And Let The Championship Series Begin!

With one round of playoff baseball under our belts, we are set to take on the match-ups that have been presented to us in the Phillies and Dodgers in the NL and the Yankees and Angels in the AL. Yes, I know that this blog is a bit overdue, as the second round kicked off with the NLCS starting this past Thursday, but I have been kind of busy.

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Now, let's talk about the CSes; more specifically with the ALCS. The first-place Yankees and Angels face off in what promises to be an action-packed series. With game 1 that took place last night, it is evident that the series is showing signs of two teams with defensive specialists. Left CC Sabathia took on Angels starter, John Lackey, with CC Sabathia outduelling him in a 4-1 victory. Pitching an effect 8 innings, leaving room for future Hall-of-Fame closer, Mariano Rivera, CC was helped out by the bats of namely Hideki Matsui, who drove in two of the runs.

With the Yankees up 1-0, my world series prediction of the Angels and Phillies is not affected at all in my opinion. Lefty Joe Saunders is taking on Yankees ace, A.J Burnett, and all the Angels need to do is take advantage of the early jitters that Burnett seems to show early in playoff games, walking a lot of batters to start off. The crowd won't really present a problem as the Yankees have had no sell-out crowd in their new stadium to date. If they can snag one off the Yankees today in Yankee Stadium, the momentum should without a doubt, shift to the Angels as they have home field advantage for games 2-5. The Yankees have ridden on the noise by Yankees fans, and it should affect a team like this when the presence isn't felt.

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Switching to the NLCS, the series has been tied up at 1, with game 3 being played tomorrow. Yesterday, the Phillies had the lead going into the 8th, where Chan Ho Park got the ball to pitch for an outstanding performance by Pedro Martinez, pitching 7 innings, giving up only 2 hits. Park, who has been known for some really bad performances, turned in another one, giving up two Dodger runs in the inning to Russell Martin and Andre Ethier, blowing the win for Pedro Martinez, who showed signs of fatigue going into the late innings, forcing manager, Charlie Manuel to take him out.

If not for that, my Phillies from the NL would have made this series go to 2-0, and then, with home field for the next 3 games, it should've been a breeze. It still is kind of a breeze, considering that they took one away from Dodgers turf. Watch out for Cliff Lee tomorrow, who is obviously this post-season's all-star, to break out for an applaud-worthy performance, defeating the Dodgers, sending them to a 2-1 deficit.