So far, the 105th World Series has been a microcosm of both the Phillies’ and Yankees’ seasons.

The Phils have hit a ton of solo home runs, Ryan Howard hasn’t hit lefties, Cole Hamels has been awful and Brad Lidge has blown a save in stupefying fashion.

Meanwhile, A.J. Burnett has been erratic, the Yankees have hit seemingly 200 home runs over short porches in right field, Derek Jeter has hit, hit, hit and Mark Teixeira has come up small, small, small in big (all) situations (.105 overall series average after hitting just .264 with runners in scoring position this season).

CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee have both been superb, Joe Girardi has made puzzling decisions and Charlie Manuel has been puzzlingly loyal.

2009 condensed down into five games.

So who wins the series will largely depend on who can buck their bad trends in the next (potential) two games.

Guessing which team might do so seems like little more than a shot in the dark at this point, with the whole series having curiously little momentum. Coming into tonight’s game, neither team seems to have any. The Phils squandered theirs by making their potential blowout game five victory look like a minor miracle, and the Yankees didn’t steal any by virtue of worries over their game six starter, a short rested Andy Pettitte who struggled mightily on full rest in game three.

So what’s it going to be?

It seems impossible to think that both Ryan Howard and Mark Teixeira will continue to hit as poorly as they both have this series (combined .132 average, 19 strikeouts in 38 at-bats). Any contribution from either of these MVP candidates would go a long way toward ensuring a title.

By the same token, it almost has to be assumed that Chase Utley and Alex Rodriguez are both out of magic. They have absolutely stung the ball, and been essential in all five series victories, but it’s nearly impossible to hit that well in every game of a seven-game series.

So it can be said with a degree of certainty that games six and seven will probably feature new superstar heroes.

There are many other factors to consider, though. For one, the Yankees won’t be employing the same pop-gun offense tonight that they deployed in game five. Jose Molina is gone, while Hideki Matsui is back.

Melky Cabrera’s absence will even things out a little, however. The Yanks no longer have the killer 1-9 they had in their ballpark all season. So the Phils no longer have to feel uneasy about starting Ben Francisco, since Brett Gardner will be out there, too.

Wild cards for tonight could be who’s available in relief. Joe Girardi has already said that A.J. Burnett could pitch if called upon. What about Cliff Lee? Game seven seems more realistic for his first relief appearance of these playoffs, but if the Phillies enter the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead tonight, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that he throws one inning on one day’s rest.

Might we see Cole Hamels, as well? After his continued ineffectiveness as a starter, he almost certainly will not be getting the ball in a potential game seven. But with that task likely falling to J.A. Happ, then, Hamels could be Philly’s second lefty out of the pen after Scott Eyre. While he has struggled in these playoffs, he has allowed just four runs before the fourth inning in his four starts. This would seem to signify he’s getting killed the second time through the lineup, not a worry if he’s pitching in relief.

Regardless of what happens, you can’t say either team didn’t get what was coming. That is, unless of course one club finally stops making the same mistakes it made all season and punishes the other for not doing so.

It should happen in these next two games, and the 105th team to win the World Series will be crowned for doing so.

–Patrick Daugherty, Red Editorial Staff

It happened more than thirty years ago, but remains one of the greatest performances in World Series history–forever engrained in baseball lore.

It was Game 6 of the 1977 World Series when Yankees’ slugger Reggie Jackson abused the Dodgers’ pitching staff, launching three homeruns on the Yanks way to clinch the series. The three dingers put Jackson’s total for the series at a record-setting five and earned him the indelible nickname “Mr. October.”

Last night’s Game 5 in Philly featured another performance for the ages and gave Mr. October a little company atop the leader board for homers in a World Series: Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley, or rather perhaps, Mr. November.

With their backs against the wall and trailing in the series 3-1 and in the game by a run, Utley delivered a three-run shot off Yankees’ starter A.J. Burnett in the first inning and a solo drive off reliever Phil Coke in the seventh to lift the Phils to an 8-6 victory and force a Game 6 in New York.

The two long balls Utley hit last night put his World Series total up to five, matching Jackson’s ‘77 series performance and giving him more homers in the Fall Classic than any other second baseman in history.

