After Monday’s long, exciting, over-managed and ultimately exasperating loss to the Angels, the Yankees finally played a complete game last night, and thoroughly beat the Angels 10-1. If L.A. woke up Tuesday feeling cheerful about having won a big game and about having on the mound on Tuesday Scott Kazmir, a top starter with a record of success against the Yanks, they surely went to bed Tuesday knowing that their chances now of mounting a historic upset (mostly) on the road against the mighty New Yorkers were small indeed. Kazmir stunk, while C.C. Sabathia (left) pitched brilliantly, eight innings of one-run baseball, but it was the offense that finally stepped up. The Yanks had been winning with power, which is a splendid way to win, but the way the team had smacked its way to 103 wins was through relentlessness–sending one patient, dangerous hitter to the plate after another. The Yanks won this year not only because Derek Jeter is clutch and because Mark Teixiera and Alex Rodriguez had a lot of homers and RBIs, but because Jorge Posada and 
Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher and Johnny Damon (right, after putting the game out of reach with a two-run homer to make the score 7-1) all had 20-odd homers and 80 or 90 RBIs–the entire line-up is capable of starting a rally, and the entire line-up is capable of delivering the big hit. Last night, the team finally performed its act in the playoffs. Here’s a predicition: we’ll see it again before the season ends. L.A. is lucky to have the redoubtable John Lackey starting for them tomorrow, but I wonder if he’ll have enough to send the series back to the Bronx.
Meanwhile, speaking of A-Rod, who did indeed homer again last night (below), Tom Verducci has 
some good stats on si.com:
• Rodriguez has made contact on 41 of his 46 swings this postseason, an 89 percent contact rate. In the regular season he made contact 78 percent of the time.
• Dating to his last two at-bats of the regular season, Rodriguez has put the ball in play 26 times. He has homered on seven of those 26 times. That means that one out of every three or four balls he hits fair is going out of the park. He is batting .500 on balls he puts in play in that span.
• Rodriguez has not gone more than seven at-bats this postseason without hitting a home run.
• Rodriguez is outhomering the competition by himself. He has five home runs in 27 at-bats this postseason. Opposing hitters against the Yankees this postseason have combined for three home runs in 262 at-bats.
Six down, five to go.