Yankees Defeat Orioles in 5 Games

By Alex Carr on October 15, 2012

Going into Friday night’s winner-take-all Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, the main headline was the benching of Yankees superstar third baseman and future hall-of-famer Alex Rodriguez. Manager Joe Girardi decided to sit the struggling Rodriguez who was batting just .125 with 9 strikeouts in 16 at bats in the series, opting to go with veteran Eric Chavez in his place. Needless to say, this was a big deal in the media when Girardi announced his line up Friday morning, as its very rare for a superstar like A-Rod to be in the dugout for an elimination game. The Yankee fans would soon find that it doesn’t matter who you start when you have a dominating pitching performance like the one produced by ace C.C. Sabathia.

Sabathia, who was dominant in a game one victory giving up two runs in eight and two thirds innings, took his game to another level on friday night, allowing just one run on four hits in a complete game gem. He was the driving force behind the Yankees 3-1 victory propelling themselves into a Conference Championship series with the Detroit Tigers. Sabathia’s performance also put an end to what has been the best season in Baltimore in decades, and should prove to be a very important learning experience for a young, talented Orioles team. Surprisingly, this was Sabathia’s first start in an elimination playoff game in his career, and he made it very clear that he can come through in the clutch.

The Yankees don’t have much time to enjoy the victory however, as they will host game 1 of the Detroit series Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, with a Tigers team also coming off a Game 5 victory over the Oakland Athletics. The good news for the Tigers is that they will likely only have to face Sabathia in one game this series, as he would otherwise be pitching on very short rest. But on the other hand the bad news for the Tigers is that their ace, and American League CY Young Award front runner, Justin Verlander, will likely only be able to start one game in this series as well. Verlander, like Sabathia, is coming off of a dominant performance in Game 5 on Thursday with a complete game shutout of the Athletics and 11 strikeouts. Needless to say, this is going to be a great battle between two energized teams to decide who will represent the American League in the World Series.