Phillies, Yankees Still Alive

The hopes of those people who wanted to see a rematch of the 2009 World Series (not to mention my predictions for the League Championship Series) took a pair of deep hits this week, but both the Phillies and Yankees are still alive. I'll deal with the Phillies in a moment.

I didn't really expect, after their hideous collapse late in Game 1, blowing a 5-0 lead after 6 and losing 6-5, that the Texas Rangers would bounce back so well. They scored early in Game 2, rolling to a 7-2 win. Then the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, and the Rangers took Games 3 (8-0) and 4 (10-3), with Cliff Lee again displaying his mastery of the Yankee hitters in Game 3. The Yankees rebounded in Game 5 with a 7-2 win despite the Rangers picking up 13 hits -- 11 off CC Sabathia in 6 innings. What disturbed me was a quote I read in today's paper, from Rangers manager Ron Washington after Game 4: "We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. If it happens, it happens. And if it don't, it doesn't happen."

That just sounds a little too casual for my tastes. The experience of the Yankees over the years means that they weren't just going to roll over and die. If you have a team like that down, you have to keep them down. Sure enough, now the series goes back to Texas. The advantage the Rangers have, on paper, is that even if they lose Game 6, they'll have Yankee-killer and postseason stud Lee pitching Game 7. Then again, too often in sports such advantages aren't worth

Phillies: Same Old, Same Old, Sort Of

I sensed a bit of panic after the Phillies lost the first game of the NL Championship Series on Saturday night. I didn't actually see any online comments that were pessimistic and I didn't hear anything on WIP. Well, I actually didn't listen to the station at all. I just had a feeling that there was a little bit of worry setting in.

That's almost understandable considering our city's pro sports history. But anyone who's watched this Phillies team the last four seasons has to realize that they aren't beaten until they're actually beaten, and to panic prematurely is just silly. And after Sunday's 6-1 win, the series is tied at 1-1. Just like last year's NLCS. So they lost the first one instead of the second. Big deal.

Saturday night was actually hyped somewhere as the greatest pitching matchup in postseason history, with the Phils' Roy Halladay and the Giants' Tim Lincecum. But the final score was 4-3, not 1-0 with a no-hitter. Halladay gave up a pair of solo homers to Cody Ross, and those would've been the only runs he allowed, except that with two outs and a runner on first in the 6th, Raul Ibanez misplayed a deep fly by Pat Burrell into a double that made the score 3-1, with another hit right after making it 4-1. And while Lincecum was good enough to get the win, the Phils had some opportunities to score but didn't take advantage. So when Halladay pitches again, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Game 2 was dominated by Roy Oswalt, who (despite also giving up a home run to Ross) outdid both of the Game 1 starters on the mound and, with the Phils holding on to a 2-1 lead in the 7th, on the bases. He led off the 7th with a single, moved to second on a Shane Victorino bunt and scored on a Placido Polanco single, running right through the stop sign of third-base coach Sam Perlozzo. Unlike the first game, where the Phils' 3 runs all scored on homers, their 6 runs Sunday came without the benefit of the home run. That is a good sign for the next 3 games in San Francisco's AT&T Park.

The Phils need to stop giving up home runs to Cody Ross. If they do that, they'll be fine.

2010 League Championship Series Picks

Since it's about a half-hour until the first pitch of the American League Championship Series, I figured I shouldn't wait any longer to go on record with my predictions. In the first round I had Giants in 4 (perfect), Phillies in 4 (they won in 3), Yankees in 5 (they also won in 3) and Rays in 4 (womp womp).

Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees: The Rangers won the first two in Tampa, then lost two at home, then went back to Tampa and won. This means a couple of things: they aren't entirely fazed by playoff pressure, but they're also not quite up to the task here, as much as I'd like them to be. Losing those games at home meant Cliff Lee had to start Game 5 against the Rays, meaning he can't pitch until Game 3 in this series and can only start twice against the Yankees. I really want to be wrong here, but...Yankees in 6.


Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants: Will the much-hyped Roy Halladay-Tim Lincecum matchup in Game 1 live up to its billing? Speaking of which, some stat nut decided that Lincecum's complete-game shutout against Atlanta was a better performance than Halladay's no-hitter against the Reds based on some idiotic numerical crap. These Moneyball freaks just live to ruin everything. I think "The Simpsons" summed it up best in Sunday's "MoneyBART" episode, in which Lisa took over as Bart's Little League coach and then had to learn the game. (I thought it was one of their better episodes in recent years, actually.) She came upon Springfield's sabermetricians (at Moe's), and leader of the stat nuts Bill James has a cameo -- he's shown on an online video in which he says, "I made baseball as much fun as doing your taxes!" Truer words were never spoken, Bill, even if you think you were making fun of yourself. But I digress. Both teams have strong pitching, so it'll come down to which offense can generate enough production on a given night, making it probably a tough series. But the Phils' offense has more potential to explode, and if they do, it'll end more quickly. Phillies in 6.