Phillies and Yankees! World Series Preview (sort of)

So it’s come to this. A classic Fall Classic. A World Series for the ages. The Yankees’ captain, Derek Jeter, is going to bring his professionalism and always-classy demeanor to the shortstop position and take on the Phillies’ rag-tag bunch of misfits. Troubled superstar Alex Rodriguez, reborn by his post-season outburst and finally able to shake the clutch demons off his back, heads up the rest of the offense. Brett Favre is just going to have fun out there, like he did at the barbeque in his Mississippi backyard in his Wrangler jeans.

Now that I’m out of clichés, let’s talk about the World Series.

The keys to World Series success for the Phillies are two-fold. First, they must Work. The. Count. In the ALCS, the Yankees managed to give most of their innings to their four best pitchers: C. C. Sabathia, A. J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera. While I projected Phil Hughes to be the key to the Yanks’ post-season, Girardi managed to limit his innings enough that even though he didn’t pitch well, he wasn’t allowed to do enough damage. The Yanks were also helped by the extended ALCS schedule, which allowed them to avoid using their fourth starter, Chad “Who dat” Gaudin. Mainly, though, they were helped by the aggressive Angels' hitters consistently having quick, bad at-bats. The Angels’ leader in walks during the regular season, Chone Figgins, had an awful post-season (3-35 with four walks), and no one else on the team other than Abreu can take a pitch, so the “bridge to Rivera” became a non-issue. If the Phillies can work the count and force Girardi to use as much of his middle-relief as possible, they can steal a game or two.

The second key to the World Series is Cliff Lee. As it stands, Lee will be facing off against C. C. Sabathia in the first game tonight. If Lee can win, the Yankees’ home-field advantage is neutralized, and they will have to rely on A. J. Burnett, Pettitte, or Gaudin to win two games (and C. C. to win games four and seven on short rest). While the Phillies’ bullpen is exceedingly suspect, Brad Lidge has pitched well so far in the post-season, and beyond Rivera and David Robertson (who Girardi refuses to use for some reason) the Yankees’ pen hasn’t been great either. Both Pedro Martinez and Cole Hamels could pitch wonderfully or terribly, but the same could be said about A. J. Burnett, and the Phillies have a significant advantage at fourth starter -– who the Yankees will have to use unless they want all three of their pitchers going on short rest. Offensively, the Yankees are certainly better, especially against left-handers, but the Phillies can hang with them.

It should be a great series, and I’m looking forward to it more than any the Red Sox didn’t play in since 2001. I just hope it won’t be decided on an umpiring mistake or a managerial error.

Picks:

Ian:
Phillies in seven
Series MVP: Cliff Lee
Series scapegoat: Joe Girardi

Alex:
Yankees in six
Series MVP: Mark Teixeira
Series scapegoat: Ryan Madson

Patrick:
Phillies in six
Series MVP: Jimmy Rollins
Series scapegoat: Nick Swisher

*Photo courtesy of of dbking via Creative Commons License