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It took a stellar performance from Roy Oswalt to beat budding start Jonathan Sanchez. Oswalt went eight masterful innings giving up only one run and striking out nine and allowing only six base runners. What Giants fans should be upset about is manager Bruce Bochy’s decision to pitch Sanchez in game two instead of Matt Cain.

Sanchez is an excellent pitcher—albeit with a proclivity for missing the strike zone. He pitched 6 strong innings, giving up three runs, two earned, before giving up to a mediocre Giants bullpen. Cain might have been able to last later into the game—and given the Giants a chance against Brad Lidge.

Contrary to popular belief, San Francisco’s AT&T Park is not a particularly spacious park to the right field. With Cain, a right-hander, left-handers will be given a platoon advantage with McCovey Cove looming nearby. Against a homerun heavy Philadelphia lineup, it might make a difference.

But with the way Oswalt was pitching, it would have taken a spectacular performance from either pitcher to beat him. Just food for thought.

What may have been more questionable is starting Mike Fontenot at third base over struggling Pablo Sandoval. The Panda had a serious off-year, but is still better than starting a below-average hitting second baseman at third.

Next up for the Giants is Phillies third ace Cole Hamels. This year Hamels has increased his fastball velocity from a pedestrian low-90s to a highly effective mid-90s heater. Coupled with his plus change-up, Hamels consistently gets above average strikeout numbers.

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Tonight is the night that you’ve all been waiting for…

Unless you’re a Yankees fan.

Tonight will be a game to remember, in a battle between two of the greatest postseason pitchers in the history of the game.

Cliff Lee vs. Andy Pettitte.

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The Yankees are up against Cliff Lee tonight, and everyone seems to have counted them out.

Despite that fact, the Yankees have Andy Pettitte on the mound with the potential to make tonight’s game an instant Yankees classic.

Let’s take a look at this matchup by the numbers:

2010 Numbers
Lee: 28 G, 12-9 record, 212.1 IP, 3.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP.
Pettitte: 21 G, 11-3 record, 129 IP, 3.28 ERA, 1.27 WHIP.

2010 numbers vs. respective teams
Lee vs. Yankees: 3 G, 2-0 record, 23.1 IP, 3.09 ERA, 0.94 WHIP.
Pettitte vs. Texas: 1 G, 1-0 record, 8 IP, 2.25 ERA, 0.88 WHIP.

Career numbers vs. respective teams
Lee vs. Yankees: 12 G, 6-4 record, 75.1 IP, 4.42 ERA, 1.35 WHIP.
Pettitte vs. Texas: 23 G, 11-9 record, 146 IP, 5.24 ERA, 1.57 WHIP.

2010 home/road splits
Lee on road: 15 G, 7-6 record, 112.1 IP, 3.53 ERA, 1.10 WHIP.
Pettitte at home: 12 G, 7-3 record, 69.1 IP, 3.89 ERA, 1.31 WHIP.

Career playoff numbers
Lee: 7 G, 6-0 record, 56.1 IP, 1.44 ERA, 0.78 WHIP.
Pettitte: 41 G, 19-9 record, 256 IP, 3.87 ERA, 1.32 WHIP.

Key matchups vs. Lee
Derek Jeter: 15-for-36 (.417), 4 2B, 1 3B, 5 BB, 3 K, 1.071 OPS.
Marcus Thames: 7-for-36 (.194), 2 2B, 3 HR, 0 BB, 15 K, .694 OPS.
Mark Teixeira: 10-for-30 (.333), 5 2B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 K, .994 OPS.
Robinson Cano: 6-for-28 (.214), 1 2B, 1 BB, 3 K, .491 OPS.
Nick Swisher: 8-for-25 (.320), 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 6 K, 1.059 OPS.

Key matchups vs. Pettitte
Ian Kinsler: 3-for-14 (.214), 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, .552 OPS.
Nelson Cruz: 1-for-11 (.091), 4 BB, 2 K, .424 OPS.
David Murphy: 4-for-11 (.364), 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K, 1.144 OPS.
Josh Hamilton: 3-for-10 (.300), 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K, .900 OPS.
Jeff Francoeur: 5-for-8 (.625), 1 2B, 1 HR, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.750 OPS.

Related Stories

• October 18, 2010 — Yankees News: Rotation is Set, Cliff Lee’s Hat, Teixeira’s Thumb, and More
• October 14, 2010 — Sabathia, Lee, Burnett, Pettitte, Hughes?
• June 1, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Pettitte, Jeter, Posada, and Cliff Lee
• October 15, 2010 — Yankees News: Lineup Notes, Dirty Hats, and Heathcott

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Through just two games and six at-bats in the 2010 NLCS, Cody Ross has hit an astounding three home runs.

