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Dubbed the Year of the Pitcher, the 2010 MLB season has been full of milestones reached by the men on the mound. 

Whether it has been Roy Halladay’s bouts with perfection or Cliff Lee’s masterful postseason performances, Major League Baseball is all about the pitcher (at least for this year). 

Look no further than the 2010 World Series to confirm the old adage “pitching wins championships.” With both teams’ ERA under 3.00 heading into the Fall Classic, the Giants and Rangers will need to rely on their power pitching to establish dominance in the series. 

While the Giants offer more depth in their rotation, especially with 21-year old Madison Bumgarner pitching admirably out of the four spot, the Rangers have relied on the heroics of Cliff Lee and the far less-heralded Colby Lewis to keep opposing offenses at bay (they have a 2.76 ERA this postseason, good for first in the AL). 

San Francisco’s troubles lie at the plate, where they have struggled to score runs consistently all season long. As a team, the Giants have hit only .231 in 10 playoff games, and despite a torrid postseason from Cody Ross (4 HRs, 8 RBIs in that span), they still cannot be relied upon for constant run production. 

On the other hand, the Rangers are ranked first in every relevant offensive statistic this postseason and their ability to capitalize with runners in scoring position has set them apart from the rest of the competition in the playoffs thus far. 

Standouts such as C.J Wilson, Ian Kinsler and Aubrey Huff had to be left off the list because of the plethora of impact players. 

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Ryan Howard‘s biggest contributions to the Phillies so far this postseason has been his celebratory high-fives to his teammates after they get driven in by Placido Polanco . 

On the brink of elimination, Philadelphia need first basemen Ryan Howard to wake up from his eight-game slumber and re-energize a dormant Phillies’ offense. 

Since the postseason began, Howard (.276, 31 HRs, 108 RBIs) has accounted for only one of the Phillies’ 29 postseason runs, a number that must change if Charlie Manuel’s club wants to become just the eleventh team in MLB history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit.

Hobbled by an ankle injury that kept him sidelined for most of August, Howard came back strong in September for the Phillies displaying the power (seven HRs) and patience (.405 OBP, his highest of any month in ’10) that we were accustomed to. 

Despite coming into October on a hot streak, the former National League MVP  hasn’t driven in a single run during the playoffs and is hampering the Philadelphia offense because of his inability to come through at the plate with runners on base. In his 30 at-bats this postseason, Howard has struck out an inexcusable 14 times and left 12 runners stranded on the base paths in that time, despite a decent .286 average.  

Contrary to his recent slump, the 2009 NLCS MVP is usually a reliable run-producer come playoff time, notching seven home runs and 27 RBIs in just 32 postseason games before this year.

Devoid of their main power threat, the Phillies have had to rely on small-ball strategy (10 steals and six sacrifices in October thus far) and power pitching for success. 

Facing a rested and ready Jonathan Sanchez on Saturday, Howard will be counted on to pick up the pace at home against the Giants. Although he is only 3-for-14 lifetime facing Sanchez, Howard did have two hits and a walk against him in Game 2, inspiring confidence in his ability to get good wood off the lefty flame-thrower.  

The Phillies remain a veteran team, who will not go quietly this October, despite teetering on the edge of eradication.

Desperate for a win, and a World Series rematch with the Yankees, the fate of the Phillies rests in hands of Ryan Howard to pull out a Game 6 victory in Philadelphia.    

Jesse Paguaga is a regular contributor to Baseball Digest. He writes as an intern on the Bleacher Report website. Jesse writes for Gotham Baseball, along with Gotham Hoops and Gotham Gridiron. He can be reached at Paguaga@usc.edu and can be found on Facebook and on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/@jpags77

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Add another momentum-shifting RBI to Cody Ross’ stellar postseason résumé.

A fourth inning single by the Giants right fielder opened up the scoring in Game 3 of the NLCS, giving Matt Cain (7 IP, 0 R) the only run support he would need in the Giants’ 3-0 home victory.

San Francisco has found lightning in a bottle with Ross, who was only claimed off waivers by the Giants to block the Padres from acquiring him.

After only seeing time in September because of an injury to center fielder Andres Torres, Ross made the most of his opportunity at the plate, registering three homers and five RBI during the last two weeks of the regular season.

Once Torres returned, Ross still split right field duties with fellow midseason pickup Jose Guillen, who now walks around in street clothes since he was left off the Giants’ playoff roster.

Finally a full-time starter, despite getting lifted for defensive specialist Nate Schierholtz in later innings, Ross has found his groove at the plate over the season’s last month.

In his last four playoff games, the Giants right fielder is batting an even .500 (6-for-12) with four home runs and six RBI despite facing the likes of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels (not to mention veteran Derek Lowe in Game 4 of the NLDS).

