Familiar foes among MLB's final four
We're one step away from the 105th World Series.
It's a big step, too.
Coming up now are a pair of League Championship Series that have Game 7, high drama, confrontation, history, intrigue, emotion, second-guessing, controversy, celebrity stargazing and serious frequent-flyer mileage written all over them.
The NLCS will be a rematch of Phillies vs. Dodgers, and a key difference this time is that the Dodgers have the home-field advantage starting with Game 1 Thursday at 8:07 p.m. ET in Los Angeles and televised by TBS.
The ALCS will begin with the Angels at the Yankees Friday at 7:57 p.m. ET on FOX (the same day the NLCS plays its Game 2 at 4:07 p.m. ET), and it will mark the first time those two teams have met in a best-of-seven series.
This figures to be a loud and long round, one that features the rare distinction of having the two teams with the best regular-season records in each respective league. The Yankees were 103-59 and the Angels 97-65. The Dodgers were 95-67 and the Phillies 93-69.
Don't be surprised to see Cole Hamels for the Phillies against Randy Wolf or Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers in the NLCS opener. Cliff Lee probably will not start for the Phillies until Game 3 because he just threw the NLDS clincher, and that means there also is a possibility of the Dodgers seeing him in a Game 7 if necessary.
Probables for the ALCS Game 1 are John Lackey for the Angels against CC Sabathia for the Yankees. A start has not been announced yet by the clubs or MLB.
All four clubs easily can make a case for why they should win on paper, in this round and in the Fall Classic. But the bottom line is this: You have to go through the defending champs to win the Commissioner's Trophy sometime in the first week of November.
In the Wild Card era, only the 1999-2000 Yankees accomplished what they'd done the previous season and won the World Series. Two defending champions returned to the Fall Classic and lost (the 2001 Yankees and 1996 Braves), one team lost in the League Championship Series (2008 Red Sox), three bowed out in the Division Series (2005 Red Sox, 2002 D-backs, 1997 Yankees) and five missed the postseason (2007 Cardinals, 2006 White Sox, 2004 Marlins, 2003 Angels and 1998 Marlins).
One of the most promising reasons for Phillies fans to believe is that probably their biggest concern all season long -- 2008 saves lock Brad Lidge turning into 2009 blown-saves leader (11). Lidge, however, was immune from all the closer frustration in the Division Series round. There were six blown saves, including a defining one in each series. Lidge, meanwhile, converted both of his save opportunities, including the clincher.
The last NL team to repeat was Cincinnati, which won its back-to-back titles under Sparky Anderson in 1975-76. On paper, the Phillies are even better than last year's champs. Raul Ibanez had a bigger season this year than departed Pat Burrell had during the 2008 title season, and Cliff Lee's acquisition has been a constant payoff.
"We really believe that we can do it," Lidge said. "We know that if we do, we can form -- I don't want to say legacy -- but some kind of pretty cool thing in this game. It's too early to say legacy, but I think we've got a lot of swagger on this team. The guys just don't want to be known as one-time World Series winners. They want to be in the same sentence as some of the great teams."
These are four "great teams" remaining in the postseason, and now it is time to see which two go on to Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 28 at either Angel Stadium or Yankee Stadium. Will we go the distance, or will it somehow be more sweeps?
They all have strengths and weaknesses, but you have to look a lot harder than usual to find those weaknesses in this particular LCS round. All four clubs have been labeled with a certain rap, only to debunk it in the Division Series. Consider:
Rap: The Phillies can't play small ball. Reality: They just did it against Colorado.
Rap: The Dodgers don't have starting pitching. Reality: They held their own against the Cy Young candidates, and Vicente Padilla was almost untouchable in the clincher.
Rap: Alex Rodriguez can't produce in the postseason. Reality: A-Rod homered twice in the Division Series to lift the Yanks past the Twins.
Rap: The Angels are just good enough to get into the playoffs. Reality: They just swept the Red Sox to end that hex and they are firing on all cylinders.
There are some remarkable storylines brewing as clubs prepare for off-day workouts leading up to the LCS openers. Consider just some of these:
The Angels can become the first team to knock the Yankees and Red Sox out of a single postseason, having already swept Boston.
