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Diamond Hoggers' 2009 ALCS Series Preview

By on October 15, 2009
Anaheim Angels vs. New York Yankees
Of all the story lines you’re going to see pushed; there will be three that are prevalent throughout. The Yankees are a new breed but with those same old ghosts that have seemingly ‘crossed the street’. Great phrase is it not? Alex Rodriguez is getting all kinds of good pub for hitting that huge home run in game two that will go down as one of the first legendary games in the new stadium based on the comeback that took place and the fact that A-Rod hit the homer to tie things up and Teixeira left the building to win it in the bottom of the 11th. It felt like one of those old Yankee October wins didn’t it? The third main storyline is going to be about the Angels, a team of destiny and of character rallying over their fallen teammate Nick Adenhart to get to the World Series over the mighty evil empire.
These are two teams who are pretty differently constructed. The Yankees are built on power while the Angels are branded with some speed.
There are obvious reasons that we picked the Yankees to win the whole damn thing back before the season started. That lineup is thick. Other then A-Rod and a little Jeter and Tex, they failed to even show up in Minnesota. Robinson Cano went 1 for 12 in the series. They’re littered with professional, experienced hitters. Their ballpark only plays halfway into their production.
The pitching matchup edge goes to the Yankees, but this is what should make the series special. You could make a case for the game 1 (Sabathia/Lackey), 2 (Burnett/Jered Weaver), or 3 (Pettite/Kazmir) starters for either team to be the ace of any staff pretty much elsewhere. The potential is there to see a shutdown performance from either side in the first three games. I think this is where Weaver continues to come into his own as a 26 year old. He was phenomenal against Boston, blowing away hitters and setting a tone for how the Angels pitched that entire series.
Joe Girardi is charging for his first World Series appearance. It’s hard to believe that the Yankees haven’t even been to the ALCS in 5 years. Mike Scioscia is a great manager, and on the way to his 2002 World Series he ran right through the heavily favored Yankees.
The Angels will be the sentimental pick by plenty of reputable talking heads; you watch. But the smart money is to go with the Bronx Bombers in winning a long series. The winner of this series should be the champions of baseball in what will shape up to be a great World Series matchup. But in the end the Yankees are just too mighty right now. When Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez are performing in the postseason, you know something funny is going on. The Yankees will win a hard fought series to advance to the Fall Classic.
Prediction: New York Yankees in 6 games
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