Utley also became the second player in history to have two multi-homer games in the same World Series. The other player is Kansas City’s Willie Aikens who had two multi-homer games in the 1980 World Series against, who else, the Philadelphia Phillies.

More important than all this though is the fact that Utley’s bat has finally come alive, and against someone other than Yankees’ ace C.C. Sabathia.

In the first two rounds of this postseason Utley mustered just one homerun and two RBIs while striking out seven times. In five W.S. games Utley has five homers and eight RBIs off six hits and only been sent down swinging three times.

Prior to last night Utley had been killing Sabathia, going 4-for-6 with three dingers, a double and four RBIs, while getting absolutely stifled by the rest of the Yankees staff, going 0-9 with three strikeouts.

But for the Phillies to come all the way back to become the first NL team to repeat as champs since the Braves did it back in 1991-92, Utley’s bat can’t be the only hot one in the bunch.

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

On Monday, October 8, 1956 the New York Yankees’ Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 against the cross-town rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It is easily the best game ever pitched in post season history and arguably the most brilliant game ever thrown.

Wednesday night’s Game 1 performance from the Philles’ Cliff Lee wasn’t perfect, but it was among the finest games ever hurled in the Fall Classic.

On a cold, rainy night the 31-year-old lefty shut down the prolific Yankees offense, pitching the first complete game in the World Series since Josh Beckett’s 2003 nine-inning outing for the Marlins against, you guessed it, the Yankees.

Over his nine innings of work, Lee scattered six hits, allowed just one run and walked no one while striking out 10, becoming first pitcher in World Series history to fan 10 batters and allow no walks since Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe did it in 1949 and the third all-time.

In the fourth inning he set down the Yankees’ 3-4-5 hitters (Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada) on strikes.

But Lee also flashed the leather last night.

In the sixth inning Lee nonchalantly caught a Johnny Damon pop-up at the hip to record the second out, in the seventh he fielded a slow-roller down the first base line and tagged Posada for the second out and in the eighth made an incredible behind-the-back grab of a Robinson Cano one-hopper back to the mound for the first out.

Lee’s stunning Game 1 performance was just one more amazing outing this post season for the former Cy Young.

In his first career post season Lee has thrown two complete games, had two games with 10 strikeouts, has allowed just three walks and two earned runs, struck out 30 and has a microscopic 0.54 ERA in four starts. His ERA ranks seventh all-time in the post season but for pitchers with 30 or more post season innings it ranks at the top.

Lee wasn’t the only lefty setting World Series records last night though.

Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley became the second left-handed hitter ever to go yard twice in a World Series game off a lefty starter, one in the third and one in the sixth, both off C.C. Sabathia. The only other player to accomplish this: Babe Ruth in 1928 . . . nice company.

More important than all this though is the Game 1 victory.

All of the last six Game 1 winners went on to win the championship, as well as 18 of the last 21. The win also guarantees them of at least a split when the series moves to Philly and forces the Yankees to win at least one road game to take the series back to New York.

Tonight’s Game 2 isn’t a must-win situation for the Yankees per-se, but going into Philly with an 0-2 deficit would all-but nail the coffin shut, since lately the Yankees are known more for their October collapses than come-backs.

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

A position-by-position look at the two teams vying for baseball’s title.

First base:
Easily the position with the most shared firepower between the two clubs, Ryan Howard led the National League in RBI this season, while Mark Teixeira led the American League. Both have glaring weaknesses in their approach–Tex has little power away from the cozy confines of New Yankee Stadium, and Howard can’t hit lefties. That being said, Howard has driven in 14 runs and batted .355 this postseason, while Tex has hit just .205 with five RBI. Tex’s sterling defense at first base could be quite beneficial against Philly’s lefty heavy lineup, but the bottom line is Howard is playing like he’s been here before, and Texeira isn’t.  Advantage Phillies.

Second base:
Simply put, Chase Utley is better at every facet of the game than Robinson Cano. He has more power, gets on base more often, is a better defender (despite two curiously awful errors in the NLCS) and doesn’t make nearly as many mistakes on the basepaths (read: none versus many). This postseason, Utley is hitting .303 with a .439 on-base percentage, while Cano is at just .229 and .341, respectively.   Advantage Phillies.

