In tribute of the Great Harry Kalas!

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1. Congratulations to the 2009 World Series Champion NY Yankees
2. My 2009 World Series Prediction
3. The Phillies Are Headed to the 2008 World Series!

Yesterday afternoon saw what some thought was the unthinkable in this post season. Jon Lester got hit hard and earned the loss against the Rays. Yesterday I called Lester “the Beast of the East” and if this series goes to game 7 and he pitches like he has the past three months, then I will stand by that title, but he was nothing close to that yesterday. The Rays might just be giving the Sox hitters nightmares, but they have come back from worse predicaments before (see 2004 ALCS). Tonight pits knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (10-11) against Andy Sonnanstine (13-9).

Wakefield is 17 years older and will need to use that experience to guide him through this potent Rays line up that filled with talent and attitude! The last time Wakefield pitched, he was opposed by future 2008 Cy Young Award winner and Cleveland Indians Ace, Cliff Lee. Lee was going for win # 23, but it was the crafty veteran who came out on top in that game and Boston is needing him to repeat that feat against Sonnanstine.

Sonnanstine is a part of the fresh young and very talented Rays rotation and although he isn’t consistent enough to be a # 1 or 2 pitcher, he is a solid # 3 pitching in the # 4 slot in this Rays rotation. A win by Sonnanstine tonight will bring the cinderella Rays to within 1 win away from the World Series after a 2007 season that found them in the AL East basement once again. He has the stuff to accomplish victory tonight but will his nerves prevent him from it? I think that this is where manager Joe Maddon has earned the 2008 Manager of the Year award, because I think that he will have Sonnanstine prepared, mentally for this game, but against this Red Sox club, it might only take 1 mistake to even this series at 2 games each.

The keys to this game are easy, Boston’s big bats need to hit & Sonnanstine needs to not make mistakes and the Rays batters need to be able to hit a dancing white ball.

Philadelphia Phillies Lead their Series 3-1

The Phillies on the backs of Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs move 1 game away from the 2008 World Series and possibly the elimination of MannyWorld in LA. This was a back and forth battle won in part by not allowing Manny Ramirez to beat them with his bat when at all possible. The Phillies walked Ramirez twice and the one time Ramirez was allowed to swing, he drove in a run! He is looking more and more like a playoff hitting machine that just can’t be stopped the more you see him!

The starters, Blanton and Lowe, who was pitching on only 3 days rest, kept their team in the game for the most part. It was the heroics of another late acquisition, Matt Stairs facing Johnathan Broxton who before last night, hadn’t given up a HR in Dodger Stadium since the middle of the 2006 season. But Stairs didn’t just hit the ball over the RF fence, he crushed it!

With Cole Hamels going against Chad Billingsley in game 5 tomorrow night, I just don’t see the Dodgers making it to a game 6 unless Hamels has a game like Lester had. The Phillies should advance easily into the World Series after this win!

Related posts:

1. 2008 World Series Preview
2. Boston Forces Game 7 in the ALCS Against the Rays
3. Can They Do It Again?

In today’s matinee, the Red Sox will host the Rays at 96 year old Fenway Park in game 3 of their ALCS showdown. The series is tied at 1 game a piece going into these 3 games in Boston. The Rays need to win only 1 game in order to bring this series back to Tampa Bay and Tropicana Field!

This year’s beast of the east might just be seen in the likeness of Boston’s Jon Lester (sorry “Big Game“). Lester looks to be the equivalent of last year’s performance of Josh Beckett. He has not given up an earned run in this postseason so far and against the Rays this year, in 3 starts he pitched 20 innings allowing only 2 runs (0.90 ERA) on 18 hits, 6 walks while striking out the Rays 19 times (almost one batter per inning). Again, Lester has been a beast pitching at Fenway this year in his 17 starts. He posted an ERA of 2.49 in those 17 starts, including his no-hitter. Has he become Boston’s Ace with Beckett not pitching like his usual post-season self? You decide.

He will go against the Rays‘ Matt Garza who saw 2008 as his first full season of pitching in the big leagues. In his 4 games against Boston this year he threw in 22 innings allowing 14 runs (an ERA of 4.50), 3 were unearned, while walking 7 and striking out 10, but gave up 4 long balls. He is the Rays third best pitcher this year, hence this game 3 start. His acquisition in the off season via trade (along with SS Jason Bartlett) with the Twins helped to secure their rotation and seemed to be the missing link toward that goal. Without him, they might not have won 97 games nor win the AL East ahead of Boston. He probably even gets better next year, but that’s a discussion for after the playoffs!

Bottom line on this game, if Lester continues to pitch as he has in the playoffs and like he has this year against the Rays and in his starts at Fenway, Boston should win this game. For this reason, the Rays will need to make sure this series does NOT go to a 7th game because that only pits them against Lester once again in that game and on regular rest.