Ross homered twice off Roy “Doc” Halladay, which is fascinating given the fact that Ross’ name backwards is “ssory doc” (sorry Doc).

Ross, who was claimed off waivers from Florida, has been one of the least likely playoff heroes in recent memory, which begs the question: Who is the most improbable postseason hero of all time?

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How many Major League Baseball pitchers can claim they own the New York Yankees?

Tonight, in Game 3 of the ALDS, the Bronx Bombers face crafty lefty Cliff Lee, who for the most part has shut them down over the last two seasons.

With the confidence that Andy Pettitte’s many successful postseason appearances afford, manager Joe Girardi is scheduled to start his wily southpaw in a bounce-back game.

Yankees’ left-handed ace CC Sabathia lasted only four innings in Game 1, but New York came back to win as it does quite often.

Mariano Rivera sealed the victory that left Yankees fans in high spirits.

But the Rangers bats gnashed their wooden teeth again early in Game 2 on Saturday in Arlington, as the team bounced back to tie the series.

Manager Ron Washington feels confident that his team will be more than competitive in the friendly confines of the Bronx in Game 3.

Why wouldn’t he be?

He has a pitcher who is on the short list of those who can claim they own the Yankees.

One of the names on that short list is current Philadelphia Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay, who pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of this year’s NLDS.

Last year Cliff Lee, the current Rangers’ ace, was the ace of the Phillies. He pitched a complete game victory for Philly in Game 1 of the 2009 World Series against the Yankees. Lee won Game 5 in the World Series as well.

This year he has had an outstanding postseason, and he is riding his hottest streak yet. 

Cliff pitched the first game of the ALDS against Tampa Bay on Oct. 6 and threw seven innings, gave up one run, no walks and struck out 10.

Incredibly there have been eight postseason pitching performances of at least 10 strikeouts and zero walks in MLB history. Lee pitched the last four of them, including the two against the Rays.

In Game 5 against Tampa, he set the ALDS strikeout record and tied the MLB record with 21 in two starts.  The Rays have a potent lineup, but they are known for going lame at times.

They were no-hit this last regular season.

Lee has no-hit stuff: a knuckle curve, circle change, two-seam fastball and a cut fastball. 

In three starts this season he is 2-0 against the Yankees.  One of those two victories came at Yankee Stadium, with another Lee complete game.

His 3.09 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and .209 batting average against the Yankees this year has been remarkable.

Those numbers are slightly better than his overall ERA and WHIP on the season.

Lefties are batting .288 against him this season.  He is always around the zone and the Yankees hitters will have to step up tonight.

Bryan Gardner, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Lance Berkman and Curtis Granderson will be the players to watch in the Yankees lineup.

Lee sealed a Rangers three-game sweep in Arlington on Sept. 12 by defeating New York, 4-1 in over eight innings.

Andy Pettitte is 1-0 against Texas this season, posting a 2.25 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a .154 batting average against the Rangers, lasting eight strong innings. 

The Yankees swept the Rangers then, back in April, when AJ Burnett was pitching well and Rich Harden was the Rangers’ ace.

But the Rangers scooped Lee up in a trade with the Seattle Mariners in July after a deal with the Yankees fell through.

Lee had cursed the New Yorkers in a different way this time by adding to their angst in the light of their pitching woes around that time.

The Yankees pitching staff appeared to be in danger after a spate of injuries and poor performances, but they find themselves three wins away from yet another World Series.

Lee solidified the Rangers’ staff by providing guidance and a good example on the field for lefty CJ Wilson, who performed admirably in the first game of this series.

By all rights, Texas should have won the first two games.

Now they face Pettitte, who is widely underrated even though he is usually money in the playoffs.

This season he has even more incentive to win the championship for former owner George Steinbrenner, who passed away earlier this season.

The Boss’ sons run the club now and the Steinbrenner family wants a championship even more than ever.  Derek Jeter is one of the family, and he will make sure it happens starting tonight.

Prediction: The Yankees will lift the curse and defeat Cliff Lee tonight, 5-2.

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The 2010 playoffs have been somewhat predictable up to a point;

• Minnesota Twins were defeated before the playoffs began (Pedro’s dad has another child)

• Good pitching will beat good hitting (Cliff Lee dominates Tampa Bay)

• Cincinnati Reds were facing, arguably, the best three-man rotation in the game (Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt)

• A miracle was needed for Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves to skirt past the Giants (more Eric Hinske magic)

With all that said, the ALDS and NLDS have started a little differently, the baseball gods have apparently decided to shake things up this October.

