News-Letter World Series Preview
Our experts give their take on who will emerge as World Series champion.
Why the Phillies will win
Pitching: Game One seems to be a wash, with former Cleveland Indian stars Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia taking the hill. Game Two features Pedro Martinez returning to memorable New York for another crucial playoff game against AJ Burnett.
The two biggest question marks for the Phillies are pitchers Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. Hamels was the 2008 World Series MVP and has had several extremely poor outings over this year's playoff run. Closer Brad Lidge was perfect last year and has finally gained some momentum as of late by not blowing any games. Both pitchers must play up to last year's standard if the Phillies plan on repeating.
Hitting: While the pitching is close, the Phillies have proven themselves to be an offensive threat in the post season. Both teams are mirror-images of each other, playing in homer-friendly parks. The Yankees have offseason acquisitions Mark Texiera and Nick Swisher, as the Phillies counter with Raul Ibanez. The Phillies core of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins is about the same as the Yankees' core of Derek Jeter, the now suddenly-clutch Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. Both teams pride themselves on late-inning heroics and there is sure to be plenty of them in this heavy-hitting series.
Intangibles: Shortstop Jimmy Rollins predicted the Phillies to win, so it has to come true, right? Rollins has been correct in his many predictions about the "Fightins" winning the NL East and predicting a Yankees/Phillies series. The Phillies have played all year with a shadow hanging over them as they remember their late-great broadcaster, Harry Kalas. The team has paid tribute to him by hanging up his suit in their dugout all year since his death. The main intangible has to be the Philadelphia crowd. Known as the toughest, rowdiest fans in sports, Philadelphia mentally destroyed pitcher C.C. Sabathia in last year's NLDS. Many steroid-related chants were yelled in the NLCS for outfielder Manny Ramirez and you can expect many "A-roids" and "A-fraud" chants for Yankees third-baseman Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez.
--- Brett Schwartz
Why the Yankees Will Win
Offense: The consistently powerful Yankees offense made a couple of additions to the lineup, making it even more potent. Derek Jeter had an OBP over .400 in 2009, while Johnny Damon had his best power year. Mark Teixeira, the key offseason acquisition, provides a premier power, switch-hitting bat in the three spot. Alex Rodriguez overcame a slow start and injury to put up another .400+ wOBA year, also providing much needed protection for Teixeira. Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui both had comeback years from injury and consolidate the middle of the order.
Robinson Cano became an emergent power threat this season with 25 home runs, hits seventh. The often underrated Nick Swisher is a three true outcomes hitter (home runs, walks, strikeouts) and Melky Cabrera is an above-average hitting centerfielder. This offense was the best in 2009, leading the major leagues in OPS, isolated power and BB/K ratio among other things.
Pitching: The postseason allows teams to run three-man rotations. The Yankees spent over $243 million on C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett over the offseason. Sabathia, a perennial Cy Young candidate, throws three above-average pitches (fastball, slider, changeup) and has dominated the postseason thus far, allowing only three runs over 22 innings pitched. Burnett, is the best strikeout pitcher of the three (8.48 K/9) and also possesses the "spike curveball," the best curveball in 2009 (48.3 percent whiff rate). Andy Petitte, a seasoned Yankee postseason stalwart, will rely on his cutter and curveball in games, and also will shutdown the opposing running game.
The Yankees bullpen has some good pieces in it. Youngsters Dave Robertson and Phil Hughes have emerged as reliable strikeout machines out of the pen. Joba Chamberlain also provides an option. Phil Coke has been tough on lefty hitters, which would be needed against guys like Ryan Howard. The bullpen also includes the best closer in baseball history thus far, Mariano Rivera.
Intangibles: The Yankees disappointed last season, not making the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. While only three pieces (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada) remain from the great Yankees teams of the late 1990s, this new-Yankee team, playing in a new Yankee Stadium, has been exciting to watch all season, finishing with baseball's best regular season record. But in order to truly re-establish themselves as baseball's marque franchise, they need to find a way to bring the World Series banner back to the House That Ruth Built.
