Previewing the Yankees - Angels series position by position Catcher: Jorge Posada, Jose Molina vs. Mike Napoli and Jeff Mathis Jorge Posada and Jose Molina make a more formidable tandem. Jorge has great offense and Molina has a great rapport with A.J. Burnett. Jorge, mostly known for his offense has hit .308 against the Angels but Jose Molina has hit only .038 against the Angels. The Yankees will only need Molina to catch Burnett. Mike Napoli has very good power as evidenced in his 20 home runs in 100 games started. In seven games started he has batted .500 against the Yankees. His back up, Jeff Mathis has batted only .143 against the Yankees. Edge: Yankees. The combination of Jorge Posada and Jose Molina are too much. First Base: Mark Teixeira vs. Kendry Morales Mark Teixeira is having an mvp season but hits poorly against the Angels. He’s hitting .225. Morales is having a poor post season but he has great power and bats well against the Yankees. He’s batting .375 against the Yankees in 10 games. Edge: Even. Mark doesn’t hit the Angels well and Kendry hits the Yankees great. Mark has been performing exceptionally well in this post season. Second Base: Robinson Cano vs. Howie Kendrick Robinson Cano is having a great year against the Angels and had a great year in general. In the regular season he batted .341 against the Angels and has 14 hits in 10 games. It looks like he’ll get on base against the Angels. Howie Kendrick has played in only 105 games but had the most RBI of his career with 65. He’s having a poor post season and he’s no Robinson Cano. Edge: Yankees. Shortstop: Derek Jeter vs. Erick Aybar Derek Jeter is playing like Derek Jeter in the playoffs and is hitting .333 against the Angels Erick Aybar is having a great post season and started the rally against the Red Sox in game three. He hits decently against the Yankees with a .286 average. Edge: Yankees. Jeter wants another championship. Third base: Alex Rodriguez vs. Chone Figgins. Chone Figgins can steal a base on you at any time and hits the Yankees pretty well with a .333 average. He’s having a poor post season but scored eight runs against the Yankees in 10 games this year. He was also involved in the final runs against the Red Sox. He can get on base and steal at any time as evidenced to his 42 stolen bases. Alex Rodriguez has turned into a god in the post season. I can’t believe it. He’s batting an unheard of .455 with two meaningful home runs and six RBI in three games. A-Rod is hitting .333 against the Angels. Edge: Yankees. There’s not doubt that this is A-Rod’s playoffs. He owns it. Right-field: Nick Swisher vs. Bobby Bye Bye Abreu Bobby Abreu is destroying the playoffs. To say he’s playing great is an understatement. He bats .333 against the Yankees. Nick Swisher could be up and down and he did not hit well against the Twins. He did not hit well against the Angels this year either with a .211 batting average. Edge: Angels. Bobby Abreu is just a better player than Nick Swisher and is hot while Nick is cold. Center field: Melky Cabrera vs. Torii Hunter. Torii Hunter overachieved most of the season and hit the Yankees poorly with a .233 batting average. He will steal a base on you and is one of the best fielding center fielders in the game. Melky Cabrera has had an average season during the year but has hit the Angels very well with a .393 batting average and has a high on base percentage against the them batting .485. Edge: Even. This could go either way during the series. Left-field: Johnny Damon vs. Juan Rivera Where has Johnny Damon gone? He played terribly against the Twins batting only .083. The worse news is that he batted .121 against the Angels in the regular season. Juan Rivera had a very good year for the Angels but has only batted .222 against the Yankees. He hit against Boston just like he did in the regular season. He was consistent. Edge: Even. Only because Johnny Damon doesn’t hit the Angels well and is having a poor post season. Starting pitching: C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Chad Gaudin vs John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana. The Yankees starting pitching: The Yankees had a team ERA of 4.48 during the regular season which was 5th best in the league. The Yankee starting pitching won 63 games and lost 42. The question is, will the Yankees use Gaudin or use Sabathia on short rest? C.C Sabathia had a great year and pitched very well in his first post season against the Twins but pitched poorly against the Angels. He was 0-2 with a 6.08 ERA. A.J. Burnett walked a lot of batters and hit batters in his first playoff game against the Twins but he did manage to give up only one earned run. He’ll have Molina catching him so that should help. He was his usual self against the Angels with a 1-0 record and a 4.26 ERA. Andy Pettitte. Andy was dandy against the Twins but did not pitch well against the Angels in the regular season. He was 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA. Chad Gaudin: He started two games against the Angels and got completely destroyed with a 11.74 ERA. I’m guessing Joe Girardi will use CC on short rest. The Angels starting pitching: The Angels had a team ERA of 4.44 during the regular season which was 4th best in the league. The Angels starting pitching won 70 games and lost 42. John Lackey: He had a pretty year and pitched well against the Yankees with a 1-0 record and 2.57 ERA. He threw 7.1 shut out innings against the Red Sox in the playoffs. He’s a big game pitcher who helped the Angels win the World Series by pitching a great game seven against the San Francisco Giants. Jered Weaver: Gave up only 1 earned run against the Red Sox but pitched poorly against the Yankees in the regular season going 1-1 with a 5.59 ERA. Scott Kazmir didn’t pitch well against the Red Sox but got bailed out by his offense in game three. Historically, he has pitched well against the Yankees with a 6-5 record and a 2.67 ERA. He has pitched pretty well against them this year too with a 2-1 record and 3.20 ERA. Ervin Santana has pitched better in the second half of the season than the first half. He pitched one game against the Yankees and gave up four earned runs in six innings. I’m assuming the Angels would rather use one of their pitchers on short rest than pitching Santana. Edge: Even. This is a hard one to call. Any pitcher could get rocked at anytime since this is the playoffs. I would assume Burnett getting rocked for the Yankees and Kazmir getting rocked for the