A-Rod, Torii Hunter, Manny Ramirez and Ryan Howard are four big-time stars who are just waiting for big moments. Remember when Howard turned it on against the Rays in the last World Series? Ramirez finally caught fire at the end of the NLDS sweep of the Cardinals. Rodriguez and Hunter each had huge Division Series as well.
A Freeway Series is just eight combined victories away from being a reality. Never have both L.A. clubs each been a step away in the same postseason.
The Phillies could be forced to defend their trophy against the team with the best record in baseball, and once again without home-field advantage in a Fall Classic. A lot of people would love to see a Phillies-Yankees World Series, and that would be excluding every single Mets fan. What if it's Pedro vs. the Yankees again like old times?
What if it's Joe Torre and Don Mattingly against the Yankees in a mega-battle of the two biggest markets? And Manny thrown in for good measure? That would be interesting.
"The Yankees had their century," wrote Bill Shaikin in the Los Angeles Times, as the first of "10 reasons why America should be rooting for the Angels to beat the New York Yankees."
Will the Bronx Bombers repeat what Babe Ruth and the 1923 Bombers did and win it all in the first year for Yankee Stadium? Will the Dodgers win their first World Series since the Kirk Gibson days of 1988? Will the Angels or Phillies make it a pair of rings this decade?
It is all fodder for fun conversation. But starting Thursday and Friday, it will be time to play a pair of League Championship Series, and each has all the makings of a distance classic. Get used to Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Rafael Furcal and the Dodgers. Get used to Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and the Phillies. Get used to Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Derek Jeter and the Yankees. Get used to Chone Figgins, Kendry Morales, Brian Fuentes and the Angels.
They are the four teams left out of 30 that started the season. They are four explosive teams capable of making some history and a lot of noise. And now they are each just a step away from the prize -- a trip to the World Series.
"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work in a season that has been going up and down for us emotionally," Angels general manager Tony Reagins said after the clincher at Boston. "We've had some clubhouse leaders really step up and Mike Scioscia has been huge. And (owner) Arte Moreno has given me enough to work with and have fun and put this thing together."
Torre, baseball's winningest postseason manager, is back in the LCS round for the second straight year with the Dodgers. He has managed in that round every year this decade except for the three-year stretch from 2005-07. He'd like to move beyond it, naturally, and have a chance to restore winning ways to an elite franchise.
"Last year, it really was something thrust on us very quickly," Torre said. "Our goal coming in last year was to be six or seven over .500. These guys learned, and especially during Manny's absence, they can function. They are good players in their own right. Just getting to the postseason last year and beating the Cubs. And even getting beat [by the Phillies], there's still something to learn and something to take from that."
Veteran catcher Jorge Posada was on the New York clubs that lost twice to the Angels in best-of-five series. Now it will be a best-of-seven and a week or two filled with action and intrigue.
"It's going to come down to who is going to pitch best, who is going to hit in the clutch," Posada said. "You know, home-field advantage is going to help a little bit. I think that's the key to this series, having four games at home is going to change."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Pettitte eyes another playoff record
NEW YORK --- With an American League pennant-winning victory Sunday at home against the Angels, Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte could add another postseason individual record for most all-time series-clinching victories with five -- breaking a tie with Roger Clemens, Catfish Hunter and Dave Stewart.
In the process, he also would end a personal Game 6 hex.
Tied with John Smoltz as the all-time winningest pitcher in Major League Baseball postseason history, Pettitte is making his fourth career Game 6 start, and to date, he is 0-2 with a no-decision. The two losses proved costly and the no-decision wound up being a non-issue.
In 2001, the Yankees won those three unforgettable home games to take a 3-2 World Series lead over Arizona, and then the series moved back to Phoenix. It was all D-backs in a 15-2 rout, as Pettitte lasted just two innings, allowing six earned runs. The D-backs would win that subsequent Game 7 thriller.
The other two Game 6 starts were each in the 2003 postseason -- which marked the last time the Yankees got to the Fall Classic. Pettitte can get them back now.
In Game 6 of that classic AL Championship Series against the rival Red Sox, Pettitte had a no-decision. He went five innings, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, two walks while striking out five. The Yankees had a 6-4 lead when he left, adding the last run for him on Jorge Posada's solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. Jose Contreras took over for the sixth, and he and the bullpen broke down an inning later on the way to a 9-6 Boston triumph.
