SB Nation User Blog: dajafi

Myers Won't Be Back

dajafi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:45:10 -0000

Myers Won't Be Back

The part of me that remembers he's a person says "good riddance." The cold-blooded GM wannabe, though, wonders if a low base, make-good deal to bring him back as a fifth starter might not have been a better way to go. Remember that the most likely alternative in-house options are Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick.

How Did They Do That?

dajafi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:02:12 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Ryan Madson: last man standing of the Phillies' 2008 pitching stalwarts. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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Not quite 24 hours after the Phillies saw their season come to an end one day and two wins before we hoped it would, my disappointment at the conclusion is starting to give way to something like amazement that they got as close as they did. Of arguably the six most important Phillies pitchers from the 2008 championship run--starters Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, and Jamie Moyer, and relievers Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, and J.C. Romero--a stunning five saw their contributions plummet in the season that just ended.

By contrast, consider the last NL team to win back-to-back pennants: the Atlanta Braves of the mid-1990s. The world champion 1995 Braves boasted a rotation led by future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, who combined for 47 wins and 601 innings that season. Their bullpen was anchored by closer Mark Wohlers (204 ERA+) and setup men Greg McMichael (153) and Brad Clontz (117). The '96 Braves, who also lost their repeat bid to the Yankees in six games, had a pitching staff led by... Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Wohlers, McMichael and Clontz. The three starters combined for 54 wins and an amazing 724 innings; Wohlers (ERA+ 145) and McMichael (136) were strong again, though Clontz (77) was much less effective. To sum up, the top five pitchers powered the Atlanta pennant-winners in both years.

Which brings us to the 2008-2009 Phillies.

In '08, Hamels, Myers and Moyer combined for 40 wins and 613.2 innings in the regular season (plus 6 wins and 65.2 innings through the three rounds of the playoffs). Lidge pitched to a superlative ERA+ of 225; Madson (144) and Romero (160) were great as well, and came up even bigger in the playoffs. A year later, Hamels went from "Darth Vader in spikes," as the Braves broadcasters (in perhaps the sole contribution to humankind) once dubbed him, to a young pitcher struggling with command and composure. Myers looked like he might challenge Bert Blyleven's single season home run record through a middling month and a half, then got hurt. Moyer pitched his way out of the rotation, remade himself as a surprisingly effective long reliever, then suffered a season-ending injury in September. They combined for 26 wins and 426.1 innings during the season, and Hamels added another victory in October. Lidge... well, you know about Lidge: his 2009 campaign was arguably the worst any closer has ever suffered through. His ERA+ was *59*. That's not a misprint. Romero missed the first fifty games of the season with a suspension for taking illegal supplements, briefly returned and was middling, then got hurt and missed the last month plus the playoffs. Only Madson stood tall again, with an ERA+ of 131. They were the anti-Braves.

That the Phils came within two wins of raising another championship banner anyway has to be credited mostly to GM Ruben Amaro Jr., whose late July trade for Cliff Lee and bargain-price signing of Pedro Martinez saved the rotation and who gave the bullpen a crucial boost in the person of Chan Ho Park. Manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee, who got great work from J.A. Happ and small but important contributions from the likes of Antonio Bastardo, Rodrigo Lopez, Tyler Walker and Kyle Kendrick over the course of the year, deserve kudos as well.

It's unclear what, if anything, this means for the future. Certainly there's every reason to hope Hamels will return to form, and Lidge and Romero seem decent bets to rebound from their miserable 2009 campaigns even if neither recaptures the heights of '08. Myers is a free agent who might or might not be back; Moyer will turn 47 this month and will be attempting to rebound from a fairly severe injury. But if you'd tried to sell the story eight months ago that the 2009 Phils would see five of their top six pitchers from the championship run essentially melt down, yet still win the pennant and take the World Series to six games, you likely would have had few believers.

