ALDS Game Two

Overall that was a great game by the Yankees. Never panicked, got ahead, took advantage of umpire mistakes as well as ones by the Twins, and the pitching was just absolutely phenomenal. Worst part about the game was that it makes the team seem invincible and Pettitte can still struggle at any time, but I gotta hope he keeps pitching like this.

Now for the Roy's

Yankees

Andy Pettitte


This is just getting repetitive now. 7 full, 2 runs, less than 100 pitches?!

Lance Berkamn

Fat shit finally did something to prove me wrong. I hope he keeps it up to keep shutting me up.

Curtis Granderson

He had to be hacking and he was.

Twins

Orlando Hudson

He homered to tie the game, can't complain about his performance

Carl Pavano

He pitched as well as possible...sometimes it's just not enough

Ron Gardenhire

I'm sorry, you can't get tossed in that situation. Bad calls happen, just keep playing.

ALDS Game One

Bringing back the Yankee playoff game recaps. Game one was frustrating to say the least, but a win is a win. The Golson catch was what it was, but it didn't turn into anything so I can't dwell on it too much. Nice to see the Yanks take a lead when they were down, and glad they're off to a winning start in the series.

I'm once again going to be doing the head awards for the game. Four is the best you can get. Last year with the Yanks and Twins I went with Brett Favres. I considered former Twins/Yankee greats Chuck Knoblauch, Ron Coomer, or Eric Milton...but I've decided to go with who the clubs wish they had in the ALDS.

Yankees:

Mark Teixeira

Big homer was the winner.

Mariano Rivera

Needed 4 outs, got 5.

Curtis Granderson

Earning his postseason stripes with the big triple

Twins

Mike Cuddyer

Homer for a while looked like it was gonna be all the Twins needed

Francisco Liriano

Good start, just not quite good enough

Twins Bullpen

It'd have been nicer to know Nathan was waiting out there I bet.

Yankees vs. Twins

As I depress myself watching "30 for 30: 4 Nights in October", why not make it worse and preview the Yankees and Twins

Catcher: Jorge Posada vs. Joe Mauer. Advantage: Twins. Both guys had injured years, but the reigning MVP is younger, a better hitter (minus power) and better fielder.
First Base: Mark Teixeira vs. Mike Cuddyer. Advantage: Yankees. Mike Cuddyer is one of my favorite players but I Tex is as good as they come. Off year wither over 30 homers and 100 driven in.
Second Base: Robinson Cano vs. Orlando Hudson. Advantage: Yankees. O-Dog is a nice improvement for the Twinkies but Cano might win the MVP.
Third Base: Alex Rodriguez vs. Danny Valencia. Advantage: Yankees. Valencia has good numbers...but it's A-Rod
Short Stop: Derek Jeter vs. JJ Hardy. Advantage: Yankees. Yes, Jeter had a bad year, but his numbers were still better than Hardy's and Jeter always comes up big in October
Left Field: Brett Gardner vs. Delmon Young. Advantage: Yankees. Don't call me biased. I know Young had a GREAT year. Young has a .333 OBP, Gardner's is .383. Gardner steals bases and doesn't get caught too open. Young's got the power, but Gardner does his job better than Young does his.
Center Field: Curtis Granderson vs. Denard Span. Advantage: Even. Both are OK. Span isn't a good leadoff hitter but Granderson isn't a great middle of the line up guy.
Right Field: Nick Swisher vs. Jason Kubel. Advantage: Yankees. Both are good, Kubel is a very nice role player for the Twins, but Swisher proved himself as a legitimate threat this year.
Designated Hitter: Lance Berkman/Marcus Thames vs. Jim Thome. Advantage: Twins. It's not even close, he's Jim Thome.
Starting Pitching: Advantage: Twins. Two worst rotations in the post season but the Twins are the lesser of two evils in this one. Yankees have too many question marks.
Bullpen. Advantage: Twins. Twins have a great pen of former closers, Yankees have even more question marks there.
Closer: Mariano Rivera vs. Matt Capps. Advantage: Yankees. See "Designated Hitter" but replace "Thome" with "Rivera". No contest.
Bench. Advantage: Yankees. Both have OK benches, Twins don't have many threats there though.

I don't do overall predictions with the Yankees. I do know that good pitching stops good hitting, but can OK pitching stop superior hitting? That's what it'll come down to.

