****Offical 2009 World Series Thread**** (1 Viewer)

[Ghost Rider]

7 days off vs 3 days off. Advantage Yanks?

A long layoff can defuse a hot offense (see: the '06 Tigers and the '07 Rockies). Should be interesting to see if the Phillies offense stays hot following having almost a week off.

 

[Whole Camels]

Hi. Neither Francisco or Stairs will be the DH.HTH.

Expecting a post any minute explaining why Matsui is better than Ibanez Almost as funny as a bunch of guys talking up how great Tex is in one thread and then talking about what garbage he is in another. Give any Philly fan the choice between Tex and Howard and report back.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

Such a ridiculous thought. It's not a built in excuse for anything, but it's the kind of thing Yankee fans ignore when they talk about how great the team is. And instead of acknowledging that payroll IS a meaningful thing in baseball, you just attack the person who brought it up, probably because you're sick of hearing it. Payroll is the only reason the Yankees are what they are. They aren't well run, and it didn't take too much off-season planning to go out and buy 3 all-stars.It's SUCH an accomplishment that the Yankees cram so much talent into a $200 million payroll, isn't it? The Yankees should ALWAYS be the favorite, and they went out and bought CC, Tex, and Burnett to make sure they would be this year. It's an upset when a team that spends twice as much loses no matter who won last year.So yes, if the Phillies win, it'll be an upset.The Phils are the defending champs, but the Yankees are the favorites.

Oh, ok. You are confusing me with someone that doesn't know anything about baseball and just knee-jerks a reaction that payroll is the only thing here and therefore more money is bad and the system is broken. But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football, and of course I actually know who has made the World Series the past couple oh 20 years, not to mention the playoffs, then obviously this really shouldn't be directed at this Yankee fan.Thanks.(Yeah, that was slightly rude in tone. But frankly the payroll argument is tired and it's one I don't particularly care to discuss anymore. Nothing personal. Sorry for the tone.)

 

[Michael Brown]

Hi.

Neither Francisco or Stairs will be the DH.

HTH.

Expecting a post any minute explaining why Matsui is better than Ibanez

Almost as funny as a bunch of guys talking up how great Tex is in one thread and then talking about what garbage he is in another. Give any Philly fan the choice between Tex and Howard and report back.

Well duh. I can play that game too. Fact is, asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased. Take a poll amongst GMs and I'm guessing you'd have a significant majority in favor of Tex. Thanks also for taking my words and fitting them to your own argument regarding defense by the way. Nobody is saying that 1B defense is more important than SS or C defense. But the difference between Posada's offense and Ruiz's offense is far greater than Posada's defensive deficiencies relative to "Chooch". Same with Jeter and Rollins. So while Rollins and Ruiz are much better fielders than Posada and Jeter, they also can't hold their jocks offensively speaking (Rollins could in the past but his OPS trailed Jeter's by a mere .152 and his BA was only 80 POINTS LOWER this past year so he's definitely not on the same level at least right now). Meanwhile, Tex is very close to, if not better than, Howard offensively speaking. Like I said, higher BA and OPS and not nearly as many K's. However, his defense is top-5 in all of MLB while Howard is arguably the worst defensive 1B in baseball. So giving Howard the edge on the whole over Teixeira is, to me, a joke. How exactly do you quantify that Howard is better, other than to use the argument that Phillies fans like him more? No one's gonna say Matsui is better than Ibanez, though Raul's .899 OPS hardly dwarfs Hideki's .876 mark. And Hideki's .852 does better Raul's .826, but whatever I'm not gonna make that argument. I'd call them fairly even, again because HR is not the be-all, end-all stat contrary to what these arguments make it out to be, and Matsui has had excellent postseason success and a lot more experience.

So Raul will be the DH and I guess Francisco plays LF when they're in the AL park. So now you're gonna tell me that Francisco is better than Damon? Of course not. So what's the difference? Either Damon and Raul are even and the Yankees have an edge at DH, or Raul and Matsui are even and the Yankees have an edge in LF. Why are we arguing semantics like this?

 

[Whole Camels]

Sabathia > Lee

Lee stats 06-08 vs the Yanks: 2-1 1.90 ERA, .286 BAA

19 IP, 22 H, 4 ER, 5/16 BB/K

CC -vs- Phils in playoff game

 

[Whole Camels]

asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased.

O'RLY?

You can not seriously look at his numbers this postseason and as a Yankee fan say you are happy with him because of his "superior defense." The guy is Doug Mientkiewicz right now.

 

[Michael Brown]

Such a ridiculous thought. It's not a built in excuse for anything, but it's the kind of thing Yankee fans ignore when they talk about how great the team is. And instead of acknowledging that payroll IS a meaningful thing in baseball, you just attack the person who brought it up, probably because you're sick of hearing it. Payroll is the only reason the Yankees are what they are. They aren't well run, and it didn't take too much off-season planning to go out and buy 3 all-stars.It's SUCH an accomplishment that the Yankees cram so much talent into a $200 million payroll, isn't it? The Yankees should ALWAYS be the favorite, and they went out and bought CC, Tex, and Burnett to make sure they would be this year. It's an upset when a team that spends twice as much loses no matter who won last year.So yes, if the Phillies win, it'll be an upset.The Phils are the defending champs, but the Yankees are the favorites.

Oh, ok. You are confusing me with someone that doesn't know anything about baseball and just knee-jerks a reaction that payroll is the only thing here and therefore more money is bad and the system is broken. But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football, and of course I actually know who has made the World Series the past couple oh 20 years, not to mention the playoffs, then obviously this really shouldn't be directed at this Yankee fan.Thanks.(Yeah, that was slightly rude in tone. But frankly the payroll argument is tired and it's one I don't particularly care to discuss anymore. Nothing personal. Sorry for the tone.)

Not surprised the Yanks fans think the payroll argument is tired and shouldn't be discussed. Frankly I'm just surprised it took so long and you guys aren't in this thing every year. Its funny that you think there's as much parity as baseball as there is in other sports, maybe that's just because the yanks can't manage their money as well as other teams? You basically get the pick of whatever free agents or foreign players you want. Never have to worry about losing your players to free agency, etc. Between the payroll, steroid allegations, overpricing of tickets, (sure alot of teams have these to some degree but altogether the Yanks are the worst) the Yankees are the epitome of everything that's wrong with baseball. Guess I just put the salaries up to remind myself and and anyone else who's not a delusional Yankee fan why they should be pulling for the underdog Phils.

