Interleague sets up World Series Rematches for Yankees

 

The Yankees are right in the middle of their interleague games this season, and are heading west to play the D-backs and Dodgers, two former World Series opponents.

Their last two series have been against the Mets and Phillies who were also in the World Series against the Bombers.

The Phillies and Yanks faced off last October, with the Yankees winning the series four games to two in their unprecedented 27th championship. But it was the Phillies who took the three game series this year.

The final installment of this years Subway Series brought the Mets to Yankee Stadium, and both teams had first place in sight heading into this weekend.

The Mets won the first game, but the Yankees would go on to win the final two games of the series, and thus take the top spot in the AL East away form the Rays.  

This was also one of the few years that the Subway Series has had a lot of meaning for both teams at the same time, probably one of the most anticipated match ups between the Mets and Yanks since the 2000 Fall Classic.

Now in first place the Yankees can look forward to a few more World Series rematches out west.

Starting tonight, the Bombers take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a rematch from that memorable 2001 World Series.

Arizona snapped the Yankees stretch of three straight World Series titles that year, but the regular season match ups between the two have been owned by the Yankees, who have won seven of the nine games against the   D-backs since 2001.

After their stop in the desert, the Bombers head to the west coast for a long awaited and much anticipated series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This is a big series for several reasons, most of which is that it will be the first the Yankees will take on their former skipper Joe Torre.

The Dodgers also have a legendary “Yankee killer” by the name of Manny Ramirez, who the Yankees are not that excited to see I’m sure.

But the history between the Yankees and Dodgers goes back much further than Joe Torre and Manny.

The two iconic franchises have met in the World Series 11 times, more than any other AL and NL team in the history of the Fall Classic. 

Their first meeting was in 1941, while the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, and the Yankees took the series four games to one. 

In fact the Yanks won the first five World Series match ups between the two, it wasn’t until 1955 that the Dodgers beat the Yankees.

Don Larsen threw the only no-hitter in postseason history against the Dodgers in 1956, and the Yankees won the title in seven games.

The Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958, and swept the aging Yankees for the 1963 World Series crown behind the strong pitching of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

The rivalry was renewed in the 1977 Fall Classic, the Dodgers looked like they were going to win it, but Reggie Jackson sealed the deal with his three home runs in game six, thus earning him the nickname Mr. October.

The Yanks beat L.A. again in ’78, and the Yankees had won back to back titles for the first time since since 1961 and ’62.

The Dodgers finally got their revenge in 1981 beating the Yankees four games to two in the last meeting between the rivals.

In 2004 the two met up in an interleague match up for the first time, and the Dodgers won two out of the three games in the most recent non-exhibition games between New York and L.A.

So the looming series out in Los Angeles has a lot more behind it than just the reunion between the Yankees and their former manager Joe Torre and nemesis Manny Ramirez.

Overall this years interleague slate for the Yankees has been interesting and challenging, and you can expect nothing less form the final two series against old NL rivals.

The NY Post Loves Talking Shit

If you are a baseball fan New York is a great place to be. We’ve got two teams to watch, a million channels to watch them on, and a million places to read about them. One of the more trashier places to read about them is in the NY Post.

Personally, I read the post everyday, but it is more because I read everything I can get my hands on and they do have some good writers. But occasionally they really show off their tabloid side and with the entire city anticipating the World Series they are running on all cylinders.

I don’t know if there are many Phillies fans reading the New York paper, but if they are they must be upset with all of the trash talking that is coming from their pages. Here are some of the juicier quotes:

“The Yankees are going to make Philly cream cheese out of them,’ said Tommy Bayoikos, 44, of Manhattan. “Philly fans are a bunch of whiners and should learn how to dress. They should try reading GQ.”

“Bleacher Bums get a bad rap,” said Tanner McLoud, 42, of Long Island. “But if you’ve ever been to the old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, you’d realize just how much worse Phillies fans are. You can’t go to a game without getting booze thrown at you.”

“I don’t have hate for Philly exactly – they are like our red-headed stepchild,” said Michael Stewart. “It’s like a nothing city. It’s just insignificant in comparison to New York.”

“I briefly lived in Philadelphia and I couldn’t wait to get out,” said Laura Nidelle now of Brooklyn. “Their fans are whiners, the food is lousy and there is nothing to do. New York is about being on top, no excuses – just like the Yankees.”

