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The Pitcher's Duel
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Cliff Lee gets fired up on the mound against the Yankees.
Cleveland |0|0|0|1|0|1|0|0|0|2|14|0
New York |0|0|0|0|0|0|1|0|0|1|6|0
AP - New York City, NY - It was the ultimate match-up. It was Kirk vs. Spock, Anakin vs. Obi Wan, the showdown of good vs. evil. It was Cliff Lee the '08 Cy Young winner against C.C. Sabathia the '07 Cy Young winner. Coming into the game the Indians still felt the sting from the collapse a night before. Cliff Lee came to the ball park early to find a C.C. Sabathia waiting for him according to sources. Cliff spoke on the incident in detail to local reporters.
"Yeah, I got here early, went out to get a job on the field, and there C.C. was doing the same thing". Then what? "We jogged a couple laps around the bases, got warmed up, played catch, nobody else was here, except the media of course." The two starting pitchers jogged together? What kind of rivalry is this, this is Cleveland vs. New York these are games that are knock down fights and matches, their rivals only joined by the bitter hate of their fans, who does Cliff Lee think he is?
"I'm a laid back guy, C.C. is a laid back guy. In Cleveland we got along just fine, 1 and 2 in the rotation, we didn't see the numbers, we considered ourselves that two punch knockout, nothing but respect to C.C. I know he wanted to get out, didn't like it here, thought he was worth more, obviously New York believes that. He's happy where he's at, I'm happy where I'm at. That's all there is to it, I don't hate the guy for the jersey he puts on." If the game had gone a different way I think Cliff would be more attuned to a fight.
It was not as intense as the night before, the bats were silent, the runs were scored on base hits and this time a bullpen was able to come through when called upon. The Indians got away with a 2-1 victory on the night. A big turn-around from the imploding fighting that was only twenty-four hours prior. Eric Wedge was asked about the comments back and forth and he spoke on it. "When you drop a game like we did last night, it's frustrating, everybody was mad. I believe we should be 2-0 against them. We're not, we're 1-1 with two to play. You can't linger on what could have been. You gotta focus on what is."
The last bit of information Wedge gave was on the possible action against Kobayashi, Smith, and Sizemore. "It was a heat of the moment, tempers flaring thing, I'm not going to punish these guys, nor is anyone in this orginization. We've moved past it and are looking forward to Saturday and Sunday."
The current series is one game a piece with two to play.
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Lineup:
CF Sizemore 1-4 |
2B Cabrera 1-4 | 1K
C Martinez 2-4 |
DH Hafner 1-4 | 1K
1B Garko 1-3 |
SS Peralta 2-4 |
3B DeRosa 1-3 |
3B Barfield ** 1-1 |
RF Choo 2-4 | 1K
LF Dellucci 2-4 |
** Substituted for DeRosa in the 7th
Batting:
3B: T. Hafner (1)
RBI: R. Garko (3), J. Peralta (8)
SF: R. Garko
GIDP: B. Francisco
Fielding:
E: J. Barfield (1)
Pitching:
Lee (W, 1-1) | 7.2IP | 6H | 1R | 0ER | 7SO | 4.58 ERA |
Lewis (S, 1) | 1.1IP | 2SO | 3.38 ERA |
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Lineup:
SS Jeter 1-4 | 1K
LF Damon 2-4 |
3B Rodriguez 1-4 | 2K
1B Teixeira 1-4 | 2K
C Posada 0-4 | 1K
DH Matsui 1-4 | 1K
2B Cano 0-3 |
CF Cabrera 0-3 | 1K
RF Swisher 0-2 | 1K
PH-RF Ndy 0-1 |
Batting:
2B: M. Teixeira (2)
3B: J. Damon (2), H. Matsui (1)
RBI: H. Matsui (9)
Pitching:
Sabathia (L, 1-2) | 6.2IP | 11H | 2R | 2ER | 3SO | 3.18 ERA |
Marte | 2.1IP | 3H | 4.32 ERA |
Player of the Game:
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C. Lee
7.2 Innings 6 Hits 7 Strikeots