I've been a little quiet on the Yankee playoff front here, mostly because I don't want to celebrate until the deed is done. Thus, I haven't thrown up images of the Yankees celebrating or A-Rod hitting clutch home run after clutch home run. But since I'm a Yankee fan and this is the first time that they have been in the World Series since this blogs birth, it deserves at minimum a quick note post, so here goes...~It's odd to think that it's been 6 years since the Yankees last appeared in the World Series. 6 years. Since that time the Red Sox have won the World Series twice and a lot of Yankee ALDS failure. 6 years shouldn't be a long time, but we were kind of spoiled in the 90s.
~It seems even more amazing that Jeter, Jorge, Mo, and Pettitte are all around still. Too bad Bernie is gone.
~Let's move to matchups...
The Matchup Edges
Lineup Advantage: Push
~These two teams have the best lineups in baseball. The Yankees goes 1-9 without an automatic out. The Phillies have similar muscle at the start of the lineup and end with Feliz and Ruiz, who is overly hot.
Starters: Edge Yankees
~Sabathia gets the mild edge over Lee. He's a better pitcher and is more likely to be unaffected by three days rest. The rest of the Phillies rotation is up in the air, Hamels has been poor this postseason, Pedro is old, Happ will be in the pen and Blanton is Blanton. Burnett will pitch one gem and one stinker and Pettitte is old but not as old as Pedro.
Bullpen: Edge Yankees
~Rivera is obviously better than Lidge and the rest of the bullpens for both teams have been shaky this postseason.
Manager: Edge Push
~Charlie Manuel just sounds stupid while Joe Girardi's bullpen moves make Tony LaRussa look conservative by comparison.
Random Notes
~Charlie Manuel is really thinking things through, or so the ESPN article claims. The big 5 moves he made were making Park his 7th inning man in game 1 (he promptly blew game 2), throwing Pedro (who didn't win), using Happ as a short man not a long man (because he's one of their best pitchers and using him as a strictly a long man would have been dumb), keeping Lidge as closer (because he had no other options really), and not removing Jimmy Rollins from the leadoff spot (he's been their leadoff hitter for 5+ years now). Yep, that Charlie Manuel, a big thinker.~Ya Cleveland fans are a bit depressed.
~The Phillies could theoretically go Lee -> Pedro -> Hamels -> Lee -> Blanton -> Happ -> Lee, if Pedro pitches poorly and they want to avoid throwing nonstop lefties. 5 starters in a World Series would likely be a poor decision.
~Thank God Freddy Guzman isn't on the roster, what a waste he was.
~Who's Your Daddy will be chanted in the first inning tomorrow night, if not tonight.
~Jayson Stark is having a debate about whether or not the winner of this World Series will be stamped as "The Team of the Decade", I say that there really isn't one. No one will have won more than two titles.
~ESPN goes holy Yankee Prediction Batman.
~It'd be nice if Phil Hughes and Joba could be dominant this series.
~Random bloggers pretty much just pick the Phillies cause they hate the Yankees more.
~God seems to like rain on Yankee game days.
~Stubhub tickets are very very pricey, and I do not look forward to all the suits and empty seats in the bottom level tonight. Where have you gone real fan? Where the affordable and actually purchasable ticket has gone, to someplace outside of the Bronx.
~The prediction came on April 3rd and I'm sticking to it, obviously.
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