The End: Yankees 7, Phillies 3

dajafi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:18:42 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

6 days ago: Philadelphia Phillies watch the seventh inning from their dugout during Game 6 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Yankees Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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A wild seven-month ride came to a dispiriting conclusion in the Bronx Wednesday night as the Phillies fell to the New York Yankees by a 7-3 score, falling in the World Series by four games to two.

If they had to go down, this wasn't the way you'd draw it up: done in by myriad self-inflicted wounds including a subpar Pedro Martinez start, bad at-bats against a less than overpowering Andy Pettitte, the painfully baffling move to bring in Chad Durbin with the game still within reach at 4-1 in the fifth inning, and a near-total inability to retireHideki Matsui, who celebrated his return to the lineup with the DH back in play by driving in six runs in his first three at-bats. Matsui started the scoring with a two-run homer in the second inning off Pedro, who battled as always but just didn't have his good stuff in his last and biggest start of the season. After the Phils got one run back in the top of the third on a Carlos Ruiz triple and Jimmy Rollins sac fly, Matsui drove in two more in the bottom of the inning with a bases-loaded single to put the Yankees ahead 4-1.

The game took on an air of inevitability after Charlie Manuel, in his last and arguably worst questionable move of the Series, brought in Durbin to start the fifth. Derek Jeter started the inning with a ground rule double, and after Jerry Hairston Jr. moved him to third, came around to score on a Mark Teixeira single. After walking Alex Rodriguez, Durbin gave way to J.A. Happ, who surrendered a two-run double to Matsui that made it 7-1.

The Phils did chase Pettitte a half-inning later, as Chase Utley worked a one-out walk and Ryan Howard hit his first home run of the Series, a two-run shot that barely cleared the wall in left. Two batters later, Raul Ibanez doubled with two outs, and Pettitte left in favor of Joba Chamberlain, who retired Pedro Feliz to end the inning. In the seventh, the Phils had their last real shot: Ruiz, who turned in another great game, singled with one out. He was forced at second by Jimmy Rollins, but Shane Victorino walked to bring up Chase Utley. Joe Girardi called on Damaso Marte, who struck out Utley on three pitches to retire the side.

After Marte started the eighth by striking out Howard--the record-setting 13th K of the Series for the Phils slugger--Mariano Rivera came in, as everyone knew he would. He struck out Jayson Werth, but allowed another double to Ibanez before Feliz once again ended the inning. In the ninth, Ruiz tried to spark one last rally, walking with one out. Rollins followed with a long flyout to the track in right field. Victorino came up as the Phillies' last hope and kept it alive through one last long at-bat, working the count full after fouling off a bunch of tough pitches before grounding to Robinson Cano for the final out.

Congrats to the Yankees, 2009 world champions--and to the Phillies, who won 102 games and a second straight National League title. The disappointment will fade, but the good memories this team gave us should endure.

Six for Six

dajafi — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:58:26 -0000

More photos » by Jason DeCrow - AP

The man who gave us Game Six. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

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We have exactly six hours, as I write this, before the scheduled first pitch of World Series Game Six. Below, a half-dozen thoughts, most of which have been bubbling for a few days now, to pass at least a bit of that time:

