<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"FacebookPinterest\n\n Forget about the Phillies&amp;#39; stomping of the Dodgers last night, and let&amp;#39;s return instead to what I&amp;#39;m going to call the second great game of the postseason (the first was the one-game, winner-take-all American League Central championship game between the Twins and Tigers). This one featured superb pitching, brilliant defense, and yet again\u2014shockingly\u2014the clutch hitting of Alex Rodriguez, which has emerged as THE story of the 2009 playoffs.\n\nAs a Yankee, A-Rod has been notorious for his feebleness in big moments. He&amp;#39;s shown himself to be so anxious about his own public image that he relas, and thus excels, only when the game doesn&amp;#39;t matter. In February, when he admitted to having used steroids earlier in his career, fans anticipated another season of haplessness in the clutch from him\u2014surely he&amp;#39;d overcompensate\u2014but instead he seems to have emptied out his mind, as any great hitter has to do. In 2009 he got big hit after big hit (half of his home runs either tied games or gave the Yankees the lead). During this postseason he&amp;#39;s carried his team.\n\nThese three plays led to the Yankees&amp;#39; victory:\n\n Top of the 5th inning, one out: Bobby Abreu flies out to left field\n\n The backstory here was as dramatic as what transpired on the field. Abreu, one of the league&amp;#39;s most patient hitters, had been a Yankee for the past two-and-a-half seasons until being summarily dumped for the younger, cheaper Nick Swisher. Here, batting with one out and two runners on base against a struggling A.J. Burnett, he was in a position to exact revenge. He worked the count to three balls and one strike, then swung at a high 94 mph fastball well out of the strike zone\u2014an overeager, very un-Abreu thing to do. Had he held his swing he would have walked, loading the bases with one out\u2014a less satisfying outcome for him, maybe, but one that would have helped his team. (Ultimately, after an epic nine-pitch, five and-a-half-minute at-bat, he would fly out to left field.) It&amp;#39;s impossible to know how Abreu walking might have altered what happened next, but we can speculate: Vladimir Guerrero&amp;#39;s slow grounder to shortstop, rather than ending the inning, would have brought home another run, and the Angels would have won the game in nine. Score: Angels 2, Yankees 2.\n\n Bottom of the 11th inning, no outs: Alex Rodriguez homers to right field\n\n In the top of the 11th, Chone Figgins&amp;#39; first hit in 46 postseason innings had given the Angels a 3-2 lead. If their closer, Brian Fuentes, could hold the Yankees scoreless in the bottom of the inning, they would win the game. Facing Alex Rodriguez, Fuentes threw three straight four-seam fastballs (two at 90 mph, one at 89) to virtually the same location. Fuentes&amp;#39; strategy here, against the best hitter in baseball, is inexplicable: It&amp;#39;s one thing to throw the same pitch three times in a row to Alex Rodriguez; it&amp;#39;s another to throw those three pitches to exactly the same spot. A-Rod hit the third pitch into the right-field stands to tie the score. After this, the game would resolve itself into a battle\u2014one decidedly favoring the Yankees&amp;#39; formidable offense\u2014between the worst pitchers in each team&amp;#39;s respective bullpen. Not for nothing was New York&amp;#39;s record in extra innings this year: 7-3.\n\n Bottom of the 13th inning, one out: Melky Cabrera reaches on an error by Maicer Izturis\n\n With runners on first and second, Cabrera grounded to second baseman Izturis, who tried to start a difficult double play (the Angels had already turned three in the game). As his momentum carried him toward first base, Izturis threw wide to the left of Erick Aybar, who was covering second base, and the ball rolled to the feet of third baseman Chone Figgins. Meanwhile, the Yankee baserunner, Jerry Hairston, had rounded third base; when he saw the ball loose, he kept running. Figgins reached for it\u2014and dropped it. Hairston scored without a throw. Ball game."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/how-they-won-alcs-game-2yankees-4-angels-3-13-innings>