Inside Pitch

AL champions: The Rangers do it again

After a summer of talk that was basically all Yankees and Red Sox all the time, after a September marked by the dominance of the Tigers, the rise of the Rays and the colossal fall of the Sox, we are left with this:

The Texas Rangers are the best team in the American League. Again.

No AL club has gone to the World Series in back-to-back years since the Yankees went to four straight from 1998-2001. No AL West team, in either the two- or three-division setup, has been a repeat pennant winner since the A's took three straight from 1988-1990.

That all changed Saturday night as the Rangers pounded the Detroit Tigers, 15-5, to win the ALCS in six games. Texas will open the World Series Wednesday night in either Milwaukee or St. Louis. Pretty awesome accomplishment.

I'll admit I slept on the Rangers as a team that could get back to the Fall Classic. I picked them to lose against both the Rays and the Tigers. Yikes. Still, it is hard to gauge a team that played 38 games against the Mariners and A's and has the Astros as a chief interleague rival. They were clearly the best in the AL West but how far could they go after that?

But the Rangers are so balanced offensively with speed, for-average hitters and power numbers, and have such a deep bullpen that they've been by far the best team in the playoffs in either league. They're the favorite no matter who the NL produces.

No one gives manager Ron Washington much credit either but he's been terrific. You have to love, for instance, what he did with Alexei Ogando. A reliever with a 1.30 ERA last year, Ogando started 29 games this year and went 13-8, 3.51 with 126 strikeouts in 169 innings. With fewer starters needed in the postseason, he's back in the pen. He made three scoreless appearances in the division series against the Rays, and pitched to a 1.17 ERA with two wins against the Tigers.

In a bizarre regular season, the Rangers survived the discord about whether to bring back the beloved Michael Young, some of the worst heat in Dallas' history and even the trauma of seeing the fatal fall from the bleachers of one of their fans. They won their division, took out the Rays and got a postseason all-time record six home runs in a series from Nelson Cruz (above). Now they're four wins away from their first title.

The Mavericks. TCU in the Rose Bowl. And now the Rangers. Pretty good run for Big D.

Cheap plug alert: I'll be somewhere (either Milwaukee or St. Louis) for Media Day on Tuesday. Follow all our World Series coverage in print and online. Game One is Wednesday night.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

AP Photo: The celebration is on for ALCS MVP Nelson Cruz in the Rangers' clubhouse.

Pick your bizarro LCS winners

Tigers-Rangers and Cardinals-Brewers. Did you have that LCS combo in March? Heck, did you have it two weeks ago? This has become one bizarro October.

The Red Sox and Braves, who looked solid all summer, went bellyup before we even got out of September. The Cinderella Rays were gonzo. Then the Yankees went down -- and you'll note I picked that one. But the biggest shocker of all was the Phillies losing to St. Louis.

They were the best team in baseball all year but their offense failed them. That eight-game losing streak after they clinched the NL East was, in fact, a bad omen. And Cliff Lee blowing a 4-0 lead in Game Two when they were in complete control of the NLDS was another major issue.

Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer correctly says this is the lowest point for the Phillies since they won the World Series in 2008. And it appears Ryan Howard may have a torn Achilles tendon after making the last out.

So while the Phillies and Yankees try to figure out what's next (Cheap plug: Read more on the Yankees in Sunday's Inside Baseball column),  the final four play on. The ALCS opens tonight in Texas with the NLCS opening Sunday in Milwaukee. Here's my thoughts:

Tigers vs. Rangers -- Big loss for the Tigers came out today with Delmon Young being taken off the roster with a strained oblique. He's been huge since he was acquired at the trade deadline. Still, I like the roll this team is on.  I like Justin Verlander in Game One and potentially going three times.  Doug Fister and Max Scherzer provide great help in the rotation and the bullpen has been solid led by Jose Valverde. The Rangers looked terrific against the Rays, like they completely expect to go back to the World Series. Think the Red Sox still wish they had Adrian Beltre? FOX may wish this was Yankees-Red Sox but they will still get a great series. Tigers in seven.

