This World Series is too much. I don’t wanna see another Phillies win when I know this is the best team we’ve had in the past 10 years. I know this bullpen is capable of shutting down their offense, not just Mo. The bats are there but the pitching needs to step up a tad, and we got Big Game Andy going tonight. I don’t know what to talk about except we are Pedro’s daddy and I expect that we give him a big *** spanking tonight. I see him going 5 2/3 innings, giving up 3 or 4 runs. As for Pettite, I think he’s gonna have a great game. 6 1/3 of one run ball, scattering 9 hits and 6 K’s. My hitter is gonna be on the bats of Matsui, Jeter and A-Rod. Matsui maybe a 1-3 line with a double, 2 RBI. Jeter is gonna go deep, and A-Rod will have a HUGE hit tonight, if they actually pitch to him. It might even be a walk-off. Anyway, I wanna watch this thing get underway, GO YANKEES! BRING IT HOME TONIGHT! 27 RINGS

Now, tonight was how the Yankees play baseball. Home runs, hit and runs, electric performance pitching, and Mariano finishing it off. Burnett took all the critics’ pens and shoved them where the sun don’t shine with seven great innings of one run ball, and 9 K’s for the icing on the cake. Then Tex and Matsui broke out the lumber with some deep shots off Pedro, who was good but not good enough. Despite the typical umpiring getting in the way, we eked out a 3-1 victory to knot up the Fall Classic going into Philly.

Now I believe the Phillies have Hamels and then either Happ or Blanton going in Game 3 and 4. We have Pettite on Saturday night and I feel confident he can throw a big game for us. Hamels has been shaky and I see him shaping up but still not matching Big Game Andy on the road. Girardi’s call to get six outs from Rivera was harmless in that it worked and the day off will leave Mo rearing to go again. But Hughes needs to step up and Robertson needs to stay in the strike zone more often, Bruney shouldn’t even be on the roster missing the first two rounds. It’s a surprise Marte has been good thus far. They just need to pitch confidently instead of letting the adrenaline and pressure break them.

I might post some more tomorrow (or to be smarta$$, later today). Until then, we’re still Pedro’s daddy =]

I have to tip my hat to Cliff Lee and Chase Utley for dominating us last night in Game 1. CC made two mistakes and he paid for it, that’s what a good team does. Cliff Lee was so effective over the first four innings that later on he was missing his spots, leaving pitches over the plate but still had the Yankees guessing and missing. Of course, his hat was so brown he might as well have brought a whole bat out to the mount for pine tar. The whole offense crapped out outside of Jeter’s three hit night. Matsui should have stayed close to first when he saw Rolins could have caught that ball – and he did – but instead we got doubled up and killed any chance of a rally. Hughes needs to start throwing strikes badly, he faced two batters and walked both? You cannot do that ever, let alone the World Series. He prefers to start an inning but all he did was put the game out of reach. Should it still have been 2-1, Lidge might have been in the 9th instead, nothing against how well he’s done in the postseason but we rallied off Nathan and Fuentes already.

Tonight is a huge game but we can’t play like there’s pressure on us. Burnett is going against Pedro, and either of them will be bombed or pitch like aces.We’ll have to see what happens: I predict Cano or Tex having a big game.

Think, before you speak. A wise phrase we’ve all heard from our elders.

Yeah, like I listen to that. And neither does Jimmy Rollins. It’s one thing to predict winning the division in Spring Training. You have 162 games after that training month to get your crap together. To call a five game World Series in favor of your team on Game 1’s eve sounds more like arrogance than confidence if you ask me. You’re not playing 15-20 different teams over six months. You get a week of hardball pitting the best two teams in Major League Baseball. The offensive juggernaut that I’ve rooted for all year has been relatively classy about their opponent, this doesn’t cut me deeply but if A-Rod said something like this, the headline would be “A-Rod loves attention; Calls for Yankee victory in 5.” Rollins is a good ballplayer and it will be a series to remember. Mariano put it nicely when he was asked for a response to Jimmy:

Seriously, the “hype” is getting ridiculous. The Turnpike Series? The Liberty Series? It’s the goddamn World Series, you can’t make some stupid pun that only worked for the 2000 Yankees vs. Mets “Subway Series”, or the could have been “Freeway Series” with the Angels and Dodgers. I’m getting sick of the MLB articles once again, dissecting every angle of the series – twice. I understand some people have to write these to make their living but cut the off days. The Yankees clinched their 1996 Series on October 26, 1996 over the Braves. (Didn’t google it :P) This World Series doesn’t even begin until tomorrow, which would be October 28th. Who wants to see baseball in November? Every game is going to be ice cold now, it’s all on the East Coast and nowhere near sunny Florida. I just wanna see my Yanks play ball, I’ve got my faith in the team but the Phillies are a hell of a team too. They match up eye to eye better than any team we’ve faced yet. Lee and CC will be one of those matchups for the ages, if you haven’t heard forty times yet. Somehow Utley and Rollins are considered better than Jeter and Cano though. Funny. But there aren’t too many weak outs in that lineup, and I think Swisher could cause a huge problem if he doesn’t hit in this series.

