ISSUE #20

Postseason is Upon Us,
& Yankees Play On

There will be weekend baseball in the Bronx! The once talked about underdogs in the AL East took care of business the past six months and proved to be a better team than the heavily favored Boston Red Sox. Yankee fans are smiling wide as the 2011 season enters the October playoffs. With a losing record to the Red Sox this year and a questioned pitching staff the Yankees took their frustration out on other division foes and the rest of the AL. The Yankees had an American League best 52-29 home record (Tied with the Texas Rangers), and will have Home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The bats are strong, the team is pretty healthy and management has done this before. The big question as it was the entire season…pitching.

The Postseason will start exactly the same way the regular season started with Jutin Verlander against CC Sabathia in the Bronx.

CC will start game one obviously. After game one, then what? The rookie Nova? Freddy Ann? Screw it, start Dave Robertson. He appeared in 70 games this year, pitched 66+ innings and holds on to a strong 1.08 ERA. He’s been a huge factor in the success of the Yankees this year. But in all seriousness who is the number 2 in the rotation and then third and possibly fourth… A.J. Burnett is still a mess who can barely get through the 5th inning. Bartolo Colon has been fading and sinking and Phil Hughes is worse off than Burnett, I think. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m seeing out there.

It’s the only Yankee set back, however it’s not a complete and scary worry going into this weekend. The team has been dealing with this all year and all year someone steps up. Ivan Nova has proved me wrong this year by putting together a fine looking season. He was 16-4 with a really respectable 3.70 ERA. Nova is by no means a strikeout pitcher, but he gets the ground balls frequently. He will certainly be nervous as he steps on the mound sometime this weekend, but when he gets through the first three outs the game should slow down a bit and Ivan can pitch a successful six innings. Following the youngster is a veteran player in Freddy Ann Garcia. No this guy I was right about in the preseason. Take one and lose some. Another contact pitcher, Freddy was 12-8 this season for the Yankees with a 3.62 ERA. For a million and a half dollars no Yankee fan can say he wasn’t worth the reduced price. The other great factor is that Garcia has postseason experience. For Seattle and the Chicago White Sox he was 6-2 with a 3.11 ERA combined. Sure he hasn’t felt such pressure as in October baseball since 2005, but let’s remember he’s had to prove himself all season. The Yankee “suites” do not just settle for players…if the players don’t perform well you are out like Jason Varitek stretching a single into a double. Or even better…you’d be out so bad on your ass like Jason Varitek trying to score from first base on a double hit in the right field gap.

The New York Yankees do look extremely good going into the postseason, regardless of Nova and Garcia slated as their #2 and #3. The ERA speaks volumes of what those two have done this season and frankly, they deserve the rotation spot. The athletes’ in pinstripes have an aura about them…I guess you can say a certain “swagger” (keeping up with the times). Experience goes a long way in my book. I understand the Cinderella type teams with fantastic runs to Championships, and I enjoy those stories, but Arizona is not going to do it. They are the only real big surprise to the playoffs and Kirk Gibson is absolutely manager of the year, but they’ve been in first place for over a third of this long season and they are young. Just not enough pull in my eyes to get through Milwaukee or the Philadelphia. Tampa Bay earned a right to be in the playoffs by playing REAL hard, never give-up attitude, but I don’t see them as a Cinderella. This is three out of four years the Tampa Bay (devil) Rays have made it to the postseason. Their all young, but they’ve experienced it before…recently in fact. Joe Maddon is a Top-Notch MLB manager. After coming from the Angels in California in which he interim managed for two years, his new team, the Devil Rays, well they were pretty awful. His first two seasons coaching, the team won a combined 127 games…putrid. The past four years however, he has turned this seldom watched ballclub into winners. Maybe not to the public eye (especially those down in Tampa) but I believe in this team and manager. The amounts of wins have been so plenty over the past four years Joe Maddon’s career record with a team most cities forget even exists is 460-446 (.507).

So I’d say Cinderella for Tampa, but I can’t. It’s not truthful. St. Louis is in the same boat as the Rays, probably worse. The Cardinals are a big team whose had injury issues…but that was April, May and June…

May gray, June gloom,…

Come mid-July, it’s now do or die.

Just like the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves folded in September for two of the biggest collapses in Baseball’s long history. The Cardinals played good, solid ball and snuck in the backdoor and the Rays never gave up (and played some competitive teams down the stretch don’t forget) as they marched in the side-door. It’s that fundamentally sound play that makes everything seem possible. Wednesday Night baseball was some of the greatest baseball I’ve ever seen. The Red Sox go into a rain delay up 3-2 in the 7th while watching the scoreboard and seeing the Rays down 7-0 to the Yankees. It was wild to see those Red Sox faces change to worried, pissed and shaken as MLB Networks “Ballpark Cam” has a birds-eye view in the Boston dugout. The HR from Dan Johnson for Tampa Bay in the 9th inning with 2 outs and 2 strikes, down by one after an unbelievable six run 8th the Rays had was indescribable. The Braves went to extra innings, the Rays went to extra innings. Boston’s Jon Paplebon lost his first game of the season with no one on base and two outs in the 9th against Baltimore. It was all beyond description. The way everything looked at 9pm eastern standard time changed completely at what was occurring at 10:30pm eastern standard time. Amazing amazement and the teams that deserved some extra playing time received their chance.

