts the 4-6-3 double play for the first two outs.
Figgins flies out the left-center to end it.
After getting the lead-off man on, the Angels were a little over-aggressive and jumped at some bad pitches. Burnett looked a little better this inning, but still needs to be sharper to become more effective.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the Second
Cano leads it off for the Yankees, who could use a statement this inning after their pitcher was shelled in the first.
Cano gives his best home run swing, but gets under it and flies out to right-center. Not the kind of swing someone should take down four runs in the second inning.
Swisher takes a better cut than Cano, but lines it right to Morales at first for the second out.
Lackey gets his second strikeout. Cabrera looks at a fastball on the outside corner to end the inning.
Nice job by Lackey to keep the Yankees bats quiet in the second. He looks sharp with some nice break on his curve and some late movement on his fastball.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Bottom of the First
Figgins and Abreu have come into this game a combined 4-for-32 and have no stolen bases. If the Angels want to get things going against the Yankees, they will need the top of the lineup to get on for Hunter, Guerrero and Morales.
Figgins does get on after working a walk on five pitches. He's on at first for Abreu.
Abreu doubles to right-center. The ball is cut off nicely out there by Melky Cabrera who keeps Figgins at third. Two big runs out there now for Torrii Hunter.
Hunter swings and lines one up the middle for a base hit. Figgins scores easily and Abreu follows behind him and the Angels get on the board first.
Guerrero follows Hunter with another double. This time the ball goes out to left-center and Hunter scores without a throw.
Burnett usually has a sharp breaking ball, but thus far it's looked flat and the Angels are teeing off on his fastball.
Kendry Morales singles over the glove of Jeter into left for another base hit and Guerrero comes around to score. Man on first and still nobody out for Izturis.
Izturis hits one to the track in right, but it's reeled in by Swisher for the first out. The sixth batter for the Angels makes the first out of the inning.
Rivera grounds one to Rodriguez who throws around the horn for the 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Huge statement by the Angels. Burnett didn't have his best stuff in the first and the Angels took advantage. Now, they need to Lackey to come out and have a shut-down inning.
LA 4 NY 0
***
Top of the First
Derek Jeter wastes no time and takes the first pitch of the game, a fastball, into right field for a bloop base hit. Jeter fought off a a tough fastball on the hands to put himself at first for Damon.
Damon keeps the inning going with another hit to right. This one's hit much harder than Jeter's and puts two on for the dangerous Mark Teixeira.
Lackey drops a big hook on Teixeira and gets him looking for strike three. Lackey threw three curveballs for strikes in the at-bat. Still two on and one out for Rodriguez.
Rodriguez pops up a low fastball to first baseman Kendry Morales for the second out and Lackey can see his way out of this inning. Matsui in to hit with two outs.
Matsui grounds it to Morales who flips to Lackey covering to end the inning.
Lackey used his curve ball effectively in that inning, freezing Teixeira for a punch-out and getting Matsui to roll one over to first.
Lackey was lucky to get out of the inning without any damage after two of his first three pitches dropped in for hits.
NY 0 LA 0
***
Hey folks, Collegian women's volleyball writer Bill Landis here again to take you through Game 5 of the ALCS between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels.
The Yankees hold a 3-1 lead in the series and are looking to clinch an appearance in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Game 4 was an impressive win for the Yankees, but the Angels will look to make one last stand at home and force the series to go back to the Bronx for Games 6 and 7.
The man in charge of slowing down the high-powered Yankee offense today is John Lackey. He is 1-1 in this postseason with an ERA of 1.38. In four playoff starts against the Yankees, Lackey is 0-1 with a 2.25 ERA.
He will opposed by Yankee right-hander A.J. Burnett. In his career against the Angels, Burnett is 4-2 with a 4.21 ERA. He has two no-decisions this postseason with a 2.19 ERA in two starts.
Here's tonight's starting lineups:
Yankees
1.) Derek Jeter SS
2.) Johnny Damon LF
3.) Mark Teixeira 1B
4.) Alex Rodriguez 3B
5.) Hideki Matsui DH
6.) Robinson Cano 2B
7.) Nick Swisher RF
8.) Melky Cabrera CF
9.) Jose Molina C
Angels
1.) Chone Figgins 3B
2.) Bobby Abreu RF
3.) Torii Hunter CF
4.) Vladimir Guerrero DH
5.) Kendry Morales 1B
6.) Maicer Izturis 2B
7.) Juan Rivera LF
8.) Jeff Mathis C
9.) Erick Aybar SS
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