There's so much misinformation here I don't even know where to begin.Ok, first you say the Yanks don't manage their money as well as other teams. Yet since 2000, when the Yankees won their last World Series, here are their win totals: 95, 103, 101, 101, 95, 97, 94, 89, 103. Yeah they've just been so horrible at managing their money. Friggin team made the playoffs all but once from 1995-2009, won 100 games four times, and you suggest they're failures. Right. Second, you say we never have to worry about losing our players to free agency. I admit that this isn't a huge concern most times and that is probably where our biggest advantage lies. But people always bad-mouth the Yankees that they don't develop their own good players. Then they complain that the Yankees get to keep their own guys. Well if they don't develop anyone good then what's the big deal that they want to keep those crappy players? And I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken when Andy Pettitte left for the Astros and Roger Clemens followed him. We replaced them with Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez, the two guys primarily responsible for the Game 7 debacle against Boston the very next year. Something tells me that if we still had Pettitte and Clemens, the curse of the Bambino would've been on hold another couple years. We'd also probably have won a championship sometime between 2000 and now so they wouldn't be seen as such failures.Steroid allegations affect ALL teams. Even guys from your Phillies (or did Lenny Dykstra only take them before he got there). If you think the Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Sox and A's were the only ones with steroid guys on their teams, you have blinders on. Those are the ones who got caught...there were plenty more.Overpricing of tickets is maybe the most ludicrous story of 2009. Yes, the Yankees "luxury" seats were overpriced beyond belief. No one is paying $2,500 for one ticket. But the upper deck ticket prices for this past season were $25 per ticket on the season plan or $30 per ticket day of game. In the old place, my upper deck tickets were...wait for it...$25 per ticket on the season plan or $30 per ticket day of game. So they moved from the old stadium to the new place and they raised the tickets...hold on let me get my calculator out...by an average of...NOTHING!Got anything else?

 

[Lehigh98]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

 

[Michael Brown]

asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased.

O'RLY?

You can not seriously look at his numbers this postseason and as a Yankee fan say you are happy with him because of his "superior defense." The guy is Doug Mientkiewicz right now.

Bogart's a Texas fan I think.

 

[Whole Camels]

asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased.

O'RLY?

You can not seriously look at his numbers this postseason and as a Yankee fan say you are happy with him because of his "superior defense." The guy is Doug Mientkiewicz right now.

Bogart's a Texas fan I think.

5 RBIs and a .580 OPS this post season in 39 AB's. or

14 RBIs and a 1.203 OPS this post season in 31 AB's.

 

[Snotbubbles]

Hi.

Neither Francisco or Stairs will be the DH.

HTH.

Expecting a post any minute explaining why Matsui is better than Ibanez

Almost as funny as a bunch of guys talking up how great Tex is in one thread and then talking about what garbage he is in another. Give any Philly fan the choice between Tex and Howard and report back.

Well duh. I can play that game too. Fact is, asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased. Take a poll amongst GMs and I'm guessing you'd have a significant majority in favor of Tex. Thanks also for taking my words and fitting them to your own argument regarding defense by the way. Nobody is saying that 1B defense is more important than SS or C defense. But the difference between Posada's offense and Ruiz's offense is far greater than Posada's defensive deficiencies relative to "Chooch". Same with Jeter and Rollins. So while Rollins and Ruiz are much better fielders than Posada and Jeter, they also can't hold their jocks offensively speaking (Rollins could in the past but his OPS trailed Jeter's by a mere .152 and his BA was only 80 POINTS LOWER this past year so he's definitely not on the same level at least right now). Meanwhile, Tex is very close to, if not better than, Howard offensively speaking. Like I said, higher BA and OPS and not nearly as many K's. However, his defense is top-5 in all of MLB while Howard is arguably the worst defensive 1B in baseball. So giving Howard the edge on the whole over Teixeira is, to me, a joke. How exactly do you quantify that Howard is better, other than to use the argument that Phillies fans like him more? No one's gonna say Matsui is better than Ibanez, though Raul's .899 OPS hardly dwarfs Hideki's .876 mark. And Hideki's .852 does better Raul's .826, but whatever I'm not gonna make that argument. I'd call them fairly even, again because HR is not the be-all, end-all stat contrary to what these arguments make it out to be, and Matsui has had excellent postseason success and a lot more experience.

So Raul will be the DH and I guess Francisco plays LF when they're in the AL park. So now you're gonna tell me that Francisco is better than Damon? Of course not. So what's the difference? Either Damon and Raul are even and the Yankees have an edge at DH, or Raul and Matsui are even and the Yankees have an edge in LF. Why are we arguing semantics like this?

These positional analysis arguments are dumb. It really doesn't matter who had a better regular season. It really on matters who has a better series. If you're going to analyze, you should look at how a player does during the postseason, since it really is a different beast (and even that IMO is irrelevant). As a Phillies fan, would I take Texiera over Howard? Probably for the regular season. But right now, for this series, the way Howard has been hitting, no way. I'm looking forward to this series. It's one of the most intriguing matchups we've seen in years. I'm just glad a team I root for will be participating.

 

[Michael Brown]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

Whew, I have goosebumps now. Way to pull one out Phils!

How could you have possibly gotten goosebumps and the dancing pickle from the Phils winning a game against Tampa last year? The Phillies payroll was $98 million while Tampa's was only $43 million...Phils payroll was more than double the Rays! Shouldn't you have just sat back and said, "Well our payroll blows theirs away...we really should've seen this as nothing more than an expected result. My team didn't do anything extraordinary, just what they were supposed to do. Ho-hum, I'm going to bed"?NOW do you see how ridiculous your argument sounds?

 

[Lehigh98]

Yet since 2000, when the Yankees won their last World Series

Really, its been 9 years? You'd think that much money would have bought a couple more rings.We're probably talking over a billion and a half dollars over that span. Wow.

Second, you say we never have to worry about losing our players to free agency. I admit that this isn't a huge concern most times and that is probably where our biggest advantage lies. But people always bad-mouth the Yankees that they don't develop their own good players. Then they complain that the Yankees get to keep their own guys. Well if they don't develop anyone good then what's the big deal that they want to keep those crappy players?

Oh ok, you can't develop players so why should we care that you can keep whoever you want, good point.