“The big meal there is a steak with cheese and onions on a hero, but they don’t even call it a hero. It’s a hoagie. What the hell is a hoagie?” said Ron Montclane.

“Their most famous athlete is Rocky, and he’s fictional,” said Alex Rusu, 23.

“Their stadium had a jail cell for rowdy fans because they like throwing stuff at people,” said Laura Hall, 35, of the Bronx.

On the Philly Phanatic: “Mr. Met is even better than that – and Mr. Met is retarded,” said Patrick O’Neill, 22, of the Bronx.

Harsh stuff from the Post. All of these are fan quotes, but they’ve picked and chosen some pretty harsh ones.

A Quick Look at the Phillies Roster

Earlier today I wrote a post about the Yankees and their roster breakdown and now I want to go through and take a quick look at the Phillies roster and how it has been constructed.

Here is the Phillies’ roster and how it has been constructed:

Draft picks (6): Cole Hamels, JA Happ, Ryan Madson, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley.
Amateur free agents (2): Antonio Bastardo, Carlos Ruiz.
Trades (7): Joe Blanton, Scott Eyre, Cliff Lee, Brad Lidge, Eric Bruntlett, Ben Francisco, Matt Stairs.
Free agents (9): Chad Durbin, Pedro Martinez, Chan Ho Park, Paul Bako, Miguel Cairo, Greg Dobbs (waivers), Pedro Feliz, Raul Ibanez, Jayson Werth.
Rule 5 draft (1): Shane Victorino.

Taking a quick look at this information makes me feel like the Phillies have done an excellent job in the front end of the amateur draft. Hamels, Howard, Rollins, and Utley are probably the four biggest players on this team with maybe the exception of Lee. Not only are they big players for the Phils, but they would be huge players on any team.

The Phillies have done a very good job in the early rounds of the draft, but have done a poor job in the later rounds and they have been forced to use free agents as a way to supplement not having any sleeper draft picks, guys who were taken in later rounds but contributed to this team. Most of their free agents are the mediocre veteran kind so they haven’t had to spend a ton on them and thus they escape the, ‘you bought your championship’ argument, but nine free agents is the bulk of the way they’ve built their team.

A couple of smart trades is what has made this a very powerful team. Obviously Cliff Lee was huge this season. He gave them an ace at the front of the rotation and helped distinguish them from the rest of the National League. The Joe Blanton trade was a big one for them too. No he isn’t the big starter Lee is, but he is a horse, a guy who goes out there every week and eats up innings and keeps the Phillies in games. Taking a risk on Lidge has also, mostly, paid off for them, especially in 2008.

A few things to note, Victorino came over as a rule 5 draft pick. The rule 5 draft is a system MLB set up so that teams can’t stockpile players in their minor league system that would otherwise be in the majors with other teams. Usually these guys are fringe players though and teams just take a chance on them because there isn’t much risk in selecting a guy this way. It is very rare to get a player worth much though as team usually call them up themselves or protect valuable players.

Guys like Victorino and Johan Santana are exceptions to the rule and it has been a really big move for the Phillies since they took a chance on Victorino. It has worked out for them in a major way whereas they otherwise would have had to sign a veteran and probably overpaid player to man center field for them. This way they get a guy in his prime and usually at less money. That is a big help when constructing your team.

Phillies Win the Pennant

The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in game five of the NLCS to win the NL Pennant and they will play the winner of the ALCS (Yankees up 3-1) in the World Series.

If the Yankees are the team that eventually goes on to play them they’ll have their hands quite full. The Phillies won the championship last season and are probably even better this season especially now that Brad Lidge seems to have figured out how to pitch again.

Lidge is not the scary part of that team though. Ryan Howard, who by the way ended his post season RBI streak at eight, is probably their most lethal weapon. If it were Howard alone that would be scary enough, but when you take into consideration that they also have Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Raul Ibanez makes them the toughest lineup in the NL.

Those players alone could probably give you one nasty World Series contender, but throw two of the top lefties in the game in there, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, and they have a 1-2 combination that could be the best in baseball and they certainly have the fire power to win back-to-back.

So basically, even if the Yankees beat the Angels, which is certainly not guaranteed and no easy task, they still have their work cut out for them.