Third base:
A-Rod may be a hulking, slugging, hollowed out shell of the all-around player he once used to be, but he’s still been the most dangerous hitter this October this side of Ryan Howard. Pedro Feliz is . . . Pedro Feliz. Advantage Yankees.

Shortstop:
While you would think this one would be close to a Howard/Texeira like wash, Jeter out-produced Jimmy Rollins in almost every area in 2009. He hit more, got on base more, hit better on the road and had a better second half of the season. Meanwhile, he is hitting .297 this October, and getting on-base at a clip of .435. Rollins, after posting an abysmal .296 OBP during the regular season, has been even worse this October, getting on at a rate of just .279. Unacceptable. Jeter’s still the man, and he still owns October. Advantage Yankees.

Catcher:
Jorge Posada is clearly a better catcher than Carlos Ruiz. He has been a premier hitting backstop for nearly 15 seasons, while Ruiz is a career .246 hitter. This postseason, though, Ruiz is stinging the ball to a tune of .346, and Posada is batting just .258. Normally, this wouldn’t be enough to give the Phils the edge. However, Posada is primed to sit out two games of a potential seven game series when A.J. Burnett pitches. This means that Jose Molina and his .217 2009 average will be dragging down the lineup in games that very well could be shootouts. Advantage Phillies.

Outfield:
One of the only categories where one team blows the other away, Philadelphia has three All-Star outfielders while the Yankees have three place holders for future free agent signees. Despite a $200 million opening day payroll, the Yanks had an outfield, Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher, that combined to hit “just” .269 with 66 home runs and 232 RBI. Admittedly not bad, but outpaced by Philadelphia’s .278/80/254.

Where the Yankees’ shoe-string outfield really comes into focus, however, is these playoffs. Their trio is hitting just .229 with 2 home runs and ten RBI. Philadelphia’s trifecta of All-Stars, meanwhile, is batting .293 with an amazing nine home runs and 26 RBI.  Advantage Phillies.

Starting pitching:
Team aces Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia are a virtual wash after equally breathtaking October pitching (Lee 0.74 ERA in 24.1 innings, Sabathia 1.19 ERA in 22.2).

The same is true for their struggling number twos, A.J. Burnett and Cole Hamels. Although, while Burnett has been wild, he’s limited the damage. His pedestrian 4.42 ERA looks Koufax-esque next to Hamels’ 6.75.

Meanwhile, the wily veterans that comprise the teams number threes are stunningly equal, as well. Andy Pettitte has a 2.37 ERA in 19 innings this postseason, while Pedro Martinez threw seven scoreless in his one start. Pedro has a 2.95 career ERA in New York, but Pettitte is the postseason’s all-time winningest pitcher.

If either team opts for a fourth starter, Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ of the Phils are both vastly better options than Chad Gaudin. Still, Burnett’s edge over Hamels makes it . . . Advantage Yankees.

Bullpen:
Perhaps the Yankees’ biggest advantage, though a reformed Brad Lidge and Happ and Blanton in the ‘pen have narrowed the gap between the two teams from a canyon to a gulf. Brett Myers could be an interesting wildcard, as well. But, Mariano Rivera equals . . . Advantage Yankees.

Overall:
If the Phillies do not crumble once they stare across the field at those pinstripes, like Minnesota and Los Angeles did, this should be a relatively easy series for them. They are a better all-around club, and the defending world champions. With four of the potential seven games coming in New York’s little house of horrors, though, anything can happen.

Still, if things shake out the way they should on paper, the Phillies should be the first National League repeat champions since the Reds in 1975-76. After not dropping more than one game in any of their past five playoff series, it will happen here, but not to the tune of defeat.

Phillies in six.

–Patrick Daugherty, Red Editorial Staff

You could see it on his face and read it on his lips.

“This is mine, this is mine,” Angels starter John Lackey told his manager, Mike Sciosca, as he made a move to the bullpen in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs.

Lackey, staked to an early lead thanks to the Halos four-run first, had until then been hurling a gem, striking out seven Yankee hitters, allowing no runs and scattering just six hits over his six and two-thirds innings of work.

