ALCS Preview

LETS GET IT BOYS! Okay so now I'm really excited. Its mid October and the Yankees swept the Twins for the second straight year. Then last night Clifton Lee went the distance to take the Rangers to their first ever ALCS. Lee is a magnificent pitcher. Just imagine if the Yankees traded for him earlier in the year. Almost wouldn't be fair, but the Rangers got him instead and now they look pretty good for making that deal. It worked out pretty well for the Yankees though. Since they didn't win the division they got the 5th best team in the playoffs the Rays got about the 3rd best and lost. Plus when Texas went up 2-0 they couldn't finish the deal within their next two home games. They relied on going back to Tampa Bay and pitching their ace. Making it the first series ever to have the home team lose every game. And Lee is now not going to start until game 2 or 3 of the ALCS. Why not 2? Well I'm not sure exactly. Short rest truly means nothing at all.

So in two days (Friday) the Yankees will travel to Texas for game one of the ALCS. At 8:00 PM ET C.J. Wilson will take the hill against CC Sabathia. Two tough left handers. The Yankees aren't the best versus left handed pitchers but they knocked Liriano out of the game once they went through the order about the second time. Liriano also has way better stuff and has been a better pitcher. The Yankees should be favored game one, and possibly game two.

All we know for now is its CC vs. CJ in game one. Game two will be Andy Pettitte vs. Colby Lewis if Ron Washington believes Lee should get full rest. Then it could be easily 2-0 Yankees going back to New York. This series surely can be over early if the Rangers don't think it through. The real problem for the Yankees is how they will set up the rotation. Brian Cashman said AJ Burnett will start in this series. Most likely you'll see him pitch game 3 or game 4. I say game 3. First off you want Sabathia to have 3 possible pitching chances if there is a game 7. CC is deadly on short rest too. Ask a Brewers fan. Next Lee is pitching game 3. If you pretty much think like I do you pitch Burnett. For instance Burnett might have been tired this season and maybe on this long rest he can spark 6 IP 1 ER. Who knows plus vs. Lee you don't want to waste a good start from another pitcher only to turn out in a loss because you gave up 2 runs he gave up 1. Usually teams don't have that mindset, but it also makes sense because then CC can go game 4. What about Hughes? Its shown all season Hughes pitches better on extra rest and him going game 5 will assure him much of it. Then going Andy in game 6 and CC in 7. The Yankees should definitely take on this rotation.

More than a decade ago the Yankees and Rangers played each other in three ALDS series'. The Yankees took all three series' going 9-1 in the process. Texas is a completely different team now, but its another team the Yankees have a good history verse. Much like the Twins.

In 2010 they split the season series 4-4. These teams were equally matched across the board vs. each other. Although Texas has more strikeouts and walked more times than the Yankees. With Cliff Lee thats possible and is a key to the series. The Yankees will need to either jump on Lee early with his first pitch strikes or do what they do best work walks. Which means they'll have to foul a few pitches off and get some calls going there way.

Keys to Victory : New York Yankees

The Yankees need to keep Elvis Andrus off base. He is the only guy who can cause a ton of havoc on the base paths. He scored from second yesterday on a ground ball towards the first base side of the field. A key to the Yankees winning the ALCS and World Series a season ago was keeping Chone Figgins and Jimmy Rollins off base to stop their 3-4-5 hitters from coming through.

They also need to limit the power hitters. Vlad, Cruz, Hamilton, Kinsler, and Micheal Young are all capable of hitting home runs. Josh Hamilton had a quiet series. He didn't do much vs. the breaking ball low and away. The way the Yankees can limit these guys are getting ahead in the count. Something not that hard to do vs. the Texas Rangers. They have the fourth highest swing rate in baseball, and are bottom four in pitches taken. Expect Yankees pitching to thrive if this holds up. CC's slider and Hughes' curve ball are very nasty pitches. Philthy if you will.

The pen. The Yankees bull pen looked pretty good vs. Minnesota. We only saw Boone Logan, David Robertson, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera though. We need Logan to step in for the lefties and the 8th inning should be open to anybody. By anybody I mean Kerry Wood, D-R0b, and Joba. Yes Joba we're going to need him sooner or later. Plus he didn't do bad towards the end of the season. Wood was shaky in his first appearance in the playoffs at Yankee Stadium. It might have just been the jitters, but I say hes on a short leash. Mariano was excellent. The G.O.A.T. closed all 3 games out for the Yankees.

The last thing is to score early because the Rangers bull pen is very good.

Keys to Victory : Texas Rangers

The Rangers need to have everyone not named Cliff Lee pitch well. Lee will most likely only pitch 2 games in this series. Thats fine and dandy, but it takes 4 games to advance to the World Series. Its not likely that Colby Lewis or Tommy Hunter can out pitch the Yankees on the days they go out, but they can try. C.J. has a bit of a chance, but hes facing CC Sabathia.

Josh Hamilton. The second key is Hamilton must be a factor. I don't see Kinsler and Young taking many pitches deep this series so the meat of the order will have to get the top of the order home.

The last key is to have a lead early. If they can have a lead for the first 6 innings the Rangers chances are better to win. The Yankees have the most comebacks wins in the MLB this year. While the Rangers pen is one of the best in baseball. I expect some late inning tight ball games.

My prediction? While Lee won the Phillies two games in the World Series last year they just couldn't win with another pitcher on the mound. So like  a season ago when Lee won 2 games I have the Yankees in 6. Sorry Josh Hamilton no Canada Dry ginger ale for you.