Recently, I wrote a preview to the upcoming World Series between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. Since I wrote that I have seen other articles being written about the upcoming World Series too.
I have been curious to see what other people's opinions have been, so I read most of these types of articles. Most I have agreed with their match up selections until I came across one written by Greg Fertel.
As I was reading through the article, one of his match ups I disagreed with was taking Jorge Posada over Carlos Ruiz. Yes, I realize the history of Jorge Posada but come on Carlos Ruiz has been tearing it up this post season. But I was like "whatever, I can see how that would go either way." I continued reading the article until I came to the first base selection.
"Edge: Yankees, but could be a push; Tex is a slightly better hitter and a better fielder."
Wait, no, it couldn't be. Were my eyes failing me? Has this guy been watching the postseason at all? Has he seen what Ryan Howard was doing? Did he just take Mark Teixeira who is batting a lowly .205 with 5 RBI over Ryan Howard who is scorching hot with a .355 batting average and 14 RBI.
No, it couldn't be. Even if he was a Yankees fan, everyone knows the two guys who have been tearing it up have been Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez. Was this guy really trying to make a case for Mark Teixeira over Ryan Howard?
I originally thought it was just this one guy who was a homer for the Yankees taking Mark Teixeira over Ryan Howard. And then to my bewilderment another Yankees fan commented, "I'd take Teixeira on his defense alone. I f Howard stops hitting, is he going to make the defensive plays Teixeira has in the field during the playoffs? Probably not." Could these two guys honestly be serious?
So it started to get me thinking if I was the only one who thought Howard was the easy choice at first base. I couldn't imagine how these two guys, Greg Fertel and Doug Rush, were trying to say Mark Teixeira was the better choice at first base than Ryan Howard.
They were trying to tell me that Mark Teixeira had a better batting average during the regular season meant he was the better hitter here and now. They were trying to tell me that the batting average during the regular season was more important than the betting average of this years postseason.
Did they not realize guys can heat up during the postseason? A prime example of this is Carlos Ruiz, who was batting .255 during the regular season and is now batting .346. Are we supposed to just ignore what people are doing during the regular season? The fact is Mark Teixeira batted .292 during the regular season and is now just batting .205. So are these two guys asking us to just ignore statistical information?
How are we supposed to say playoff statistics don't matter? History has shown some guys heat up during the playoffs and some go stone cold. So far this postseason Ryan Howard has been the clear dominant first baseman. And until someone can show me any statistical information that would prove otherwise, I don't believe this should even be a debate.
Ryan Howard has turned red hot during October, while Teixeira has gone stone cold. Why would anyone choose Teixeira over Howard? Well unless you're a biased, ignorant fan like most New York Yankees fans are, then you have no just reason to choose Teixeira over Howard.
So I want to know, Am I the only sensible one out here that believes Howard is the easy choice at first base? Or are there other bumbling idiots who try to debate Mark Teixeira's case as being better?
This shouldn't be a debate, right? Ryan Howard is clearly and obviously the better first baseman in the 2009 World Series.
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