The seventh started harmlessly enough for Lackey with Nick Swisher flying out yet again to continue his miserable postseason hitting. Up next was Melky Cabrera who smacked a solid double and then came the problems.

A very questionable ball four call from home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth gave Jorge Posada a free pass and then Lackey walked the bases loaded with Johnny Damon up. Out came Sciosca and out went Lackey, despite Mark Teixeira and his inability to hit with runners in position this postseason as his one previous RBI stood testament to. Lackey had even sent down Tex on strikes once already.

But in came relief pitcher Darren Oliver and seven pitches, one intentional walk and another pitching change later and the Angels found themselves in a 6-4 hole in the late innings of a deciding game. Not surprisingly, Lackey left the dugout disgusted and hit the showers.

Then, with no rally monkey in sight (although there was a drunk guy falling in the water display in the outfield), the Halos did something they had yet to do this series: answer a Yankees rally.

In their half of the seventh, Jeff Mathis (yes, him again) led things off with a single–his sixth straight hit this postseason. Erick Aybar walked next, prompting Yankees manager Joe Girardi to bring in reliever Damaso Marte. Chone Figgins laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt moving the runners up before former Yankee Bobby Abreau grounded out to first, scoring Mathis.

Girardi then brought in reliever Phil Hughes in yet another bullpen decision which ultimately backfired as Hughes walked Torii Hunter, gave up a game-tying single to Vladimir Guerrero and a game-leading single to Kendry Morales, before finally striking out Maicer Izturis to retire the side.

By then it was too late.  The Angels held on to win 7-6 and force a Game 6 Saturday in New York.

Now, the Yankees still lead the series 3-2 and should still win, especially with the series shifting back to the Bronx. But I imagine on the plane ride back home Yankee veterans like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter had to have the 2004 ALCS in their heads, you know, the one they lost despite holding a three-game lead over Boston.

If the Yankees want to avoid a repeat epic collapse, my advice is this: take a page from the Washington Redskins playbook. The front office in D.C. took away play calling duties from head coach Jim Zorn and I can think of at least one manager who needs his bullpen decisions stripped from him.

Steinbrenner, are you listening?

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

As the Los Angeles Dodgers stare down elimination tonight, it’s not without a multitude of reasons.

Their young ace, Clayton Kershaw, got tattooed in a big game again. Their young fireballing closer, Jonathan Broxton, couldn’t get it done on the road (again). Their young lineup went two straight games without an extra base hit. Heck, you could probably just say the whole team is young and still trying to figure out how to win big games not on the West Coast.

No one would even blame them if they conceded that the Phillies are just plain better than they are (they are).

But if we are going to play the blame game (we are), there’s one person more responsible than anyone else: manager Joe Torre.

Torre the manager has always garnered mixed reactions from baseball fans. On one hand, he’s Joe Torre: manager of 13 straight playoff teams.

On the other, he’s Joe Torre: the manager who has been gifted 13 straight playoff appearances by astonishing payrolls and “push play” teams.

The reality, as always, likely lies somewhere in between the two extremes.

But not in these playoffs. Torre has simply been flat out bad.

Even worse, he’s been disloyal.

There’s something to be said for a manager or a team that will do anything to win. Loyalty is, of course, important too, but loyalty can cost you ballgames. Joe Torre isn’t a stickler for loyalty anymore. After all, he’s 69 years old and has already said that next season will be his last.

If Joe Torre managed the Phillies this season, there is no doubt that Brad Lidge would have been stripped of his closer duties and the Phillies would have won the division by five or six extra games.

But Charlie Manuel manages the Phillies, and Lidge (somehow) kept his job and is saving games again. It wasn’t smart, but it was “right.” In this case doing the “right” thing paid off.

Again, Torre isn’t a stickler for that these days.

That’s why Vicente Padilla and Hiroki Kuroda are both starting games over Chad Billingsley (a 2009 All-Star). It’s why Ronnie Belliard is starting at second base over another 2009 All-Star, Orlando Hudson. It’s why an injured Kuroda got bombed while Billingsley came in from the bullpen to clean up the mess.

