Yankees may go with 3-man rotation against Angels
Posted Oct 13, 2009 2:10 PM
 By RONALD BLUM
(AP)
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NEW YORK -The Yankees may go with a three-man rotation against the Los Angeles Angels in the AL championship series.
CC Sabathia is scheduled to start Friday night's opener, with A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte and New York's other two primary starters. The shortened rotation would allow manager Joe Girardi to keep Joba Chamberlain and Chad Gaudin in the bullpen.
"In the 10-day forecast that I looked at, it looks like we have some rain in the forecast, so that can change things," Girardi said Tuesday during a conference call. "But we are definitely considering possibly going to a three-man rotation in this round, but we'll have to take a look at it and see how it goes."
New York swept Minnesota in the opening round, and used Chamberlain as a setup man in all three games. He pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, and combined with Phil Hughes and the rest of the bullpen to bolster the link between starters and closer Mariano Rivera.
"That was pretty good with us in the first round," Girardi said. "If you go to a three-man rotation, obviously he stays in the bullpen. But if you go to a four-man rotation, then we have to weigh the benefits of either of putting Joba in the bullpen or putting Chad in the bullpen."
Sabathia made his final three regular-season starts for Milwaukee on three days' rest in 2008, then started again on short rest in the playoffs against Philadelphia, lasted just 3 2-3 innings and lost.
New York limited him to 230 innings during the regular season — down from 253 the previous year. He will start the opener against the Angels on eight days' rest, another factor the Yankees think will enable him to be effective in Game 4.
"Not getting him to 250 innings during the regular season allows us to consider that," Girardi said. "We've told him, though, to concentrate on Game 1. That's the most important game, and we'll go from there."
Girardi hasn't decided whether to again have Jose Molina catch Burnett instead of Posada. To do that, Girardi said he probably would have to again carry Francisco Cervelli as a third catcher, allowing the team to take out Posada for a pinch runner late in a game.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
2009-10-13 14:57:27

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Ralphgmiami
9:10AM Oct 14 2009 
We Yankees fans know how to pitch to Angles right fielder Bobby Abreu, who played for the Yankees in 2008, 2007, and part of 2006. I rooted all three years for Abreu to hit at least 20 home runs but he didn't. When Abreu played for the Phillies, he won the 2005 all-star home run derby with a total of 41. He hit one about 521-feet. Abreu can launch those 50 to 70 mile per hour floaters. It's the fastball letters high that he has trouble with. If he hits them, he usually dinks it off the handle or off the end of the bat into the outfield. He doesn't seem to hit it on the sweat spot of the bat though. I'm hoping the Yanks remember this. He takes a lot of pitches so the plan with him should be to attack with fastballs high on the zone across the letters or a cut fastball. The Yankees should not throw him change of pace, breaking ball, or offspeed stuff.
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Ralphgmiami
8:19AM Oct 14 2009 
No one seems to talk about the intense New York pressure cooker of the media. The Yankees played through it this year and did well. A-Rod finally prevailed with the steroid question. Even the rally monkey won't be able to help the Angels as they'll have the weight of king kong on their back. I live in Miami but I know it as I used to live in New York. There are going to be around 140 media people at the visitor's clubhouse surrounding Angels players at new Yankee Stadium. When Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera played for the Yankees they had trouble with the pressure. Players who have folded in New York because of the media pressure are Steve Kemp, Toby Harrah, Doyle Alexander, Ken Holtzman, Kenny Rogers, LaTroy Hawkins, Randy Johnson, Omar Moreno, Ken Phelps, Dave Collins, Roy Smalley, Rich Dotson, Steve Trout, Butch Wynegar, Tony Fernandez, Rick Rhoden, etc. I could go on and on. The media in New York radio stations sports talk shows are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are reporters from the 3 daily newspapers, New Jersey newspapers, Conneticutt newspapers. There are about 60 Japanese reporters. No speakie inglese, no problem as there are a bunch of spanish speaking reporters. Also the cooler weather at night will affect the Angels, especially Latin players who don't like the cold. Yankee Stadium will also be a hostile environment as they'll heckle the Angels players. GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!
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CMGPlay123
8:02AM Oct 14 2009 
CC is more of a cow than a horse. Does he wear his jammies when he pitches or is that actually a uniform.
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Bandit713nva
1:16AM Oct 14 2009 
yankees in 4
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JLNM04
8:40PM Oct 13 2009 
GO YANKEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
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Cowboykrazy61
7:48PM Oct 13 2009 
yankees are going down , Angels in 5 lets go Angels.................
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Mad127d
4:54PM Oct 13 2009 
can't bank on ANYTHING in today's economy, Robert. LETS GO YANKEES
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Mad127d
4:52PM Oct 13 2009 
Keep Joba on the Bench
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