Tonight's pitching matchup, in which future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez (age 38) goes for the Phillies against all-time postseason wins leader Andy Pettitte (37) for the Yankees, is the first time two starters with a combined age of 75 or older have faced off in the Series since Game One of the 2005 Fall Classic between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, when two ex-Yankees, Roger Clemens (then 43) and Jose Contreras (allegedly 33) went at it. Pettitte's on three days' rest, Pedro is facing an augmented lineup compared to the one he saw in Game Two (when weak-hitting Jose Molina, not slugger Jorge Posada, was behind the plate), and it's gonna be cold. The game easily could become a battle of the bullpens, a scary prospect for both managers.
Phils second baseman Chase Utley has tied Reggie Jackson's World Series record with five home runs in the five games thus far. As several pundits have noted, there's a real chance that Utley could be named the Most Valuable Player of the Series even if the Yankees win: no one player has stood out for New York other than perhaps Johnny Damon, who's batting .381 and has scored five runs, including the Game Four winner; and closer Mariano Rivera, who has finished off all three Yankee wins to this point. (Hideki Matsui is batting .556 with two homers, but he was reduced to pinch-hitting for the three games in Philly; he has just nine at-bats.) Meanwhile, Utley hit two homers in each of the Phils' wins, has scored six times, leads all batters with eight RBIs, and is basically the only reason the Phils have generated any offense in light of Ryan Howard's epic slump and overall subpar hitting from Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez. If Pettitte pitches a great game tonight and gets the win, he'll be MVP with two victories in the Series--but if, say, the Yankees win a high-scoring game in which someone like Mark Teixeira (2 for 19 thus far) or Robinson Cano (3 for 18) is the big hitting star, while Utley goes 4 for 5 with another homer and a bunch of RBI, he'll probably by the MVP. This would be, at best, terribly awkward: for Chase Utley, the one downside of greatness is having to be recognized for his greatness. Imagine Fox's Ken Rosenthal saying, "Congratulations Chase, but your team lost--how do you feel?" You'll get either nothing or a response they'd better have on at least a five-second delay.

Neither manager has covered himself in glory this Series. As I've written here many times, I think Charlie Manuel is easily the greatest manager in Phillies history--but his in-game decisions hurt the team in each of the last four games. He went with Martinez too long in Game Two, made an inexplicable decision to pinch-hit helpless Eric Bruntlett in a big spot in Game Three and then left reliever Chad Durbin in too long when he obviously had no command, did the same with Brad Lidge in the nightmarish Game Four, and then futzed around with the outfield defensive alignment late in Game Five to near-disastrous effect. Maybe worse, he has a dead spot on his roster in the person of rookie lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo, who hasn't yet pitched in the Series and almost certainly won't unless the Phils are getting blown out; meanwhile, with Victorino hurting after getting hit on the hand early in Game Five, there's a chance he'll have to use Bruntlett, among the worst hitters in baseball, as his DH or left fielder in a win-or-die game tonight. I'd seriously rather see Cliff Lee or Hamels--both lefties, mind you--in the lineup against Pettitte.
Meanwhile, Yankee manager Joe Girardi failed to leverage the advantage he earned by his team winning three of the first four games, starting talented but erratic righty A.J. Burnett on short rest for the house-money Game Five, watching him get pummeled, and now having to sweat out the 37 year-old Pettitte doing the same tonight. If he falls short, Game Seven would go to ace CC Sabathia, on double-short rest--a situation in which the Phillies knocked him around in the 2008 National League Division Series. Girardi's bullpen management has been questionable as well: heading toward the end of the Series, he really only can trust Rivera (who, distressingly for the Phils, probably is good for two innings tonight) and perhaps veteran lefty Damaso Marte and rookie righty David Robertson.
It hurts to admit this, but if the Yankees go on to win, the big turning point in the Series will have been the role reversals of Cole Hamels and Pettite in Game Three. Hamels took a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning, got a tough call on a full-count pitch to Teixiera that went for a walk, and then fell to pieces, allowing a controversial home run to Rodriguez that made it 3-2 and surrendering three more runs before getting pulled the next inning. It was Hamels' whole season writ small: bad luck or bad karma followed by bad pitching and a downward spiral he couldn't escape. (To be clear: I'm not slagging Hamels here. The guy was the single biggest reason we won it all last year; for that, from me, he has a lifetime pass.) Pettitte, by contrast, escaped near-disaster early on: he'd thrown 51 pitches and allowed three runs through two innings, but held the Phillies to one run over the next four on a night when, as he reportedly later told teammates, he had "nothing." I kind of hate the guy, as I do most ostentatiously religious athletes, but I can't deny that he pitched like a champion Saturday night.
There's a lot about the Yankees that baseball fans find irritating, from the eternal sense of entitlement among their fan base to the whining about balls and strikes and the innumerable, interminable mound conferences and other delaying tactics they've used in this Series. But what really turns my stomach about their push for a 27th world championship is the notion that they need to "win it for the Boss," ailing owner/tyrant George Steinbrenner. To put it mildly, this isn't a sympathetic guy: he's a convicted felon (for illegal campaign contributions to kindred spirit Richard Nixon) and a confirmed sexist--and this is even before you think about his depredations among team employees or his contributions to worsening baseball's competitive imbalance. As even Yankee great Don Mattingly acknowledged, he's less likable than Monty Burns. The Yankees, and their fans, should have enough reasons to crave victory beyond wanting to provide still more ego validation to a world-class asshole like Steinbrenner, who's probably too unwell to enjoy it anyway.