Angels but you never know. They both have stud pitchers at the top of their rotation in Sabathia and Lackey. The Yankees bull pen vs. the Angels bull pen The Yankee relievers had a 1-0 record against the Twins with 1.80 ERA and 13 strike outs with a .341 batting average against in 10 innings. In the regular season they had a 3.91 ERA with 483 strike outs and a .231 batting average against in 515 innings which was the best in the American League. They were 5th best in the American League. The Angel relievers had a 1.08 ERA against the Red Sox and four strike outs with a .174 batting average against in 6.1 innings. In the regular season they had a 4.49 ERA with 445 strike outs and a .270 average against in 483.1 innings which was the second highest allowed in the American League. They were the 11th best in the American League. Brian Fuentes had a high ERA for a closer during the year and but he did lead the league in saves. In four games against the Yankees he has three saves but a 9.00 ERA. Mariano Rivera is god if you heard about that and in four appearances against the Angels he has a 0.00 ERA. Edge: Slight edge to the Yankees and only a slight edge because of how well the Angel’s relievers pitched against the Red Sox. You also have to throw in the Joba factor. Joba pitches better as a reliever and the Yankees can turn the game into a five inning affair. Once you have Joba, then Hughes and Mariano, you can say the party is over. Managers: Joe Girardi vs. Mike Scioscia Girardi has made some bone headed moves this year but can you argue with the best record in baseball and a sweep of the Twins in the first round of the playoffs? Mike Scioscia is a proven winner and has a world series under his belt. Edge: Even. The players will decide this series. Prediction: Slight edge to the Yankees. These are the two best teams in the American League. They didn’t get to the ALCS by accident. You can just feel that it’s the Yankees’ year. They’ve been having come backs all year in the regular season and in the playoffs and learned how to win when they were down. If I had to guess, I would say the Yankees in a dramatic game seven with pies in every one’s face. Here’s to number 27 with a win against the L.A. Dodgers in the World Series.
I lost all respect for this when I read Cabrera/Hunter as even. But I do give you props for being fair and calling Kendry and Mark even. Great assessment there. I'm glad you didn't deny that. EDIT: Continued to read and lost even more credibility after reading the Girardi/Scioscia as even.
You can't deny Girardi winning over 100 games. He has a team with the best record in baseball. That has to count for something.
I can't believe that is coming from a Red Sox fan. There was a faction of Fenway cheering the Angels as they walked off the field and chanting BEAT THE YANKEES! At least according to one of the major papers out here!
So one year Puts him on the same level? You have some seriously flawed logic. That doesn't surprise me though, you thought joba was going to be a cy young candidate
I think it'll be a good series that comes down to the arm of one person: AJ Burnett. If he's on his game the way he's been recently, the Yanks are going to be very tough to beat. They don't have a hole in their lineup and they have the best bullpen in the MLB, and having Joba in there makes them even more potent. Unless the Angels pitching staff plays out of their minds and their hitters get to the starters early, I don't think the Yanks will be beaten. It'll be close, but I just think that this is the Yankees year.
I'm not comparing all time teams here. I'm comparing two teams that are playing each other, "now" and right now, Girardi has done a great job. I agree with Moo2K4. It just seems to be the Yankees' year and if Joba pitches well, it could be lights out for the Angels.
It seems like the Yankees year because you're a Skankee fan. It feels like the Angels' year because I"m an Angels' fan. It feels like the Dodgers' year because Brand New is a Dodger's fan. It feels like the Phillies' year because Lost One is a Phillies' fan. Again, another wack argument as to why the Yankees will win. If you want me to go through your matchups one by one and criticize them, I will.
Molina/Posada .251 BA, 23 HR, 92 RBI, .328 OBP, .395 SLG Napoli/Mathis .242 BA, 25 HR, 84 RBI, .320 OBP, .400 SLG You're going to tell me that Molina/Posada have a distinct advantage? Napoli is more offensive oriented than Mathis while Mathis is the better game caller and defensive catcher. Molina is to Mathis as Posada is to Napoli. There is no distinct advantage there. Jeter gets the edge over Aybar because why? He wants another championship? Horrible reasoning. You don't think Aybar doesn't want one? Jeter defensively is not Aybar. If anything, that matchup is even because Jeter is better offensively. Cano/Kendrick? Look @ Kendrick's stats after being called back up from the minors. Big difference from his slump before being sent down. Also look at his career stats against you guys. He rapes you usually. Hunter overachieved, really? Get the fuck outta here with that bull shit. I'd give your ace the edge over Lackey for sure, but when it comes to complete starting rotation, I'd take Weaver, Kazmir, and Saunders over Burnett, Pettite, and Gaudin.
Here's my take: C: advantage LAA 1b: advantage LAA 2b:advantage LAA ss: advantage LAA 3b: advantage LAA lf: advantage LAA cf: advantage LAA rf: advantage LAA sp: advantage LAA rp: advantage LAA manager: advantage LAA
Hey thrilla, since it's a matter of opinion of who has the better players, I'll let you slide but... The Yankees have the most knowledgable, best, most passionate fans, in the world. Do you know who started the standing up and clapping when the home pitcher is about to strike a batter out? Yankee fans. What did you guys ever do? What did you ever make up? The funniest thing is that the Yankee fans first started the standing up and yelling and clapping when Ron Guidry struck out 18 Angels.
Now the fans will help the Yanks, win? Yankees fans are douche bags (except my grandma). And obviously if they are anything like you, they can't have a debate.
I have to admit, the best thing posted in all the responses was this... The funniest thing is that the Yankee fans first started the standing up and yelling and clapping when Ron Guidry struck out 18 Angels. I mean, seriously, that's got to hurt. Yankee fans can help them win. The Yankee players feel the energy the fans give and feed off of it.
