The Rangers took a page out of the Yankees’ old playbook this night. That’s run up the count on the starting pitcher, and get him out of there.
Andy Pettite started for the Yankees, and was out after five innings, and 104 pitches. In fact, the Rangers scored all their runs off of Andy. He was not his classic self, giving up seven hits and an astounding six walks in five innings for those four runs. Did strike out six, though – otherwise it probably would have been a lot worse. It’s a good thing the Rangers got to Pettite, because they couldn’t get anything done against the bullpen.
The same went for the Rangers’ bullpen – they didn’t give up any runs at all, and the ones the Yankees did get were pretty few anyway. Scott Feldman started, and is looking better and better each time he pitches. 6.1 innings, five hits, three walks, and five strikeouts for those two runs the Yankees got. The second run was a solo home run by Jorge Posada in the final inning Feldman pitched, so he was quite good the whole night. Couple of double plays helped out Scott, too.
The Rangers offense was all singles, although Elvis Andrus stole two bases; Kinsler was caught stealing, too. Kinsler was also picked off first, too. That’s always embarrassing.
It’s always nice to beat the Yankees, but I was disappointed none of the three games from the Bronx were in HD. You’d think at least one of them would be to show off the new stadium. I was kind of disappointed by that.