Meanwhile, the clock continues to wind toward 7:57pm and at least one more baseball game for the highest stakes.

We Go On: Phillies 8, Yankees 6

dajafi — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:30:40 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

One day, there's gonna be a statue in South Philly that looks a lot like this. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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Facing their first elimination game in the last two postseason, the Phillies rose to the occasion once again behind Chase Utley's power and Cliff Lee's guts, holding off a furious late Yankees rally to send the World Series back to the Bronx for Game Six Wednesday night.

Lee wasn't quite as sharp in his second start of the Series as he was in the opener, but through the first seven innings he held the Yankees to single runs in the first, on an Alex Rodriguez RBI double that scored Johnny Damon, and the fifth, on a Damon groundout that plated Eric Hinske. Using all his pitches once again, he held New York to four hits and three walks through seven, striking out three.

Meanwhile, the Phillies battered A.J. Burnett, working on three days rest after shackling the Phils in Game Two. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Jimmy Rollins singled, Shane Victorino was hit by a pitch on his hand while trying to bunt. That brought up Utley, who crushed Burnett's first pitch for a three-run homer--his fourth of the Series. Two innings later, they chased Burnett after he started the inning with walks to Utley and Ryan Howard and surrendered a run-scoring single to Jayson Werth. Raul Ibanez followed with a single to bring Howard home, and Burnett gave way to David Robertson. The Phils added another run on a Carlos Ruiz groundout to go up 6-1. Utley struck again off lefty Phil Coke in the bottom of the 7th, blasting his fifth home run of the Series to tie Reggie Jackson's record. Later in the inning, Ibanez hit a tape-measure shot off the facing of the upper deck to make it 8-2.

Then disaster nearly struck. Continuing a run of questionable in-game decisions over the last three days, Charlie Manuel pulled Victorino to start the top of the 8th, sending Ben Francisco in to play center field; Victorino was obviously perplexed that Francisco was coming in for him, rather than Ibanez. The decision loomed large as the inning unfolded: Lee, over 100 pitches, seemed to have Damon struck out on a curveball, but couldn't get the call. On the next pitch, Damon hit a soft grounder to short that Rollins could not get out of his glove. Mark Teixiera followed with a double to left, putting men on second and third with none out. The next hitter was Rodriguez, who turned on a first-pitch fastball that Ibanez dove for and saw bounce off the heel of his glove, scoring both men. With the lead cut to 8-4, Lee gave way to Chan Ho Park, who got Nick Swisher on a groundout and induced a fly to shallow center from Robinson Cano. But Francisco's weak throw was too late to get Rodriguez at the plate, and the Yankees had pulled within three runs at 8-5.

It stayed that way going into the 9th, with Ryan Madson now on for the Phillies. Jorge Posada began the inning with a double to right that barely stayed in the park; Hideki Matsui followed with a single through the hole on the left side to put runners at the corners. With visions of disaster dancing in a million Philadelphian heads, Madson fell behind Derek Jeter 2-0--but came back to induce a 6-4-3 double play as Posada scored to make it 8-6. Damon, again the Yankees' most effective hitter, battled back from an 0-2 hole to single up the middle. But with the crowd roaring, Madson struck out Teixiera to end the game and send the Series back to New York.

