Last Updated on October 24, 2009 10:50 pm by admin
ALCS Game Six
New York, NY – Game 6 of the AL championship series between the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees has been postponed because of rain.
The game was rescheduled for 8:20 p.m. Sunday at Yankee Stadium.
New York leads the series 3-2 and need one victory to clinch its 40th pennant and reach the World Series for the first time since 2003.
Rain has been falling off and on in New York since Friday night. A steady drizzle, with occasional spurts of heavy downpour, kept the tarp on the field all afternoon. The game was called by Major League Baseball nearly 2 hours before the scheduled first pitch of 7:57 p.m.
Joe Saunders had been slated to start for Los Angeles against fellow left-hander Andy Pettitte.
Rejuvenated by a ramshackle win in Game 5 that cut the Yankees’ series lead to 3-2, the Angels still face long odds to make the seldom-seen comeback from a 3-1 series deficit against their star-studded opponents. Yet Figgins still senses a team-wide confidence that the Angels can rain on the Yankees’ 27th championship parade.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com for Sunday’s game against the Angels. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 66% of more than 324 bets for this game have been placed on the Yankees -175.
“It doesn’t get any better than this, especially going into that ballpark,” said Figgins, the Angels’ leadoff hitter. “It’s going to be another crazy game, I can tell you that. You go back and just enjoy it. The pressure is on both teams.”
The Yankees arrived back in New York early Friday morning and held an “optional” workout – “In the playoffs, it’s not optional,” catcher Jorge Posada said with a grin – under an overcast sky in the Bronx that afternoon. A chilly wind rippled the flags that line the top of the stadium and jostled the ceremonial red-white-and-blue bunting along each deck.
It was a much different scene than the picturesque weather they had in Southern California, and they still were thrilled to be back.
“Our guys feel very good when we walk in this ballpark,” manager Joe Girardi said.
The Angels were grateful to show up to work Friday in suits instead of sweats, holding a brief workout before flying to New York.
Figgins and his teammates all packed the cold-weather gear that did little good in their last trip to Yankee Stadium, when they lost the series’ first two games with poor hitting and sloppy defense. The Angels’ defense and pitching mostly got back to normal in Anaheim, but their hitting didn’t improve until Game 5, when they scored seven runs after mustering just 10 in the entire series beforehand.
“They are the favorites, but after this one, we’ve got obviously a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum,” said Joe Saunders, the Angels’ Game 6 starter. “It’s going to be the usual Yankee hostile environment. It’s going to be a lot of fun. They’re going to be all over us.”
The Yankees had a major league-best 57-24 record at their new home this season, including a 36-10 mark since June 30. They lost consecutive home games only once in that stretch.
New York has won each of its four playoff games in the Bronx, outscoring the Twins and Angels 19-9 in its $1.5 billion ballpark.
“We feel comfortable here and we just want to keep going out there and playing good baseball,” outfielder Nick Swisher said.
Posted: 10/24/09 10:50PM ET