I've been gone, but I had to come back for the greatest month of the year

The 2009 Major League baseball season has been a great one. We’ve seen Randy Johnson win his 300th career game, Jonathan Sanchez throw a no-hitter, Mark Buerhle hurl a perfect game, Derek Jeter surpass the great Lou Gehrig as the Yankee’s all-time hits leader, and the openings of two beautiful ballparks in New York. And now after all 162 games it comes down to, Who get’s to go to the “Ship”?

The first round of playoff games start tomorrow, and I thought I’d give my thoughts on who will continue their October dreams, and who will get sent packing..

Philly Fever vs. ROCKtober?

Last years World Champions are back atop the National League East for the third straight year, and are looking to repeat as Champions as they take on N.L. Wild Card winners, the Colorado Rockies.

In the regular season series, the Phillies won four games to two, but that was before the Rockies turned their luck around. Since the firing of manager Clint Hurdle, the Rockies have had a surge of good luck, locking in the Wild card and nearly taking the NL West division right out from under the Dodgers.

Now we all know that the best way that Philadelphia can hurt you is throwing forth the heavy bats of Howard, Utely, Werth, and Ibanez. The Phillies outrank the Rockies in home runs, runs scored, total bases, grounding into fewer double plays, and committing less errors (PA leads the NL in the first four mentioned), so if they Phil’s stand a chance against a sweep, it’s with their top guys making contact and making it earlier. Because if the game is left solely up to their pitchers, the Phillies might not make it out alive.

They say you can’t go deep into October without top-notch pitching, and what helped Philadelphia with their run last post-season, is the very thing that could knock them out in the first round.

They have a great starting 1-2 punch with reigning American League Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee and last year’s World Series MVP Cole Hamels. But Lee, has gotten knocked around in his last 7 starts, and Cole Hamels has been average at best, a year after being the staff ace. With the Rockies only hitting 1 game above .500 vs. Left- Handers, so these two Lefties have to give Skipper Charlie Manuel back-to-back quality starts and go deep in the game, because if they get knocked out early it could spell disaster.

Why? Because the Phillie’s bullpen is EASILY their weakest link. They’ve been plagued with injuries and are ladened with a closer whose “stuff’ turns on and off like a light switch.

Though I’m pretty confident that the Rockies won’t sweep the Phil’s, like in their previous NLDS(2007) match-up, I’m pretty sure the Rockies magic that they’ve displayed of late will earn them the series. Expect a Rox win in 5.

Can the Mauer Power take down The Evil Empire?

The winner of Tuesday’s A.L. Centrals division battle, the Minnesota Twins will play the New York Yankee’s on Wednesday. The Yankee’s are sitting high with their rested bodies, and the Twins will arrive having battled in a twelve-inning game just the night before.

Many believe the Twins will falter against the Yank’s, what with the Yankee’s winning all 7 match-up’s in the regular season. But even in the series in the Bronx where the Twins were swept, they were one-run games, two that went extra innings! And not to mention that three of those games were walk-off wins for New York. Just cause the Yankee’s came out with the win, doesn’t mean that Minnesota didn’t give them a good run for their money.

The Twins are riding a victorious stretch of games, having won 17 of their last 21 games. So who’s to say they won’t bring that momentum with them?

Even though they are without former MVP Justin Morneau (who usually kills the Yankee’s), the Twins still have the Mauer Power. Joe Mauer, arguably the games’ best offensive catcher, leads the major league’s with his .365 batting average, and is the Yankee’s biggest concern. But with Big C.C. Sabathia up first to throw for the Yank’s, Mauer is no problem. Joe is hitting a measly .217 career average against him. It’s the other games the Yankee’s have to worry about.

Their starting pitching must hold up. The Yankee’s big money takers (Teixeira, A-Rod, Swisher) have got to show up to the plate. And they all have to give the Great Mariano Rivera a chance to seal the deal.

So who takes the series?

On paper, the Twin’s are clearly no match for the Yankee’s. And if history is any indication (NY had a 4-game victory over the Twins in both the 2004 and 2003 ALDS), the Yankee’s will defeat Minnesota. The teams’ got the power, the talent, the experience, and Manager Joe Girardi has the determination to show the world it wasn’t just Joe Torre that could bring a championship to the Bronx.

I’m calling a split series in NY, a split series at the Metrodome, and it coming together for the Yankee’s in game 5, them winning it all in the billion dollar house that George built.

Just cause Twin’s are going down, doesn’t mean they aren’t going down swinging til the very end…

(Note* this series will most likely be over in 4 games, if not three. But I like all of my games to go the distance. Makes for better tv;) )

The Machine to Rock Dodgertown,USA

If there was one post-season match-up that could easily be the one to watch, this is it.