This is still a steep uphill climb. But they didn't go out feebly, and with the bats hopefully heating up at last, they've got a puncher's chance as the Series shifts back to New York.

Gut Kick Symmetry: Yankees 7, Phillies 4

dajafi — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:48:40 -0000

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

Freeze it right here: Pedro Feliz's solo home run in the bottom of the 8th briefly tied the game at 4. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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When this World Series started, most experts picked the AL Champion Yankees based on two factors: their relative imperviousness, on both sides of the ball, to the Phillies' lefty hitters and pitchers, and the enormous advantage they had at the back end of the bullpen with super-closer Mariano Rivera contrasted against agonizingly hittable Phillies closer Brad Lidge.

Four games in, the experts are looking pretty good. Yankee starter CC Sabathia and southpaw reliever Damaso Marte weren't quite as dominant over the Phils' lefty bats as Andy Pettitte in Game Three--thanks almost entirely to Chase Utley, who got Sabathia again for an RBI double and solo homer--but he kept Ryan Howard contained and had his way altogether with Raul Ibanez. And Lidge, after getting one strike away from sending the game to the bottom of the ninth tied, melted down yet again to allow three ninth inning runs. Rivera then came on to set down the Phils 1-2-3, and the Yankees drew within one game of the championship. Charlie Manuel, whose poor in-game tactics contributed significantly to the Game Three loss, bears much of the blame again for getting fooled by Lidge's chimerical success against the Rockies and Dodgers. That he had a few minutes of warning signs before the axe fell, and still didn't make the move, is salt in the wound.

To be fair, Manuel's first gut-call move tonight--starting Joe Blanton, idle for the better part of two weeks, rather than Cliff Lee on short rest--worked out far better than I expected it would. After a shaky start to the game with two Yankee runs in the first, Blanton set down 11 in a row and allowed the Phils to tie it up on Utley's first-inning double and a Pedro Feliz RBI single in the fourth. But a leadoff walk to Nick Swisher in the fifth proved costly: Melky Cabrera followed with an infield single, and after Sabathia struck out trying to bunt, Derek Jeter untied the game with a seeing-eye single. Johnny Damon followed with a bloop to score Cabrera, and the Yanks led 4-2. Blanton ultimately left after six solid innings, allowing five hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Utley's solo homer off Sabathia in the 7th--a near dead ringer for the second shot he belted in Yankee Stadium last Wednesday--drew the Phils within a run and chased the large lefty, who was impressive on three days' rest with 6 2/3 innings of seven-hit, three-walk, six strikeout work. Marte followed by retiring Howard, who went 1-4, to end the frame. After Ryan Madson held off the Yankees in the eighth, Joba Chamberlain came out for the bottom of the inning and struck out Jayson Werth and Ibanez, who had an awful night with three Ks among his four hitless at-bats. But Feliz battled back after falling behind, and re-tied the game on a full-count solo home run to left that briefly electrified South Philadelphia.

That brought on Lidge. Admittedly, he fooled me too at first: a popup of pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui and a rousing strikeout of Jeter. But after getting ahead of Damon 1-2, he couldn't close the deal: two balls and several fouls later, the veteran served a single into left. Then disaster struck: Damon took off for second, and with the Phillies infield in a shift for Mark Teixiera, Feliz fielded Carlos Ruiz's throw--and watched helplessly as Damon ran to third.

Now clearly rattled, Lidge hit Teixiera with a pitch, putting runners on the corners for Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez took a strike looking, then smashed a double to left that scored Damon. Jorge Posada followed with the coup de grace, a single to the gap in left-center that scored two more.