The Yankees, of course, overcame that no-decision a night later when Aaron Boone hit one into the night and gave the Bronx Bombers their 39th pennant.
In the World Series, Pettitte simply was outdueled by Florida's Josh Beckett, who was emerging onto the scene with a 2-0 clinching shutout. Pettitte went seven innings that night at Yankee Stadium, with six hits, two runs (one earned), three walks and seven strikeouts.
So out of those three Game 6 starts, one was a disaster on the mound and the other two, he might have won with a little more help.
On Sunday, the Yankees are counting on him breaking through.
"I think Andy's here for a reason," Posada said of his old friend and fellow postseason warrior. "He loves playing in the postseason, and you know Andy's been so good for us throughout the years, a big-game pitcher, and I know he's going to be ready for the game."
This will mark Pettitte's 11th start in a series-clinching game, whether won by the Yankees or by the opposition. Besides the four victories, he had a loss at Cleveland in the 1997 AL Division Series, a pair of no-decisions in 2000 (ALDS at A's and World Series at Mets), the loss in 2001 at Arizona, the no-decision and defeat in 2003. He got the win in the Yankees' 4-1 ALDS clincher at Minnesota on Oct. 11 and now is in position to be the clinch pitcher of record on Sunday.
Who knows? There could be a World Series-clinching start on the horizon the first week of November. But first, there is only one matter at hand.
Pettitte, 37, was asked after Saturday's rainout announcement what it might mean to pass Clemens, Hunter and Stewart.
"I mean, again, that stuff is great," Pettitte said. "I just feel so fortunate to have been able to play in this organization and been able to be on as many successful teams as we've put together here. So really, I just feel like I'm a byproduct of a lot of great teams, a lot of great players that have been surrounding me and have been helping me be able to do those things.
"So I'm just thankful that my body has held together and my elbow has felt better after the surgery and stuff like that. Other than that, I really haven't had a whole lot of other problems. So I'm just very thankful for that."
Pettitte said he is just glad to have the chance to break this hex, although unquestionably that personal issue would be the last thing to enter his mind. It's something for others to talk about.
"I just appreciate it," he said. "You learn to just appreciate the opportunity that you have and to be able to do it again with this club and how special it is with this franchise and these fans, you want to be successful and you want to get it done. I'll be prepared to hopefully give us a great start and a chance to win the ballgame."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Game-time temp in Denver ties record
DENVER -- Brrrrrrrring it on.
After a 24-hour delay in the scheduling of the National League Division Series, the Rockies and Phillies finally started Game 3 on Sunday night, making postseason history in the process.
The game-time temperature at Coors Field was 35 degrees, tying it with Game 4 of the 1997 World Series in Cleveland between the Indians and Marlins for the coldest postseason game in history.
Sunday's game also shattered the Division Series record for lowest temperature, beating the 1999 American League Division Series game between the Yankees and Rangers in New York, which was played in comparatively balmy 48-degree weather.
Rockies manager Jim Tracy said he agreed with the postponement of Saturday's game and that his club would deal with Sunday's conditions.
"It can't be an excuse," Tracy said. "You know, it is what it is. I give credit to Major League Baseball for making the decision that they made yesterday. That would have been -- that might have been difficult for the Broncos to play in that yesterday, much less a baseball game.
"But the conditions are dry. It's cold. These are things that -- conditions and circumstances -- you deal with in April in different cities in the league. So we're going to go out there and do what we have to do."
Not only did most players wear extra layers, including special hats covering their ears, they stayed on the field for a Division Series record 4 hours 6 minutes, by which time the temperature had dipped into the mid-20s and the Phillies had emerged with a 6-5 victory.
Before the game, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel pointed out that his club is no stranger to an occasional deep freeze. Philadelphia isn't exactly blazing during early April, and his players have to travel to chilly NL cities such as New York and Washington.
"Most of the players nowadays, they know how to play in cold weather," Manuel said. "It does get cold in Philly early in the year. We also do play in places in spring of the year where it's cold. And they have hand warmers and they have all kind of underclothes, and they use baby oil. They use different kind of salves and stuff like that put on their body to keep them warm.