BRING ON THE BASEBALL!!!!

Finally, the stage is set again. The Yankees have clinched a trip to the World Series. Everyone said we couldn’t beat the Angels over and over. Well, we did. It took 6 nerve wracking games but the job was done. And what better way than Andy Pettitte turning in an awesome start and watching Mo fire two innings to end the Halo’s season and extend ours. That strikeout pumped me up, and the Stadium seemed to be shaking when the cameras were trying to focus on the field. For the first time in six years we got back to the big stage – and we can win it for the first time in nine. 4 more wins can put a hell of a stamp on the first year of this new stadium. And I think they’ve got the tools to do so in convincing fashion.

Pretty much every year after 2004 you couldn’t gurantee anything before it was played out, and I had my doubts about our pitching or the few holes in our lineup since. But this year, as October approached I had that gut feeling we were gonna go all the way. Once we overmatched Boston the second half of the year, we broke even with the Angels in the season series where we usually get blown to bits, our bullpen wasn’t constantly faltering, I felt like something great was in the works.

It would be the storybook ending for the “old guard” of Yankees, with Jeter, Pettitte, Mo, and Posada all heading towards what might be somewhat of a decline after this year. Pettitte is a free agent, Mariano is god-like but you never know when the magic will run out, Jorge’s skills are slowly fading and you can see it, and Jeter can hopefully keep up with a career year but at 35 you never know. A-Rod has now shown he can swing the stick when it counts, Tex hasn’t had the bat for the most part (but a clutch walk-off HR against the Twins and that bases-clearing triple against the Angels were huge) but his glove work has been beyond amazing. The guy never ceases to amaze you with that defense. That Gold Glove better be his.

Now, the Phillies are a huge obstacle. They have Cliff Lee, who very well could outduel even the red-hot CC Sabathia on any given day. Their offense is lethal as well, and Lidge is the only closer who hasn’t fallen apart this postseason besides Mariano. We’ll have to see how this World Series plays out, but as of now I take my Yanks in 5.

Why couldn’t we put them away? WHY? Burnett did a good job getting us off on the wrong foot, giving up 4 runs within the first 12 pitches of his outing. Just brilliant. Then of course the Yankees teased all of us by pounding Lackey and Co. for 6 runs in the seventh. Then a horrible combined outing by Hughes and Joba blew the lead and eventually the game. Give credit to Torii Hunter, Kendry Morales and Vlad Guerrero for getting the job done, but we sure made it easy with the bullpen. Game 5 should have been it. When Tex drove in those runs with the bases clearing double, I had a feeling this was the last game of the series. Even when Fuentes came in for the 9th I felt like we had it. Then the game landed in Nick Swisher’s lap. He was dumb enough for swinging at the first two pitches of that at-bat (Slap Tex in the face for also popping up on the first pitch he saw in the 9th). He looks like he’s trying to hit a six run homer every time and hurting himself. You gotta take it one step at a time, A-Rod cracked two singles in Game 1 to get those demons off his chest before the big bombs came in. At least we saw Mo stop the bleeding and show he’s still consistently dominant in October.

Like I said, this Angels team is determined. They felt like they had momentum coming off a 10-1 loss, let alone this roller coaster nail-biter. At least we head back to the Stadium, because when these tie games come down to the wire, we get our last licks which is where we thrive. I see Pettitte either going dominant or does nothing. Girardi needs to relax with this bullpen, he is wayyyyy too jumpy. Then again, Marte is nothing special so you never know when he’s gonna get lit up. This team is pesky and makes rallies out of nothing. And to people who question Scoscia’s move to have the hot hitting Mathis bunt, look where it went. Doesn’t matter if the guy was 6 for his last 6, he’s a career .200 hitter and you need to move runners late in the game. And Weaver coming in the 8th inning shutting us down? Took a page out of Joe’s book if you ask me (see Hughes, Phil). That will give him quite a confidence boost heading into Game 7 if it comes around.

I don’t know what to say about the Yankees right now, last night was a letdown. Swisher needs to come around because when the heart of the order starts a rally it comes down to him. It’s like a cleanup hitter at the bottom of the order, or at least he used to be.