Manuel has gone with his gut and his guys--the guys we all love for what they did in 2008. But Cole Hamels faltered last night, and Lidge did tonight. Now the Phillies, needing a comeback that would be little short of miraculous, send their 2009 hero, Cliff Lee, to the mound for Game Five hoping to get one more train trip to New York.

The Phils vs. A.J. Burnett

dajafi — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:35:58 -0000

Interesting numbers from our lineup regulars against the Yankees' Game Two starter. A trend emerges: again and again, the Phillies haven't hit Burnett often, but they've hit him hard. Six of the nine likely starters have homered off A. J. Burnett.

Jimmy Rollins: 50 plate appearances, .256/.340/.396, HR

Shane Victorino: 6 PA, .167/.167/.500, 3B

Chase Utley: 23 PA, .286/.348/.524, 3B, HR

Ryan Howard: 12 PA, .167/.167/.667, 2 HR

Jayson Werth: 7 PA, .143/.333/.571, HR

Raul Ibanez: 17 PA, .267/.294/.333, 2B

Pedro Feliz: 15 PA, .133/.133/.200, 2B

Carlos Ruiz: 3 PA, 1.000/1.000/2.000, HR

Matt Stairs: 12 PA, .273/.333/.818, 2 HR

With the forecast calling for a drier evening than last night's opener, the ball should carry a bit better. If the Phils maintain the great approach at the plate they've had for most of the postseason, they could light up the scoreboard once again.

Make it Here: Phillies 6, Yankees 1

dajafi — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:30:06 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

Cliff Lee: possibly the coolest man alive. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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In a hostile environment, against the toughest lineup they've seen in two Octobers, the Phillies took a long step toward a second straight World Series title behind a man who was nowhere near Citizens Bank Park last October. Cliff Lee continued his superb October run with his best playoff start yet: a complete-game six-hitter, allowing no earned runs and striking out ten. Lee not only dominated the vaunted Yankee lineup--he did it in style, nonchalantly catching a popup with one hand in the sixth and fielding a grounder behind his back in the eighth. If the lefty ace felt any nervousness at his first Fall Classic appearance, he gave an Oscar-worthy performance in hiding it.

On the offensive side, Chase Utley--a big question mark coming into the Series, with whispers that he might be hiding an injury that had sapped his power and compromised his defense--was the hero. Facing CC Sabathia, untouchable in three previous wins through the 2009 postseason, Utley broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run with two outs in the third inning--battling back from behind in the count, working it full, then taking Sabathia out just over the wall in right field on the ninth pitch. Three innings later--after Sabathia had set down the intervening eight hitters--Utley got Sabathia again for another solo shot, this time a no-doubter to right.

Meanwhile, Lee cruised. He started the night by striking out Derek Jeter, and went on to hold Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada--the Yankees' 3-4-5 hitters--to a collective 0 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts. Jeter, who had three hits after the first-inning K, notched the Yankees' only extra-base hit of the night, a two-out double in the third. The Yankees wouldn't get another runner into scoring position until the ninth.

Sabathia left after seven mostly superb innings, a hard-luck loser after allowing four hits, three walks and two runs and striking out six. But the New York bullpen couldn't hold the line: Phil Hughes started the eighth and walked Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, the only two hitters he faced. Then Damaso Marte got a gift strikeout of Utley and a flyout of Howard that moved Rollins to third. David Robertson came on and walked Jayson Werth, loading the bases. Then Raul Ibanez delivered the knockout punch, a two-run seeing-eye single to the right side that made it 4-0. An inning later, the Phils added two more on a Carlos Ruiz double, a Rollins infield single, a Victorino single that scored Ruiz and, after an Utley flyout, a Howard double that scored Rollins on which Victorino was out at the plate.