In Game 1, squaring off against a previously unhittable Halladay (batters were 0-for-34 in the postseason against Halladay up to that point), the Giants’ eight-hitter powered home runs to left field in consecutive at-bats against the Phillies’ ace, and his two RBI would end up being the difference in a tightly contested 4-3 San Fran win.

The seven-year veteran has driven in the opening run in each of the Giants’ last three games (including two home runs) and has slowly moved his way up in the San Francisco batting order, topping out at the five-hole in Tuesday’s lineup.

The Giants are hoping that Ross’ recent surge will spark an otherwise impotent San Francisco offense that has been searching for consistency at the plate all season long.

Aside from Ross’ production, the rest of the San Francisco lineup has combined to hit .189 (18-for-95) with just four runs batted in the first three games of the NLCS and has given no indication that it will heat up anytime soon.

Ahead in the series 2-1, the Giants have an opportunity to put the Phillies in a serious bind with a win in Game 5, and they have a chance to score runs against a very beatable Joe Blanton.

San Francisco may need to rely on Cody Ross to play hero once again for them if they have any hope of reaching their first World Series in eight years.

Jesse Paguaga is a regular contributor to Baseball Digest. He writes as an intern on the Bleacher Report website. Jesse writes for Gotham Baseball, along with Gotham Hoops and Gotham Gridiron. He can be reached at Paguaga@usc.edu and can be found on Facebook and on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/@jpags77

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The star-studded staffs of the Giants and the Phillies have been largely dominant in the series so far, despite Roy Halladay’s ho-hum performance in Game 1; but Game 3 has the potential to become an offensive shootout even though a pair of elite pitchers are involved. 

Matt Cain (13-11, 3.14 ERA in the regular season) has to face a veteran Philadelphia lineup that is looking to reverse a growing trend of stranding runners on base. The Phillies can find solace in the fact that opposing hitters are batting, an unusually high, .267 with RISP and two outs against Cain (compared with fellow teammate Tim Lincecum’s .228 in similar situations) and that he has the propensity to give up home runs, a specialty of the power-laden Phillies lineup.

In his only start against Philadelphia this year, the Giants right-hander gave up a three-run homer to Jimmy Rollins that was set up by a Mike Fontenot error three plays prior. Cain would give up five runs (two earned) on the day en route to an 8-2 Phillies’ drubbing at Citizens Bank Park August 18th. 

Though the circumstances may be a bit different this time around for Cain, the Phillies offense has too much firepower to stay quiet for another game. The Giants’ right-hander is prone to the occasional pounding (he gave up six or more runs three times this season) and the middle infielders of the Phillies seem to have his number.

Rollins and Chase Utley have hit .600 and .467, respectively, over their careers against Cain, and the Phillies’ shortstop has had five of his six hits go for extra bases, including the aforementioned blast from earlier this year. 

On the flip side, Cole Hamels has been lights-out this postseason, as he looks to return to form since a rough performance last October

Hamels, though, has been historically sub-par against the Giants, especially at AT&T Park where he sports a 6.12 career ERA.

This year, the former World Series MVP, has been roughed up both times he has faced San Francisco, squeaking out a no-decision in their first meeting (he went 6 IP, 4 ER, but SF went 5 for 21 with RISP) and losing in their most recent matchup after giving up five runs in five innings pitched.

The scorching-hot Cody Ross murders Hamels with four home runs in his 30 at-bats against the lefty, and Buster Posey hit him hard in their first meeting with two doubles and two RBIs in the Giants’ 5-2 win.

Hamels’ penchant for giving up the long ball bodes well for a Giants’ offense that hit the sixth-most home runs in the National League and with 26 homers allowed on the season, the Phillies’ left-hander was tied for seventh in the NL, just in front of the WPIB (Worst Pitcher In Baseball) Zach Dukes. 

Game 3 will no doubt be a must-watch affair, whether the offensive fireworks are set off in this NLDS mathcup looks to fall on the shoulders of the game’s starting pitchers.  

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For the first time in three years, the Los Angeles Angels will not represent the AL West in the postseason. 

Despite returning six starters on offense, the Angels stumbled to an 80-82 record in 2010 as they ended up in third place in the West behind both the Rangers and A’s, marking the team’s worst finish since 2003.

The free agent losses of Chone Figgins and Vladimir Guerrero created voids at the top and in the middle of the Angels’ order that were never filled. The loss of Kendry Morales (.291, 11 HRs, 39 RBI in just 51 games), who broke his leg celebrating a game-winning grand slam on May 29th, robbed the Angels’ lineup of its premier bat, creating another hole in an already-weak Angels lineup. 

A prototypical Angels offense relies on speed, getting on-base, and timely hitting; this year’s Angels followed none of those three guidelines.