And I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken when Andy Pettitte left for the Astros and Roger Clemens followed him. We replaced them with Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez, the two guys primarily responsible for the Game 7 debacle against Boston the very next year. Something tells me that if we still had Pettitte and Clemens, the curse of the Bambino would've been on hold another couple years. We'd also probably have won a championship sometime between 2000 and now so they wouldn't be seen as such failures.

Another good point, wait, were you still trying to convince me that they can manage their team and money well or not?

 

[Michael Brown]

Hi.

Neither Francisco or Stairs will be the DH.

HTH.

Expecting a post any minute explaining why Matsui is better than Ibanez

Almost as funny as a bunch of guys talking up how great Tex is in one thread and then talking about what garbage he is in another. Give any Philly fan the choice between Tex and Howard and report back.

Well duh. I can play that game too. Fact is, asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased. Take a poll amongst GMs and I'm guessing you'd have a significant majority in favor of Tex. Thanks also for taking my words and fitting them to your own argument regarding defense by the way. Nobody is saying that 1B defense is more important than SS or C defense. But the difference between Posada's offense and Ruiz's offense is far greater than Posada's defensive deficiencies relative to "Chooch". Same with Jeter and Rollins. So while Rollins and Ruiz are much better fielders than Posada and Jeter, they also can't hold their jocks offensively speaking (Rollins could in the past but his OPS trailed Jeter's by a mere .152 and his BA was only 80 POINTS LOWER this past year so he's definitely not on the same level at least right now). Meanwhile, Tex is very close to, if not better than, Howard offensively speaking. Like I said, higher BA and OPS and not nearly as many K's. However, his defense is top-5 in all of MLB while Howard is arguably the worst defensive 1B in baseball. So giving Howard the edge on the whole over Teixeira is, to me, a joke. How exactly do you quantify that Howard is better, other than to use the argument that Phillies fans like him more? No one's gonna say Matsui is better than Ibanez, though Raul's .899 OPS hardly dwarfs Hideki's .876 mark. And Hideki's .852 does better Raul's .826, but whatever I'm not gonna make that argument. I'd call them fairly even, again because HR is not the be-all, end-all stat contrary to what these arguments make it out to be, and Matsui has had excellent postseason success and a lot more experience.

So Raul will be the DH and I guess Francisco plays LF when they're in the AL park. So now you're gonna tell me that Francisco is better than Damon? Of course not. So what's the difference? Either Damon and Raul are even and the Yankees have an edge at DH, or Raul and Matsui are even and the Yankees have an edge in LF. Why are we arguing semantics like this?

These positional analysis arguments are dumb. It really doesn't matter who had a better regular season. It really on matters who has a better series.

But we can't analyze how well they're going to play in this series when they haven't done it yet. All we have is the info going in, and going in Teixeira is a better player. He hasn't has as good last two weeks, but I hardly think that outweighs what these guys did for the last six months respectively. And Tex started swinging the bat a whole lot better the last two games, so he might be just about to bust out of it. Should we factor that into the discussion too? Again, all we have is the data we are presented with, and that data says Tex is the better player. Will he better the next 7 games or so? Who knows.I agree that this series will be a ton of fun, and if the first two pages are any indication this board will be pretty active in the coming week!

 

[jobarules]

at Phillie fans complaining about payroll.

 

[Lehigh98]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

Whew, I have goosebumps now. Way to pull one out Phils!

How could you have possibly gotten goosebumps and the dancing pickle from the Phils winning a game against Tampa last year? The Phillies payroll was $98 million while Tampa's was only $43 million...Phils payroll was more than double the Rays! Shouldn't you have just sat back and said, "Well our payroll blows theirs away...we really should've seen this as nothing more than an expected result. My team didn't do anything extraordinary, just what they were supposed to do. Ho-hum, I'm going to bed"?NOW do you see how ridiculous your argument sounds?

You obviously hadn't been watching the Phils play for the previous 25 years. Plus we had to beat teams in the regular season and playoffs with similar or higher payrolls, Yankees never have to do that. I'll enjoy this Phils team while I can because at some point it will go with the natural ebb and flow of teams and start to go downhill as players age, we lose free agents (prob to the Yankees), and we need to replenish from our minor league system with players we hope we guessed right on and developed well. All this while the Yankees go out and sign the top FA's to immediately bolster their team and weaken others.Don't worry, I understand that Yankees fans need to keep their blinders on to the stuff or the shine may start to wear off for them.

 

[Michael Brown]

Yet since 2000, when the Yankees won their last World Series

Really, its been 9 years? You'd think that much money would have bought a couple more rings.We're probably talking over a billion and a half dollars over that span. Wow.

Second, you say we never have to worry about losing our players to free agency. I admit that this isn't a huge concern most times and that is probably where our biggest advantage lies. But people always bad-mouth the Yankees that they don't develop their own good players. Then they complain that the Yankees get to keep their own guys. Well if they don't develop anyone good then what's the big deal that they want to keep those crappy players?

Oh ok, you can't develop players so why should we care that you can keep whoever you want, good point.

And I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken when Andy Pettitte left for the Astros and Roger Clemens followed him. We replaced them with Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez, the two guys primarily responsible for the Game 7 debacle against Boston the very next year. Something tells me that if we still had Pettitte and Clemens, the curse of the Bambino would've been on hold another couple years. We'd also probably have won a championship sometime between 2000 and now so they wouldn't be seen as such failures.

Another good point, wait, were you still trying to convince me that they can manage their team and money well or not?

Good job focusing on the only aspects of my rebuttal that you have a chance to counter. I notice there's no mention of the 95+ wins per season, ticket prices, or steroid allegations anymore...I've gone on record as saying you can buy playoff appearances, but you can't buy rings. If there was some magic formula to winning in the postseason, you can be sure the Yankees would've invested in it. They will spend anything to win at all costs, that much we know. The fact that they haven't won in the playoffs says more about the nature of baseball than it does about some inherent failure of the Yankees to pick the right talent. Did they lose in 2001 and 2004 because they didn't build their teams properly? No, they lost in large part because the best closer in history didn't have his "A" stuff a couple of times. So they should've gotten someone else? C'mon, that's just baseball.And I wasn't saying we CAN'T develop players...just that Yankee-haters love to have it both ways. They complain about how we can keep Posada, Jeter, Mo, Bernie, etc...then we can re-sign our young guys like Cano, Joba, Hughes when their contracts come up...and then in the next sentence they don't give the Yankees any credit for developing those guys along the way. Can't have it both ways. Either give the team the credit that they DO develop young talent and we have the advantage of being able to sign them, or they DON'T develop young talent so who cares what players they are able to re-sign since they stink anyway. Which is it?As for the last part, Clemens and Pettitte left because Pettitte wanted to go home. Most Yankee fans didn't agree with the move to let him leave (I actually gave back my season tickets for a year out of protest so I was able to miss the embarrassment of 2004), but when he had elbow problems in Houston and eventually had surgery it didn't seem like such an awful move. Just that in 2004, they certainly would've helped.