Lee came back out for the ninth despite a six-run lead and a pitch count over 100. He gave up a squib single to Jeter and a harder-hit knock to Damon, then the Yankees finally got on the scoreboard with a Mark Teixiera grounder back through the middle that Utley fielded and flipped to Rollins for an out before the Gold Glove shortstop airmailed the relay throw, allowing Jeter to cross the plate. But Lee ended it with swinging strikeouts of Rodriguez and Posada, putting the Phils up 1-0 in the Series and finishing another chapter in his burgeoning postseason legend.

Pedro Martinez takes the mound tomorrow as the Phillies seek a 2-0 lead in the Series. A.J. Burnett goes for the Yankees.

Phillies vs. Yankees: How They Got Here

dajafi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:42 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

Chan Ho Park is one of only five Phillies on the roster who hasn't yet pitched in the World Series. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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One is baseball's most storied franchise; the other is trying to shake off a mostly losing legacy. One is lionized and loathed in roughly equal measure; the other, though the reigning World F. Champions and boasting a clutch of likable stars, is to an extent still introducing itself to the world. But the shared strengths of the Phillies and Yankees—power throughout the lineup, rotations fronted by former Cleveland Indians aces, a flair for dramatic late-inning rallies, demonstrated ability to win both at home and on the road, and tight-knit clubhouses where "intangibles" seem to march in lockstep with talent—have baseball fans excitedly anticipating the first really memorable World Series in years.

As SBN blogger John Sickels observes, the teams were also constructed in similar ways: each boasts a homegrown core of superstars, surrounded by free agent or trade acquisitions that superbly complement the farm system products. For how differently they're perceived--and the unusual coincidence, particularly notable after the near-civil war vibe of the NLCS against the Dodgers, that neither team includes a former member of the other on the active roster (sorry, Miguel Cairo)--the opposing dugout will be something of a funhouse mirror for however long the Series goes.

The only real divergence of note is where they’ve typically done their shopping: Sharper Image for New York, Value City for the Phils. The Yankees wrote checks totaling more than $50 million this year to imports C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixiera and A.J. Burnett, while the Phils are paying Jayson Werth, Joe Blanton and Pedro Martinez around $10 million combined. (To be fair, the Phils are paying retail for free-agent pickup Raul Ibanez, while the Yanks got great value for trade acquisition Nick Swisher.)

It might come as a surprise that the Yankees are actually more home-grown than the Phils: 12 of the players on their 25-man roster were originally signed by the organization (including Andy Pettitte, who left and came back), compared to 9 for the defending World Champs. The difference here is that the Yankees’ developed stars reached the majors in two very distinct eras: the mid-‘90s, when Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Pettitte and Mariano Rivera arrived on the scene to spark the dynastic Joe Torre champions, and about ten years later, when Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and others showed up to provide the depth and cohesion that had gone missing from the early-'00s menagerie of mega-stars and head cases. While the work of Sabathia, Teixiera, Alex Rodriguez and the other big names has gotten the attention, the contributions of the relatively modestly paid young Yankees in 2009 might explain why they’re back in the World Series where their recent predecessors fell short.

One edge the Phillies have, unusual for an underdog, is World Series experience. All but five members of the current roster—Antonio Bastardo, Cliff Lee, Paul Bako, Raul Ibanez, and Ben Francisco—are veterans of the 2008 Series win over Tampa Bay. Only nine of the 25 Yankees—Pettitte, Rivera, Posada, Jeter, Hideki Matsui, Damaso Marte, Jose Molina, Johnny Damon, and Eric Hinske—have played in the Fall Classic, as has manager Joe Girardi. In a matchup where the Phils might need every little edge to prevail against by far the most formidable foe they’ve faced in the last two Octobers, here’s hoping that turns out to be significant.

Myers in, Cairo out

dajafi — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:27:07 -0000

Myers in, Cairo out

So Tweets Andy Martino. I probably would have kept Cairo over Bruntlett, or maybe over Antonio Bastardo, but I'm glad Myers is back in the mix. When he's healthy and right in his head, he can shut down quality hitters, and we're going to need that.