Records:
Philadelphia: First Team to chalk up 10,000 losses, including 23 in a row in 1961.
New York: Only team to win 26 World Championships.
Mascot:
Philadelphia: The Phanatic.
New York: Kate Hudson.
Best Sandwhich:
Philadelphia: Cheesesteak.
New York: Derek Jeter "sandwhiched" between 2 Victoria Secret Models
Best Known Quote:
Philadelphia: "Yo, Adrian!"
New York: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
Big Night Out:
Philadelphia: The road company of "Cats" at the Walnut Streeet Theater (again).
New York: "Hamlet" on Broadway.
Haute Cuisine:
Philadelphia: Scrapple and a soft pretzel.
New York: Foie gras at The Four Seasons.
Ballparks:
Philadelphia: Old Stadium had jail cell for idiot fans.
New York: New Stadium has a steakhouse and lounge for the greatest fans on earth.
Famous On-Field Moment:
Philadelphia: Snarling police dogs keeping the fans at bay after the 1980 World Series.
New York: Lou Gehrig's "I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech.
-courtesy of the "New York Post"
At first I'm hearing..."This is a laugher...Yanks win in a blowout." Then I start hearing..."This isn't really a laugher, the Twins are playing great ball and Sabathia sucks in the postseason. Twins have a legit shot at winning this game."
Don't do this to yourself. This is the playoffs...don't worry about "value" in individual games. Everyone on here said the Twins would win tonight. They were HUGE Public favorites and I think "sharp" money was going on the Tigers. Well in big games like this, it really doesn't matter what the line is or who has "value" or not. Teams go out there and try their hardest to win every single game.
Lets think. 1st pitch is scheduled for 21 hours after the final out of the 163rd game of the season. Postgame celebration. Thanking the fans. Postgame interviews. Getting to the airport. Getting on a plane. Flying to New York. All that would mean they probably wont get into New York until 12:30-1:00 or so. By the time they get to the hotel and ready, give that another half an hour or so. Finally...for them to get to sleep? They'll probably get like 4 hours of sleep and it will be AWFUL for them.
Sabathia has had no success in the postseason in the past. I know. But he was always in a tight race and started on multiple short days rest. Remember last season? How many games on 3 days rest did he start? He had no pressure going into this postseaosn. The Yankees didn't ride him like the horse he is. If he has a bad outing in Game 1, then I will admit that he is not a good postseason pitcher. Duensing is starting for the Yanks. How much pressure is on this rookie? First Playoff Game and it's AT Yankee Stadium? That has got to be too much to handle. Even if he gets roughed up in the first then settles down, the Yankees would probably rough him up enough. They haven't seen him before which may be the only downside.
The Twins' bullpen has been overused lately. They were overused in Game 163. And not just overused...Crain and Nathan went over an inning and those 2 are pretty important relievers. The Yankees' bullpen is set. They have 2 lefties for matchup purposes against Kubel. Aside from that they have Aceves, Joba, Hughes and Mo. I really don't think I have to go much further with that topic.
Morneau and Mauer are Yankee Killers. Morneau is gone, so Kubel backs up him up. Kubel is AWFUL against lefties. He'll face Sabathia and Pettitte. So if the Yanks don't want to face Mauer, they don't have to. Speaking of Mauer, he just went 12 innings and he's got to be worn out just a little bit for at least Game 1. Cuddyer and Young have been hot, but they haven't faced pitching that the Yanks have...simple as that. Yankees obviously have the lineup advantage.
Burnett will pitch to Molina. While pitching to Molina, batters are hititng .221 against him. When pitching to Posada, batters hit .270. So thats another plus. Especially with the fact that the Yanks will have a great arm at the backstop for game 2 to stop the speed and small ball that the Twins' play. If Burnett gets in trouble, Molina may be able to bail him out with his arm.
X-Factor...the Yanks are taking Gardner AND Guzman for late inning base stealing and defensive purposes. Hey...for those possible close games in the 9th inning, I rather have Melky, Gardner and Guzman in the outfield as opposed to Melky, Swisher and Damon.