 

[Lehigh98]

at Phillie fans complaining about payroll.

We're #8 and $20MM above the middle of the pack #15 team. (37%)You're $63MM above the #2 team. (43%)You're $127MM above the middle of the pack #15 team. (156%)

 

[Michael Brown]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.

Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

Whew, I have goosebumps now. Way to pull one out Phils!

How could you have possibly gotten goosebumps and the dancing pickle from the Phils winning a game against Tampa last year? The Phillies payroll was $98 million while Tampa's was only $43 million...Phils payroll was more than double the Rays! Shouldn't you have just sat back and said, "Well our payroll blows theirs away...we really should've seen this as nothing more than an expected result. My team didn't do anything extraordinary, just what they were supposed to do. Ho-hum, I'm going to bed"?NOW do you see how ridiculous your argument sounds?

You obviously hadn't been watching the Phils play for the previous 25 years. Plus we had to beat teams in the regular season and playoffs with similar or higher payrolls, Yankees never have to do that.

I'll enjoy this Phils team while I can because at some point it will go with the natural ebb and flow of teams and start to go downhill as players age, we lose free agents (prob to the Yankees), and we need to replenish from our minor league system with players we hope we guessed right on and developed well. All this while the Yankees go out and sign the top FA's to immediately bolster their team and weaken others.

But I thought the Yankees were grossly mismanaged and have no idea what they're doing. If they're signing the top FAs and bolstering their team, shouldn't they be winning the WS? Could it be that you can't...buy...rings?Not to mention, a lot of teams are happy the Yankees exist. They're able to take on contract messes like oh I don't know, Bobby Abreu, from teams who just want to dump salary. And those teams could hypothetically use those newfound resources to pay other players and make a couple of World Series because of it.

 

[Lehigh98]

Good job focusing on the only aspects of my rebuttal that you have a chance to counter. I notice there's no mention of the 95+ wins per season, ticket prices, or steroid allegations anymore...

- You win a ton of games, you should, whats your point? - Minor point I threw in. Ok, $2500 must not be that bad.- Minor point I threw in. And I didn't want to further sully the good name of Lenny Dykstra. Had to go prety far back for that one huh?

I've gone on record as saying you can buy playoff appearances

And you do, nice job yanks.

If there was some magic formula to winning in the postseason, you can be sure the Yankees would've invested in it.

Sure there is, buy a couple of aces that can start 2-3 games each in a 7 game series. C.C.

And I wasn't saying we CAN'T develop players...just that Yankee-haters love to have it both ways. They complain about how we can keep Posada, Jeter, Mo, Bernie, etc...then we can re-sign our young guys like Cano, Joba, Hughes when their contracts come up...and then in the next sentence they don't give the Yankees any credit for developing those guys along the way. Can't have it both ways. Either give the team the credit that they DO develop young talent and we have the advantage of being able to sign them, or they DON'T develop young talent so who cares what players they are able to re-sign since they stink anyway. Which is it?

Are you in the middle of a complex? They can keep whoever they want and sign whoever they want, which downside of that are you trying to point out here?

As for the last part, Clemens and Pettitte left because Pettitte wanted to go home. Most Yankee fans didn't agree with the move to let him leave

So finally we've found the Yankees' weakness... they can't keep players against their will. Must be tough for you guys.

 

[Lehigh98]

But I thought the Yankees were grossly mismanaged and have no idea what they're doing. If they're signing the top FAs and bolstering their team, shouldn't they be winning the WS? Could it be that you can't...buy...rings?

You would think so. Ask Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett in a week or so.

Not to mention, a lot of teams are happy the Yankees exist. They're able to take on contract messes like oh I don't know, Bobby Abreu, from teams who just want to dump salary. And those teams could hypothetically use those newfound resources to pay other players and make a couple of World Series because of it.

Thank you for the public service Yankees.

 

[jobarules]

Jay-Z to perform at World Series

By MESFIN FEKADU (AP) – 3 hours ago

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees have been blasting Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" during their playoff run. Now, the team is having the rap king perform the song live to kick off Game 1 of the World Series.

Jay-Z and fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys are set to perform the hit on Wednesday, as the Yankees take on defending World Series champs, the Philadelphia Phillies.

In an interview Monday, Jay-Z was excited about the performance, and said: "Thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee."

He calls the opportunity a "once in a lifetime experience."

 

[Snotbubbles]

Hi.

Neither Francisco or Stairs will be the DH.

HTH.

Expecting a post any minute explaining why Matsui is better than Ibanez

Almost as funny as a bunch of guys talking up how great Tex is in one thread and then talking about what garbage he is in another. Give any Philly fan the choice between Tex and Howard and report back.

Well duh. I can play that game too. Fact is, asking Philly or Yankee fans who they'd prefer does nothing because we're all biased. Take a poll amongst GMs and I'm guessing you'd have a significant majority in favor of Tex. Thanks also for taking my words and fitting them to your own argument regarding defense by the way. Nobody is saying that 1B defense is more important than SS or C defense. But the difference between Posada's offense and Ruiz's offense is far greater than Posada's defensive deficiencies relative to "Chooch". Same with Jeter and Rollins. So while Rollins and Ruiz are much better fielders than Posada and Jeter, they also can't hold their jocks offensively speaking (Rollins could in the past but his OPS trailed Jeter's by a mere .152 and his BA was only 80 POINTS LOWER this past year so he's definitely not on the same level at least right now). Meanwhile, Tex is very close to, if not better than, Howard offensively speaking. Like I said, higher BA and OPS and not nearly as many K's. However, his defense is top-5 in all of MLB while Howard is arguably the worst defensive 1B in baseball. So giving Howard the edge on the whole over Teixeira is, to me, a joke. How exactly do you quantify that Howard is better, other than to use the argument that Phillies fans like him more? No one's gonna say Matsui is better than Ibanez, though Raul's .899 OPS hardly dwarfs Hideki's .876 mark. And Hideki's .852 does better Raul's .826, but whatever I'm not gonna make that argument. I'd call them fairly even, again because HR is not the be-all, end-all stat contrary to what these arguments make it out to be, and Matsui has had excellent postseason success and a lot more experience.

