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ALCS Preview: Angels-Yankees

Oct 16, 2009, 2:30 PM UTC

â†µâ†µWriting this from Blog World in Vegas, I will do my best to not sound like Jimmy the Greek. But I did learn a little bit about the money line and how that helps prognosticate a series winner. I’ll spare you the gambling lesson. Onto the breakdown!â†µ

â†µStarting Pitching:â†µâ†µAngels: John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, Joe Saundersâ†µ

â†µâ†µYankees: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitteâ†µ

â†µâ†µCan the best team that money can buy really only have three viable starters for the ALCS? How is it possible that the Yankees were unprepared for the over-inflation of Joba Chamberlain’s ability to start a game? If this Yankees team wins the LCS and eventually the World Series, do they really plan to have their starters go on short rest for nearly every game? Or, if you believe most of the writers in New York, God wants the Yankees to win, so undoubtedly the rain on the East Coast this week will set the Yankees rotation up for success.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Angels, on the other hand, have too many starters, with Ervin Santana being the odd man out from the rotation. In fact, Santana and Saunders didn’t even get into the LDS, with the Angels defeating Boston in three games.â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage: Angels. Sabathia is great, and proved that in the first round when he defeated the Twins on 6 2/3 IP, scattering eight hits and giving up just one earned run while striking out eight. But until that game, he hadn’t been great in the playoffs in his career, and while you’ll hear all the stories about how great a pitcher he is on short rest, I’ll believe it when I see him pitch Games One, Four and Seven (albeit on full rest) in the same series, then still have an arm left for the World Series.â†µ

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Bullpen:â†µâ†µAngels: Ervin Santana, Jason Bulger, Darren Oliver, Kevin Jepsen, Brian Fuentesâ†µ

â†µâ†µYankees:Mariano Rivera, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Coke, Alfredo Aceves, Damaso Marte, David Robertsonâ†µ

â†µâ†µIt’s the playoffs, and Mariano Rivera is sitting in one of the bullpens. That’s it. That’s the list. Any team that has the best postseason pitcher of all time -- not just reliever -- wins.â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage: Yankeesâ†µ

â†µInfield:â†µâ†µAngels: Chone Figgins, Erick Aybar, Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick, Kendry Morales, Brandon Wood â†µ

â†µâ†µYankees: Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriquez.â†µ

â†µâ†µOn paper, the Yankees have the best infield in all of baseball, safe per. The question had always been if they could perform in the playoffs when it mattered most. In his only playoff appearance before this season, Teixeira hit .467, but had no extra base hits and just one RBI for the Angels last year. This season, he’s hitting just .167, but one of his two hits was pretty darn epic. A-Rod always had the bugaboo of being ‘un-clutch,’ but after a two-run home run to tie up the eventual series clincher, there is no doubt about his ‘clutchness’ anymore.â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage:Yankeesâ†µ

â†µCatcher:â†µâ†µAngels: Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis â†µ

â†µâ†µYankees: Jorge Posada, Jose Molinaâ†µ

â†µâ†µJorge Posada isn’t really even a catcher anymore -- he’s a hitter they can’t find another place for in the stacked lineup. Frankly, he’s a sub-par defensive catcher, which will be interesting if some of the quicker Angels, like Chone Figgins or Bobby Abreu, get on base. But he can still hit, going 4-11 (.364) with two RBI and four runs against the Twins. â†µ

â†µâ†µMike Napoli’s performance behind the plate will be far more important than his performance at it. Is he a better defender than Posada? Of course. But overall, Posada still has more value.â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage:Yankeesâ†µ

â†µOutfield:â†µâ†µAngels: Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera, Garry Matthews, Robb Quinlan, Reggie Willits, Vladimir Guerrero (DH)â†µ

â†µâ†µYankees: Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Hideki Matsui (DH) Brett Gardnerâ†µ

â†µâ†µIt’s odd to have the Yankees, on paper, seem so overmatched from a position-to-position standpoint in the outfield. But every starter in the Angels outfield is a player I’d rather have than any player for the Yankees at the same position. The Yankees do have a good outfield, but the Angels are just better. You don’t even really need the empirical data. It’s just so obvious.â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage: Angelsâ†µ

â†µManagers:â†µâ†µMike Scioscia, Joe Girardi â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage: Scioscia. He’s got a ring. If Girardi doesn’t get one with this team, he might not have a job. It’s terrible to say that, but it’s probably true. That kind of pressure, with a lack of pitching all of a sudden, might be too much for Girardi to manage his way out of. â†µ
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â†µIntangibles:â†µ

â†µâ†µThe media wants the Yankees to win. MLB wants the Yankees to win. FOX, if you separate TV rights from ‘media’ wants the Yankees to win. So will the umpires ‘want’ the Yankees to win? â†µ

â†µâ†µAdvantage: Yankeesâ†µ

â†µâ†µPrediction: This series will, for baseball fans, hopefully go at least six or seven games. Make no mistake, the Red Sox were a better team than the Twins, so you can unfairly put more weight on the Angels’ sweep than the Yankees’ sweep. That said, the Yankees just seem to be the best team in baseball. Yanks in six.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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