Can't Argue With A 'W'

The New York Yankees' victory in Game 1 of their American League Division Series last night was pivotal on multiple fronts. It obviously gave the Yankeess a 1-0 lead in a short, best-of-five series, but what it also did was take a 3-ton weight off of the shoulders of rookie starting pitcher Chien-Ming Wang for tonight's Game 2. If the Yankees do happen to drop tonight's game, they come back to the Bronx for TWO games with their ace, Randy Johnson, on the mound in Game 3. If you want to look a little past the surface, it could also be considered somewhat of a statement game. The Los Angeles Angels had their ace on the mound and the Yankees had an unknown entity in a recovering-from-injury Mike Mussina. But Mussina was Mussina and the Yankees quieted at least some of the non-believers that counted them out before the series even began. He pitched a briliant game and reminded the Yankees how important he really is to their World Series dreams. As one reporter wrote back in the middle of their pennant chase, "The Yankees haven't won a World Series with Moose, but they won't win one without him." Just a crisp game by the Bombers.

As for the game itself, my analysis:

Player of the Game: Mike Mussina (5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO) - stepped up once again in a big spot

Clutch Hit of the Game: Robinson Cano (3-run double in 1st inning) - welcome to the Postseason

Big Play of the Game: Gary Sheffield's at-bat in the 1st inning - without Sheffield taking an outside, 0-2 pitch to right field to keep the inning alive with two outs, Robinson Cano never makes it to the plate

Momentum Swing of the Game: 4 two-out hits in the top of the 1st, capped off by Cano's double

Key Out of the Game: Mussina retiring Adam Kennedy with runners of 2nd and 3rd with two outs in the 2nd inning - a hit there gives half the lead right back

Break of the Game: Steve Finley's double kicking into the stands in the bottom of the 2nd - maybe the Karma's on the Yankees side this year (See Tony Clark's double in Fenway last October)

Questionable Move of the Game: Joe Torre pulls Mussina in favor of Al Leiter to face Darin Erstad after Mussina gave up a hit to Vladimir Guerrero with two outs and no one on in the 6th inning

Bonehead Play of the Game: How does Guerrero get thrown out trying to steal second base when his team is down by 4 runs?

One last point, the Yankees won last night's game in the same fashion that they won all their championships in the late 90's. Good pitching, timely hitting, not relying on the homerun, patience at the plate, and with contributions from every corner of their lineup. I've been saying for a while that this team is showing parallels of the dynasty teams - from the fact that they have unknowns winning games for them (i.e. Bubba Crosby) to the adjustment period Randy Johnson went through (aka Roger Clemens syndrome) to the type of baseball they are playing (shades of little ball) to the chemistry of the team (don't tell me that a pennant run doesn't bond a team) and even to Gary Sheffield's aching quad muscle ("Nice catch O'Neill!").

So let's just hope it ends the same way as those years did.