So Raul will be the DH and I guess Francisco plays LF when they're in the AL park. So now you're gonna tell me that Francisco is better than Damon? Of course not. So what's the difference? Either Damon and Raul are even and the Yankees have an edge at DH, or Raul and Matsui are even and the Yankees have an edge in LF. Why are we arguing semantics like this?

These positional analysis arguments are dumb. It really doesn't matter who had a better regular season. It really on matters who has a better series.

But we can't analyze how well they're going to play in this series when they haven't done it yet. All we have is the info going in, and going in Teixeira is a better player. He hasn't has as good last two weeks, but I hardly think that outweighs what these guys did for the last six months respectively. And Tex started swinging the bat a whole lot better the last two games, so he might be just about to bust out of it. Should we factor that into the discussion too? Again, all we have is the data we are presented with, and that data says Tex is the better player. Will he better the next 7 games or so? Who knows.I agree that this series will be a ton of fun, and if the first two pages are any indication this board will be pretty active in the coming week!

Which is why I said (but you conveniently omitted), that if you choose to do a comparison, you should look at playoff performances since the playoffs have a different intensity and pressure about them. Pressure does funny things to people. A game against Baltimore in the middle of May doesn't have the same pressure and intensity as game 1 of the ALCS.For example, Jorge Posada has been in 25 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 4 of them. He's batted .200 or under in 10 of them. Carlos Ruiz has been in 6 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 5 of them and under .200 in 1 of them. Pressure does things. Who will rise above?

 

[Michael Brown]

Which is why I said (but you conveniently omitted), that if you choose to do a comparison, you should look at playoff performances since the playoffs have a different intensity and pressure about them. Pressure does funny things to people. A game against Baltimore in the middle of May doesn't have the same pressure and intensity as game 1 of the ALCS.For example, Jorge Posada has been in 25 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 4 of them. He's batted .200 or under in 10 of them. Carlos Ruiz has been in 6 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 5 of them and under .200 in 1 of them. Pressure does things. Who will rise above?

I don't know. But just because a guy has been bad in the playoffs so far doesn't at all mean that he's going to continue (and vice versa). I present to you exhibit A: Rodriguez, AlexUsing this logic, you would have predicted that A-Rod was going to be a complete bum in the first two rounds of the playoffs this year. Instead, he has had one of the great postseasons in history. So again, I don't know that you can compare guys based on that. How can we judge Brad Lidge, who has been both one of the worst closers in baseball and one of the best, both during the regular season and in the postseason.

 

[Snotbubbles]

Which is why I said (but you conveniently omitted), that if you choose to do a comparison, you should look at playoff performances since the playoffs have a different intensity and pressure about them. Pressure does funny things to people. A game against Baltimore in the middle of May doesn't have the same pressure and intensity as game 1 of the ALCS.For example, Jorge Posada has been in 25 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 4 of them. He's batted .200 or under in 10 of them. Carlos Ruiz has been in 6 playoff series. He's batted over .300 in exactly 5 of them and under .200 in 1 of them. Pressure does things. Who will rise above?

I don't know. But just because a guy has been bad in the playoffs so far doesn't at all mean that he's going to continue (and vice versa). I present to you exhibit A: Rodriguez, AlexUsing this logic, you would have predicted that A-Rod was going to be a complete bum in the first two rounds of the playoffs this year. Instead, he has had one of the great postseasons in history. So again, I don't know that you can compare guys based on that. How can we judge Brad Lidge, who has been both one of the worst closers in baseball and one of the best, both during the regular season and in the postseason.

Which brings me back to the point that comparisons are dumb.

 

[TLEF316]

well, the pissing match for NJ has clearly begun.

Its south Vs North, only one set of garden staters gets out alive.

edit: these comparisons are all so silly. its the post season. its 7 games max. It comes down to getting big outs and getting big hits.

OPS, zone rating, WHIP.....all irrelevant at this point. this isnt a roto league. its a short series.

 

[Please See Mine]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

why do the payrolls impact whether the Yankees are a great team or not? It's pointless to bring it up during an analysis of the 2 teams in this world series right now.**I'm a Phillies' fan.

 

[Lehigh98]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

why do the payrolls impact whether the Yankees are a great team or not? It's pointless to bring it up during an analysis of the 2 teams in this world series right now.**I'm a Phillies' fan.

Doesn't mean a thing in comparing the actual talent on the field.It's about as meaningful as trying to compare the teams position by position.But we need something to kill a couple days until the series starts I guess.

 

[Michael Brown]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

why do the payrolls impact whether the Yankees are a great team or not? It's pointless to bring it up during an analysis of the 2 teams in this world series right now.**I'm a Phillies' fan.

Doesn't mean a thing in comparing the actual talent on the field.It's about as meaningful as trying to compare the teams position by position.But we need something to kill a couple days until the series starts I guess. :(

HE STARTED IT! I hear ya bro, we need to get this thing going. This waiting is brutal enough and our team just clinched last night, I'd lose my mind if I had to sit around as long as Philly fans have been the last few days. Shaping up to be a great one.Any inside word on Ibanez and Utley's potential injuries? I know Raul said that everything's fine, but I also read he's gonna need surgery after the season. Utley's has been solely speculative as far as I know, but anybody on here got the scoop on his foot and/or hip?

 

[Reaper]

But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football

Just wanted to post the payrolls before Yanks fans get too vocal about how great their team is.Just remember, its supposed to be... and by about at least 43% over the next highest spending team.

why do the payrolls impact whether the Yankees are a great team or not? It's pointless to bring it up during an analysis of the 2 teams in this world series right now.**I'm a Phillies' fan.