Torre gambled that he could win in the playoffs without the horses that got him there, that he could go with the “hot hand” so to speak. Padilla has paid off to the tune of a 0.63 ERA in 14 innings, and Belliard has hit well.

But at what cost? The Dodgers have looked completely overmatched against the Phillies. Could it be partly because the heart-and-soul of the team, Hudson, has wallowed on the bench, while, along with Kershaw, the face of the franchise, Billgingsley, has stagnated in the bullpen? Surely Torre’s Judas act against two of the biggest reasons they are in this position in the first place has not gone unnoticed in the Dodger clubhouse (well maybe by Manny).

But Torre isn’t just disloyal: he can also be asinine. Take for instance his total overexposure and overworking of the fireballers in his bullpen.

The Dodgers played 60 games after they acquired George Sherrill on July 30. He pitched in 30 of them. In those 30 games, he posted a 0.65 ERA. Now anyone who has ever watched Sherrill pitch knows he is not a 0.65 pitcher. He’s much closer to the 3.34 ERA he’s accrued in his career–not awful for a reliever, but by no means dominating. This didn’t phase Torre, however. He kept trotting him out there, assuming each appearance wouldn’t be the one where he came back down to earth, before he finally got bombed in two straight NLCS games. Playoff ERA? 9.00.

Broxton, meanwhile, made 28 appearances of his own after Sherrill arrived. This is despite the fact that Sherrill was supposed to help limit his workload as he dealt with a chronic toe injury down the stretch (for perspective, Mariano Rivera appeared 23 times after July 30, Jonathan Papelbon, 21).

Again, fumes, meet Jonathan Broxton. Playoff ERA? 4.05.

Now the Dodgers are down to their final game. One of their carpetbaggers, Padilla, will be making the start. Maybe he’ll win it for Torre, or maybe he’ll lose it for karma. Either way, you can’t say Joe, at once both a legend and a backstabber, didn’t have it coming.

–Patrick Daugherty, Red Editorial Staff

Now don’t get me wrong when I say this because I firmly believe that managing a professional baseball team could be one of the most difficult jobs in sports, but of the thirty managing jobs in the majors, managing the Yankees has to be one of the easier assignments.

Ok, sure, you have to contend with the bloodthirsty New York media and the equally vicious Mr. Steinbrenner, but with how bad the Mets were this year the Yanks were a blessing for the media.  As for ol’ George, well, he just isn’t scary anymore.

Not to mention the All-Stars, legends and certain Hall of Famers you have falling out of your pockets and the no-glass-ceiling payroll you get every year. And you’re in the AL, which means you get a DH, you don’t even have to think about your pitcher hitting!

So why did Yankees skipper, Joe Girardi, make the job look so hard in last night’s Game 3 in Anaheim?

Game 3 was, like its predecessor, an extra-inning affair, but unlike Game 2 the Yankees came out on the losing end and one of the main reasons why is Girardi’s late inning managerial decisions.

In the 10th inning with the bases loaded and the game knotted at four, Girardi replaced left-fielder Johnny Damon with designated hitter Jerry Hairston Jr., citing Hairston’s better arm as his reasoning.

Fair enough, but really Joe . . . was Hairston going to throw out the runner at third even if he was playing in and even if the runner was the slow-footed Bobby Abreau? We’ll never know since the Yankees collected two outs without a ball hit to left.

What the move effectively did is take the game’s best closer, Mariano Rivera, out of the game after just 17 pitches and working on two days rest. That’s because if you move your DH to a defensive position your pitcher then must hit.

With the DH spot due up third in the 11th inning, Girardi took Rivera out and pinch-hit Francisco Cervelli who must’ve thought he was a pitcher as he promptly struck out.

So now you’re in the 11th inning of a tied playoff game on the road and your best late inning pitcher is out of the game. So, Girardi turned right-handed reliever David Robertson who retired the first two batters no problem.

Then, for reasons only Joe Girardi himself knows, he pulled Robertson for another righty, Alfredo Aceves, despite the next two hitters due up for the Angels, Howard Kendrick and Jeff Mathis, both bat right-handed.

Kendrick ripped a single, adding to his triple and homer already on the day, then catcher Jeff Mathis launched a double to deep left-center, scoring Kendrick, game over.

