To start, I just want to say that this Series could be the greatest pitching duel of my generation: Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis vs. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez
It is basically, old veterans who worked hard to get there vs. young studs taking over...
I'll come out and say it right now, I like to Giants to win the series and it is not because the Yanks lost to Texas.
I think the Giants pitching staff as a whole is a lot better than the Rangers, and I'll take a veteran closer in Brian Wilson over a rookie (Neftali Feliz) any day.
The pitching will probably determine the series because the over/under for the entire thing is probably about 13 because of the pitching. Lee will probably take game one because while Lincecum has been really good, Lee has been unstoppable. The guy had pinpoint control and absolutely wicked movement on his pitches.
Cain and Sanchez, I believe, are better than Wilson and Lewis. The Giants have had timely hitting and somehow have scored enough to win games. Five of the Giants post season wins have come when scoring three runs or less. The Rangers have yet to win a game when scoring that little.
Different players have risen to the top for San Fran, as Cody Ross caught fire against Philly pitching and had a great NLCS. Aubrey Huff is playing like he is in his 20s again, and "small ball" is proving to be a winning style of play.
I don't feel like talking too much about Texas, but I will praise their relentless and aggressive playing style. They run as much as they can, and Josh Hamilton can hit the crap out of the ball. Let it be known, if you walk him, Vlad and Cruz can also kill the ball.
Elvis Andrus will make a name for himself as one of the top young shortstops in the MLB in the World Series. Watch out for this kid.
Texas Rangers:Behind Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, this team was always going to score runs.The offensive addition of Vlad Guerrero has been a surprise, as he’s absolutely lit it up in Arlington this year.But what no one expected was the pitching to help out.Cliff Lee makes this team an instant World Series contender, with much thanks to the Angels for selling away the core of their team this past year and making way for a new face to emerge from the west.Welcome to the foray, Rangers.
Los Angeles Angels: Speaking of those Angels, Jered Weaver has given this club a chance to remain competitive for a lot longer than some (me) expected them to be this season.Mike Napoli is a stud behind the plate and with him leading up future young pitchers this will be a club that can still make threats even when in a rebuilding year.The loss of core players has definitely made an impact on the season, but this is a gritty club that has a bright future.Just not this season.
Oakland Athletics:At the start of the season I wrote that a healthy Ben Sheets made this an average team.Well, at their current record, I’d like to toot my own horn and say this is one of the few predictions I got right.They have a top order pitching staff, not that anyone who knows Billy Beane would expect any different.The team is still well of being strong, and the constant revolving door of characters that seem to take over this lineup makes it hard to get a feel for the direction of the club.This lineup needs pop, but with a few bats in the lineup they could make noise and play the spoiler role in this division.
Seattle Mariners:I hoped in this bandwagon and jumped off almost immediately.The Ken Griffey show was an awkward farewell, and was probably the most memorable part of the season for Seattle as well.The Cliff Lee trade was meant for a club looking to break through.All the Mariners did was break down.They couldn’t get Lee the run support, let alone any of their other starters, and have one of the worst records in the league because of it.King Felix and Ichiro haven’t gotten much mention this season, and this isn’t a fault of their own.Ichiro is still the best pure hitter of our generation, and will break 200 hits yet again this season.The lone bright spot in what’s otherwise a wash of a season.
A weekly feature on the good, the bad, and the ugly happening around the diamond
Single: Good for you Barry Zito.You get a single.Do you deserve this single after your past three years?No, you don’t “deserve it”.You were paid to do it, and for the first time in a long time you’re producing.But now that you are, it’s at an elite level again: 5-0, 1.49 ERA, curveball once again one of the strongest in the bigs.This is the Barry Zito we knew and loved.And while that $126 mill will forever be regretted by the Giants, you and Timmy have put together another set of absolutely vicious top of the order starters in the division.
Double: As in the ones coming off the bat of the middle of the Tigers order.If Verlander can get his act together and Dontrelle Willis or anyone else in that mess of a pitching staff get their act together, this is a potent lineup.Between Miguel Cabrerra, Austin Jackson, and Brandon Inge, this team has enough solid pieces to be able to give the Twins a run if they can get the help on top of the rotation.Until then, the middle of this tiger lineup will find itself clawing to stay in contention as the season wears on.
Triple:To the lead leader in the category, and a pleasantly not-awful team this season, Nyjer Morgan.The Nat’s have a winning record after the first month, a solid man in the leadoff order, and Stephen Strasburg is inching closer and closer to the rotation.With Livan Hernandez throwing like a 50 year old with a record of a man still in his prime, all’s unexpectedly well in the nation’s capital.
Home Run: On a team with Matt Kemp and Man-Ram patrolling the outfield, you’d think it would be easy to overlook Andre Ethier.But he’s making that quite difficult.In addition to leading the Dodgers in all three triple crown categories, he’s also either tied for the league lead or leading in the same for the entire National League.Ethier had a very respectable sluggers year last time around, but with 32 RBI’s through 31 games, the kid is playing out of his mind.
Strikin’ them out: With no offense to Will Ferrell, Francisco Liriano is on an absolute tear in the American League.An afterthought in the Twins organization after releasing Johan Santana, Liriano is having a bounce back year so far in an incredibly winnable division.As though the 4-1 record and 1.19 WHIP aren’t impressive enough on their own, Liriano also treated us to a dazzling 23 straight scoreless innings for a three week span to chop in with a sub 2.50 ERA.If Liriano keeps this pace up the Twins can be a real threat with him starting a series come playoff time.Johan who?
Popping Up: The Seattle Mariners went from being a trendy pick to take the division to the makings of another disappointing season.Cliff Lee is looking at a Zack Greinke scenario, all the stats but no W’s.King Felix and Lee are being absolutely robbed.As the Red Sox have demonstrated this season as well, the pitching and defense is swell, but not at the cost of no offensive production.There is no pop in that lineup, and in a year where the division looks to be one of the worst in baseball, there is no excuse for them not to turn this around soon.
Caught Looking:It was going to be the Rays, as they’ve absolutely torn through the first month of the season so far.But now they’re the ones looking, at a spot in the record books and at a whole bunch o’ pitches.Just a few months short of a year after being shown perfection by Mark Buehrle, they replicated the feat with a far less renown pitches, Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s.His season split isn’t that fantastic, but you have to take a note of perfection when the opportunity arises.The A’s have plenty of pitchers capable in the future of putting together these sorts of records, and it’s always a nice reminder to watch Moneyball at its best.Congrats Braden.
The Philadelphia Phillies have said they have reached an agreement on a 3-year deal worth upwards of $60 million. Oh, I forgot to mention that the deal is with Toronto Blue Jays all-star Roy Halladay. The deal would send Halladay to the Phillies for prospects and in the process the Phillies would send could-have-been World Series MVP Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners for prospects.
This is the kind of deal that baseball fanatics, such as myself, love to see in the offseason because baseball disappears for a few months. So it is nice to see the MLB making headlines in the middle of December. However, it is even better to see that a divisional foe of my Yankees got rid of its ace/Yankee killer. Halladay was always spectacular but especially against the Yankees so I am glad to see him cross over to the NL. However, it is not nice to see that the Phils dealt Cliff Lee, who was phenomenal against the Yanks in the World Series, to the Mariners who are in the AL. Now Seattle has King Felix to go along with Lee and if you as me, that is one of the best one-two punches in the majors.
The Phillies are also looking to sign outfielder-first baseman Ross Gload to add some depth to the team. However, a more notable action is their pursuit of Fernando Rodney or John Smoltz to bolster up their bullpen.