Yankees OWN the Twins. They have won 23 of their last 26 against them. The last time the Yankees won a playoff series...it was against the Twins. So...the Twins have been the comeback kids of late. Well...the Yankees have had that name all season. They have the most comebacks in baseball. They have the most walkoffs in baseball. And the Twins certainly know that as they had 3 straight against them. The Yanks hit from top to bottom of their lineup. And we know they can hit the long ball but they can also play small ball. Molina, Melky, Guzman and Gardner can all play small ball and thats something the Yanks don't usually have. It's a major plus for that team.
A-Rod is no longer dealing with pressure. The pressure is no longer all on his shoulder. Now with Tex, Sabathia and Burnett on the payroll, the attention is spread around, which is great for him. Maybe, for once, he can play relaxed as he has all season long where he quitely put together a supurb season. Maybe now he can finally put all that talk behind him and put up a solid postseason and throw all that "choking" bullshit behind him.
Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andrew Eugene Pettitte. The leaders of this team. All have postseason experience and all are proven themselves in big spots. No need to worry about them.
Righty, Lefty, Switch, Righty, Lefty, Switch, Lefty, Switch, Switch. That is the Yankees' lineup. How scary is that with any pitcher the Yankees face? Thats why they have had so much success this season. It's so hard to get matchups against them. Duensing is a lefty, so the Yankees have 6 rights and 3 lefties who can hit lefties. Everyone else is a righty so the Yanks have 7 lefties and 2 righties who can hit anyone. Mijares has proven he is not good in tight spots and Mahay is a National League pitcher who isn't cut out for the AL.
Thats my take on this...basically a bunch of jibberish but I had fun typing it.
Pujols is obviously the NL MVP...nobody will come close to him, but what about the AL? If I see 1 person type up Joe Mauer, I will be disgusted. So whose the REAL MVP? Jeter...Tex...every Angel hitting over .300? What is your pick and reason why?
I say Jeter because he has been solid since day. .331 batting average, almost surpassed every offensive stat that Pedroia had last season, is playing his best defense of recent memory, and aside from the Red Sox, he's hitting great against the teams that matter(.370 v Angels, .409 v Rangers, .462 v Phillies and .304 v Rays, along with hitting .300+ against 12 of the 18 teams he's played against). He's the MVP in my mind.
Yippie, they beat 2 ranked opponents...FROM THE ACC.
They barely got by FSU whose secondary blows and Miami's defense was totally exposed. Then they beat GTech, who didn't have their star RB for the 2nd half if I'm correct.
So much love from everyone on ESPN I've seen saying "They Are National Championship Contenders" or "The U is BACK". All Bullshit.
They'll probably lose to VTech this weekend. They'll probably lose to Oklahoma(even without Bradford). And I can see them losing 2 more games after that. They are getting to much respect for beat 2 "ranked" teams to start off the season.
Yes...Harris is an impressive QB, and they have tons of speed. But only time will tell how "good" this team really is.
Probably not, but I'll start the topic.
He has really turned the corner since the All-Star break. He's getting the ball and pitching it. He's attacking the batters, and he's not going from 0-2 to 3-2 anymore. He's just outstanding right now. He knows what he's doing. He's just finished an 8 inning 3 hit shutout and is at 110.2 innings on the season.
Here's the situation. It's been said that he is on a innings count this season. They were smart enough not to release the innings count, but you can assume it's around 150. So you'll have to take him out of the rotation earlier than that so you can get him to the innings count in the bullepn. So around 120-125 innings and he's done, and back in the bullpen. So thats about 2-3 starts. How can you take a pitcher doing so well and just take him out of the rotation? I know you have to, but it's a tough pill to swallow. But on top of taking a much improved pitcher from the rotation, you are left with 3 pitchers in your rotation from the beginning of the season in Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte. And the final 2 spots go to Mitre, who they really aren't high on, and they do not have another starter. It's either Kei Igawa or trade for someone, who they also seem to be reluctant to do.
You become GM...what do they do to make the team better? Meaning don't bring up Igawa just so you can bet against him.