"When a game starts up, they used to tell me all the time that staying warm was not the problem. Every now and then pitchers' hands might be cold. A player might say something about his ears being cold. But most of the time they'll stay pretty warm once they get into it."
Tracy didn't argue with the theory that in cold weather, pitchers are at an advantage because hitters tend to be more patient in order to avoid swinging at inside pitches and stinging their hands on foul balls.
"I think what comes into play is both clubs' capability of making the plays and not creating unnecessary opportunity to give either club the opportunity to take the extra-bat that they otherwise wouldn't get,' Tracy said. "Handling the ball is something that definitely comes into play. You know, maintaining feeling with your fingers and things like that on the ball, all that stuff factors in."
Manuel, who was an Indians coach during the 35-degree World Series game in 1997, said teams' performances can turn the other way, too. He cited the fact that the Indians -- who beat Florida, 10-3, that night, with the teams combining for 21 hits -- didn't seem to mind the crisp air at all.
And how will the Rockies deal with the cold, Tracy was asked before the game?
"Plenty of clothing," Tracy said. "But not so much to where it inhibits you from doing what you have to do on the field."
Dugout heaters helped, too, and to that end, Manuel hoped Coors Field would be an equal-opportunity insulation provider.
"As far as the warmers in the dugout," Manuel said, "Rockies got 'em, we better have 'em."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
MLB draws fifth-highest all-time attendance
Big league teams combine to attract more than 73 million.
Fans went to Major League Baseball games this season in near-record numbers, even with the economy in a slump.
MLB announced on Tuesday its 30 clubs combined to produce the fifth-largest combined attendance in MLB history -- a total of 73,418,479 fans.
On top of that, the reigning World Series champion Phillies and the Red Sox each set franchise records, drawing 3,600,693 and 3,062,699 fans, respectively.
And they weren't even the top draws of the season.
That title went to the Manny Ramirez-led Dodgers, which drew 3,761,669 for an average of 46,400 fans per game at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles, which led the Majors in both overall and average attendance, has reached the three-million mark in home attendance for 14 consecutive years, and the 3.6-million mark in five straight seasons.
Nine clubs drew more than three million fans (the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, Angels, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox and Brewers) and 10 clubs averaged more than 35,000 fans per game (the previously mentioned clubs, as well as the Giants).
"Major League Baseball is grateful to all of its fans for their remarkable enthusiasm for the national pastime this season," MLB Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig said in a news release. "Given these challenging economic times, I am exceedingly proud of the manner in which our clubs have responded, demonstrating a deep commitment to maintain baseball's stature as the most affordable and the most family friendly sport. The 2009 attendance being among the five highest figures of all-time reflects the vibrancy and resiliency of our game."
MLB had a 6.6 percent decrease in attendance from last year, but it was actually 5.2 percent lower when accounting for the reduced capacities of the two new ballparks in New York -- Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.
With 3,719,358 fans, the Yankees led the American League in attendance for the seventh consecutive season.
Meanwhile, the Phillies sold out 73 games -- including 42 in a row to end the regular season, the Red Sox increased their home attendance for the 12th consecutive season -- the longest current streak in the Majors -- and have notched 550 consecutive sellouts dating back to May 15, 2003, and the Twins -- in their last season playing in the Metrodome -- registered their highest attendance figure since 1992 (2,416,237).
In addition, Minor League Baseball drew 41,644,518 fans this season, combining with MLB to bring in more than 115 million fans from more than 200 cities.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Roberts sets a record
Baltimore Orioles 2B Brian Roberts set a single-season record for a switch hitter with his 56th double Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. He passed Lance Berkman, who set the record in 2001.
As it is, Roberts is just the 4th player in MLB history to have four 50-double seasons. If we cared enough, we'd look up the other guys (ok, actually it's Stan Musial, Paul Waner and Tris Speaker).
Most recently, Todd Helton hit 59 doubles in 2000, so he can close in on that. If we gave a rat's ass, we'd follow this situation closely.
(c) ORT - 2009 All Rights Reserved.