Pettitte is my favorite current Yankee and if anyone is gonna carry them to the World Series Saturday night, it should be him.

I’d like to take a moment of sportsmanship and say congratulations to the Philadelphia for clinching the 2009 National League pennant. Ryan Howard is the face of a deadly lineup that either the Angels or Yankees will face in the Fall Classic. Cole Hamels has been a bit shaky but you never know when a sleeping giant may awake. Look at A-Rod’s sudden turnaround, or to stay on the same page, Brad Lidge’s October resurgence. This is a tough team and not one to play games with (except for baseball games of course : D).

Now back to my Bronx Bombers, tonight is a must win. Coming off the heels of a 10-1 rout with the team clicking on all cylinders, we need to put the nail in the coffin. The Angels have a lot of faith in their comeback ability, and there is little arguing that one of the greatest driving forces behind a team could be that they are playing for their fallen brother, Nick Adenhardt (may he rest in peace). And in the game of baseball, anything can happen. They already have confidence down 3-1, so we need to pile it on early because who knows what could happen if we don’t. Both teams have great lineups, rotations and bullpens, so we can’t make mistakes. The Angels won’t always be playing sloppy baseball.

I’ll be working late tonight, so I won’t be able to update on the game until midnight or so. I’d like to see what people think of this, shoot a comment or two. and GO YANKEES!

– Mike D

Last night the Bombers took it to the Angels early and never looked back on a 10-1 victory. And like I said last night, CC took the short rest postseason stats and shoved it where the sun don’t shine. 8 innings of one run ball after the same just Friday night? BEAUTIFUL. He is the man to beat in this postseason. Not to mention he got some support from the typical Alex Rodriguez, knocking his fifth homer of the postseason. He has a nifty .407 average to go along with that, but Sabathia will most likely lock up the ALCS MVP award. Hell, who cares, all I want is the ring.

I was glad to see Melky come around the corner last night, rackin’ up those 3 hits and 4 RBI. And Girardi finally used Gaudin, the guy has good stuff and needs to be trusted considering he made the postaseason roster, no? It’s not like we have the weak excuse for a bullpen we’ve been stuck with for the majority of the decade.

The postseason shows you how it takes stats and throws them out the window. A-Rod was labeled a choke artist, as well as Sabathia even though that was obviously the result of being burnt out by a bunch of whiny Brewers (just because they didn’t get the draft pick but got away with trying to trash his arm in September). Kazmir was the ultimate Yankee killer on the mound and he didn’t even see the fifth inning. Throw that it in with the idea that the Halos have had our number for more than a decade means nothing now, especially during the season as we stand nine innings away from our first World Series trip in 6 years. How crazy does that sound? I guess I got spoiled as a youngin’.

I love when MLB tries so ridiculously hard to come up with some articles too, they featured Jeter’s cough today. How brave of him to play through a cough. He dove into the stands on a pop-up and was in the lineup the next day. He jacked a walk-off home run at midnight on November 1st, the first to ever do so. But could this man muster the ability to fight a cold? We shall see tomorrow night.

And now, just now they decide the Angels need a way to stop A-Rod’s bat. Before the postseason the idea was to challenge him and pitch him inside….turns out they were just blabbering about his bread and butter pitches. I got an idea to stop him: walk him? I don’t know about you guys, but that stops a guy from hitting a double, a home run, etc. Not that I want this to happen, I love watching this guy shut up his critics.

Tomorrow’s starter is AJ Burnett. I wonder if Molina will start again. As long as he knows how many outs there are, he should be fine.

Let’s hope the Dodgers pull this comeback off so we can play some warm weather WS games =]

Alex Rodriguez must have stolen the late season awakeness from these umpires. Tim McClelland wasn’t even looking at Nick Swisher when he was tagging up from third base. COME ON, HOW DO YOU CALL THAT? It doesn’t sound good when you call the guy safe because you didn’t actually see whether he was there or not, but it’s a thousand times worse when you call him out and instant replay shows you were checkin’ out Torii Hunter in center. Not to mention the fact Cano was off third base by a foot when he got tagged on that weird rundown. I’ll take A-Rod’s revival however. Jesus Christ, 5 home runs in the playoffs this year? 8 straight games with an RBI? Now let’s see how many people get on his case for clutch hitting.

Oh yeah, where’s those stats about how guys can’t pitch in the playoffs on short rest? Where? Oh, up your A**! Sabathia is heading out for the 8th with a line of one run, five hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts. 92 pitches, 60 strikes and 32 balls. MAN, he can’t pitch on short rest can he…