Andy Pettitte had a brilliant playoff start. Again. We Yankee fans feel confident anytime Andy is on the mound for us in the playoffs. He may not always win, but there's no one that's going to try harder. His intensity is inspiring. Sometimes I think he is too hard on himself, like when he gave up the run-scoring hit to Vlad and proceeded to yell at himself in the dugout. But it works for him. It gets him through these pressure-packed situations and more often than not, leads to another Yankee playoff win.
Things went almost perfectly according to plan for the Yanks due to Andy's ability to pitch into the 7th inning. With Joba Chamberlain easily getting 2 outs to close out the frame, it was Mo time. Mariano Rivera had a shaky eight inning, giving up one run and a couple of hard-hit balls although his defense helped him out with an amazing grab by Mark Teixeira and a lucky snag of a ball up the middle by Robinson Cano.
But after the Yanks gave him a couple of insurance runs, helped out by really bad defense on bunt plays by the Angels, Mo closed it out. The long hug between Mo and Jorge Posada spoke volumes. It had been a long and unexpected absence from the World Series for the Yanks and as many title bouts as those two have been in, they were thrilled to be going to one more.
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