Trick or Treat, Series Knotted at 1-1

After a classic Game 1 battle between Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia ended in a dominating complete game performance by Lee and the Phillies, fans were treated to another close game in Game 2. In a Game 1 that pitted the last two AL Cy Young Award winners, Lee was good as advertised, recording 10 strikeouts in a 9-inning complete game effort. Sabathia was good as well going 7 innings before Girardi gave him the hook down 2-0. After Yankee parade of pitchers in the 8th and 9th innings led to 4 more runs, the Phillies had the game in hand, winning 6-1. Game 2 promised the potential for great starting from A.J. Burnett and Pedro Martinez, or utter disaster. You simply didn't know what would happen, but luckily, it was the former, with the Burnett throwing 7 innings of one-run ball before handing the reins to Mariano for 6 outs, and a 3-1 win.

As expected MLB fans are in for real treat for Game 3 on Halloween night, and again as has been the issue all postseason, the weather will hopefully hold out. On paper Yankee Doodle Andy Pettitte will have the advantage over Cole Hamels tonight, but Citizens Bank Ballpark is a band-box and untold amounts of scoring are always possible.

World Series 2009 Preview

This may ultimately be the best World Series since 2001 between the Yankees and Diamondbacks, which went 7 games, and was capped off by a series-winning duck-snort by Luis Gonzalez over the head of Derek Jeter. As a Mets fan, I've been entirely disgusted by the outlook of fellow Mets fans who deem this World Series matchup as a "Mets fan's worst nightmare" or "hell." Who cares? The Mets' season was over almost as soon as it began, and fans have to put the season to rest and turn over a new leaf. As said before, its okay to be a MLB fan. You have to respect what the Phillies did this year off a 2008 World Series Championship.

Position Matchup (offense)

C- Posada- one of the best offensive catchers of his generation; Ruiz has been good this postseason
1B- Howard- very clutch/hot in the playoffs, consecutive rbi game streak, Teixera hitting .205
2B- Utley- even on regular season, but advantage goes to Utley mostly because Cano hasn't hit well with RISP
SS- Jeter- guy's a hitter, doesn't matter the situation; Rollins had huge walk-off 2 rbi double, but still doesn't stack up to Derek Jeter
3B- Rodriguez- most deadly hitter in playoffs, IBB with 2 outs bases empty in 9th inning against Angels closer Brian Fuentes
LF- Push (Ibanez/Damon)- Ibanez has better overall stats, but fizzled after an injury during the year and their postseason stats are even
CF- Victorino- similar stats, "the Flying Hawaiian" has a 20 pt better avg
RF- Werth- 36 hr 99rbi .268 vs. Swisher's 26 hr 81 rbi .249

Position Matchup (defense)

C- Ruiz- Posada gets flack for his defensive play, he's in there for offense
1B- Teixera- no question, 2x glove glover- will win again this year
2B- Push (Utley/Cano)- both above average infielders who will make bone-head plays from time to time
SS- Push (Jeter/Rollins)- if you give anyone an edge it would be Jeter for his spectacular throws, but Rollins has better arm
3B- Rodriguez - 2x gold glover; Pedro Feliz committed 15 errors this season to A-Rod's 9.
LF- Damon- it doesn't always look good, but Damon usually makes the play despite his terrible arm; Phillies have put Ben Francisco in LF as a defensive replacement late for Ibanez in the playoffs
CF- Victorino- covers a remarkable amount of ground in CF; Melky can be an adventure
RF- Werth- also covers quite a bit of ground in RF; Swisher will lose the ball in the lights

Overall

Starting Pitching
NYY- Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte over Lee, Hamels, Martinez, Blanton

Bullpen
NYY- only give it to Yankees because of Mariano Rivera; Chamberlain, Hughes, Coke were supposed to be the bridge to Mariano, but they have faltered. Weak Phillies bullpen hasn't blown any saves with Brad Lidge and Ryan Madson this postseason

Offense
PHI- close, but big Yankees boppers like Mark Teixera have not been as impressive as the explosive Phillies lineup.

Defense
Infield- NYY- fabulous defense all-around except for maybe Cano at times.
Outfield- PHI- Werth and Victorino over Cabrera and Swisher any day of the week.
Overall- NYY- Infield is key to overall defense here, whereas Melky and Swisher can get by.