Cardinals vs. Brewers -- All the momentum in the world has me wanting to pick the Cardinals but I have questions about their rotation after Chris Carpenter. The Brewers, meanwhile, are just about unbeatable at Miller Park. Great offense,  great bullpen,  solid rotation. Plus they know this is their one chance with Prince Fielder having one foot out of the door en route to free agency. Prince and old man Cecil have long been estranged so it will be interesting to see how he deals with all the questions about his father if he meets the Tigers, Cecil's old team, in a World Series. The Cardinals have been a great story but the road ends here. Brewers in five.

Now you make your picks.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

poll by twiigs.com

poll by twiigs.com

World Series: You make the call

Around the horn: Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays

It's all over for the Yankees, who were lucky they weren't swept in the ALCS by the Rangers and were finally put away with Friday night's 6-1 Texas victory in Game Six.  New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica said it actually felt like a six-game sweep. 

Cheap plug alert: Be sure to look for Sunday's Inside Baseball column for my thoughts on Joe Girardi. And be sure to keep tuned in to the blog starting Tuesday with my reports from the World Series.  Of course, I have no idea where I will be because the NLCS is still not decided. Game Six is tonight in Philly with Roy Oswalt looking to get the Phillies even with the Giants. And if he does that, I'm thinking Philly completes the comeback.

On the managerial front, the Blue Jays are apparently close to naming Red Sox pitching coach and former Bisons pitcher John Farrell as their new manager. Great choice to work with all their young hurlers. From my dealings with Farrell as the Indians' farm director from 2001-2006, he has a keen eye for talent and how to connect with players. I always thought he had GM stock but he wanted to get back on the field and joined Terry Francona's staff in 2007, promptly winning a World Series.

Might be a chance for old friend Torey Lovullo to get a big-league job as well. You would think Farrell would consider him for the Toronto staff from their days with Cleveland.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

It's time for the LCS picks: Yankees and Phillies

Go all the way back to our season preview section in March and you know how I'm going to pick both versions of the League Championship Series. I picked the World Series as a "reverse of 2009" and I'm staying with that. That means I got the Yankees over the Rangers (I'm going to say six games) and the Phillies over the Giants (I'll say in five). Here's how I see it shaping up:

ALCS: Yes, the Yankees have lots of question marks on the mound, headlined by Game Four starter A.J. Burnett and the middle relief. But CC Sabathia is an ace, Game Two starter Phil Hughes has been unbeatable in Arlington and Andy Pettitte is simply the winningest pitcher in postseason history. The offense continues to be strong and I think they'll really benefit from their quick division series win. Whereas a lot of rest isn't normally a good thing, this Yankees team has been pretty beat up all season. Guys like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner really needed some down time and should be in better shape now.

The Rangers, of course, are riding their hopes on Cliff Lee but the Yankees will only have to worry about him in Game Three. Unless it goes to Seven. That's the issue. The Yankees cannot let this one get to Game Seven, where Lee would be waiting again. It was a huge boost for the Yankees' hopes that the Rangers blew their two home games against Tampa Bay and had to go back to the Trop for Game Five. You have to love C.J. Wilson's transformation from bullpen to starter and the Rangers have feel-good stories like manager Ron Washington and veteran Michael Young but they're no match at the plate. Nor are they a match for Mariano Rivera in October.

NLCS: The only team in the NL that can approach the Phillies' big three of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels is the Giants. Will any pitching matchup in recent time have more hype than the Game One showdown of Halladay and Tim Lincecum? Must-see TV. The Phillies are on a mission to become the first NL team since the 1940s to get to the World Series three straight times. I just don't see any way they're stopped now. They've won 30 of their last 38 games and seem to be far and away the best team remaining in the postseason. I'm thinking the World Series doesn't go past five games no matter which AL team they would play.

