ALCS Preview: Angels @ Yankees
Posted by Antonio Antenucci on October 16, 2009
In my eyes, this is a match-up of the two best teams in all of baseball. These two teams are very evenly match and this should be a tough fought series going the distance (Though, I did same the same about the BOS-LAA series). Lousy weather this weekend could push this series back a few days, even to Monday night. Hopefully, they will be able to get the games in or the World Series might stretch into mid-November.
The Angels’ pitching staff needs to be very good this series against the best offense in the game. Lackey and Weaver need to keep up their great pitching. This series is why the Angels picked up Kazmir, for the way he pitches against the Red Sox and Yankees, though he didn’t look very good against the Sox. Joe Saunders pitching performance could be big this series. The bullpen was solid, but Fuentes doesn’t instill too much confidence in me.
The offense was productive in the ALDS, they hit well, got on base, and stole bases. Abreu was incredible and I’m sure he will want to keep going against the team that refused to re-sign him.
The Yankees’ pitching was also very good in the ALDS. Sabbathia seemed to exercise some of his old playoff demons, Pettitte was old Pettitte, and Burnett pitched well, though he needs to cut down on his walks. The big question is who starts game 4? Sabbathia on short rest or Chad Gaudin? I go with Sabbathia since he hasn’t been overused this season and he’s one of the best aces in the game. Even though the bridge to Mariano Rivera has been shaky at times in the ALDS with Phil Hughes, Rivera has shown why he is still the best closer in the game.
The offense hasn’t played like the best offense of the year. Outside of Jeter, A-Rod and Posada, the team has struggled. Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon need to pick up the slack. I see A-Rod having a brilliant ALCS.
Angels Key To Success: Scott Kazmir- If he can rebound from his DS performance and pitch against the Yankees like he has in the past, this would mean big trouble for the Yankees.
Yankees Key To Success: CC Sabbathia- CC needs to be the ace in this series, he might pitch 3 times. That game 4 on short rest could be the biggest start of Sabbathia’s career.
Prediction: NYY Over LAA In 7 Games- I think this good be a classic ALCS going to the last game. Since I did have a dream last night of Nick Swisher having the game winning hit in Game 7, I’m going with the Yankees. It won’t be easy though and I wouldn’t be surprised if it went the other way.
