The Playoff Preview

What a game on Tuesday night between the Tigers and Twins.  Winner gets in, loser goes home, and the Twins pull it out in the 12^th inning.  With that, the 2009 regular season has ended and it’s time to look ahead to the playoffs.  Here are our previews for all the first round matchups. 

Rockies versus Phillies

Colorado:  This team has undergone a complete turnaround since Jim Tracy was named manager.  Now they are a team that no one wants to play.  The loss of Jorge De La Rosa to a groin injury certainly hurts the starting pitching, but the return of Aaron Cook may offset that.  Biggest question for the Rockies is whether or not they will continue to trust their youngsters in the playoffs (Chris Ianetta, Ian Stewart, Carlos Gonzalez) or will they go with their veterans (Yorvit Torrealba, Garrett Atkins, Ryan Spillborgs).  How the Rockies handle the left-handed starters of the Phillies will also go a long way to decided who wins this series.

Philadelphia:  The Phillies have been coasting for about a month, knowing they had the National League East locked up, now they have to ramp it up again.  Pitching seems to be their biggest question mark.  Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels have not pitched all that well in September, and they need to go deep into these games so as not to expose the weakest part of the Phillies, their bullpen.  Unless you have been living in a cave, you know that Closer Brad Lidge has imploded this season.  He has blown more than 10 saves, and his ERA is over seven.  It looks like Ryan Madson will be the Closer, but it wouldn’t shock anyone if Lidge is given another shot or even Brett Myers.  Solving this problem is the Phillies first priority.

Prediction:  Philadelphia in 5

 

Twins versus Yankees

Minnesota:  Congratulations Minnesota on defeating Detroit - now get on a plane and fly to New York for your first game of the playoffs less than 24 hours later.  Will the Twins suffer a hangover in Game 1?  Does it matter?  The Twins cant’ match up with the Yankees in pitching or hitting so they will have to do all of the little things correctly.  Run the bases, catch the ball, and put as much pressure on the Yankees defense as you can.  Carl Pavano will pitch for the Twins against the Yankees in Game 2, talk about irony as the Yankees could never get Pavano to pitch for them.

Yankees:  Like the Yankees needed any further breaks, the Twins had to pretty much use their entire pitching staff to defeat the Tigers on Tuesday.  They may not have many players available at full strength.  The Yankees just have to be the Yankees.  Don’t take the Twins for granted.  Yankee Stadium will be rocking and if the Bronx Bombers can put up a few crooked numbers early in the game, the Twins may never recover.  The Yankees are fully rested and healthy; there will be no excuses to losing this series.

Prediction:  Yankees in 3

 

Red Sox versus Angels

Boston:  The health of their starting pitching staff is the biggest concern.  Both Jon Lester and Josh Beckett suffered minor injuries late in the season.  They both seemed to have overcome them in their final starts, but some doubts still remain.  Clay Buchholz needs to continue to pitch like he did before the Sox clinched.  Daisuke Matsuzaka just needs to trust his stuff and throw strikes.  The Red Sox starters can’t get rattled if the Angels decide to steal bases with abandon.  You can’t steal home, and this should be their philosophy.  Sure the Angels will steal second and maybe even third off of Victor Martinez, but they need to focus on the batter in the box, not the runner on base.

Angels:  How they handle the hard throwing pitching staff of the Red Sox will determine if they get eliminated by Boston for the third straight season.  Their starting pitching is very good, maybe not as good as Boston’s but really good.  They need to take advantage of the Red Sox inability to throw out base runners and steal all the time.  Perhaps this will unnerve the Boston starters and take them out of their comfort zone.  The starters need to go deep into the game as the Angels bullpen is not their strong suit.  The Angels are one of the few teams in baseball that play the game right.  They run the bases, catch the ball, hit behind runners, and hustle.  They need to continue to play like this and take and advantage of any opportunities that the Red Sox hand them.

Prediction:  Boston in 5

 

Cardinals versus Dodgers

St. Louis:  Obtaining Matt Holliday from the Athletics at the deadline was the trade of the year.  Teams are no forced to pitch to Albert Pujols and the Cardinals offense has been rolling ever since.  The starting staff is both talented and deep.  They are led by CY Young candidates Cris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, with Joel Pineiro and Kyle Lohse anchoring the back end.  These starters will keep the Cardinals in the game and allow their offense to get going.  Pujols, Holliday, Mark Derosa, Ryan Ludwick, Colby Rasmus, and Rick Ankiel, can light up a scoreboard quickly if given the chance.

Dodgers:  Hard to believe the Dodgers are going into the playoffs with Randy Wolf anchoring the pitching staff.  This can’t install much confidence.  Clayton Kershaw is coming off a separation of his non-throwing shoulder, and injury suffered while shagging fly balls and Clay Billingsley lost both his mechanics and his confidence in September.  Vincente Padilla is the other starter the Dodgers will use.  Padilla has good stuff, the only reason he was available for the Dodgers to grab was because his teammates in Texas wanted to kill him.  Manny Ramirez just hasn’t hit all that much since coming back from suspension.  Is it just a coincidence that since being caught taking steroids he can’t hit anymore, maybe, but the Dodgers will need him to hit or else it could be a short playoff run for the team that finished with the best record in the National League.

 

Before the season started I predicted a Yankees-Dodgers World Series, I still think the Yankees look good, but I’m not a believer in the Dodgers anymore.  If I had to do it all again, I’m probably going Yankees-Cardinals or Red Sox-Cardinals.

This post was written by George Kurtz