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The New York Yankees are on their way to another ALCS after sweeping the Minnesota Twins for the second postseason in a row.

Phil Hughes, in his first postseason start, pitched a gem on Saturday night, going seven solid innings and allowing no runs to score. It was a real boost for the team going forward.

It provided a sigh of relief for skipper Joe Girardi, as his team looks to be a force to be reckoned with once again. It’s about time for Yankee fans to cut Girardi some slack, as he has earned our trust once again.

Next up for the Yankees is the ALCS, but the opponent is to be decided between the Tampa Bay Rays or Texas Rangers. The Rangers went into Game 3 leading 2-0 in the ALDS against a seemingly dead Rays ball club.

The Rangers had five outs remaining to move onward, but the Rays got their much-needed swagger back and beat the Rangers 6-3.

The Rays did it again Sunday afternoon, tying the series at 2-2 and forcing the Rangers to play Game 5 back at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night.

The winner of this ALDS will host the Yankees on Friday evening in Game 1 of the ALCS.

Who would the Yankees rather face?

Neither the Rays nor the Rangers are going to make like easier for New York.

The Rays matchup with the Yankees head-to-head is better than the Rangers.

The Rangers have ace Cliff Lee, who has slaughtered the Yankees in four different uniforms and twice in the 2009 World Series. Even with losing Game 1 and 5 in 2009, the Yankees still won the World Series against the Phillies. Lee finished the regular season with a 3.18 ERA and 195 strikeouts.

The Rangers’ second starter is C.J. Wilson, who is becoming a mini-Cliff Lee. If Wilson shuts down the Yankee, that is two games lost before the Yankees even get back to the Bronx. Wilson has held the Yankees hitters to a .248 average over his career.

This season Wilson finished with a 3.35 ERA, with 166 strikeouts, giving up 10 home runs. Unlike Lee, who walked only 18 batters all season, Wilson walked 91 and that is why he is not at Lee’s level yet.

This hot tandem could possibly pitch Games 5 and 6 too, but Wilson will be the decider because Lee we figure to have less of a chance of getting too.

The other option would be the Rays, who play the Yankees 18 times a season as both play in the AL East.

The Rays finished regular season 96-66, taking the AL East from the Yankees, who finished 95-67. The Rays also beat out the Yankees winning 10 of the 18 games they played.

The last time the Rays-Yankees faced off, it ended in a 2-2 spilt in games. It was baseball at its best, as no team convinced fans that it was better than the other.

So, who would the Yankees rather battle with: a hot Rays team or a two-ace Rangers team?

Neither team guarantees the Yankees a trip back to the World Series. It is easy to say that the opponent’s uniform doesn’t matter, and in essence it doesn’t because both are solid ball clubs respectively. It is the ALCS, and the victory leads to the World Series so all aspects have to be considered.

From a baseball fan’s view, the Rays would be a definite classic, but many Yankees fans agree it would be a tougher possible win than the Rangers. 

You have to agree because the Rays are not scared of the big, bad Yankees. The Rangers, like the Twins, still seemed intimated by the Bombers, and that didn’t work out so well for Minnesota.

Personally, I say bring on the Tampa Bay Rays because the Yankees are hot enough to beat either. The six days off until Game 1 of the ALCS, which is Friday night, is what concerns me, as the Yankees haven’t had that much time since the offseason.

Yankees Universe will be watching Tuesday night, and that is one promise you can bet on.

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As so dubbed by fans and critics across the country, the 2010 Major League Baseball season has been the Year of the Pitcher. This title is well deserved, as perfect games were thrown by Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay and no-hitters were twirled by Ubaldo Jimenez, Edwin Jackson, and Matt Garza. And no one will forget the rather infamous 28-out perfect game that Armando Galaraga gave us.

With all the masterful performances given to us by the mound masters throughout the season, it is safe to assume that one of the most important components of this October will be the pitching, and so far, it has been. Therefore, a list ranking the top 20 pitchers of this postseason would be an valuable tool. Oh look, I happen to have a list of the top 20 right here!