:( And it's not that Yankee fans have blinders to it, it's more that you could probably search most of us at FBG and get a ton of posts on the matter - Many of us are all for a Salary cap if we had a choice. We don't.Maybe being that this is a Football Board, it brings out more SPORTS FANS... But, I'm all for a cap...And I have a few posts myself that go into my opinions on the matter..But, as we stand here today, I find it a little more entertaining to look at the matchups and prepare to watch a great battle... There's absolutely nothing I can do about money at this point.If, that's what you want to discuss and set up in your mind some scenario where a win is better than a win or a loss is not that bad a loss, then enjoy that.Bottom line is, a World Series Championship will be a party at my place and a WS loss will not.

 

[Unlucky]

Over/Under on HRs hit in the series? I was initially thinking something like 23, but maybe that's a little high. I think you have to plan on 6 games. Average HRs per game? 3 to 4? Some games will have 0 or 1, but there will also be some 6 or 7 HR games. Weather a factor if it's cold and raining?

I think I'd be willing to take either side of 19.5 total HRs for the series.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Bottom line is, a World Series Championship will be a party at my place and a WS loss will not.

Yes, but how much money will you be spending on the party?

 

[Michael Brown]

Over/Under on HRs hit in the series? I was initially thinking something like 23, but maybe that's a little high. I think you have to plan on 6 games. Average HRs per game? 3 to 4? Some games will have 0 or 1, but there will also be some 6 or 7 HR games. Weather a factor if it's cold and raining? I think I'd be willing to take either side of 19.5 total HRs for the series.

I'd take the under on that one. The stadiums tend to enhance the # of HR in general, but the pitching on both teams has been very good. I don't think there will be an offensive explosion in this series. We've seen it time and again that good pitching beats good hitting, and more often than not a team in the WS got there with pitching strength.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Over/Under on HRs hit in the series? I was initially thinking something like 23, but maybe that's a little high. I think you have to plan on 6 games. Average HRs per game? 3 to 4? Some games will have 0 or 1, but there will also be some 6 or 7 HR games. Weather a factor if it's cold and raining? I think I'd be willing to take either side of 19.5 total HRs for the series.

I'd take the under on that one. The stadiums tend to enhance the # of HR in general, but the pitching on both teams has been very good. I don't think there will be an offensive explosion in this series. We've seen it time and again that good pitching beats good hitting, and more often than not a team in the WS got there with pitching strength.

The weather should skew lower than the stats as this thing progresses too, I would lean under also.

 

[Reaper]

Bottom line is, a World Series Championship will be a party at my place and a WS loss will not.

Yes, but how much money will you be spending on the party?

I charge $100.00 at the door.It's THE NEW YORK YANKEES... And I have a REALLY big TV.

 

[fred_1_15301]

As a non-Phillies fan living in Philly, I can verify that most Philly fans are completely obnoxious idiots (not necessarily the ones in this thread). This is probably my own fault for listening to sports radio in this town. However, I do watch this team play.........a lot. They are the real deal.

I think the Yanks fans in this thread are SERIOUSLY undervaluing the Phils players. Forget about regular season stats. Forget about playoff stats. Forget about everything that would make sense in evaluating a player. The Phils have a confidence that I've never seen from any other team in sports. No matter what the situation, you not only believe this team CAN come back but you believe that they WILL come back. It's like a broken record player at this point......just ask the Street and Broxton. While many players crumble under pressure, the Phils (as a team) almost beg for a pressure packed situation. Additionally, it's always a new hero with this team.

Good luck Yanks fans.....you will need every bit of it. Also, at this point I take Howard over just about any hitter not named Pujols if I'm building a team. He's the definition of clutch. Tex is a great player but not as good as Howard IMHO.

 

[Michael Brown]

As a non-Phillies fan living in Philly, I can verify that most Philly fans are completely obnoxious idiots (not necessarily the ones in this thread). This is probably my own fault for listening to sports radio in this town. However, I do watch this team play.........a lot. They are the real deal. I think the Yanks fans in this thread are SERIOUSLY undervaluing the Phils players. Forget about regular season stats. Forget about playoff stats. Forget about everything that would make sense in evaluating a player. The Phils have a confidence that I've never seen from any other team in sports. No matter what the situation, you not only believe this team CAN come back but you believe that they WILL come back. It's like a broken record player at this point......just ask the Street and Broxton. While many players crumble under pressure, the Phils (as a team) almost beg for a pressure packed situation. Additionally, it's always a new hero with this team. Good luck Yanks fans.....you will need every bit of it. Also, at this point I take Howard over just about any hitter not named Pujols if I'm building a team. He's the definition of clutch. Tex is a great player but not as good as Howard IMHO.

Nobody is saying the Phils aren't legit, and I don't think anybody is undervaluing them by saying certain Yankees are better. For all of the Phils talent and ability, the same things you say about their will to win could easily be applied to the Yankees. Their late-game comebacks this year have been ridiculous, which is why most people here are saying it's going to be an incredible series...both teams have an almost unmatched ability to do whatever it takes to win.48 hours away...

 

[Tremendous Upside]

THE DEFINITION OF CLUTCH

 

[the moops]

My take. Just the batters.

1B - Teixeira is having an excellent playoffs in the field. Ryan Howard is having an excellent playoffs at the plate. If forced to choose, I would go with Teixeira because of his defense and the likelihood that he will hit nearly as well in the series as Howard (I am basing this off the entire year, where Teixeira was a much better hitter).

2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.

DH - Raul Ibanez has put together a nice 3 year stretch. His OPS creeping up every year. Matsui has rebounded extremely well from what looked like a terrible decline last year. Matsui absilutely crushed left handed pitchers this year. This one seems like a toss up.

RF - Jayson Werth is a very good ballplayer. He seems to fly under the radar quite a bit, but he is probably the 2nd most valuable RF'er in the league. Nick Swisher looks absolutely terrible this postseason. This is a clear advantage for the Phillies.

CF I've never been a huge Shave Victorino fan. However, he is better than Melky Cabrera. How the hell have the Yankees not found a replacement for this stiff? He is one of the worst center fielders in baseball.

C - Jorge Posada is ugly and I can't stand him but eve with his atrocious defense I would choose him over Ruiz.

SS - Derek Jeter still has no range but he had one damn fine year (even in the field). Jimmy Rollins had an awful year. Which followed a so-so year the year before. Jeter has a pretty big advantage here.

3B - Arod is one of the top 4 or 5 players in all of baseball. Pedro Feliz is not even one of the 4 or 5 best third basemen in the NL east.

LF - Ben Franciso/Raul Ibanez and Johnny Damon are close to a toss up. Damon's noodle arm sucks though.