For the first time since 2001, L.A did not finish in the top three in the majors in stolen bases, ending up 11th, a career-low for the Angels under Mike Scioscia. 

Even though the Angels finished third in on-base percentage last season, they fell to fourth-worst in the majors in 2010, just ahead of the fearsome Pittsburgh offense. 

Behind only the Yankees in RBI in 2009, the Angels fell to 19th in that category this year, devoid of a 100-RBI player for only the second time in the last decade. 

Priority number one of the 2010 offseason for owner Arte Moreno has to be resuscitating an abysmal offense via an influx of speed and power.   

When healthy, Mike Butcher’s pitching staff was one of the lone bright spots during an otherwise disappointing season. 

Led by ace Jered Weaver (13-12, 3.01 ERA), the Angels featured four starters with earned-run averages under 4.00. Coupled with Weaver, Ervin Santana (17-10, 3.92 ERA) helped anchor a rotation that ranked among the league’s best; from innings 1-6, Angels starters had the third-best ERA (3.96) in the AL. 

The mid-season acquisition of Arizona ace Dan Haren bolstered a staff that already had high hopes for the 2011 MLB season. After toiling away in the Midwest for 2.5 seasons, Los Angeles seemed to breathe new life into Haren, who ended the year on a four-game winning streak, finishing with a 5-4 record and a 2.87 ERA in 16 starts for the Halos. 

If GM Tony Reagins can find good value for a No. 5 starter in this year’s free agent pool, then the Angels’ rotation could challenge those of the Rays and the A’s for American League supremacy.

The bullpen remains a concern for Mike Scioscia, especially the closer position. With no definitive closer since the departure of Frankie Rodriguez, the Angels handed the reigns to the talented, yet volatile Fernando Rodney, after trading incumbent closer Brian Fuentes to the Twins in late August.

Among all major league teams, the Angels ranked in the bottom 10 in ERA from the seventh inning on, highlighting the late-inning struggles of a bullpen that quite simply couldn’t finish games. After Rodney ended the year with only 14 saves in 21 chances, the Angels will look to retool their bullpen if they hope to compete in 2011. 

In order to return to dominance, the Angels must load up on offense and boost a porous ‘pen this offseason. 

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With no real expectation hanging over them, the Cincinnati Reds enter the 2010 playoffs amid little fanfare, overshadowed considerably by their NLDS opponent, the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. 

Despite winning the NL Central, the Reds face a tough draw in a championship-caliber Philadelphia squad.

The Reds look to topple a team looking to appear in its third straight World Series, not to mention motivated to return because of last season’s loss to the Yankees.

The Phillies own the best record the majors at 97-65 and are the league’s hottest team coming into the playoffs, ending the season on a torrid 24-7 run, with starters Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels posting a 13-1 record in September.

While Dusty Baker’s young group has a tough series ahead of them, the Division Series represents a great opportunity for the Reds to display their talents to a national audience. 

In his 15th season, Scott Rolen will look to use his ample playoff experience, which includes two World Series appearances and one victory, to help ease the pressure on his inexperienced teammates. Still a productive part of the Cincinnati batting order despite the old man tag he bears in the clubhouse, Rolen will look to protect MVP candidate Joey Votto (.329, 37 HRs, 113 RBI) against the formidable Big Three of the Phillies rotation.

With Votto in mind, the All-Star first baseman remains the player most essential to Cincinnati’s success in the NLDS and beyond. This year, the power-hitting lefty went toe to toe with fellow first baseman and three-time MVP award winner Albert Pujols for the NL MVP and NL Central crown, winning the most important of those two battles, as the Reds flew past St. Louis for their first playoff berth in 15 years. 

For the Reds to be successful in this series, their offense must flow through Votto, instead of just being Votto. In Cincinnati’s 92 victories, the Canadian-born lefty hit .332 with a whopping 81 RBI in just 310 at-bats, while only racking up 32 RBI in the other 67 games. The problem with these splits is that in those Reds losses, Votto’s batting average was still a solid .309, and his 12 home runs were only one less than he accumulated during victories.

Votto, while consistently an offensive force whether the Reds won or not, still needed the help of his teammates to ensure success for Cincinnati. While that may seem cliché, the truth of the matter is that Philadelphia’s pitching staff is good enough that it can afford to give up a base to a player of Joey Votto’s caliber, especially if the rest of the Reds offense isn’t up to par.

The pressure then falls on Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, two key components of the Reds’ lineup, to produce at the plate to complement Cincinnati’s prize first baseman in these playoffs. 

Known for his big mouth and even bigger bat, Phillips is a perennial power threat at the top of the Reds’ order, accounting for 106 home runs over the last five seasons. While he may be having a down year (.275, 18 HRs, 59 RBI), the playoffs represent a clean slate for Phillips to break out offensively and make up for his subpar season. 

