One timely hit could have sent the Yankees back to the Bronx with a stranglehold on the American League division series.
Instead, it's now a best-of-three. ...
The Yankees went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10 men – including six at second and/or third base over four different innings. ...
For the Orioles, the one-run victory was nothing new. Their 29-9 record in such contests this season marked the highest winning percentage (.763) of any team in big-league history. By comparison, the Yankees were 22-25 in one-run games during the regular season.
The last at-bat of the game was proof enough. Robinson Cano is by far the Yankees' best hitter these days, and if he were hitting in the No. 3 spot, he would have come up against Jim Johnson when one swing still could have changed everything.
Instead he watched from the on-deck circle Monday night as Alex Rodriguez struck out swinging to end the game, his fifth strikeout in this series. ...
Rodriguez hasn't looked like a No. 3 hitter for quite some time ... A-Rod was a .270 singles hitter down the stretch of the pennant race for the Yankees, delivering only six extra-base hits over the last month of the season.
They should have scored more than one run in the first. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, they didn't score. Two hits and an intentional walk didn't produce a run in the seventh.
Does this sound like the soundtrack of the Yankees when they don't win?
Of course it does ...
Pre-Game 3 Schadenfreude
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