Initially I thought many more positions would lean towards the Yankees. The Phillies are a damn good team though.

 

[jobarules]

er).2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.

On what ####in planet is Utley a better fielder than Cano?

 

[Steelers4Life]

Such a ridiculous thought. It's not a built in excuse for anything, but it's the kind of thing Yankee fans ignore when they talk about how great the team is. And instead of acknowledging that payroll IS a meaningful thing in baseball, you just attack the person who brought it up, probably because you're sick of hearing it. Payroll is the only reason the Yankees are what they are. They aren't well run, and it didn't take too much off-season planning to go out and buy 3 all-stars.It's SUCH an accomplishment that the Yankees cram so much talent into a $200 million payroll, isn't it? The Yankees should ALWAYS be the favorite, and they went out and bought CC, Tex, and Burnett to make sure they would be this year. It's an upset when a team that spends twice as much loses no matter who won last year.So yes, if the Phillies win, it'll be an upset.The Phils are the defending champs, but the Yankees are the favorites.

Oh, ok. You are confusing me with someone that doesn't know anything about baseball and just knee-jerks a reaction that payroll is the only thing here and therefore more money is bad and the system is broken. But since I've shown repeatedly that there is just as much parity in baseball as the other sports, including football, and of course I actually know who has made the World Series the past couple oh 20 years, not to mention the playoffs, then obviously this really shouldn't be directed at this Yankee fan.Thanks.(Yeah, that was slightly rude in tone. But frankly the payroll argument is tired and it's one I don't particularly care to discuss anymore. Nothing personal. Sorry for the tone.)

Not surprised the Yanks fans think the payroll argument is tired and shouldn't be discussed. Frankly I'm just surprised it took so long and you guys aren't in this thing every year. Its funny that you think there's as much parity as baseball as there is in other sports, maybe that's just because the yanks can't manage their money as well as other teams? You basically get the pick of whatever free agents or foreign players you want. Never have to worry about losing your players to free agency, etc. Between the payroll, steroid allegations, overpricing of tickets, (sure alot of teams have these to some degree but altogether the Yanks are the worst) the Yankees are the epitome of everything that's wrong with baseball. Guess I just put the salaries up to remind myself and and anyone else who's not a delusional Yankee fan why they should be pulling for the underdog Phils.

There's so much misinformation here I don't even know where to begin.Ok, first you say the Yanks don't manage their money as well as other teams. Yet since 2000, when the Yankees won their last World Series, here are their win totals: 95, 103, 101, 101, 95, 97, 94, 89, 103. Yeah they've just been so horrible at managing their money. Friggin team made the playoffs all but once from 1995-2009, won 100 games four times, and you suggest they're failures. Right. Second, you say we never have to worry about losing our players to free agency. I admit that this isn't a huge concern most times and that is probably where our biggest advantage lies. But people always bad-mouth the Yankees that they don't develop their own good players. Then they complain that the Yankees get to keep their own guys. Well if they don't develop anyone good then what's the big deal that they want to keep those crappy players? And I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken when Andy Pettitte left for the Astros and Roger Clemens followed him. We replaced them with Kevin Brown and Javier Vazquez, the two guys primarily responsible for the Game 7 debacle against Boston the very next year. Something tells me that if we still had Pettitte and Clemens, the curse of the Bambino would've been on hold another couple years. We'd also probably have won a championship sometime between 2000 and now so they wouldn't be seen as such failures.Steroid allegations affect ALL teams. Even guys from your Phillies (or did Lenny Dykstra only take them before he got there). If you think the Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Sox and A's were the only ones with steroid guys on their teams, you have blinders on. Those are the ones who got caught...there were plenty more.Overpricing of tickets is maybe the most ludicrous story of 2009. Yes, the Yankees "luxury" seats were overpriced beyond belief. No one is paying $2,500 for one ticket. But the upper deck ticket prices for this past season were $25 per ticket on the season plan or $30 per ticket day of game. In the old place, my upper deck tickets were...wait for it...$25 per ticket on the season plan or $30 per ticket day of game. So they moved from the old stadium to the new place and they raised the tickets...hold on let me get my calculator out...by an average of...NOTHING!Got anything else?

No, the Yankees don't manage money NEARLY as well as many other teams. Winning 90+ games in the regular season is not an accomplishment at all when they outspend a majority of baseball by 2 and 3 times. More money SHOULD mean more talent, so winning in the regular season is just buying a trip to the playoffs for the Yankees when just about everyone else has to actually compete for it. Sure, there are other teams that spend in the $120 - $140 million range, but that still pales in comparison to what the Yankees do. The problem is that they make it to the playoffs and face teams that are better - deeper, better, whatever - at a fraction of the cost.... that's a disgrace when they have the biggest competitive advantage in professional sports.The Yankees develop as many duds as any other team. The difference is that they can ALWAYS keep the guys they WANT to keep, and not only that, they can add superstars every offseason and continue to pump tons of money in the the farm system too. They make poor personnel decisions and overspend on guys they shouldn't, but they normally have enough money to just spend MORE to cover up those mistakes - a luxury other teams don't have.The steroid suff and ticket price stuff is old news... who cares.The condescending attitude that comes from most Yankees fans is because a playoff appearance is assumed every year, but that's only because of a high payroll. And the attitude that money doesn't play a HUGE role in their continued success comes from people who are blind to the problems in baseball. WIthout a huge payroll, they'd just be another team struggling to make the right decisions without a giant checkbook as a safety net.There have been a handful of small market teams that can be pointed to as examples of how to run a small-market franchise. And there are always higher spending teams that collapse because they make poor decisions. In the end, it's a system that favors high revenue teams, and the Yankees just exploit it twice as much as anyone else can. Doesn't mean Yankee fans won't enjoy it, but it's why the rest of baseball fans looks at them like they do.

 

[the moops]

er).2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.

On what ####in planet is Utley a better fielder than Cano?

UZR 2007-2009Utley 15.7, 20.2, 12.0. Cano 11.3 , -8.0, -6.1Fielding Bible has Chase Utley as +22 in 2007 and +47 in 2008. Cano as +17 in 2007 and somewhere south of + 6 in 2008 (can only find data for top 12).I thought it was pretty well agreed upon that Utley is consistently one of the top 2 or 3 defensive second basemen. Every attempt to quantify defensive contributions says so.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Phillies +190, guess I've picked a side.

