Yankees vs Phillies Game 1 Pre Post
What's a Pre-Post? Usually Pre and Post mean the opposite of each other, but in this instance, who gives a crap?
Nah, it just means that the game hasn't started yet. This is the pre-post to the game that will be one of the biggest nail-biters of the World Series.
My main plot of this post isn't as much about the entire starting players of both teams as it is about the two starting pitchers, C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee.
But before I get into any of that, I want to show a little bit of my hometown pride with the playoff players that are playing (or have played) in the post season. I know that many people don't like the Cleveland Indians, but keep in mind that maybe the team itself isn't good, but the scouts who get the prospects and train them in Cleveland's ballparks are remarkable. They don't necessarily care if they win in Cleveland. Their goal is that they win. Period. And they do.
How many former Cleveland players made it to the playoffs this year? Let's see how many I can think of off the top of my head...
Two of the coaches (Charlie Manuel and Doc Edwards), Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard, Cliff Lee, C. C. Sabathia, Ben Francisco, Victor Martinez, Rafael Betancourt... I know there are still others, but that's quite a lot. I know that the coaches don't count, but it was interesting to see it. The players that I mentioned were built in Cleveland and have shown incredible worth. Maybe Cleveland, as a team, isn't worth a hole in the head, but you watch how many of those players will get sent to another team and become baseball greats. That's Cleveland's interest. They are the middle-men. They find the prospects, build them, and send them off to a better location.
Why did I write all that?
Well, let's take a look at not just two ex-Clevelanders facing off in the 2009 World Series, and not just history in the making (since any game can be considered "history in the making")... It's also a new record in the MLB books. It seems that something will happen in baseball and you wonder if it's ever possible that such a record can be broken again, or even if every record has already been set and there's just nowhere else possible for a new record to fit!
Yet, a new record will be set come the first game of the series. There has already been a time when two Cy Young winners faced each other in the World Series, but this-coming first game will be the first time in history that two back-to-back Cy Young winners face each other in the World Series.
So let's break the series down. What do we have to look forward to? Excellent pitching from both dugouts, that's for sure. Statistically, the Phillies have quite a better-looking pitching staff than the Yankees, but does that necessarily mean that the Yankees will lose? No. Why? Where do I begin?
First, we must go back to the ALCS and get some things straight. Yankees vs Angels: What happened? Errors. And lots of them. Every run scored by the Angels were earned runs. The Yankees defense DID make mistakes, but not very many of them were costly. The Angels, on the other hand, with one of the best defensive teams in the league, sometimes looked like they had no idea what the infield was. Even though the Yankees' earned runs were still higher than the Angels', the many costly mistakes that the Angels made were key roles in the outcome. Had they not looked like they pulled their defense out of a hat, the endings would have been much different. It doesn't mean that I believe the Yanks would have lost, but it sure would have added a lot more pressure on their shoulders. During the season, the Angels had the fewest errors in franchise history. In the post-season, they had the most errors in franchise history. Talk about irony.
Now to the World Series. As mentioned before, the Phillies statistically have a better pitching staff. Both teams have an outstanding defense to back them up. Good pitching will always beat good batting. Both teams are well-known for come-from-behind wins. It was witnessed often just in the post-season alone. So what makes the difference? Four words: Mariano Rivera and Brad Lidge.
He is arguably the greatest closer in baseball history. How old is he? 70? And he's still as remarkable on the mound today as he was 40 years ago. Yes, I know I exaggerated, so don't bitch at me. Brad Lidge has not allowed any runs, and has only allowed one hit, but walked three batters in five innings of work.
Rivera has allowed one run and eight hits while also walking three batters, but in ten and two-thirds innings. The big difference in these two comes to the strikeouts. Lidge has stuck out three batters, meanwhile Rivera has struck out eleven.
So in conclusion, my opinion is based upon the run difference in the late goings. If either Rivera or Lidge have to come out at the end of the game, it's all going to be based on which team is already in the lead at that time.
The ONLY problem I have when the Yankees win is the most annoying broadcaster on any possible world, John Sterling. He knows just about anything about baseball. It would be difficult to throw him a curveball on trivia. He can broadcast as good as or better than any broadcaster in television. So what's my beef? If he's NOT retarded, why does he have to sound like one when the Yankees win? It's just that ONE sentence that he says at the end of the ballgame that is more annoying than imagining Cher screaming out "I would walk 500 miles" lyrics in her best Reba McIntyre impersonation during sex.
(picture a severely retarded child saying this)
"TheeEEeeEEeeEEeeEEeEE Yankees win!"
Yep. That's what he sounds like. And surely he must know that he sounds like that. I'm thankful there is only one franchise fan base that has to hear that kind of annoyance more often than anywhere else. If there was another broadcaster who did that in any other city, he would be shot. Only in New York, where they know nothing about wild animals, would this man be able to do such a thing, for in any other area they would have thought Sterling was some kind of large suffering animal and would have put him out of his misery.
