The Intro

I thought about doing an introductory post here, a "get to know the writer" kind of thing but in the end I decided that I'll just put some of that in my profile and hop right into what I really want to talk about... Baseball.

Don't get me wrong this blog will not be just about baseball or sports in general, I do plan on putting some silliness and some personal stories, but the main topic will be sports and baseball is the king of sports in my heart. I want this to be interactive. I am writing these to foster a discussion so if you don't agree or even if you do post some comments. This is a new thing for me so I imagine that there will be some growing pains but hopefully once I get more comfortable with the site and get better about expressing my opinions this blog will shape up nicely.

There is just something magical about the sport that draws me in. I love going to the ballpark and watching from the stands or even sitting at home in front of the TV. Heck I can't even tear myself away from listening to the game on radio (thank you Eric Nadel for being such an awesome radio voice for the Rangers). Baseball is one of the things I remember most fondly about my childhood. I loved going into the yard to play catch with my dad. I loved heading to the ballpark on a Saturday night with my dad (i think i see why i loved baseball so much). Even now I see baseball gloves in the store and can't wait to buy one for my son.

But its more than just that... baseball is also a game of numbers. If you asked me as a kid what my two favorite things were it would have been math and sports and baseball is the ultimate combination of those two.

But on to the main topic of today's post... The American League playoff race/preview!
We will start first with the team that has pretty much wrapped up the top seed...

The New York Yankees:
It just would not be October baseball without the pinstripes. Don't get me wrong I HATE the Yankees but there is just something magical about baseball in Yankee Stadium (yes, even the new Yankee Stadium) in October. The Yankees and their fans expect to be there every October and it seems like they are. Watching the Rangers play there in the ALCS last year just gave me chills all over.
Heading into this postseason though the Yankees are looking good but definitely have some holes.

First That Lineup!
Yes Teix has not been as good this year (just look at that nasty .246 avg), Posada can't hit anymore and Jeter is just a shell of his former self. But that lineup is still scary.

Brett Gardener is just a ball of energy that can start a rally at anytime.
Curtis Granderson has just been scary good this year (40+ homers and 24 stolen bases!)
Robinson Cano is the best offensive 2nd baseman and when he gets hot he can carry the team.
When you throw in that A-Rod has only played 95 games this year (i think that helps keep him fresh) and has the potential along with Teix to turn it on at anytime this lineup is scary good.

The one thing I will say is that I don't think this lineup has much ability to manufacture runs. Don't get me wrong they can score runs in bunches but I worry about them relying too much on home runs. This team reminds me of the Ranger teams in the late 90's. They always scored tons of runs during the regular season through mashing home runs but when the post season rolled around and the pitching was better and the games were tighter they couldn't score. Can this team do the little things like take the extra base or move runners over that you need to do in tight games?

Next up the Bullpen:
Mariano Rivera.
I think that says enough. The man (or is he more a machine?) has just been nasty during October. He is just nasty during the regular season but when the playoffs start he takes it to another level. When Mo enters the game int he 9th, pack your bags and head to the parking lot because the game is over.

The question with the Yankees pen has always been the bridge to Mariano... who takes care of the 7th and 8th? David Robertson and Rafael Soriano have stepped up lately. It looks like Robertson will pitch the 8th and Soriano in the 7th. So if you plan on scoring on the Yankees you better do it in the first 6 innings.

The only weakness I can see is there aren't many lefty specialists in this pen so the Yanks better hope that Boone Logan can take care of the big lefties in the AL like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz.

The biggest weakness for this team though has to be the starting pitching.
CC Sabathia is a beast!
The man is probably way under listed at 6'7" and 290 lbs (i don't think he has been 290lbs since he was in middle school). He can pitch every 4 days in the playoffs and can pitch the full game if need be. He can go toe to toe with any pitcher.
The problem for the Yankees is that he can't pitch every game for them.
That means they will have to rely on at least 3 other pitchers to at least keep them in games and I am not sure that they have them.
When your choices are between AJ Burnett, Ivan Nova, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes choosing one would be hard let alone needing 3 of them!
Oh and by the way Phil Hughes might be out with a back injury!
Now, Ivan Nova has been better since the All-Star break (in fact he has an ERA lower than 3) but he is not a dominating strike out pitcher(he has less than 100 Ks for the season in over 159 innings). Don't get me wrong he would be a good #3 pitcher but he is not the #2 that the Yanks are asking him to be.

Bartolo Colon looked really good in the first half of the season but i think the long season has worn him down. And Freddy Garcia is not the answer to any kind of question you want to be asking in the post season (unless you are the opposing team's hitters).

I tried to find something nice to say about AJ Burnett and finally I just gave up. The man has a 7.43 ERA post All-Star break. 7.43! He won't be doing anything but collecting paychecks in October.

Prediction: Yankees won't get out of the first round.

I will try to get to the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers tomorrow and then preview the 3 possible wild card teams over the weekend.

Until then thanks for reading and let me know what you think about the preview, how I did and what I can do better next time.
Nate