Things To Like About Tonight

There are many things to like about tonight’s Game 1 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. Both teams have quite a few things going for them and ironically its the same things. How often can we say that when it comes to a big game. So what are the pluses for each team tonight?

Pitching

Both teams have a legitimate ace. Tonight’s game will feature two of the best pitchers in baseball, who both have undeniably been the two best pitchers of this postseason. C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee will battle on lengthy rest which doesn’t bode well for the hitters.

Both have been lights out this postseason. Lee sports a 0.74 era over 24.1 innings pitched. Over that time he has struck out 20, walked three and given up 14 hits. Hitters are batting a mere .165 off of him. Sabathia on the other hand has a 1.19 era over 22.2 innings pitched. He’s struck out 20 and walked three as well, and given up 17 hits.

They’ve been equally as dominant, personally I think CC has been a bit more thou as he pitched one time on three days rest. In that start he pitched more for contact then the strikeouts in an attempt to keep the pitch count down.

Regardless, both players are the best in the game at this moment are going to have one hell of a duel. So yea, for both the Yankees and Phillies they have to be feeling pretty comfortable they’ve got their aces on the mound.

Sluggers

Not only do these two teams have the best pitchers in the game, they’ve also got two of three best hitters in the game, Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez. Before this postseason only one player in history had RBI’s in eight straight games and that was the great Lou Gherig. Well this postseason has two and its those guys. They carried their teams early on and continue to swing the big bats.

A-Rod – .438 with 5 homers and 12 rbis and 9 walks.
Howard – .355 with 2 homers and 14 rbis, 4 doubles and 7 walks.

Leadoff Hitters

On top of everything mentioned both teams have two of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. They may not be the best statistically but they mean more to their teams then any other #1 in the league.

For the Phillies it’s Jimmy Rollins. He’s had an off year but when he contributes this team is damn near unbeatable. He’s only batted .244 in the playoffs but look past that and you’ll see that every time he’s scored a run the Phillies have won.

He’s the Phillie that gets this offense going more then any other player. On top of that he’s got that all important swagger whether he’s struggling or on fire. Take for instance his prediction on Jay Leno that the Phillies will win in 5, 6 if they’re nice.

For the Yankees, it’s the Captain Derek Jeter. Over the postseason he’s been everything that he has been his entire career, a terror. He’s batting .297 with 3 homers (after hitting just 18 all year) and scored 9 times. He’s also made some pretty slick defensive plays to catch those idiot Angel and Twin runners sleeping. He’s been everywhere. He’s turned his game up in the postseason, yet again.

Success against opposing pitchers

Both teams have also had success against the opposing pitcher. The Yankees hit Lee fairly well when he was in Cleveland, while the Phillies have hit Sabathia well.

Cliff Lee career against the Yankees – 9 starts, 4-4 record. 52 innings pitched with a 5.02 era
Cliff Lee against the Yankees in 2009 – 2 starts, 1-1 record, 12 innings pitched with a 3.00 era
C.C. Sabathia career against the Phillies (minus postseason) – 3 starts, 1-1 record. 20.2 innings pitched with a 4.35 era.
C.C. Sabathia against the Phillies in 2009 – 1 start, no decision. 8 innings pitched and 3 runs allowed.
C.C. Sabathia against the Phillies in the playoffs – 1 start a loss, 3.2 innings pitched and 5 runs allowed.

So both teams have had success against the two best pitchers in the game. Which of those two, if either or maybe even both, falters could be the deciding factor tonight.

Outcome

It’s hard to tell what this game is going to be. One would assume a pitchers duel or the Phillies harassing C.C. like they did last year. There’s so much leading to either option but you can’t script the postseason so things could wind up totally different.

The Yankees have been playing the entire postseason with bad weather in New York which I think will be an advantage for them. If the rain lingers in to game time it could definitely help neutralize the Phillies team speed. In all honesty thou that won’t be a huge factor, just something else I’m throwing out there.

My thinking is this will be a 2-1 or 3-2 type game with the winning team being the one who capitalizes on the few mistakes these pitchers make. I’m picking the Yankees to be the one to do that but at the same time Joe Girardi will expose Mariano Rivera for a six out save.

Then again it’s the playoffs and the two best hitting teams in baseball, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a 8-6 type game.

Regardless it’s going to be fun to watch, to bad I’ll be at work till 1130.