Houston...we have a fucking problem here on the shores of Lake Erie. Despite the fact the Tribe finished the season tied for the MLB’s best record, the national media (as well as Las Vegas) has once again piled onto the Yankees bandwagon as their selection to win the series and likely advance even further. Apparently, baseball’s knights of the keyboard do not have the most lucid memories when it comes to learning from recent history.
Not surprisingly, the fans of Cleveland are once again taking the snub pretty hard. After all, The Indians have home the field advantage in the five game series as well as having the two best starting pitchers in the series. If I recall correctly, great starting pitching does indeed still, more times than not, knockdown the best of line ups.
You don’t buy my bullshit? Look at the Yankees recent history.
Ever since baseball’s media darlings won their last World Series in 2000, the payroll has swelled up to epic proportions with a focus on adding big bats and aging pitching. This change in philosophy from the pitching rich (both rotation and bullpen) and blue collared position players of the 90’s to this current crop has come to backfire time and time again in the post season. The Yanks of the new millennium have, for the most part, been built to win in the regular season and go down with a whimper in the playoffs.
The Yankee fans enjoy blaming their spoiled drought of the franchise’s recent post-season struggles on the shoulders of Alex Rodriguez. With no runs batted in to show for A-Rod’s past fifty-seven playoff at bats this can seem plausible, but in a line-up that has been alleged to be among the best in the modern era that theory shouldn’t hold too much weight. This is a lineup that features countless all-stars after all, but often times playoff pitching staffs can neutralize even the best of lineups in a hurry.
The Yankees’ real post season problem has been their pitching depth and has been for years now. For the most part, I find this year’s staff not much different. Sure they have nineteen game winner Ching Mang-Wang (who draws C.C. Sabathia in his first start by the way) for an ace, but after that it’s the ancient Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens. I have my doubts whether these two prehistoric six inning starters can hold up in this series both of whom at this point in their careers could both double for any of the cast from the film Space Cowboys next to Clint Eastwood and I doubt Stuart Scott’s crazy eye would even notice.
Not pictured: Roger Clemens and Andy PettitteThey do however have one pitcher the Indians will be very concerned about. It is rookie set-up man Joba Chamberlain and his 100 M.P.H. heater. This rotund flamethrower has actually filled a void the Yankees have lacked for the last several years…a legitimate intimidator to set up the veteran future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera. With Joba, Yankees manager Joe Torre can now resist the urge to use Rivera for more than in inning at a time this series which was a practice Torre often abused in recent history with Rivera.
He may sweat cooking oil and defecate heavy doses of lard, but Joba the Hutt is clearly has the potential to set himself up to be this post season’s Joel Zumaya.
Is this enough for the Yankees to take care of Wahoo nation? I wouldn’t bet on it. The only game I can realistically see New York winning is if the Yanks get to potentially face Paul Byrd (aka the Yankees personal Wahoo pitching machine of ’07) in game four. The other starting pitching match ups favor the Indians.
The Indians have the league’s best starting rotation with Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd. Sabathia and Carmona are both legitmate Cy Young candidates and both Westbrook and Byrd are capable “innings eaters” who can keep a strong bullpen from wearing out. This is a pitching staff that seems built, for the most part, for playoff baseball.
There is however one major concern for the Indians in this series and it may be a whopper. It is, of course, their closer Joe Borowski. Joe finished the season on a down note with two blown saves in the final week and also still has nightmares still from what the damage Yankees did to him this season. Ultimately, the fate of this series may indeed rest on his shoulders. Then again, Detroit had the same worries with Todd Jones last year and ended up in the World Series while beating the Yankees along the way.
Also, don’t let the fact that the Yankees swept the Tribe 6-0 this year fool you. They haven’t played each other in about 3 months and the Indians are a much better team in terms of both pitching, defense, and runs scored. Oh yea, Tribe ace C.C. Sabathia didn’t have a chance to pitch against them.
Oh, and a final note…the pressure from both the fans and media is more intense on the Yankees than ever to win. The players will be feeling it as well as Yankees manager Joe Torre. Its times like these that sometimes it pays to be the underdog with less pressure even if you happen to be the team who tied for baseball’s best record this year.
Prediction: Tribe in five with the home teams winning each game.
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2007/10/bring-on-yanks-but-not-peace-pipe.html