The New York Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 4-3. C.C. Sabathia started but got the no decision. Brett Tomko got the loss. I went out for a little while after the game. I didn’t feel like writing about the loss as soon as it was over. I’ve seen the Phillies play for the first time this year and they are the most dangerous team I’ve seen play from an offensive stand point. Their offense is much better than the Red Sox. CC started and I thought he pitched well. He had awesome velocity on his 4-Seam Fastball that was reaching 95 mph. He was throwing in and out all game long and he had great arm speed on his change up. His slider were working very well. His change up was down in the zone, out of the hitting area and it looked just like his fastball except it was 10 mph slower. He had great location on all of his pitches. To the right-handed batters he was throwing his fastball in on the hands and then getting them with his slider that was middle and down. He had trouble with left-handed batter Raul Ibanez in the top of the third when Ibanez doubled to deep center to allow Shane Victorino to score. He left a fastball right over the middle of the plate and Ibanez is a great fastball hitter. When Jimmy Rollins hit a line drive to Brett Gardner in the top of the third, it would of been better if Gardner let the ball drop in front of him instead of giving the Phillies a run because Gardner missed the ball. It would of allowed Sabathia the ability to buckle down and go after the next batter. The Phillies would of had men on first and second with two out. Gardner gambled and lost. The strikeout was not a big weapon for C.C. Sabathia. He only had four but he had a great and I mean great strike out to ball ratio. He threw 75 strikes out of 110 pitches. Now that’s what you call awesome. You have to give credit to the catcher for the Phillies Carlos Ruiz. He threw Brett Gardner out trying to steal second base and he blocked the plate that stopped Johnny Damon from scoring. He then drove in the winning run. The guy was a stud. If anyone deserves player of the game, it’s him. I really thought the Yankees were going to win when they had two men on and no outs in the 10th inning. Once Tex hit into a double play, all the Phillies had to do was walk A-Rod and they did and got out of trouble by pitching to Ramiro Pena. The Yankees had a successful road trip winning eight games out of 10. That’s all you can ask for especially with the way they started the season. Player of the Game: Catcher Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies. The Yankees couldn’t handle him.