 

[Snotbubbles]

My take. Just the batters.1B - Teixeira is having an excellent playoffs in the field. Ryan Howard is having an excellent playoffs at the plate. If forced to choose, I would go with Teixeira because of his defense and the likelihood that he will hit nearly as well in the series as Howard (I am basing this off the entire year, where Teixeira was a much better hitter).2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.DH - Raul Ibanez has put together a nice 3 year stretch. His OPS creeping up every year. Matsui has rebounded extremely well from what looked like a terrible decline last year. Matsui absilutely crushed left handed pitchers this year. This one seems like a toss up.RF - Jayson Werth is a very good ballplayer. He seems to fly under the radar quite a bit, but he is probably the 2nd most valuable RF'er in the league. Nick Swisher looks absolutely terrible this postseason. This is a clear advantage for the Phillies.CF I've never been a huge Shave Victorino fan. However, he is better than Melky Cabrera. How the hell have the Yankees not found a replacement for this stiff? He is one of the worst center fielders in baseball.C - Jorge Posada is ugly and I can't stand him but eve with his atrocious defense I would choose him over Ruiz.SS - Derek Jeter still has no range but he had one damn fine year (even in the field). Jimmy Rollins had an awful year. Which followed a so-so year the year before. Jeter has a pretty big advantage here.3B - Arod is one of the top 4 or 5 players in all of baseball. Pedro Feliz is not even one of the 4 or 5 best third basemen in the NL east.LF - Ben Franciso/Raul Ibanez and Johnny Damon are close to a toss up. Damon's noodle arm sucks though.Initially I thought many more positions would lean towards the Yankees. The Phillies are a damn good team though.

Feliz is in the lineup solely for defense. Feliz may be one of the top 2 or 3 defensive third basemen IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE. His bat is terrible though. He constantly swings at the first pitch even if the pitcher has thrown 20 balls in a row. Frustrating to watch.I don't follow the Yankees, but I do know that every team applies a shift for Ryan Howard which probably cost him easily 20 or 30 base hits this year. But as far as driving in runs and hitting for power, Tex can hold a candle to Howard (I don't know if there is a better power hitter in the league). Howard has also significantly improved his defense. For those who don't watch him on a regular basis, you'll be surprised at the improvement. Franciso is an unknown, even for Philly fans. He's definitely a better fielder then Ibanez/Damon because he has more range, but he has the ability to hit too. He was used pretty sparingly in Philly, but when he got his opportunities, he had some big hits. I think he could be one of the surprises in this series.Jorge Posada is one of the most overrated players in baseball. His defense sucks, his baserunning sucks. For the catcher position, you want defense first. Catcher is by far the most important position on the field. They control the game. Plus, Ruiz and Posada are different hitters in the postseason. Ruiz ups his game, Posada doesn't. I think Ruiz will outplay Posada in this series.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Phillies +190, guess I've picked a side.

I don't know if emotion/pride plays as big a role as other sports, but I sense a "we're the defending champs getting dissed" vibe that may serve the underdogs well here.

 

[fred_1_15301]

Phillies +190, guess I've picked a side.

I don't know if emotion/pride plays as big a role as other sports, but I sense a "we're the defending champs getting dissed" vibe that may serve the underdogs well here.

The Phillies will definitely use this card for extra motivation.

 

[E-Z Glider]

Phillies +190, guess I've picked a side.

I went with Phils in 7 (+550). Seems like almost a foregone conclusion to me that this thing goes all the way. No idea who wins the last game, but its going to be one helluva wild ride.

 

[jobarules]

er).2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.

On what ####in planet is Utley a better fielder than Cano?

UZR 2007-2009Utley 15.7, 20.2, 12.0. Cano 11.3 , -8.0, -6.1Fielding Bible has Chase Utley as +22 in 2007 and +47 in 2008. Cano as +17 in 2007 and somewhere south of + 6 in 2008 (can only find data for top 12).I thought it was pretty well agreed upon that Utley is consistently one of the top 2 or 3 defensive second basemen. Every attempt to quantify defensive contributions says so.

Those stats are such bull#### cuz any stat that says Cano is a negative is absolute nonsense. The guy has been phenomenal with the glove this year. He has phenomenal range and a great arm. Im not exactly a Cano fan. But defensively hes top notch. I always thought of Utley as a butcher (and hes been dreadful in the playoffs so far) but Im willing to admit that I dont watch him as much as Id like.

 

[jobarules]

the surprises in this series.Jorge Posada is one of the most overrated players in baseball. His defense sucks, his baserunning sucks. For the catcher position, you want defense first. Catcher is by far the most important position on the field. They control the game. Plus, Ruiz and Posada are different hitters in the postseason. Ruiz ups his game, Posada doesn't. I think Ruiz will outplay Posada in this series.

Looking at the playoff stats for both shocked me. Im willing to say Ruiz > Posada on that alone.

 

[E-Z Glider]

er).2B - Chase Utley is better fielder and a much better hitter than Cano.

On what ####in planet is Utley a better fielder than Cano?

UZR 2007-2009Utley 15.7, 20.2, 12.0. Cano 11.3 , -8.0, -6.1Fielding Bible has Chase Utley as +22 in 2007 and +47 in 2008. Cano as +17 in 2007 and somewhere south of + 6 in 2008 (can only find data for top 12).I thought it was pretty well agreed upon that Utley is consistently one of the top 2 or 3 defensive second basemen. Every attempt to quantify defensive contributions says so.

Those stats are such bull#### cuz any stat that says Cano is a negative is absolute nonsense. The guy has been phenomenal with the glove this year. He has phenomenal range and a great arm. Im not exactly a Cano fan. But defensively hes top notch. I always thought of Utley as a butcher (and hes been dreadful in the playoffs so far) but Im willing to admit that I dont watch him as much as Id like.

Utley's no butcher. Phillies are about as defensively sound as any team in baseball. Even Howard has improved tremendously (he had more webgems this year than any other 1B - yeah, I know this isnt very scientific, but I really dont buy into any defensive measurements). As for offense, the geeks on the Phillies board I read havent been able to find any offensive metrics that show the Phils have any advantage. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that it's AL baseball -vs- NL baseball, but mostly its just because these are two awesome teams.PS - Id take Howard over Tex any day of the week and twice on Sunday. "Just get me to the plate".