BRING ON THE YANKEES! (ALDS Breakdown)

[Pronk48]

BRING ON THE YANKEES
Thomas Hanlon

It's official, no matter what the final records of the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels, and Boston Red Sox are...the Indians are playing the Yankees and the Red Sox are playing the Angels. Since the Red Sox and Yankees play in the same division, they cannot meet in the ALDS.

So lets break it down some, Indians vs. Yankees. Cleveland has home field advantage in this series, so if the series goes 5 games, three will be played in Cleveland.

Season Series: Yankees 6 wins, Indians 0 wins

C.C. Sabathia and Fautso Carmona will start games one and two for Cleveland. The other two starters will be between Paul Byrd, Jake Westbrook, and Aaron Laffey.

Chien-Mang Wang and Andy Pettite will start the first two games for the Yankees. We just do not know in what order. They are hopeful Roger Clemens can pitch Game 3. The fourth starter in the series is between Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy.

Interesting Matchups:

C.C. Sabathia v. Alex Rodriguez- The possible Cy Young winner vs. the possible AL MVP. A-Rod is the league leader in home runs with 53. He's knocked in 151 runs at this point in the season and is hitting .309.

They haven't faced each other this year. These are the career stats on Rodriguez v. Sabathia: 17 AB's, 7 hits, 3 doubles, 0 home runs, 0 RBI, 2 BB's, 4 K's, .412 AVG, .474 OBP, .588 SLG, 1.063 OPS

Fautso Carmona v. Alex Rodriguez- This year's biggest surprise v. the possible AL MVP.

Season v. Rodriguez: 4 AB, 1 hit, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K, .250 AVG, .500 OBP, 1.000 SLG, 1.500 OPS

Career v. Rodriguez: 7 AB, 1 hit, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K, .143 AVG, .333 OBP, .571 SLG, .905 OPS

Andy Pettite v. Victor Martinez- Martinez has been the most consistent offensive force for Cleveland all season. Pettite hasn't been the Pettite of the 2003 Yankees AL Championship team, but he has been consistant for the Yankees who have suffered a ton of injuries at the pitching position.

Martinez for the season: .300 AVG., 25 HR, 111 RBI

Season v. Pettite: 3 AB, 1 hit, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0 RBI, 0 K, .333 AVG, .333 OBP, .333 SLG, .667 OPS

Career v. Pettite: 6 AB, 2 hits, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 K, .333 AVG, .333 OBP, .333 SLG, .667 OPS

Grady Sizemore v. Andy Pettite- It's been a "down" year for both players, but they both have picked it up going into the playoffs.

Sizemore for the season: .279 AVG, 24 HR, 78 RBI, 33 SB

Season/Career v. Pettite: 3 AB, 1 hit, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, .333 BA, .500 OBP, .333 SLG, .833 OPS

Cleveland Indians Team Leaders

Home Runs: Victor Martinez, 25
Batting Average: Victor Martinez, .300
RBI: Victor Martinez, 111
Runs: Grady Sizemore, 118
Stolen Bases: Grady Sizemore, 33
Wins: Fautso Carmona, 19
Saves: Joe Borowski, 43
Innings Pitched: C.C. Sabathia, 234.0
ERA: Fautso Carmona, 3.06

New York Yankees Team Leaders

Home Runs: Alex Rodriguez, 53
Batting Average: Jorge Posada, .336
RBI: Alex Rodriguez, 151
Runs: Alex Rodriguez, 140
Stolen Bases: Johnny Damon, 26
Wins: Chein-Mang Wang, 19
Saves: Mariano Rivera, 30
Innings Pitched: Andy Pettite, 210.1
ERA: Chein-Mang Wang, 3.70

[browntown653]

No offense, but I'm thrilled to be playing the Indians for one reason - they aren't the Angels. I'd rather play anyone than the Angels. Anyway, the Yanks played great against Cleveland in the regular season and I certainly hope they can continue that in the postseason. Should be a great series with Sabathia and Carmona.

[Pronk48]

No offense, but I'm thrilled to be playing the Indians for one reason - they aren't the Angels. I'd rather play anyone than the Angels. Anyway, the Yanks played great against Cleveland in the regular season and I certainly hope they can continue that in the postseason. Should be a great series with Sabathia and Carmona.

Oh I understand.

The Yanks did play great against Cleveland. I truly think this series can go either way. It's really all up to the pitching. If Cleveland can get three excellent starts out of any combo of Carmona, Sabathia, Byrd, Westbrook/Laffey (one will be left off of the ALDS roster)...and with Sabathia pitching in games 1 and 5 (if it goes that far)...I think the Indians have a helluva chance to go to the ALCS.

However, if our pitching falls apart and the Yankees potent lineup is scoring 6+ runs a game, the Indians chances are considerably worse due to the inconsistancy the Tribe offense has shown at times this season.

A great series it will be, I just hope we don't let it go to 5 games and we don't sweep...I don't want the Tribe players tired or rusty if they get to the ALCS.