Manager
Charlie Manuel- won last year's World Series; Girardi won NL Manager of the Year with Florida Marlins some years ago, and the quick hook on pitchers in the playoffs along with the offensive reshuffling sans DH in Philadelphia might hurt.

Intangibles
Push- the Yankees came back to win many many times this year, and have had some late clutch hits to win games (see A-Rod); the Phillies had a late walk-off double by Jimmy Rollins when faced with their final out.

Keys to the Series: Starting Pitching and Bullpen
Both teams have worthy aces in Sabathia and Lee. Burnett can be rattled but has been good overall thus far, whereas Hamels with a 6.00+ ERA is not getting it done. Having Pettitte as a #3 with all his postseason experience overshadows Blanton, Happ, and even Pedro Martinez.
Coming into their ALCS with the Angels, the Yankees bullpen was rock-solid, however Joba and Phil Hughes have been anything but solid. Couple this with a poor Phillies bullpen that finished games with moderate trouble and you are beginning to see parity among these two bullpens minus of course Mariano Rivera.

Prediction: This World Series is tough to call. If Yankees starting pitching and bullpen are good, they win in 6. Otherwise the Phillies will win in 7 games, as they will need to go the distance to overcome their poorer starting pitching and unsure bullpen; expect their wins to include 8-6 slugfests to stay competitive.

Turnpike Tussle

Its official, the Yankees will meet the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. On the backs of great pitching from starter Andy Pettitte (6.1 IP) along with six solid outs from Mariano Rivera, the Yankees clinched their 40th AL pennant with a 5-2 Game 6 win at Yankee Stadium Sunday night.

You'll forgive my East Coast Bias, but this is definitely the best possible matchup for this year's World Series. Representing the NL, you have the Philadelphia Phillies, defending 2008 World Series Champions versus the AL's best team, the 103-win New York Yankees. This World Series shapes up to be an interesting series not seen in some years, as WS sweeps in 2004, 2005, and 2007 proved lackluster and anti-climatic. Here's hoping this series goes 6 or 7 games to erase the lopsided contests of recent years.

World Series breakdown to follow soon. Stay tuned.

No Swish-a-licious Tonight

The Yankees blew a golden opportunity to set up a World Series meeting with the Phils, and instead will prepare for the Angels in a Game 6 at Yankee Stadium on an ominous-looking Saturday evening. They scored late, as has been their M.O. the entire postseason thus far, scoring no runs in the first 6 innings. Down 4-0, they rallied in the 7th, scoring 6 runs in an inning where John Lackey may have prematurely been taken out of the game by skipper Mike Scioscia. After the Angels scored 3 runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-6 lead, the Yankees looked to Mariano to bail them out. He did, and in the 9th, Nick Swisher popped up to end the game with the bases loaded.

Chants of '2004 Red Sox' should be no problem as veteran Andy Pettite takes the hill on Saturday, with safety-net CC Sabathia ready if needed for a Game 7. The true issue is that the Yankees' bats always seem to take some innings to get going. This pattern will not be particularly helpful if their starting pitchers fail to produce solid outings. Tonight saw A.J. Burnett give up 4 runs in the first inning before eventually settling in. During the five innings to follow, John Lackey continued to shut the Yankees down. Luckily the Yankees were finally able to get into the Angels bullpen and cash in 6 runs to go on top 6-4, with the hope they would end series here tonight in Anaheim. But it wasn't to be as the "dependable" Yankee bullpen, along with some interesting pitching decisions by Joe Girardi, hampered the Yankees ability to maintain the lead long enough for Mariano Rivera to reach the mound.

Heavy rains may disrupt Game 6 on Saturday, but Sunday and Monday--if series pushed back-- look good. Hopefully, the bad weather on Saturday doesn't result in an unfair result for a monumentally important game.

