World Series Preview
HOWARD MEGDAL: Like Dave, I believe those who are calling the World Series an easy win for the Yankees are mistaken. The Phillies are a skilled team, strong defensively, with a lineup to compete with the Yankees and even some good starting pitching.
The Yankees, however, are better and have the home field. I suspect that is too much for even a strong Philadelphia team to overcome.
The Phillies have four hitters with an OPS+ of 127 or better, with a fifth, Shane Victorino, adding speed and defense to a 109 OPS+. That is impressive.
The Yankees have eight hitters at 123 OPS+ or better. Eight of nine.
The Phillies can throw Cliff Lee in Game 1.
The Yankees can throw C.C. Sabathia. They can use him on three days rest, meaning he can go three of the seven games.
The Phillies have pitchers like Pedro Martinez and Cole Hamels later in the series.
The Yankees have A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte.
The Phillies have Brad Lidge, pitching well lately, flanked by Chan Ho Park and Ryan Madson.
The Yankees have Mariano Rivera, the best closer of all time, flanked by Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain.
All that said, a Phillies win won’t be shocking. They are a tremendous team, and breaks can happen that make a difference in a short series.
But the smart money’s on New York.
DAVE TOMAR: Robin Roberts, the Hall of Fame Phillies pitcher who faced off with the Yankees as a member of the Whiz Kids during the 1950 World Series, once said that there were only four things he hated: Michigan, Notre Dame, Russia and the Yankees. Personally, I’ve got nothing against Russia.
As the defending World Champion Phillies prepare to protect their title from a team that costs more than the Hubble Telescope, I have begun to seethe with that old hatred. I guess it’s a strange thing to view one’s self as a class-warrior based on which millionaires one chooses to endorse, but I am struck by something that an old man said to me in conversation the other day. He said that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for General Motors. Lord knows they don’t need you or your money, but they’ll take it.
The October classic begins tonight and it is a rematch for the ages. When last these two teams faced off 59 years ago, the Phils were a scrappy young bunch of homegrown players who defeated the Dodgers on their way to a date with the Yankees, a team generally despised outside of New York for its imperious arrogance and its sense of entitlement. Add a bunch of zeroes to the money totals and the only other thing that has changed is that today’s Yankees are juicers rather than alcoholics.
Oh, also, the outcome will be different. The Phillies had at that juncture in their history won only a single pennant and no world titles compared to the 13 already possessed by the younger Yankee organization. They would be swept out of that competition in 4 games. Proportionally, this title gap is still in effect, with the 26 titles purchased by the Yankees cowing the 2 won by the Phillies in 130 years of play. But the most recent of these came in 2008, as a team distinguished by its character, its energy, its unity and its organic chemistry coasted to that victory everlasting.
Fielding an offense yet more powerful this year with the addition of Raul Ibanez and the emergence of Jayson Werth; boasting a rotation now anchored to the ground by the midseason addition of four Cy Young trophies in Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez; and continuing to solidify the greatness of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins; the Phillies will not soon be deprived of this off-season comfort.
The Yankee payroll is a sight to behold. The names that mark up its roster are a cast of all-star mercenaries, many of whom are at least in the short-run proving worth the money. 103 wins in the regular season is nothing to sneeze at. The play of first-baseman Mark Teixeira and the steady workhorse mentality of C.C. Sabathia have taken a third place team and returned it to its previous stature atop the American League. And in the post-season, Alex Rodriguez—who wears ladies undergarments for comfort and fashion—has been positively locked in.
But if you watched their celebration as the Yankees clinched against a woefully underwhelming Angels team, a difference between these turnpike counterparts became inescapable. The hysteria that possesses the Phillies with every victory, with every clinching performance and with every walk-off thriller shows a team moved to gratitude and joy upon each success. The palpable emotion is one of the features that has so endeared this team to its city. The Yankees celebrated with cool aloofness, like Bill Gates hitting the Powerball number. Oh nice, guess I’ll throw this million on top of the pile.
I love the expectation and arrogance of the Yankees because when they don’t succeed, they will be deemed a terrible failure. This is the cross to bear for its astronomical payroll. In spite of a $90 million gap between them, these lineups match up pretty well as the top two run producing offenses in baseball. Their rotations too are equal parts reliable (Sabathia, Lee), inconsistent (Burnett, Hamels) and geriatric (Pettite, Martinez). The Yankees take the edge on bullpen but the Phillies take the edge over Joe Girardi on Charlie Manuel’s baseball aptitude, which far exceeds his command of the English language. All things being equal, the Phillies are tougher, grittier and more in tune with one another. Without a doubt though, these are the best two teams in baseball, which doesn’t always happen in the World Series.
For all of the hostility and revulsion generated by the Yankees, there is not a team in baseball I’d rather face right now. This is the true test for the Phillies, who steamrolled a young and unready Tampa Rays team last year. That was the beginning of a dynasty that will be solidified when the most storied franchise in baseball is dispatched to a long, cold, lonely winter.
Phillies in 6. Let them have Rent and Bob Fosse on Broadway. We’re having a parade on Broad Street.