*a Hat Tip goes to The Joy of Sox: Where The Water Is Always Dirty for their unknown help in the pitching stats to this ALCS match up. Thanks!

NLCS

As this series moved to Los Angeles last night, so did the momentum, at least for a game. The Dodgers roared back from being down 2-0 and won game 3 by a score of 7-2 as the Philly bats went cold.

Tonight’s match up pits the Dodger’s game 1 starter Derek Lowe pitching on 3 days rest against the Phillies mid-season acquisition from the A’s, Joe Blanton. Normally, pitching on 3 days rest would be a disadvantage, but as the experts have said numerous times, a sinker ball pitcher like Lowe actually pitches better when a little tired as this keeps their ball down, inducing the typical ground ball outs that are key to a sinkerballer’s success.

With that being said, how this game plays out really relies upon certain key players breaking out of their playoff slumps or not. Those slumping players belong to the Phillies and are Utley, Howard and Rollins. If they break out, even the tired sinker ball of Lowe can not hold them back. In fact, not many pitchers or teams can survive the Phillies line up when those 3 are on fire at the same time. Otherwise, the Dodgers have the advantage in today’s game 4 with the switch in momentum taken back last night.

The wild card here on the Dodgers lies with Lowe. He has proven to be a big game pitcher who just came up against a better pitcher in game 1. In this game, Lowe holds that honor. To make my previous point, all you have to do is see how Lowe performed back in 2004 with the Red Sox after being taken out of the post season rotation due to a less than typical Derek Lowe season. In the 2004 playoffs, while pitching out of the bullpen, Lowe came in to win the deciding games in the Divisional Series against the Angels (game 3), game 7 of the League Championship Series against the Yankees (where the Sox came back to win after being down 3-0) and also pitched game 4 against the Cardinals.

Bottom line is that I see the Dodgers evening this series at 2 game a piece after tonight. Do you agree? Why or why not?!

Related posts:

1. 2009 League Championship Series Predictions
2. Boston Forces Game 7 in the ALCS Against the Rays
3. Moving Onto The League Championship Series

Let me start off by saying that according to the numbers, this should be an exciting series and a sweep would be extremely disappointing. I expect this to go 6 or 7 games!

I think that the top 6 hitters in each line up are just about equal with each other except for the Phillies reliance on the long ball.

I’d give the Dodgers bench the advantage with Nomar (it’s easier to spell) and Kent over Dobbs and anyone else on the Phillies bench.

I like the Dodgers rotation better than the Phillies if LA goes with the veteran Greg Maddux over the young lefty Clayton Kershaw. Adding Kershaw to the bullpen ala Boston’s rookie starter Justin Masterson, would bolster an already good Dodger bullpen, which I also award the edge to the Dodgers because of their low ERA. The highest ERA (outside of Kershaw or Maddux) of anyone in their bullpen is Chan Ho Park at 3.40

The closer position is a clear advantage for the Phillies with NL comeback player of the year Brad Lidge over either Broxton or Saito (if healthy).

The keys to this series are how well the Phillies middle of the order of Utley, Howard and Burrell hits and if Manny Ramirez can keep up his dominance in the playoffs. On the mound, the Phillies need Brett Myers to pitch like he’s been pitching and not like the way he was when he got sent down to the minors. Likewise, both Moyer and Maddux (if he starts) need to NOT act their age in order for their team to win games three and four respectively.

I’ll have to go with the firepower of the Phillies overpowering the Dodgers and advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

Related posts:

1. My 2009 World Series Prediction
2. 2008 World Series Preview
3. Pete’s Preview and Prediction of the ALCS

The Angels are upset right now, but they should be upset with themselves. They were the favorites going into this series, but history has a way of repeating itself and it did just that in the ALDS between them & Boston. Their game plan is to throw teams off with their base stealing ability and their aggressive base running, but they just did not optimize these traits during this series much. The few times that they did, it came back to bite them. See Guerrero’s base running blunder in game 2 and the botched squeeze play last night. On top of that, I think they got a big ego from reaching 100 wins. They are not your typical 100 win team. Not when you play so many games against AL West opponents as they do. Now, that’s not their fault, but somebody has to tell them that they are just not THAT good. I would think that a team from the AL or NL East that won 100 games would be a MUCH better team with the increased competition in those divisions.

I will comment later this week about the match ups for both the ALCS and the NLCS, but for now, I have this one question. Do you think the fans down in Philly are asking to borrow Celtics fans “Beat LA” shirts, signs and banners?

This foursome is a no loose situation for the MLB. No matter who plays in the World Series out of these four teams, it ought to be exciting!

Related posts:

1. 2009 League Championship Series Predictions
2. A Great Awakening
3. League Championship Series Update