ANAHEIM, CA — In Wednesday night’s series finale, the Yankees, looking for a three-game sweep of the Angels, kept their foot on the gas pedal. Both New York wins were hard-fought efforts by the AL East-leading “Bronx Bombers,” and one thing that is becoming quite clear is the never-ending resiliency of this young Angels ball club.
Manager Ron Washington is molding this club into what will become true big-league professionals. He calls it “a process.” and says “it’s a long grind every season, where they need to learn not to get too excited about a win and not too down about a loss.”
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Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss was another part of that process. They will learn from their mistakes as well as their effort and never-quit attitude.
Seven-year veteran Yusei Kikuchi, 1-4, 3.17 ERA, got his twelfth start for the Angels Wednesday. The lefty has a 2.38 ERA over his last eight starts.
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On the visiting side, the Yankees sent out Clarke Schmidt, 1-2, 4.58, who made his eighth outing this season. He faced the Angels twice with a record of 0-1, 10.38 ERA before Wednesday series finale.
The Yankees scored first on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Volpe in the top of the first inning, driving in Paul Goldschmidt and giving New York an early 1-0 lead, and it remained 1-0 to the end. For the first four innings, the game plodded along like a cement truck climbing Droop Mountian in the snow, with eleven runners left on base and the pitch count for the starters reaching 150. One hour and thirty minutes of watching paint dry!
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But once we got over the top of the mountain, it was all downhill from there, or was it? The Yankees left ten runners on base, and the Angels left six on base in a game where pitching dominated from the first inning. The Yankees had seven hits, and the Angels could only muster up five.
The Angels struck out eight times to the Yankees thirteen. Just your average 1-0 two-hour fifty-one-minute game.
The Yankees had to fight extra hard to beat this young Angels club and walk away shaking their heads at just how close each game was in this series against the fourth place team in the AL West. But they have to tip their hats to the Halos for the effort they gave. It was by far not an easy sweep.
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New York now heads 37 miles north to play a three-game series with the Dodgers, where their west coast swing will end. The Angels will be on the road to play in Cleveland.
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