In Girardi’s defense, who’d ever heard of Jeff Mathis before last night? But it doesn’t explain the bizarre decisions Girardi made.

Regardless, with ace C.C. Sabathia on the mound tonight the Yanks should rebound, win tonight, win the series and move on to their first World Series appearance in eight years, but it won’t be due a “well managed ball-club.”

Sorry Joe.

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

On the other side of the coin the ALCS, which begins tonight in New York, features the league’s two best records going head-to-head for the pennant and an extended stay in October.

Yankees-Angels

What more can one say about this Yankees team that they haven’t already said themselves on the field this season?

After their predictable slow start to the season, the bombers went on a tear giving them their fourth 100+ win season in this decade.

They opened up a new stadium with the majors’ best home record of 57-24, tying the record for most wins to open a new park set by the Red Sox in Fenway way back in 1912.

They set a franchise record for homeruns in a season with 244, out-blasting their nearest competitors, the Phillies and the Rangers, by 20, hit the most homers at home and had five players with at least 25 homers, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira. Add Johnny Damon’s 24 and Jorge Posada’s 22 and they have seven players with at least 20.

A-Rod seems to have exorcised his postseason demons. Coming into this October, A-Rod had only one RBI in his previous 16 postseason at-bats. After his 11 at-bats in the three-game sweep of the Twins, he has four runs off five hits with six RBIs and two homers, including a game-tying homerun in the seventh inning of Game 3 off former Yankee Carl Pavano.

But the outlandish offensive numbers put up by this Yankees team is really only a third of the story.

On the field the Yanks committed just 86 errors (fifth best in the league) and fielded at a .985 percentage, ranking among the top five.

And on the mound New York has starred a trio of seemingly untouchable starters and anchors their bullpen with the near-mythic Mariano Rivera.

Game 1 starter C.C. Sabathia put up a career-tying 19 wins while striking out 197 batters in his bid for a second Cy Young, A.J. Burnett came over and gave the Yanks 13 wins, while the venerable Andy Pettitte posted 14 wins.

All this should add up to the Yankees breezing their way into their first World Series appearance since the 2001 series with the D-Backs.

One problem standing in their way is the Angels and New York’s inability to beat them in the postseason. The Angels have twice sent the Yankees home early in October in the last eight years.

The Yankees and Angels split their 10 regular season games this year which bodes well for a competitive ALCS, but if you ask me, the only real obstacle standing in the Bronx Bombers way of a return to the Fall Classic is the weather predicted for Games 1 and 2.

My prediction: Yankees in five.

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

Six months, 162 (or 163) games and four half-hearted division series later and baseball has slimmed down from 30 teams to just four.

And while some may gripe about the parity of baseball, or lack thereof, as the four remaining teams qualify as the usual suspects, they are also (and have been) the best in the game.

So let’s look at the matchups, starting with the NLCS beginning tonight in Los Angeles.

Dodgers-Phillies

The Dodgers take the field again tonight, after being off since last Saturday, with youngster Clayton Kershaw taking on Cole Hamels and the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies in a rematch of last year’s NLCS; a series the Phils won 4-1.

The Dodgers limped into October, winning the division on the last weekend of the season over the Rockies, but seemed to have picked up some of that early season momentum that propelled them to a huge early lead in the West after sweeping the Cardinals in the NLDS.

Los Angeles’s outfield has been leading the way offensively combining for 12 hits, seven RBIs and three homers in their three games with St. Louis. Oddly enough, Manny Ramirez, all-time postseason leader in homers with 25, has yet to go yard this season.

The Phillies have also had hot bats of late. In their four games with Colorado, Ryan Howard knocked a team-high six runs with a .375 average, Chase Utley hit .429 with a homerun, Jayson Werth went deep twice and hit .357 and the flyin’ Hawaiian Shane Victorino had a .353 average with a homer and a double.

But all this offense aside this series should come down to pitching, and here the Dodgers have the advantage.