Ranges vs. Ray

Catcher: Bengie Molina vs. John Jaso. Advantage: Rangers. I was originally going to say that Jaso has the advantage but the Rays like to run, and Molina can stop the running game.
First Base: Jorge Cantu/Mitch Moreland vs. Carlos Pena. Advantage: Rays. Pena had a pretty terrible year but the Rangers don't provide much more.
Second Base: Ian Kinsler vs. Sean Rodriguez/Ried Brignac. Advantage: Rangers. A down year for Kinsler but there is a reason why the Rays platoon there.
Third Base: Michael Young vs. Evan Longoria. Advantage: Rays. Michael Young is one of my favorite players in the game, but Longoria is one of the best.
Short Stop: Elvis Andrus vs. Jason Bartlett. Advantage: Rangers. Both guys had down years, but Andrus is 21 and actually stole bases while Bartlett just screwed over my fantasy team.
Left Field: Josh Hamilton vs. Carl Crawford. Advantage: Rangers. Crawford is damn good, but Hamilton will probably be the AL MVP
Center Field: Julio Borbon vs. BJ Upton. Advantage: Rays. Neither hit the ball well but Upton learned to walk and steals more bases and hits for more power.
Right Field: Nelson Cruz vs. Ben Zobrist. Advantage: Rangers. Zobrist struggled and Cruz had a great year.
Designated Hitter: Vlad Guerrero vs. Rays DH. Advantage: Rangers. Rays just platoon over there, they have a lot of guys to work in...none of which are close to Vlad Guerrero
Starting Pitching. Advantage: Rays. Both teams have excellent starters, but I'll take David Price and company over Cliff Lee and the Rangers.
Bullpen. Advantage: Rangers. Rays have a pretty good pen but the Rangers have a bunch of guys who can keep games close.
Closer. Neftali Feliz vs. Rafael Soriano. Advantage: Rays. Another great match up but Feliz is a rookie and while Soriano has never been too great in the past I'll take him in this scenario.
Bench. Advantage: Even. Both teams were proactive at the deadline bringing in veteran hitters, but neither team has many stand out guys there. With their line ups and speed don't expect the bench to get too much use anyway.

Overall Advantage: Rays. Rays in 4. This might be the best match up in the whole playoffs but the Rays were in the World Series 2 years ago with many of the same guys while Vlad and Lee are the only ones with post season experience (ok, Darren Oliver) and I think that the young Rays will be more energetic as they were in 08.

MLB Playoffs: NLDS

Back to baseball! It's finally time for the playoffs so I'm going to do at a glance how each team matches up/predictions. I'll group both NL teams in this one post because I know less about them.

Cincinnati vs Philly

Catcher: Ramon Hernandez vs. Carlos Ruiz. Advantage: Even. What a boring star to this! They're both average hitters with little power. Defensively, maybe Ruiz but in this case it's even enough.
First Base: Joey Votto vs. Ryan Howard. Advantage: Reds. Doesn't get much closer than this, but Votto walks more, strikes out less, and stole 16 bases as a first baseman. Just look at the OBP: .423 to .353. Votto doesn't make an our 42% of the time, Howard 35%. But it's close
Second Base: Brandon Phillips vs. Chase Utley. Advantage: Phillies. Another good match up but Utley is as good as they come. Last year he proved his success in October
Short Stop: Orlando Cabrera vs. Jimmy Rollins. Advantage: Phillies. This is kind of a crappy match up. Rollins is so much better if he's healthy, but this year neither guy did particularly well.
Left Field: Johnny Gomes vs. Raul Ibanez. Advantage: Phillies. Raul is better, but Gomes isn't too bad.
Center Field: Drew Stubbs vs. Shane Victorino. Advantage: Even. Look at the stats. OBP is even. Homers, RsBI, Walks, Average, Stolen bases.....all really close
Right Field: Jay Bruce vs. Jason Werth. Advantage: Phillies. Like in left, Phils have a guy out there who is just a bit better.
Starting Pitching. Advantage: Phillies. Reds do have a nice rotation but they don't meet up with Roy, Roy, and Cole.
Bullpen. Advantage: Even. Both have pretty solid pens.
Closer: Francisco Cordero vs. Brad Lidge. Advantage: Reds. Lidge had a nice year, but his track record hurts him in comparison to Cordero. Close match up up though.
Bench. Advantage: Even. Not the best benches. It's really Laynce Nix vs. Ross Gload

Overall Advantage: Phillies. Phillies in 4


Atlanta vs. San Francisco (Drink every time TBS compares Posey to Heyward!)

Catcher: Brian McCann vs. Buster Posey. Advantage: Braves. Brian McCann is top 3 catchers in the game. Good rookie year Buster, but you're not Brian McCann
First Base: Derrek Lee/Troy Glaus vs. Aubrey Huff. Advantage: Giants. The over the hill 1B in San Fran is better than the 2 over the hill ones in Atlanta.
Second Base: Martin Prado vs. Freddy Sanchez. Advantage: Even. They're both decent average second basemen with no power. Not worth looking at it closely.
Third Base: Chipper Jones vs. Pablo Sandoval. Advantage: Braves. About even in the stats, Chipper has the experience and a better OBP so why not.
Short Stop: Alex Gonzalez vs. Jaun Uribe. Advantage: Giants. Uribe has power.
Left Field: Omar Infante vs. Pat Burrell. Advantage: Giants. Turns out Pat the Bat IS still alive, and I refuse to acknowledge Infante in any positive way.
Center Field: Melky Cabrera vs. Aaron Rowand. Advantage: Wash. Not even. Wash. Both suck.
Right Field: Jason Heyward vs. Nate Scheirholtz. Advantage: Braves. He's pretty good for a rookie, stats show that.
Starting Pitching. Advantage: Giants. It's close, and I hate to give credit to any group that has Barry Zito, but Cain and Lincecum make up for it. Watch the Braves for the experience though.
Bullpen. Advantage: Braves. Both teams have good pens but I like the Braves a bit more.
Closer: Billy Wagner vs. Brian Wilson. Advantage: Braves. Wagner has a WHIP under 1. That's really damn good.
Bench. Advantage: Braves. Close strength in the benches, but the Braves have an over the hill first baseman on the bench each day AND Eric Hinske who has played in three straight World Series. Coincidence?

Overall Advantage: Braves. Braves in 5. Should be a good series.