Granted, due to the fact that there have been games played, this list has changed from its preliminary form. No pitcher has gained or lost more than three spots, but there has been several minor shakeups. So, enough talk, lets take a look at the list.

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No matter what happens during the 2010 Major League Playoffs, the Yankees will immediately get to work in the offseason to either win a third straight title or try to get back on top after a one year hiatus.

One free agent target most everyone in the industry agrees the Yankees will get their hands on is current Rangers ace Cliff Lee. Lee has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past three seasons and is bolstering his playoff resume with each gem he twirls in October.

In game one of the American Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Lee pitched one of the best games in his career, striking out 10 in a crucial match-up with Rays ace David Price. The Rangers knew if they could win game one then they would have a great chance of winning the series and Lee made sure that was taken care of.

For the Yankees to obtain Lee’s services they better come prepared with a blank check and a willingness to outspend every other team. It has been rumored that Lee prefers to pitch in the Bronx, joining up with his old Indians teammate CC Sabathia, but he will not take a discount to do so.

Another target of the Bombers can be a person who currently plays in the Far East and his name is Yu Darvish. Not much is know about Darvish, but he possesses four quality pitchers to go along with his mid-90s fastball. Darvish is not a free agent meaning he will require the posting fee, ala Matsuzaka, but unlike his predecessor, he may be worth the money.

The Yankees don’t seemingly need anyone to fill out their outfield as all spots are currently occupied. Nick Swisher is signed on for another two seasons, Curtis Granderson, who looked like he would be run out of town, is swinging a hot bat and Brett Gardner surprised many with his breakout season.

However, the Yankees are the Yankees and a run for Carl Crawford is not out of the question. Gardner faded fast down the stretch after a hot start while Granderson is a new man after some mechanical adjustments. 

If the Yankees were to sign Crawford, Gardner would be displaced to the fourth outfielder spot where he is best suited and would give the Yankees a very strong defensive outfield. To make it clear, the Yankees don’t need Crawford, but signing him would make the lineup just that much stronger.

Besides throwing their hat in the ring for Darvish’s and Lee’s services, the Yankees still have a need in the rotation. A.J. Burnett is not quite doing the job in New York and Andy Pettitte will most likely retire, leading to voids in the rotation. The Yankees would be best served looking for rotation fillers such as Hiroki Kuroda or a Jon Garland. 

Both of these pitchers have the capability of eating up innings while keeping their teams in every game. It is something that neither A.J. Burnett nor Javier Vazquez can seem to master. For the Yankees to continue to try to make a modern day dynasty, they need more pitching.

As the old adage states, you can never have enough pitching.

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Roy Oswalt got roughed up in his first postseason game for the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, giving up three earned runs in just five innings in what would eventually become a Phillies’ Game 2 victory. This was on the heels of Cliff Lee’s first postseason appearance with the Texas Rangers, in which Lee went seven innings, allowing only one earned run with 10 strikeouts and no walks.

So will Oswalt or Lee guide their newly adopted teams to postseason glory? If past midseason pitcher acquisitions are any indication, the odds aren’t good.  Let’s have a look.

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In his latest column for Sports Illustrated, Jon Heyman suggested that free agent-to-be Cliff Lee might be preparing to ask for something similar to the seven-year, $161 million deal that his friend, CC Sabathia got two off-seasons ago.

Via Sports Illustrated:

Before Halladay took a $60-million, three-year extension with Philly, Lee turned down a similar offer, believed to be for three years and somewhere in the mid-$50-millions from Philadelphia, who eventually traded him to Seattle. Word was, he was thinking about more than double that, maybe something close to Johan Santana‘s $138-million, six-year Mets contract.

Now, rumor has it that Lee might seek three times what Philly offered. In other words, Lee might try to match his old Indians teammate CC Sabathia’s deal, which is for seven years and $161 million. “Why not?” one club executive said. “He’s as good as Sabathia.”

There are some pretty big differences, though, between Lee and Sabathia. The biggest is probably the fact that CC was 28 when he signed his deal with the Yankees and Lee is already 32-years-old.