Yankee folklore, mystique, whatever you want to call it, reared its head in Game 1.  But wait.. the Texas Rangers after all but giving away a Game 1 victory decided to “cowboy up” in Game 2 and make this a series.

As mentioned, Game 2 was a different story when Phil Hughes, Mr. October, apparently thought is was mid-August.

The Philadelphia Phillies looked unstoppable, until they were confronted with a “freak” who was not really bothered by the history making of Halladay and decided to outperform a magician.

We will leave the Phillies-Giants series alone.  The Giants appear to be that team destined for something special.  The cards have been dealt, and they are using every bit of leverage to their advantage; Cody Ross has become irreplaceable, bad defense—Brooks Conrad, and Brian Wilson (the bearded one), is getting more and more intimidating, even though “his beard is weird.”

Focusing on Texas versus New York, all signs point to Lee again solidifying himself as this generations Dave Stewart.

Assuming after Game 3 the Rangers are up one game, and if the reports stay true to form, Game 4 lies in the hands of A.J. Burnett.

If Burnett, as many predict, tanks, the “Dark Side” will be in the unfamiliar position of down 3-1 in the series.

Highlight this point, Burnett will have a quality start in Game 4, thus giving the Bronx Bombers another opportunity to crush Ranger dreams. (I even gave Burnett my vote of confidence on Twitter, a few days ago)

@devonteeple Devon Teeple

Surprise of the ALDS, Burnett has a quality start and they win his game. When everyone bets one way, you bet the other….just saying!

Look at this from Burnett’s perspective, he has nothing to lose. The whole baseball community is betting against him, and subtract one bad outing against the Toronto Blue Jays (2 innings, 7 runs, 9/27/10), and Burnett has been decent in six September starts: 33 innings pitched, 15 earned runs, 31 strikeouts against 31 hits and 14 walks. 

Specifically, it gives Burnett a WHIP of 1.36 or somewhere between Brett Cecil and Gavin Floyd, an ERA hovering around 4.10 and nearly nine strikeouts per nine innings. 

We all know Burnett is having a bad year, but don’t forget he still pumps out fastballs around 93mph (slight 1mph decrease from 2009) and has the ability to be lights out when he is on.

The numbers show (courtesy of fangraphs.com) his reliance on his fastball is a great at it has every been—69.0 percent.  This leaves little to the imagination of the hitter. Burnett’s O-contact percentage is 12 percent higher than at any point is his 12-year career, even when Burnett misses his spots, hitters are teeing off with aggressive swings.

Will Jorge Posada stay Burnett’s battery-mate for Game 4? Maybe, but why not give Francisco Cervelli his chance.
 
Posada is batting .143; the Rangers are running at will, all while Posada is making some questionable decisions behind the plate (not looking the runner back to third in the first inning of Game 2).

Millions will be watching Game 4, many waiting to see an athlete implode on its biggest stage, except this is when the cream rises to the top.  Or in a case like this, a player who many had given up hope on reaffirms his place in history, restoring shattered confidence in the most unexpected pressure filled situation imaginable.

This article can also be found on The GM’s Perspective

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It was easy to start panicking a little bit after the Phillies dropped Game 1 of the NLCS to the Giants on Saturday night. The offense didn’t seem to ever find their way into the ballpark, and the pitching wasn’t an incredible spectacle—an odd sight over the past couple of months in Philly.

But Roy Oswalt wasn’t worried. He got hit around a little bit in Game 2 of the NLDS and was looking for redemption. He also knew the team could not afford to fall to 0-2 to the Giants if they wanted to get to their third straight World Series.

He wasn’t about to allow that to happen.

Oswalt carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and wound up allowing only three hits and one run over eight innings. The one hit was, of course, a Cody Ross solo home run.

I’m not exactly sure what this guy knows that no one else does, but he now has three home runs over two games against two of the best pitchers the league has to offer.

Fortunately for the Phils, he wasn’t sharing his inside knowledge with the rest of the team.

But Oswalt’s impressive night didn’t stay on the mound. He also was able to score a run after hitting a single to get on base and then running through Sam Perlozzo’s stop sign at third after a Placido Polanco base hit.

“I didn’t see [the stop sign] until I got halfway down the line,” Oswalt said after the game. “As soon as Polanco hit it, I read it pretty well off the bat and I thought I was scoring straight out. So I had the intention of scoring when I took off, and I wasn’t even looking for a stop sign, so I was halfway down the line and I was hoping I’d get in there from there.”

Two batters later, Jayson Werth came up to the plate with runners at second and third and two outs. We all know how poor Werth has been with runners in scoring position, but the Giants thought it would be a good idea to walk him and force Jimmy Rollins to bat from his left side.