Pretty amazing Philly lineup now that it's healthy. Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard were all out for spells and that really accounted for the Braves' division lead that stretched into August. I can't really get excited about a Giants lineup featuring the likes of a journeyman like Aubrey Huff. Great closer matchup between Brad Lidge, who looks like vintage 2008 again, and Brian Wilson. I'm not expecting a lot of blown leads late.

So those are my picks. Be sure to make yours in our polls below.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

poll by twiigs.com

 

poll by twiigs.com

Mets' magic has Phils drawing blanks

Jerry Manuel's job status is suddenly quiet, the pitching is terrific and all is well in Mets land. That's what can happen when you go 5-1 against the Yankees and Phillies. The Mets' 3-0 win last night at Citi Field gave them their first shutout sweep of a three-game series since they blanked-blanked-blanked the Phils way back in 1969!

It was a big day in the New York Post, which blared the headline "Blanks for Coming" at the Phils to go with its game story.

Mike Vaccaro on the Amazins in the Post: "They are a baseball team again, not a traveling circus."

Crazy facts from the Post's Joel Sherman: Rod Barajas leads major league catchers with 10 homers.  R.A. Dickey and Hisonari Takahashi won more games this week against Philly (2) than John Maine and Oliver Perez won overall (1) in 16 starts. At least the Mets fixed the Maine-Perez mistake before Memorial Day. Memo to the Mets: Stop trying to convince Ollie to come to Buffalo!

In the Philly Inquirer, Chase Utley broke out the character building time cliche. Hope so. That's four shutouts in five games. Guess they're not stealing signs anymore. At least not on the road. If they return home and start pounding the ball again, suspicions are really going to be raised.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

More from Wedge on '07 ALCS

Be sure to check out my conversation with former Bisons and Indians manager Eric Wedge in Sunday's Inside Baseball column. Wedge talks about his time in Cleveland, his move to a new home in East Aurora, how he's refocusing his energy on finding a job for 2011 and on a charity golf tournament he's running with his wife June 5 in Akron in honor of his late mother in law. The web site for that event, the Carol K Golf Classic, is here.  

One thing that didn't make the column was some extra Wedge thoughts on the 2007 ALCS, the series the Tribe had a 3-1 lead but lost the last three games against the Red Sox. It was the first time television inserted a day off without travel and it came between Games Four and Five, after Cleveland's 7-3 win gave it a stranglehold on the series.

But the Tribe seemed to lose its momentum and the Red Sox seemed to regroup. I've always felt Cleveland wins that series if Game Five is planned the next day.

"We had young players, guys who were inexperienced in that situation and it might have played into it," Wedge said when I told him my theory. "You're rolling but now you had time to think about it, time to watch TV, read the paper, talk to family. You try to get into a zone and stay there and maybe teams that had been there before can do a better job. You can't say that was a determining factor because we had chances the whole series."

True. CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona combined to go 0-3. Joel Skinner's fateful stop sign of Kenny Lofton in Game Seven didn't help either. The Red Sox outscored Cleveland, 30-5, in the final three games.

It's the closest any team with that many Buffalo connections will ever get to the World Series. Think of all the players on the team. Then there was Wedge, pitching coach Carl Willis, former Buffalo managers Skinner and Jeff Datz. Even trainer Rick Jameyson and broadcaster Jim Rosenhaus, in his first year in the bigs. It was a great run to cover, from a Division Series-clinching party in the clubhouse at old Yankee Stadium to some thrilling ALCS games in Cleveland and Fenway. Too bad it ended a game short of the Series.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Yankee Doodles

I'm thinking everyone associated with baseball except for Mets fans is fine with this World Series. The Yankees took their place opposite the Phillies in the Fall Classic wiith Sunday's 5-2 win over the Angels that wrapped the ALCS in six games. Some quick thoughts:

---There is no one in baseball now or probably ever like Mariano Rivera. When he came on to start the eighth with a 3-1 lead, this one was over. Yes, Rivera gave up a run (his first in the postseason in the Bronx since Game Two of the 2000 World Series), but the Yankees' two-run eighth made that one moot.