Nah, it just means that the game hasn't started yet. This is the pre-post to the game that will be one of the biggest nail-biters of the World Series.
My main plot of this post isn't as much about the entire starting players of both teams as it is about the two starting pitchers, C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee.
But before I get into any of that, I want to show a little bit of my hometown pride with the playoff players that are playing (or have played) in the post season. I know that many people don't like the Cleveland Indians, but keep in mind that maybe the team itself isn't good, but the scouts who get the prospects and train them in Cleveland's ballparks are remarkable. They don't necessarily care if they win in Cleveland. Their goal is that they win. Period. And they do.
How many former Cleveland players made it to the playoffs this year? Let's see how many I can think of off the top of my head...
Two of the coaches (Charlie Manuel and Doc Edwards), Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard, Cliff Lee, C. C. Sabathia, Ben Francisco, Victor Martinez, Rafael Betancourt... I know there are still others, but that's quite a lot. I know that the coaches don't count, but it was interesting to see it. The players that I mentioned were built in Cleveland and have shown incredible worth. Maybe Cleveland, as a team, isn't worth a hole in the head, but you watch how many of those players will get sent to another team and become baseball greats. That's Cleveland's interest. They are the middle-men. They find the prospects, build them, and send them off to a better location.
Why did I write all that?
Well, let's take a look at not just two ex-Clevelanders facing off in the 2009 World Series, and not just history in the making (since any game can be considered "history in the making")... It's also a new record in the MLB books. It seems that something will happen in baseball and you wonder if it's ever possible that such a record can be broken again, or even if every record has already been set and there's just nowhere else possible for a new record to fit!
Yet, a new record will be set come the first game of the series. There has already been a time when two Cy Young winners faced each other in the World Series, but this-coming first game will be the first time in history that two back-to-back Cy Young winners face each other in the World Series.
So let's break the series down. What do we have to look forward to? Excellent pitching from both dugouts, that's for sure. Statistically, the Phillies have quite a better-looking pitching staff than the Yankees, but does that necessarily mean that the Yankees will lose? No. Why? Where do I begin?
First, we must go back to the ALCS and get some things straight. Yankees vs Angels: What happened? Errors. And lots of them. Every run scored by the Angels were earned runs. The Yankees defense DID make mistakes, but not very many of them were costly. The Angels, on the other hand, with one of the best defensive teams in the league, sometimes looked like they had no idea what the infield was. Even though the Yankees' earned runs were still higher than the Angels', the many costly mistakes that the Angels made were key roles in the outcome. Had they not looked like they pulled their defense out of a hat, the endings would have been much different. It doesn't mean that I believe the Yanks would have lost, but it sure would have added a lot more pressure on their shoulders. During the season, the Angels had the fewest errors in franchise history. In the post-season, they had the most errors in franchise history. Talk about irony.
Now to the World Series. As mentioned before, the Phillies statistically have a better pitching staff. Both teams have an outstanding defense to back them up. Good pitching will always beat good batting. Both teams are well-known for come-from-behind wins. It was witnessed often just in the post-season alone. So what makes the difference? Four words: Mariano Rivera and Brad Lidge.
He is arguably the greatest closer in baseball history. How old is he? 70? And he's still as remarkable on the mound today as he was 40 years ago. Yes, I know I exaggerated, so don't bitch at me. Brad Lidge has not allowed any runs, and has only allowed one hit, but walked three batters in five innings of work.
Rivera has allowed one run and eight hits while also walking three batters, but in ten and two-thirds innings. The big difference in these two comes to the strikeouts. Lidge has stuck out three batters, meanwhile Rivera has struck out eleven.
So in conclusion, my opinion is based upon the run difference in the late goings. If either Rivera or Lidge have to come out at the end of the game, it's all going to be based on which team is already in the lead at that time.
The ONLY problem I have when the Yankees win is the most annoying broadcaster on any possible world, John Sterling. He knows just about anything about baseball. It would be difficult to throw him a curveball on trivia. He can broadcast as good as or better than any broadcaster in television. So what's my beef? If he's NOT retarded, why does he have to sound like one when the Yankees win? It's just that ONE sentence that he says at the end of the ballgame that is more annoying than imagining Cher screaming out "I would walk 500 miles" lyrics in her best Reba McIntyre impersonation during sex.
(picture a severely retarded child saying this)
"TheeEEeeEEeeEEeeEEeEE Yankees win!"
Yep. That's what he sounds like. And surely he must know that he sounds like that. I'm thankful there is only one franchise fan base that has to hear that kind of annoyance more often than anywhere else. If there was another broadcaster who did that in any other city, he would be shot. Only in New York, where they know nothing about wild animals, would this man be able to do such a thing, for in any other area they would have thought Sterling was some kind of large suffering animal and would have put him out of his misery.