2009 World Series Preview: Phillies vs. Yankees

On 10.28.09, In MLB, By Parker Wishik

I make my belated debut in baseball commentary on The Cheap Seats with a World Series prediction, partially because – and I plead guilty – to being a little exhausted with baseball as the season came to a close. Being a lifelong Braves fan, I’ve sat and taken the last few seasons with a grain of salt, knowing I was privileged and spoiled with playoff appearances year after year growing up. A last-ditch run at the Wild Card drained me this year, and I just didn’t pay as close attention to the other series as I’m used to doing.

I have NEVER missed a World Series, however, and I won’t start now, even though this year’s Fall Classic features the hated New York Yankees and one of Atlanta’s arch nemeses, the Philadelphia Phillies. Seeing as I have love for neither, I should be able to make an objective analysis.

I am picking the Phillies to win the Series, and while I actually would love to pick them in five games, I am afraid of the criticism of my pick and I’ll go with them in 6, if the Yankees go with CC Sabathia on short rest again instead of naming a fourth starter.

I don’t want to be blinded by the gilded, star-studded lineup the Yanks field, because I think the Phillies lineup is almost as good itself, particularly with the pickup of Raul Ibanez and the improved play of Jayson Werth.  Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins can easily stand toe-to-toe in a 7-game series against Mark Teixeira, A-Rod and Derek Jeter (though don’t underestimate Jeter’s playoff magic, he’s one of the greatest of all-time and an absolute wonder to watch).  Melky Cabrera on the Yanks doesn’t impress me, and Nick Swisher just hasn’t gotten it going in the postseason. Matt Stairs off the Philly bench is a huge asset, especially in the AL ballpark in New York, and he can crank one off the bench. Yes, pretty much all the Yankees can crank one…

I look to Cliff Lee as my X factor in this series, and the only reason I have the Phils in six games is because I think Cole Hamels and whomever faces Sabathia in Game 4 are beatable by the Yanks. Cliff Lee is capable of going toe to toe with Sabathia in Game 1.

Two lefty former Indians teammates, each with a Cy Young Award? Juicy if you’re a baseball fan. But I think his hefty contract and last year’s performance with the Brewers tend to sway people in Sabathia’s favor without giving Lee a second glance. He’s been MONEY in the playoffs, 2-0 in three starts with an abyss-mal .074 ERA and a strikeout to walk ratio of 20:3. TWENTY strikeouts, three walks. Sickening. He struck out 10 Dodgers in his only NLCS appearance, where he went 8 innings, and he’s won his only start in the new Yankee Stadium, going 6 innings and allowing only one run, on only one home run.

Plenty of home runs will be hit in this series, and I give plenty of credence to the possibility of A.J. Burnett letting one of his two games get out of hand. I’m thinking he’ll win Game 2 at home against Hamels, but familiarity will help the Phils in his second appearance. Either Pedro Martinez OR Joe Blanton can hang with Andy Pettitte, don’t rule those guys out.

These games will likely come down to the bullpens, and if the starters for the Phils pitch late into games like they have been, I think the bullpen for the Phils has an edge over the Yanks. Mariano Rivera cannot pitch two innings each in four games this Series, he just won’t be able to do it. The setup guys for New York have been unimpressive recently in the playoffs, and the Phillies are VERY capable of scoring runs late against shaky relievers. Rivera is a moot point if New York can’t get a lead to him. If Brad Lidge can continue his solid playoff performance, the Phils will win games.

I’m picking Philadelphia to win the 2009 World Series in 6 games over the New York Yankees, and believe me, I’m not biased in having to choose between these two teams. I gain very little greater enjoyment in seeing the Phillies win a championship than I do the Yankees.

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MLB Championship Series Preview

On 10.15.09, In MLB, By JoshD

To this point, this has been one of the more unimpressive postseasons of recent memory for MLB. I could be a little partial since I am a BoSox and Astros fan and both teams underachieved miserably this year but looking at the remaining teams and matchups there’s not much to be desired.

With that being said if I could pick a World Series matchup of the teams left I would love to see a Dodgers-Yankees WS, and have Joe Torre stick it to his old club.

That could be a bit difficult though with the Dodgers playing the defending champion Phillies in the NLCS. If there’s one thing LA has going for them though, its confidence. The Dodgers are fresh off defeating the best starting rotation in the majors in Carpenter, Wainwright and others and should be able to sleep a little easier knowing that the best staff is now behind them. One thing the Phillies do have is an offense, and a very good one at that. With four sluggers with more than 30 home runs this season, four speedsters with more than 20 steals and a frontline rotation of Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and J.A. Happ, the Phillies are a force to be reckoned with.

That being said, the Phillies are very average in just about everything else. The team doesn’t have a batter who averages at least .300, the Dodgers have several at or above .300, the Phillies don’t have a dominate bullpen, The Dodgers have one of the best in baseball behind Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill and an assortment of others and also the Phills don’t have Manny Ramirez.

Ok, so maybe Manny is a goofball that has been caught taking steroids. Maybe he does make the occasional fielding mistake and tries to intercept  balls intended for the cutoff man at shortstop. Regardless, the guy flat out produces when the game is on the line and a World Series is at stake. He was 4-13 against the Cardinals, with a .308 average and 2 RBI. That doesn’t sound like much, but the team won. This guy motivates his SoCal teammates and gets maximum effort out of them and I’m thinking it’s going to be more of the same for this series.

The Dodgers might not have the “pop” that the Phillies have, but this team can play some efficient fundamental baseball. The games will likely be close for the first 7 innings or so but if I’m the Phillies, I’m scarred to hand the ball over to the bullpen, especially Brad Lidge. Lidge only notched 31 saves, with 11 blown saves and an ERA over 7!

If Lee and Hamels can throw complete games and both win the first two games of the series, then the Phills have a good chance of winning, if not, the Dodgers win in 4 games.

As for the Yankees-Angels series, all of the weight lies solely on A-Rod’s shoulders. Well not all of it, but most of it. If A Rod can build on his very impressive series against the Twins in which he went 5-11 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, and match even half of that production then the Yanks will win this series handedly.

The Yankees, on paper, should dominate all aspects of the game, as much as I hate to say it. The only strength the Angels have is their speed on offense. LA has six players with double digit steals including 42 from Chone Figgins and 30 from former Yankee Bobby Abreu. The older catching duo of Jorge Posada and Jose Molina will have their work cut out for them when it comes to holding the runners, but the Angels will have to get on base before they can steal a base and that may be hard to do on a very good Yankee pitching staff.

In the end the Halo’s will likely win 1 game before the Yanks just slam the door on them.

What to expect? Expect a competitive NL series decided by some error or blown save and and expect the Yankees to walk all over the Angles. Then watch A Rod piss his pants when he sees Joe Torre in the World Series and the Dodgers win it all.

 
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