By Pete Caldera
The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
NEW YORK – CC Sabathia’s battle at Yankee Stadium was an all-or-nothing fight.
Either he’d solve the command issues that plagued his first two postseason starts, or the Yankees would be drummed out of October while the Rangers celebrated their first pennant.
Sabathia gutted through six innings in Wednesday afternoon’s Game 5, and the Yankees’ slumbering lineup summoned enough lightning to score a season-saving 7-2 victory before 49,832 on-edge patrons at Yankee Stadium.
Though he gave up 11 hits, Sabathia kept the Yankees breathing in the AL Championship Series.
Down three games to two, the Yanks moved the best-of-seven back to Texas. If it comes down to Game 7 on Saturday, the Rangers have Cliff Lee as their ace in the hole. Game 6 is Friday.
The Yankees could only focus on winning one game – a philosophy driven home by manager Joe Girardi and Mariano Rivera in a postgame meeting after a Game 4 loss.
“We have not played extremely well in this series,” said Girardi, whose club was outscored 18-3 by Texas in the previous two games. But, “there was that determination that we were going to go out and play our game.”
It started with Sabathia, who gave up hits in every inning and managed to hold it together.
“No matter how many runners were on base in any given inning, I was just going to try to make some pitches and make sure I got some outs,” said Sabathia, who had a 7.20 ERA over his first two starts this postseason.
But the Yanks have won all three games he’s pitched, and they staked him to a 5-0 lead.
After past playoff home run heroes Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone each tossed out a ceremonial first pitch for luck, the Rangers threw the ball around in the second inning, helping the Yanks score three runs off starter C.J. Wilson.
The lefty, who held the Yanks in check during a tough no-decision in Game 1, gave up back-to-back homers to Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano to start the third inning, and the mood began to brighten on a gray Bronx afternoon.
“I think it shows what we’re capable of doing,” Swisher said of a lineup that entered Tuesday 3-for-33 with runners in scoring position.
Swisher’s homer was his first hit as a right-handed batter in 10 ALCS at-bats, but Cano’s shot was his fourth homer of the series – matching Texas slugger Josh Hamilton’s output. Hamilton’s double-play grounder ended the fifth, with runners at first and second and the Yanks up 5-1.
Kerry Wood picked off Elvis Andrus at second base, with Hamilton at bat, for a key seventh-inning out. After a scoreless eighth, Wood yielded to Mariano Rivera for the ninth.
“Our guys weren’t pressing,” said Curtis Granderson, who hit a solo homer in the eighth. Batting .421 in the ALCS, Cano filled the No. 3 spot for Mark Teixeira, who is lost for the postseason with a strained hamstring.
But it was Wilson’s second inning walks to Alex Rodriguez and Lance Berkman that started the trouble.
After Jorge Posada’s RBI single plated A-Rod, Granderson’s RBI single scored the lumbering Berkman while triggering chaos. Right fielder Jeff Francoeur’s throw went to third, where Posada might’ve been out if the ball hadn’t skipped away for an error.
Posada kept running and should’ve been out at home, but Wilson – who corralled the loose ball – tossed it over catcher Matt Treanor’s head. It was 3-0.
“That’s what we call a snowball fight in the industry,” said Berkman, who appreciated Sabathia’s battle.
“I felt a lot sharper today than in Game 1,” said Sabathia, who yielded five runs in four innings on Friday. This time, on normal rest, Sabathia gave up just a Treanor solo homer in the fifth, and a sixth-inning RBI groundout by Treanor.
With runners at second and third, Sabathia caught Mitch Moreland looking at a 2-2 curveball to end the sixth. It was Sabathia’s last pitch, completing a 112-pitch battle.
On Friday, it’ll be Phil Hughes, pounded in Game 2, against Colby Lewis in a rematch.
Having Lee in Game 7 is nice, Texas manager Ron Washington said, but, “I’m not thinking that far.”