---It's been six years for the Yankees to make the Series and you could see the joy on the faces of Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter. And there was unbridled jubilation from Alex Rodriguez as well. It's been six long seasons for him to finally get this far in pinstripes.

---The Yankees got the job done in Game Six, preserving ALCS MVP CC Sabathia for the Series opener against Philly's Cliff Lee. Mets fans who hate the Yankees and Phils are cringing over this series. But Indians fans are probably feeling even worse. at least for the Game One matchup after they traded back-to-back Cy Young winners and spent Sunday hearing their team had named ex-Nationals manager Manny Acta -- a fired Nationals manager -- as their new skipper. Ugh.

---What's up with the Twins and Angels? All those fundamentals fell apart against the Yankees. The Angels' woeful fielding reminded me of the '06 Tigers' troubles in the World Series. Hideous.

---Yankees/Phillies. Gotta believe this one will get the highest TV ratings in many years. Especially if we can get to Game Six for the first time since 2003.

I'll talk to you again on Workout Day Tuesday from the Bronx. This one should be good.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Who does ALCS rainout help?

The Yankees and Angels try again tonight at 8:20 in Game Six of the ALCS after Saturday's monsoon in the Bronx forced them to wait yet another day (doesn't it seem like this series started three weeks ago?). There are two ways to look at this: One is that the Angels have lost their momentum from Thursday's thrilling victory and the return home will help the Yankees regain their balance. The other is the Angels get a huge boost from the rainout if they win tonight because they can come back with Game Six starter John Lackey on short rest.

And, you would think, Mike Scioscia would not make the same mistake twice and would agree when Lackey says, "This one's mine, Scios."

The big winner actually is the Phillies. They want this thing to go to seven games because the winner would have just one off day before starting the World Series. And it would mean both Lackey and CC Sabathia would be unavailable until Game Three Saturday in Philly and the Yankees would have to go to a fourth starter (likely Chad Gaudin) for the first time in the postseason.

It's absolutely crucial for the Yankees to wrap this up tonight in Game Six. They need a big game from Andy Pettitte. They get it done and everything goes as normal, where Sabathia can probably go in Games 1, 4 and 7 of the World Series. They don't and they're at a huge disadvantage against the Phillies. Should be interesting.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Angels escape to New York

So the ALCS goes back to the cold and rain of New York -- where there's a 90 percent chance of showers and the Yankees are suddenly and nervously trying to ward off the ghosts of 2004 after Thursday's did-you-see-that 7-6 loss.

New York Daily News columnist John Harper says you can blame it on A.J.

Joel Sherman of the Post says you can blame it on Joe Girardi. Here-here. The Yankees were coming off and off day and had another one scheduled today. Once they took the lead, I would have gotten Burnett out of there and tried to get the last nine outs with some combination of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. Yes, Hughes got hit. But he came into the game with men on base. I would have started the seventh fresh with Hughes.

Still can't figure out which was the more bizarre move: The Angels walking A-Rod with two out and no one on in the ninth -- or the Yankees pinch-running for A-Rod with Freddy Guzman. A-Rod runs OK and were you really going to go into extra innings without him in the lineup after all that he's done this October?

You still have to like the Yankees' chances. They have Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia lined up for Games Six and Seven. In 2004, they had Jon Lieber and Kevin Brown in 6-7. The Red Sox, remember, had bloody-socked Curt Schilling and Derek Lowe.

I know one guy probably rooting for a Game Seven: Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro. If Sabathia needs to pitch in an ALCS finale, Shapiro won't have to endure the indignity of a Sabathia-Cliff Lee matchup in Game One of the World Series, featuring the back-to-back Cy Young winners that cheapo ownership forced him to trade away the last two years.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

AP Photo: Bobby Abreu and Reggie Willits celebrate after the final out.