Behind Votto in the Reds’ batting order is defensive standout Jay Bruce, the cardiac kid himself. A once-heralded prospect in the Cincinnati system, Bruce has shown flashes of greatness, especially in clutch situations, throughout the season.

The right fielder has taken his game to the next level over the season’s final two-plus months, hitting .338 with 15 homers and 29 RBI since August 1st, including a game-winning, division-clinching home run against the Houston Astros on September 28th. 

On top of his offensive output, Bruce is regarded as the second-best defensive right fielder in the majors this year, behind only the immortal Ichiro Suzuki. The young outfielder used both his arm and his legs to make highlight-reel plays for Cincinnati all season long, as he became a staple of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight‘s Web Gems segment. 

Led by Dusty Baker, managing his fifth postseason with his third different team, the untested Cincinnati Reds must show poise and maturity when they take the field against a seasoned Phillies team. With 22 wins in their last at-bat this season, the Reds are no strangers to playing the underdog role, something they will have to deal with right off the bat in these 2010 MLB Playoffs.  

Jesse Paguaga is a regular contributor to Baseball Digest. He writes as an intern on the Bleacher Report website. Jesse writes for Gotham Baseball, along with Gotham Hoops and Gotham Gridiron. He can be reached at Paguaga@usc.edu and can be found on Facebook and Twitter (@JPags77).

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

After clinching their fourth straight division title, the Philadelphia Phillies have established themselves as the team to beat in the National League.

Despite sitting in second place when September began, the Phillies continued to chop away at Atlanta‘s lead in the NL East and overtook them on the 7th of the month. Once they stood atop the division, Philly wasted no time in putting away the fading Braves, pushing their lead to seven games within 15 days of taking control of first place.

Even though they had six of their eight starters on offense hit the disabled list at some point this year, Charlie Manuel’s group relied on starting pitching to bide their time until their lineup could get healthy.

With Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay (21-7, 2.44 ERA) on the mound, the Phillies clinched the NL East title in Washington last night with an 8-0 victory. A fitting end to a roller coaster season, which has seen the rotation dominate opponents since the All-Star break. In September, the starters were especially instrumental in helping Philly finish out the season on a 19-5 tun that included an 8-1 road record.

When you include fellow ace Roy Oswalt, who has gone 7-1 with a 1.76 ERA in his 11 starts since being traded for on July 29th, Philadelphia remains almost unbeatable in a five-game series.

Along with Oswalt and Halladay, Cole Hamels has rediscovered the success that saw him win the 2008 World Series MVP. Leaving out his latest four-inning, five-earned run outing against the Mets two days ago, Hamels had been a perfect 5-0 in his last five starts, having given up only two runs in 36.2 innings over that span. If the lefty can carry over his stellar performance into October, then Philadelphia may walk into the World Series.

Although their rotation has been outstanding in recent weeks, the offense, too, broke out of its slump in September, as players continue to return to pre-injury form.

Philadelphia’s hot streak coincided with the return of Chase Utley, who missed July and a portion of August rehabbing from a thumb injury. In September, the Gold Glove second baseman has hit .326 to go along with five home runs and 22 RBIs. Had it not been for the historic month that Colorado‘s Troy Tulowitzki is having, Utley’s September would be getting far more attention than it has. 

With Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez also revitalized for the stretch run, the Phillies’ offense has finally surrounded behemoth Ryan Howard (.276, 31 HRs, 106 RBIs) with ample protection for the playoffs. 

The biggest surprise of the Phillies’ run, however, has been the quiet bat of Jimmy Rollins. When in the lineup, the shortstop usually plays the role of catalyst for the Phillies late in the season, as seen by his .292 batting average in September and October, up from his otherwise regular .273 stat line. This year, though, he has sported a batting average as low as .236 and looks altogether lost at the plate.

While Rollins has been given the past two weeks off because of a “hamstring” injury, the Phillies have continued to push the pace and have posted four games in which they scored at least eight runs during his time on the disabled list. Philadelphia management hopes that his hiatus, which, according to coach Charlie Manuel, is set to end early this week, will help breath life into the 32-year-old’s bat.

As the Phillies begin to rest their regulars for the playoffs, very few question marks stand in the way of a third straight World Series appearance. Set to be in his first playoff series, ace Roy Halladay knows that Philadelphia knows how to win.

“That’s the reason you want to come to a team like this. They know how to do it,” Halladay said. “It’s the coolest thing I’ve been a part of. It’s just the start, I think.”

Hopefully Doc’s words do come true and his division-clinching victory is only the beginning for the Philadelphia Phillies.

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