At this point I’m wondering exactly why they think Rollins at the plate with the bases loaded is better than Werth at the plate with two runners in scoring position, but what do I know?

After a three-run double by Rollins, I’m thinking I could be the Giants’ manager.

Ryan Madson would take over for Oswalt in the ninth inning and close the game out, making the 6-1 lead stick and drawing the Phils even with the Giants at 1-1.

Cole Hamels will start Game 3 against Matt Cain, and if he can duplicate Oswalt’s performance from Sunday night, the Phillies should be on their way to a 2-1 advantage and a clear path to the World Series.

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San Francisco Giants Vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Game 2 Live Blog

Good evening, baseball fans, and welcome to Game 2 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. I’m Evan Adrian, and I’ll be here from the first pitch to the final out.

Roy Oswalt and Philly will try to even this series against Giants’ lefty Jonathan Sanchez. If Sanchez can give San Francisco a dominant performance, they can head back to San Francisco up 2-0. This is essentially a must-win game for the Phillies.

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San Francisco Giants fans have to feel good about Tim Lincecum now. After a few rocky months, Lincecum is hitting the mid-90s again with his fastball and looking as dominant as he did during his two Cy Young years. I knew going into the game that, if they were both on, Lincecum would out-pitch Roy Halladay.

Despite what the stats may say, both were on last night. Due to an unforgiving strike zone, the game was higher scoring than it should have been, although 4-3 certainly isn’t much. Lincecum struck out eight against the National League’s best offense, despite walking three. What should be concerning for Giants fans is the method of scoring for the Phillies: the long ball.

While the Phillies have a prolific offense, Lincecum has historically been able to keep the ball in the park—becoming a rare strikeout/ ground ball type of pitcher. This year however, Lincecum nearly doubled his home-runs-allowed rate, a concerning stat going forward in these playoffs.

The biggest problem is that, while the Phillies are a good hitting team, they pale in comparison to the home run power of Yankees and the Rangers. And while the Phillies are a patient team, they are not the New York Yankees. Against a more patient team, especially with a home plate umpire like Gerry Davis, Lincecum could be in trouble.

Unlike years past, he is hittable. And against the best AL offenses he will be very hittable. Lincecum’s changeup is the best in the league, but it is effective falling out of the zone—something that the Yankees or Rangers will be sure to exploit.

I love watching Lincecum, and except for the month and a half where he couldn’t hit the strike zone (five walks in four straight games? C’mon man!), I don’t miss his starts. But it would make me nervous to be facing an AL team with him as my ace.

That being said, I could be entirely wrong and he’ll look like the Lincecum we saw from game one of the NLDS against the Braves. But even in that game, those two Braves hits were long doubles—and many of the outs were fly-ball outs. The 14 strikeouts were extremely impressive, but they come with some caveats.

Giants fans should, however, be impressed with their offense—managing to score four runs off of one of the best pitchers in the game. They are a scrappy team, and manage to score just enough runs to win. With each of their division series wins coming by merely one run, they have shown the ability to hit just as well as their very talented pitching staff allows.

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For those fans who were expecting a pitching duel of the century, Cody Ross and home plate umpire Gerry Davis’ minuscule strike zone made sure to perish the thought. In his first two at-bats, Ross hit blasts into the left field bleachers—the first being the first hit Roy Halladay had allowed in almost 12 innings, and the second giving Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum a 2-1 lead.

Then in the sixth, Davis struck, calling what would have been strike three a ball. A few pitches later, Pat “The Bat” Burrell doubled to left to give the Giants a 3-1 lead with two outs. Juan Uribe singled to give the Giants an extra cushion, making the score 4-1. That would be all Lincecum would need.

After giving up a two-run home run to free-agent-to-be Jayson Werth, Lincecum settled down and made it through seven strong innings. He struck out eight en route to his second win of his postseason career.

Prior to the game, much had been made of such a star-studded pitching matchup. Lincecum and Halladay’s combined stats this postseason (both having only made one career postseason start) were: 2 CGs, 22K’s, 2 hits, 2 walks. One of those complete games was a perfect game.

Through the first few innings, it looked as if the game had the potential to be another matchup where one mistake would decide the victor. But Davis’ unforgiving strike zone consistently made marginal pitches go the way of the hitter. Viewers expecting another two performances like the division series were victimized by Davis’ game calling.

Tonight at 8:00pm EST, the Giants send out Jonathan Sanchez, who since September has been the best pitcher in the league. Facing him will be Roy Oswalt, the National League leader in WHIP (walks plus hits per inning). Like Game 1, this game has the potential to be a low-scoring pitching duel.

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