Umpiring Miscues Transcend Human Error

It's unbelievably appalling how horrid the umpiring has been this postseason. It's certainly one thing to make a split-second mistake the length of one-half step, but another to make a decision without ever looking at the play. You saw plenty of the latter during Game 4 between the Yankees and Angels. From 3rd base umpire Tim McClelland's blatant save call of a clearly-out Robinson Cano at third to his successful appeal call determining Swisher left early on a sac-fly when he did not, the viewers will look back at a game where McClelland couldn't seem to get the simplest of calls correct. McClelland didn't get into position to see that Angels catcher Mike Napoli tagged Robinson Cano (coming from 2nd), followed by tagging Jorge Posada retreating back to 3rd. The crisis was averted when Cano would not score from 3rd anyway. You have to wonder whether Swisher's head-first slide back into second base, in which he was out by 12 inches, affected McClellan's out call on Swisher after he apparently did not tag up.

In the end, the Yankees 10-1 drubbing ultimately placed little bearing on these umpiring miscues. However, it did further highlight the poor umpiring in the 2009 postseason. Hopefully, these postseason umpires will pay better attention in successive games, especially the World Series. Remember that no news is good news, because the less you realize the umpires are there, the better.

Never Say Die & Micro-Managing

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again: don't worry about the Phillies' bullpen so much. It doesn't appear anyone will blame the 'pen with a three games-to-one lead over the Dodgers. While it's true they haven't been particularly good, the offense has been able to pad leads to allow for some leeway to work. This is especially true of Game 1 where the Phillies scored 3 runs in the top of the 8th right before Ryan Madison gave up 2 runs in a 8-6 Phillies victory. In Game 2, Utley's error allowed the Dodgers to tie the game 1-1 before a bases-loaded walk gave the Dodgers a 2-1 advantage and the victory. Game 3 entirely sat on Cliff Lee's shoulders as he threw a dominating 8 shutout innings on the back of a 11-run outburst by Phillies' hitters. Finally, last night baseball fans witnessed a Game 4 for the ages, as not since Kirk Gibson's memorable 1988 World Series home run did a team hit an extra-bases hit to walk-off when facing 2 outs and a potential loss. This Phillies team is awfully tough, and it shouldn't surprise people that they have come as far as they have, even with a shaky bullpen consisting of Brad Lidge's major league leading 11 blown saves. They're now one game away from their second consecutive World Series appearance.

Many are making too much of Joe Girardi's move to bring Aceves in to pitch with 2 outs in the 11th inning. Who would have thought that Jeff Mathis, a .211 career hitter, would be capable of delivering a walk-off hit to bring the Angels back into the ALCS? Sports writers and ESPN especially, ask if it could possibly be that Girardi's micro-managing led to this result. Yes and no. Firstly, more and more than ever managers are looking at pitcher-batter matchups to determine moves. Just look at Girardi's 4-inch bounded book as a hint towards the direction MLB has taken in its pattern of increased relief pitcher use. It sure did look bad when Girardi scurried to look at the potential matchups, leading one to think that perhaps he could have explored the possibilities sooner and earlier before making his decision. But again, Mathis is a .211 hitter, does it matter all that much? You have to tip your cap to Mathis and the Angels; the Yankees will focus their attention on C.C.'s Game 4 start tonight.

No Love for Philly; Here Comes the Rain

There appears to be no brotherly love for the defending MLB champs, the Philadelphia Phillies. Everyone from Mike Francesca on New York's 660 AM sports talk radio to ESPN Senior Writer Pat Forde on "First & Ten" truly believe that the Phillies can't (and won't) win with a bullpen in disaray. This simply isn't true. What's true is that while pitching does indeed win championships, let's not forget that the Phillies have Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, both good pitchers with very good postseason results (Hamels in '08, Lee in '09). Its important to have a 'pen you can rely on, and despite having to peacemeal the last few innings of every game, the Phillies have advanced to the NLCS and won 8-6 in Game 1 against the Dodgers.

In New York, the Yankees and Angels will begin Game 1 in the ALCS in less than desirable conditions. It's going to be cold, wet, and miserable, but enjoyable nonetheless, unless Selig decides to stop the game and continue it tomorrow-- just kidding. The whole circus surrounding whether the rain will impact the Yankees' ability to pitch Sabathia on short rest for Game 4 after pitching in Game 1, might all be for naught. If the Yankees have a 2-1 series lead, there shouldn't be any reason for CC to be pitching, especially with this Yankee lineup being able to make up for a difference in Yankee starting pitchers.