In their first Post-Season meeting since 2004, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers will both face each other after both teams played several upsetting final games. The Cardinals who could have pushed harder for that NL best wins title got swept by the Brewers, and the Colorado Rockies almost ran away with the Division title from the Dodgers. But all that means squat. In an NLDS game, everyone starts fresh.

So what is this series about?

Mannywood vs. PujolsNation. It’s the battle of the big dogs.

Too bad Manny was suspended for 50 games earlier this year because of his big dog, and hasn’t been the same since returning to the Dodgers in early July.

Albert Pujols, however, has been called the best hitter in Major league baseball. And he lives up to it. The Dodgers pitchers better make sure they don’t make any mistakes when Pujols is at the plate, cause he’ll take advantage.

My Grandfather doesn’t think the Dodgers have the pitching to take down the Cardinals. In the first two games of the series Joe Torre will call on two lefties to take on the Cards, and like the Rockies they don’t fare too well against those Southpaws. Los Angeles has set-up man George Sherrill and Closer Johnathan Broxton, both are a 8th/9th inning force to be reckoned with, but can the rest of their staff do their part to hand it off to them? I think so, they have a shaky starting rotation, but the bullpen is pretty soild. I mean, are my facts wrong or has left-handed reliever Hong-Chih Kuo held left-handed batters to a .152 average, and has Ronald Belisario posted a 2.04 ERA for the season?

On the other side of things, the Cardinals have two of the best pitchers in the National League, Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Both lead the league in win totals and are strong candidates for this year’s N.L. Cy Young. Game three starter, Joel Pineiro held the Dodgers to one run in eight innings in his July start against them. If St. Louis top three can dominate the Dodgers like they’ve done all year, who to say the cardinals won’t sweep LA.

But I will give Los Angeles a little glimmer of hope and call it Cardinals in Four.

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I know I left off the Angels/ Red Sox Match-Up’s but I’ll post them tomorrow.

St Louis One-Hits Milwaukee; Shuts-out Any Chance For Another Choreographed Dance

A day after Prince Fielder hit a walk-off Home Run against the Giants and received quite a few dis-concerning looks for his over-the-top celebration,St. Louis swooped in and reminded Milwaukee just how foolish they are.

The Cardinals, who were looking to avoid losing back to back games, shut-out the Brew Crew 3-0, with help from the bat of Albert Pujols and a stellar performance from Pitcher Chris Carpenter.

Carpenter silenced Milwaukee’s bats through 4 1/3 innings, until Jody Gerut stroked him for a one-out double in the fifth. But that would be all she wrote, as they never got another man on base, other than pinch-hitter Craig Counsell coaxing a walk in the ninth.

With this outstanding effort from Carpenter, the Cardinals are well on their way to that division title, while the Brewers sink farther away from contention. Maybe they should be concentrating on ways to win their games instead of coming up with frivolous celebration dances…

Marlin's Sluggers Sling Words Behind Closed Doors

As playoff hopes slowly fade for the Florida Marlins, tensions are starting to arise in their Clubhouse.

On Wednesday before the Marlins game against the Atlanta Braves, Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla were involved in a heated shouting match. The fight originated between the double play partners because Uggla questioned Ramirez’s desire and eagerness to win.

Ramirez has been playing with a tight left hamstring for some time now, but the All-Star shortstop said he would play through the pain to help his team. Then in Tuesday nights match-up against the Atlanta Braves, Ramirez was taken out of the game due to the injury, upsetting several of the Marlins ball players. Ramirez took to the media to express his frustration with his teammates and their lack of confidence in his injury.

When asked if he would be in tonight’s lineup, Ramirez was quoted as saying, “”I feel I’ve got to be in there, because you don’t get the same respect from your teammates when you’re not playing and I got people upset when I came out of the game last night.”

Apparently those comments didn’t sit too well with Uggla. The two soon started up a debate about Ramirez’s desire to help his team. Uggla even cited Ramirez’s $70M contract as a reason for his careless attitude towards the game.

The fight had spectators that Manager Fredi Gonzalez didn’t want listening in, prompting him to hold a closed door meeting with his players. When asked about what was said, Gonzalez said, “It’s among teammates and we’ll keep it in house. Just a verbal argument, verbal fight that happens all over the world in 162 games. It’s taken care of, it’s over.”

But is it over? Ramirez and his $70m dollars are sitting on the bench in tonight’s game. Think Dan Uggla can keep his mouth shut about that?