--- Jeff Zhu
Pitching: Game One seems to be a wash, with former Cleveland Indian stars Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia taking the hill. Game Two features Pedro Martinez returning to memorable New York for another crucial playoff game against AJ Burnett.
The two biggest question marks for the Phillies are pitchers Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge. Hamels was the 2008 World Series MVP and has had several extremely poor outings over this year's playoff run. Closer Brad Lidge was perfect last year and has finally gained some momentum as of late by not blowing any games. Both pitchers must play up to last year's standard if the Phillies plan on repeating.
Hitting: While the pitching is close, the Phillies have proven themselves to be an offensive threat in the post season. Both teams are mirror-images of each other, playing in homer-friendly parks. The Yankees have offseason acquisitions Mark Texiera and Nick Swisher, as the Phillies counter with Raul Ibanez. The Phillies core of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins is about the same as the Yankees' core of Derek Jeter, the now suddenly-clutch Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. Both teams pride themselves on late-inning heroics and there is sure to be plenty of them in this heavy-hitting series.
Intangibles: Shortstop Jimmy Rollins predicted the Phillies to win, so it has to come true, right? Rollins has been correct in his many predictions about the "Fightins" winning the NL East and predicting a Yankees/Phillies series. The Phillies have played all year with a shadow hanging over them as they remember their late-great broadcaster, Harry Kalas. The team has paid tribute to him by hanging up his suit in their dugout all year since his death. The main intangible has to be the Philadelphia crowd. Known as the toughest, rowdiest fans in sports, Philadelphia mentally destroyed pitcher C.C. Sabathia in last year's NLDS. Many steroid-related chants were yelled in the NLCS for outfielder Manny Ramirez and you can expect many "A-roids" and "A-fraud" chants for Yankees third-baseman Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez.
--- Brett Schwartz
Why the Yankees Will Win
Offense: The consistently powerful Yankees offense made a couple of additions to the lineup, making it even more potent. Derek Jeter had an OBP over .400 in 2009, while Johnny Damon had his best power year. Mark Teixeira, the key offseason acquisition, provides a premier power, switch-hitting bat in the three spot. Alex Rodriguez overcame a slow start and injury to put up another .400+ wOBA year, also providing much needed protection for Teixeira. Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui both had comeback years from injury and consolidate the middle of the order.
Robinson Cano became an emergent power threat this season with 25 home runs, hits seventh. The often underrated Nick Swisher is a three true outcomes hitter (home runs, walks, strikeouts) and Melky Cabrera is an above-average hitting centerfielder. This offense was the best in 2009, leading the major leagues in OPS, isolated power and BB/K ratio among other things.
Pitching: The postseason allows teams to run three-man rotations. The Yankees spent over $243 million on C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett over the offseason. Sabathia, a perennial Cy Young candidate, throws three above-average pitches (fastball, slider, changeup) and has dominated the postseason thus far, allowing only three runs over 22 innings pitched. Burnett, is the best strikeout pitcher of the three (8.48 K/9) and also possesses the "spike curveball," the best curveball in 2009 (48.3 percent whiff rate). Andy Petitte, a seasoned Yankee postseason stalwart, will rely on his cutter and curveball in games, and also will shutdown the opposing running game.
The Yankees bullpen has some good pieces in it. Youngsters Dave Robertson and Phil Hughes have emerged as reliable strikeout machines out of the pen. Joba Chamberlain also provides an option. Phil Coke has been tough on lefty hitters, which would be needed against guys like Ryan Howard. The bullpen also includes the best closer in baseball history thus far, Mariano Rivera.
Intangibles: The Yankees disappointed last season, not making the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. While only three pieces (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada) remain from the great Yankees teams of the late 1990s, this new-Yankee team, playing in a new Yankee Stadium, has been exciting to watch all season, finishing with baseball's best regular season record. But in order to truly re-establish themselves as baseball's marque franchise, they need to find a way to bring the World Series banner back to the House That Ruth Built.
--- Jeff Zhu
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