AL Division Series
Game Matchup Day Date Time ET TV
Gm 1 DET @ NYY Fri Sep. 30 8:37 PM TBS
Gm 2 DET @ NYY Sat Oct. 1 TBD TBS
Gm 3 NYY @ DET Mon Oct. 3 TBD TBS
Gm 4* NYY @ DET Tue Oct. 4 TBD TBS
Gm 5* DET @ NYY Thu Oct. 6 TBD TBS

AL Division Series
Game Matchup Day Date Time ET TV
Gm 1 TB @ TEX Fri Sep. 30 5:07 PM TBS
Gm 2 TB @ TEX Sat Oct. 1 TBD TBS
Gm 3 TEX @ TB Mon Oct. 3 TBD TBS
Gm 4* TEX @ TB Tue Oct. 4 TBD TBS
Gm 5* TB @ TEX Thu Oct. 6 TBD TBS

NL Division Series
Game Matchup Day Date Time ET TV
Gm 1 STL @ PHI Sat Oct. 1 TBD TBS
Gm 2 STL @ PHI Sun Oct. 2 TBD TBS
Gm 3 PHI @ STL Tue Oct. 4 TBD TBS
Gm 4* PHI @ STL Wed Oct. 5 TBD TBS
Gm 5* STL @ PHI Fri Oct. 7 TBD TBS

NL Division Series
Game Matchup Day Date Time ET TV
Gm 1 ARI @ MIL Sat Oct. 1 TBD TBS
Gm 2 ARI @ MIL Sun Oct. 2 TBD TBS
Gm 3 MIL @ ARI Tue Oct. 4 TBD TBS
Gm 4* MIL @ ARI Wed Oct. 5 TBD TBS
Gm 5* ARI @ MIL Fri Oct. 7 TBD TBS


Adam Hammer’s “Loose-Lips”

45 out of 45 (100%) have the Red Sox winning the AL East
42 out of 45 (93%) have the Red Sox in the World Series
33 out of 45 (73%) have the Red Sox winning the World Series


http//sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview/2011/news/story?page=11expertpicks


- You can't get 45 to agree about anything in this world! How did 45 people all agree the Red Sox would win the division!?! Yes, they were the favorites, but how did one guy not just pick the Yankees or Rays just for the sake of being different.

- Jose Reyes bunted for a hit, then took himself out to win the batting title. We are waiting for a comment from Ted Williams, but he has to thaw out first.

- Jeff Francouer finished second in baseball in doubles, Melky Cabrera was 5th in baseball with 201 hits and David Ortiz ended up tied with Dustin Pedroia for most argued calls with a total of every single call.

- Rob Dibble said the Yankees hurt the integrity of baseball by not using Mariano Rivera last night. Rob Dibble, the guy who during his career hit a woman in the face with a ball, fought his manager and tried to peg a batter running to first thinks the Yankees hurt the integrity of the game by saving their best reliever in a meaningless game.


BACK TO THE NONSENSE:

The Postseason predictions are simple, if everything I see that could happen…happens. I love the Brewers as an all around team. Phillies are the favorites, but they could have done themselves in by beating Atlanta out of the playoffs. Now the Phillies square off against the red hot St. Louis Cardinals which have much more depth, experience and power behind them then the young inexperience Arizona dessert team. I think the four series we have to look at over the next week will be really great baseball. The excitement should be thrilling as every team has a chance to make a statement this year. The men from Zona would be the biggest upset, but other than them the Phillies are the big-dawgs coming in win their 102 wins for the season. That is a franchise record. Will it be enough to beat a stacked Brewers squad who defines the word “TEAM”? Will we see a Texas vs. New York rematch in the ALCS? There is a ton of baseball for you to be energized about. There will be a new World Series Champion in 2011.

NLDS
Phillies over the Cardinals 3-2 (Philadelphia’s pitching will be too strong and the already tired St. Louis team will be going home, but not after going back to Citizen’s Bank Park for one final game.)

Brewers over the Diamondbacks 3-1 (Going to give Arizona one game at home, but they won’t make the trip back to Milwaukee and Kirk can place this season on a mantle for it’s surprising success.)

ALDS

Yankees over the Tigers 3-2 (Justin Verlander has not lost since July 15th, but the Yankees know how to put the Ka-bash on people’s dreams. The Yankee pitching will struggle, but I think the powerful bats will prevail in this series especially against the Detroit bullpen. Don’t be surprised if the Tigers steal one game in the Bronx.)

Rangers over the Rays 3-2 (Rangers take the first two at home, lose the next two in Tampa then win a blow-out in game 5 in Arlington. Simple right? Opposite of last year…same outcome.)

NLCS

Brewers over the Phillies 4-3 (I realize many series do not go seven games and I understand the odds of Milwaukee winning the whole thing in Philly seems improbably knowing they play better at Miller Park, but if I don’t predict this now and it actually ends up happening I’d be pissed off.)
ALCS

Yankees over the Rangers 4-3 (This game I’m way more positive about the seven game situations. The Yankees pitching staff will be extremely tired with all of Joe Girardi’s moves, but a win is a win is a win is a series. The Bronx Bombers will power through the first two games at home and then struggle in Texas like the rest of the league did all year. However, unlike the Phillies, the Yankees will thrive on home field advantage and get to the World Series.

World Series

MILWAUKEE BREWERS vs. NEW YORK YANKEES
- The Brewers will take this series from a tired and depleted New York Yankees 4-2. Sometimes you just want to be different so everything you read isn’t the same. Taking the sage way home is not always the right way home. This might just be the only way the Brewers keep Price Fielder, one thing we all know is that no matter what the outcome Jorge Posada is probably going bye-bye.

Last Quip by Doctor Kas: “Shocked by me being completely wrong with my picks would not be the right adjective. Angered and frustrated because I can’t pick a winner would be the way I’d react. More plainly put and to leave on a positive…I think we have three weeks of some great baseball left. Sorry Atlanta and Boston fans…what a historic collapse.”