Yankees Sweep Angels in Anaheim

Note: Due to my new job eating a lot of time, I fell 7 games behind. I've fixed the dates on these posts to make them look a bit more timely.

After an extra-inning thriller on Friday night, the Yankees decided to have a little fun. As yo ucan see by the photo of Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius above, they succeeded.

Jacob Ruppert, who owned the Yankees from 1915 until his death in 1939, bought Babe Ruth, and built the 1st Yankee Stadium and the 1st Yankee Dynasty, said his idea of a perfect day was when the Yankees scored 9 runs in the 1st inning, and slowly pulled away.

This game, against "the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" at "Angel Stadium of Anaheim," wasn't quite that, but still rather satisfying.

Brett Gardner struck out to start the game, but Aaron Judge singled to center. Didi drew a walk. Giancarlo Stanton reached on an error. Sanchez doubled to left. Aaron Hicks got an RBI groundout to 2nd. Neil Walker struck out, but, Tommy Henrich and Mickey Owen 1941-style, the ball got away from Angels catcher Martin Maldonado, Walker got to 1st base, and Sanchez scored. Miguel Andujar doubled to left. The Yankees scored 5 runs before the Angels even came to bat for the 1st time.

2nd inning: Again, Gardner led off, and this time, he drew a walk. The cliche of "Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety" doesn't really apply here, since the Angels were already "mortally wounded." Judge doubled to left. Didi and GCS (are we allowed to call Giancarlo Stanton "GCS"?) both grounded out, but Sanchez drew a walk, and Hicks tripled to right. Walker singled up the middle. Andujar singled to right. Gleyber Torres, who ended the previous inning with a groundout, singled to left.

Gardner grounded to 2nd to end the inning, but think about this: By this point, the Yankees had sent as many batters named Brett Gardner to the plate as the Angels had sent batters of any name: 3.

Given that support, Masahiro Tanaka didn't have to be particularly good, but he went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 9. Typical for him, even on a good night, the run was a home run, but Zack Cozart in the 5th inning.

Chasen Shreve pitched a scoreless 7th inning, and A.J. Cole, a former Washington National making his Yankee debut, pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th. The Yankees added a run on a Walker single in the 8th. Yankees 11, Angels 1. WP: Tanaka (4-2). No save. LP: Garrett Richards (3-1).

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The Sunday game was a lot more like the Friday game. Same result, though, which is good for me, because I'm a Yankee Fan. Hopefully, you're also a Yankee Fan, meaning it's good for you, too.

CC Sabathia took the mound, and turned back the years: 7 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 1 walk. Chad Green pitched a scoreless 8th, Aroldis Chapman a scoreless 9th.

So CC needed 2 runs. He got them. Stanton doubled in the 4th, and Sanchez followed this with a home run, his 7th of the season.

Yankees 2, Angels 1. That's 9 wins in a row. WP: Sabathia (2-0). SV Chapman (6). LP: Tyler Skaggs (3-2).

With this 7-game roadtrip to Anaheim and Houston, 2 places where the Yankees have had problems in the past, I was hoping they would be able to take 5 out of 7. Well, now, they would only need a split in Houston to do that.

Bring on the defending World Champions.