Reynolds tops own strikeout record
PHOENIX -- While the attention will likely be focused on the fact that he set the Major League record for strikeouts in a season for the second year in a row, Mark Reynolds will remember Tuesday's game against the Giants for a different milestone.
100 RBIs.
Reynolds, who hit 28 homers and drove in 97 runs last season, set a goal of 30 homers and 100 RBIs this year. After Tuesday he had 43 homers, second in the Majors to Albert Pujols, and 100 RBIs.
"That was one of my goals at the beginning of the season and I finally reached it," Reynolds said after the D-backs' 10-8 victory over the Giants. "It's kind of like the monkey off my back; now I can just go out there and have fun."
One of the reasons Reynolds has been able to have so much success at the plate this year was the fact that he didn't let the strikeouts wear on him like they did last year when he blew past Ryan Howard's record of 199 and finished with 204.
"So what?" Reynolds said when asked about the strikeout mark. "We won the game today, I got 100 RBIs, it was a good day."
The D-backs third baseman tied his record when he struck out swinging on three pitches from Giants starter Matt Cain in the third inning.
Then in the fourth, Reynolds set a new mark when he whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball from Madison Bumgarner, Reynolds' 205th strikeout of the year.
That was followed by another whiff in the sixth.
"Nobody is proud to have your name next to a mark like that," D-backs manager A.J. Hinch said. "The way that it was discussed last year, the amount of stress and turmoil that was involved with it. He's handled it remarkably well. Deep down inside, I'm sure it bothers him more than he likes to portray, but at the end of the day he's 40-plus home runs, 100 RBIs, his average is inching back up towards .270. That's a heck of a productive season for anyone to really focus on the fact that the strikeout record was re-set. When that production is coming with the strikeouts, it's almost a moot point."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Ichiro dubbed "Hercules" after record
TOKYO (Reuters) --- Japan's Ichiro Suzuki was compared to Hercules by fellow players after breaking one of Major League Baseball's (MLB) oldest records.
The Seattle Mariners outfielder was splashed all over Monday's evening newspapers in his homeland after becoming the first man to record 200 hits for nine straight seasons.
"To get to 200 hits is amazing but to do it nine years running is a Herculean feat," New York Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui told Japanese media after Sunday's MLB games.
"Ichiro has proved that even in the majors he's one of the best players around."
The 35-year-old reached the milestone with a single in the second game of a double-header against the Texas Rangers to beat the previous mark of eight consecutive seasons set by Willie Keeler in 1901.
"It's incredible how he keeps doing it year in year out," Seattle team mate Kenji Johjima said. "He's a total pro the way he never lets the pressure show."
Japanese baseball luminaries paid tribute to the country's most successful sporting export.
Former top player and manager Shigeo Nagashima, dubbed "Mr Baseball" in Japan, said: "Only when it's Ichiro do you expect to see 100-year-old records smashed."
Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh added: "We forget how remarkably strong both physically and mentally he has to stay to keep accomplishing these things amid a punishing MLB schedule."
Ichiro himself, who left Japan for the major leagues in 2001, spoke of a "sense of liberation" after his latest MLB record, set to be marked with a commemorative stamp in his home country.
BATTLE OVER
"If I hadn't missed eight games (with a calf injury) I could've done it in front of the Seattle fans," he said. "I'm just relieved the battle's over."
Ichiro broke an 84-year-old record for hits in a single season in 2004, finishing with 262, five more than Hall of Famer George Sisler had in 1920.
He also recently became the second-fastest Major Leaguer to reach 2,000 hits, doing it in 1,402 games, having helped Japan to win the World Baseball Classic during the MLB off-season.
"The team and coaching staff have really helped me this season," said Ichiro, who has missed a total of 16 games during the campaign with a stomach ulcer and calf trouble.
"To play alongside Ken Griffey Jr. this season was a tremendous boost. It helped the process of breaking the record."
Radiating coolness in his wrap-around sunglasses and designer stubble, Ichiro has turned hitting into an art form with his Zen-like pre-batting ritual.
"He has made a great contribution to MLB," Rangers president Nolan Ryan told Japan's NHK television. "What he has accomplished is phenomenal. He's fun to watch. He's a complete player."
(c) Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
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