Sure, Philly’s throwing last year’s World Series MVP Hamels tonight and will likely go with veteran Pedro Martinez and last year’s AL Cy Young Cliff Lee for games two and three, but Hamels isn’t the same pitcher as last year, Pedro is, let’s face it, old and Cliff Lee, okay Cliff Lee’s good with one complete game to his credit in his first postseason.

The Dodgers counter the with 21-year-old lefty Kershaw, Vicente Padilla, who threw a seven-inning scoreless gem in his start against St. Louis, and Hiroki Kuroda back from neck injury for games two and three.

Los Angeles’ real advantage on the mound though comes out of the bullpen. Over the season the Dodgers’ bullpen put up a league-leading 3.12 ERA, and in the series with the Cards, went 2-0 with a sparkling 1.86 ERA.
L.A. also made a key Trade Deadline pickup in reliever George Sherill, who along with Jonathan Broxton form a dominant one-two punch in the back of the pen which is a lot more than the Phils can say with Brad Lidge and his 11 blown saves anchoring their pen.

My prediction: Dodgers in six.

–Aaron Whitebread, Red Editorial Staff

After going 103-59 this season, six games better than any other team in baseball, the New York Yankees entered the playoffs as prohibitive favorites.

Not surprising, considering they spent more cash than any team in history last offseason, and all their big money add-ons did what they were supposed to this year.

CC Sabathia competed for the Cy Young while leading the American League in wins, Mark Teixeira crushed the ball while contending for the MVP award and A.J. Burnett struck out a ton of batters amidst his usual bevy of walks.

But we have been here before.

Since their last title in 2000, the Yankees have led all of baseball in wins three times (and the American League four times), but brought home zero titles.

Starting with Mariano Rivera’s blown save in game seven of the 2001 World Series, the reputation they had built as bulletproof October savants slowly dissipated.

After years of living charmed postseason lives, the breaks started going the other way. Instead of Derek Jeter making another improbable cut-off and assist like he did against Jason Giambi and the A’s in the 2001 ALDS, Dave Roberts of the Red Sox stole second base in the ninth inning of game four of the 2004 ALCS to ignite the greatest comeback of all time. Instead of a kid turning a Yankee fly ball into a home run at old Yankee Stadium, a bunch of bugs got inside Joba Chamberlain’s head in Cleveland. Instead of the Yankees winning games, they gave them away.

This just didn’t happen between 1996-2000, when the Yanks played some of the most dominant baseball ever.

But all of a sudden, after a nine year absence, there it was, that Yankee mystique, against the Twins last weekend.

The team that should never need a break because of all the money it spends was getting all of them again.

Nick Punto and Carlos Gomez senselessly overran bases to cost Minnesota critical runs, Joe Nathan blew his first playoff save since 2003 and umpire Phil Cuzzi even turned a leadoff Joe Mauer double into a scoreless Yankee inning (an extra inning, no less). None of these gaffes were things the Twins, a team lauded for playing the game “the right way,” usually did in 2009.

But they’re the sort of thing teams used to always do when they were staring across the field at those pinstripes.

After all the Minnesota miscues, it’s safe to say the Yankees and their 200-million dollar men are making their own luck again.

But they have one more obstacle to overcome before proving with finality that they are as good as their teams from the end of the last century.

While the Angels’ postseason failures against the Red Sox received a great deal of scrutiny as the playoffs began last week, the Yankees’ October struggles against the Angels have been almost as acute.

It was the Angles that finally snapped New York’s run of four straight AL pennants in 2002, and who then again dispatched them in the first round in 2005.

It we are really witnessing the rebirth of the Yankees dynasty, they’re going to need the ball to keep bouncing their way, as they are in for an incredibly tough series against an Angels squad that played them to a 5-5 draw in the regular season.

But if this team is as good as it appears, the ball will likely bounce accordingly.

The Angels will goof on the bases, strand runners in scoring position and make uncharacteristic fielding errors. Heck, maybe even Cuzzi will show up and forget which side of the foul pole is fair on a Torii Hunter home run.

Angels fans will whine and moan about the raw deal their team is getting while they lament the (stinkin’) Yankees getting all the luck. Only then will a wise observer point out that when you are as good as the Yankees are (and when you spend as much money), you make your own luck–luck that wins championships.

–Patrick Daugherty, Red Editorial Staff