Postseason Baseball

There is only one good thing about fall. Postseason baseball. Sure, apple sauce is pretty good. And I love football. But really, the only good thing is the postseason. It’s the time when the true diehards come out. We all have particular traditions and superstitions. I wear my Yankee Santa Hat on every playoff gameday. I’ll be knocking on wood when I make some wisecrack, praying that it doesn’t happen. I say my prayers for Jeter, A-Rod, Po, Andy, Swish, CC, Tex, King Curtis, Huggybear and the rest every night. It gives me ulcers to watch the games. I laugh, I cry, I sing and dance. But on with it. We all do that. Here’s the stuff you want. Predictions.

Granted, this is written after the Phils and the Rangers won, but nonetheless, here they are.

ALDS-TWINS vs. YANKEES

My gut reaction is to take the Yanks in 5. I use only past history in this prediction. The Yankees are to the Twinkies as Kryptonite is to Superman. Deadly. The Yankees have played the Twins in 3 ALDS’s since 2003. The Yankees lead the Twins 9-2 in Postseason games in that time.

However, the Twins have a chance. I give the Twins the edge in pitching (BARELY) and Target Field may have a nice homefield advantage and this guy. But with AJ not starting, Jeter, Grandy and A-Rod all hitting a hot bat right now and CC Sabathia on the hill for 2 of the 5 games, I say it’s the Yankees series to lose right now.

ALDS-RAYS vs. RANGERS

Rays in 4. All day. I’m surprised the Rays won’t take this in 3. The Rays lineup is stronger (Crawford, Longoria and Peña are no force to be reconed with), and they have David Price, who is only a little bit worse than Clifford “The Big Red Dog” Lee.

But, the Rangers looked good today. Damn good. Lee is pitching supurb, and he still only has the second best pitching performance of the Postseason. Thank the good lord he’ll be a Pinstriper next year. Sorry Nolan and crew, this one belongs to the Joey Maddon and the Kids.

NLDS-PHILLIES vs. REDS

Do the Reds really stand a chance? They just got no hit by Halladay. I give them about a .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent chance of winning this series. Oswalt is a postseason machine. And that Hammels kid isn’t bad either.

The Reds only chance is Joey Votto. Votto is an animal. If he gets hot tomorrow, then the Reds chances may be a tad bit higher. No matter, Phillies in 3

NLDS-GIANTS vs. BRAVES

This one gave me some struggles when picking. I like the Braves I guess. It doesn’t really matter though. The winner is going to lose to the Phillies anyways. So I’ll say Bravos in 5. Sorry LeFreak.

OTHER NOTES:

Props to Halliday. That was legit.

Props to twitter Follower 150 @Rose383.

This.

Props to the one kid who I know has actually checked out the blog recently, Kelan Koncewicz.

Comment on this with your predictions.

Thanks for the month of September, Girardi. It was pretty awful.

POLL QUESTION:

Which nickname should I use for Cliff Lee for the Rest of the Postseason?

A) Clifford “The Big Red Dog” Lee

B) Cliff “The Mailman” Lee

C) “Go Jump Off A” Cliff Lee

D) Cliff “Bar” Lee

E) Cliff “Jet” Lee

MISSION 28 LIVES ON.

Why Canada is the Root of Our Problems

So, I sent this picture to Mike earlier today. It's funny for a few reasons.

One, Mike has weird thing about Canada. He has a running list of good and bad things about the country. Good: Barenaked Ladies and Ellen Page. Bad: Alex Trebeck. At least, I think he's on the bad list. Mike can explain this more.

But one thing on the anti-Canada list is the Blue Jays. For whatever reason, the Yankees can't get it done against them this season. It's borderline embarrassing. I'm dreading this weekend's series.

And, I would argue, the reason we're only one game ahead of Tampa. The Rays can beat the Jays. The Yankees can't enough said.

As of tonight, we're one game ahead. We need to build this lead and end this endless back and forth or tie. It's September. It's crunch time.

MIKE'S CORRECTIONS: Alex Trebek is in the good list. Avril Lavigne is on the bad list, along with half of Alanis Morisette.

It’s called HIBERNATION

Liz and I took an extended nap on our blog. We hibernate. Don't discriminate against us for being bear-esque.

Now, onto the real story of this post: baseball, in any way, shape or form. So, in about 4 hours, we will have about 1 month left in the season. Shall we all go back and look at our predictions? What's that? You threw yours out? Well, I wrote an English dialogue in April about baseball (and, as Suzyn Waldman would say, how you can't predict it). Suzyn is totally right. My April predictions look about as good as those ugly show dogs. Shall we review?

American League East:
Prediction: Yankees win, Rays second and Wild Card
Currently: Yankees lead, Rays second and wild card

Notes: Shockingly accurate. If both of tonight's scores hold, the Yankees will have a 1 game lead on the Rays entering September. With any luck, we can take at least 4 games from them out of the remaining six (3 in the Bronx, 3 in the Trop). And, not to toot my own horn, but props to me for the lack of the Red Sox. I think its safe to say that with their loss on Sunday to Tampa that they are officially done.

AL Central

Prediction: Twins win in a landslide, Tigers hold their own for a while and then crash.
Currently: Twins lead by 4 games over Chi-Town.

Notes: So, it's not going to be a landslide as I projected. But the Twinkies should hold on to this. Man-Ram-Cheat will help and make the race interesting, but he's not contest for the M and M Brothers (Mauer and Morneau) in Minnesota. Also, Detroit collapsed (sounds familiar, doesn't it?)

AL West:

Prediction: Mariners win. Angels a close second. "Forget about the Rangers"
Currently: Rangers running away and hiding. Nobody else even has a shot.

Notes: Well John, you just can't predict baseball.

NL East

Prediction: Phils win, Bravos second and Wild Card. Mets have a down year.
Currently: Bravos on top by a lot. Phils fighting for the Card.

Notes: Got the Metros right, didn't I? But both the Phils and the Braves are primed for a long Playoff run (that is, if they both get in)

NL Central

Prediction: Cardinals run away and hide early. No contest.
Currently: Reds are wrecking everybody.

Notes: Really? This was my most confident pick. Where did Cincy come from? Joey Votto is a champion. I would not want to touch him in a dark alley, or a light alley, or a light street. I'm a bit afraid of him. And he could win the Triple Crown.

NL West

Prediction: Giants win behind the Freak.
Currently: Padres winning behind stellar pitching. Giants in the WC hunt.

Notes: Can anybody predict this division? It changes every day who's going to win. I gotta say, SD is not going to fair well in the post season. They lack offense.

So. Predicting baseball. You just can't do it.

General notes:

Really sorry for the extended break. Hope you all are doing well.

The Yankees have actually not played well lately. But that's ok. We're still winning.

Marcus Thames? WTF?

Robbie Cano might actually win the MVP if the Tigers and Miggy Cabrera keep tanking.

Sabathia deserves the Cy Young. Burnett deserves the Worst Pitcher ever award.

It's time to get rid of Cervelli. Montero is ready. Let's get real Joey Braces and CMoney.

Screw Roger Clemens. (The video keeps the Suzyn Waldman theme going)

Some cool stuff:

Follow these tweeps (if you're on twitter): @EatSleepYankees, @JustFollowYanks and @AnaMariana42.

Until next time, my friends.