It's amazing how quickly momentum can change and change it did tonight with the Yankees' disappointing loss in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. What makes the loss particularly crushing is that the Yanks had so many opportunities to win.
Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez delivered home runs that seem destined to quickly put the Angels out of their misery. But the Yankees can't rely on Jeter and ARod for all the clutch hits. Eventually, other Yankee hitters have to come through in key situations. I love Nick Swisher's fun-loving demeanor, but he single-handedly killed nearly every Yankee rally with his inability to even get the ball to the outfield for a sac fly. With Eric Hinske off the ALCS roster, the Yanks don't have any good options for sitting Swish so they will have to hope he can turn things around.
With the lack of clutch hitting, the Yankees wasted a solid pitching outing from Andy Pettitte. He did give up the tying home to Vlad, but he pitched well enough to win. And he should have won. Mark Teixeira once again played an awesome defensive game. Jeter again was in the middle of a game-changing postseason play that will be overshadowed by Joe Girardi's overmanaging of his bullpen.
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