Those four years are pretty huge in this case. The Yankees had no problem giving a 28-year-old a seven-year deal, at the end of which he will be 35. A 32-year-old will be 39 at the end of his seven-year deal.

Also, the fact that Sabathia is viewed as a guy who can handle a ton of innings with relatively few injuries. Lee, on the other hand, has already dealt with a few injuries during his career and has been dealing with back problems as recently as a few weeks ago.

The thing that Lee does have going for him is that he is in much better shape than Sabathia, and as Heyman points out, relies on velocity much less than Sabathia does.

Also in Lee’s favor, the Yankees are desperate. They really want him. They want him so badly, they were willing to deal their top prospect, Jesus Montero, for him despite the fact that he’s a catcher, as is the 39-year-old Jorge Posada.

Realistically, I could see the Yankees offering him a six-year deal at anywhere from $120-140 million. The bottom line, though, is that Lee is a unique player to hit the market; another pitcher of his caliber will not be available soon. The Yankees will offer them whatever they have to bring him to the Bronx.

My guess is that he ends up with a five-year, $120 million deal. Unless the Rangers are willing to spend that much, all bets are off.

Related Stories

• September 8, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Sabathia, A-Rod, Berkman, Lee, MLB Playoffs, and a Giveaway
• August 19, 2010 — CC Sabathia Not Close to Cy Young Despite Win Total
• October 7, 2010 — Yankees Win in Typical Fashion
• October 6, 2010 — CC Sabathia’s Stats vs. the Twins

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Now we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, not quite yet. With a two games to none advantage in the American League Division Series battle against the Tampa Bay Rays, the mood surrounding this Rangers ballclub is rather positive. After comprehensively beating the Rays in the first two games, on the road no less, this Texas ballclub is brimming with confidence.

For a team that was viewed as underdogs by many against whichever AL East foe they faced, the Rangers appear remarkably in control of the series that they find themselves involved in. With a 5-1 opening victory over leading Cy Young candidate David Price, led by a dominant Cliff Lee, the foundation was laid. Backing that up with a similarly impressive outing by C.J. Wilson, augmented by a potent offensive attack, Texas is looking like a force to be reckoned with.

A franchise traditionally associated with powerful, slugger-laden offenses, the Texas Rangers finally appear to have discovered that the key to greater success is a well-rounded club capable in all facets of the game.

Thus far in the ALDS, this new team philosophy appears to be reaping its rewards. No longer a one-dimensional club, the Rangers have constructed a team centered on its strong pitching, but still able to slug with the best of them. These primary strengths are complemented by efficient base-running and solid defense to give this Texas team a multidimensional attack less susceptible to being easily shut down.

Starting Pitching

As everyone should now by now, success in baseball always starts with strong starting pitching. The Rangers were a club rarely associated with dominant pitching through the years.  Team president Nolan Ryan has worked tirelessly to reverse that perception and his hard work is paying dividends.  Led by its two lefties, Cliff Lee, the highly-coveted ace, imported from the Seattle Mariners in a June trade, and C.J. Wilson, a homegrown talent converted from a late-game relief specialist to a starter just last offseason, the Rangers find themselves in good hands.

Cliff Lee was brought here specifically to lead the rotation into the playoffs, in their quest to reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history. His impressive postseason resume from 2009 was one of his primary attractions, and he lived up to the hype as well as he could in his Rangers postseason debut.

Pitching in hostile territory in Florida, Cliff Lee set the tone for the series with his dominant Game 1 start. The stoic lefty ran into trouble in the first inning, allowing three singles in the first four batters to load the bases, a less than confidence inducing start to the proceedings. However, he quickly recovered to strike out Carlos Pena and Rocco Baldelli, stranding the bases loaded. That would be the last trouble he would face for the remainder of the game. After the first, Lee would allow only two other hits, a second inning double to Ben Zobrist, and a solo home run, also to Zobrist, in the the seventh inning while the Rangers already led comfortably 5-0.

His impeccable command was on display once again, as he became the first American League pitcher to strike out 10 batters in a playoff game while not walking a single hitter. It has only occurred seven times in MLB history, and Cliff Lee has now accomplished the feat three times, twice last year with the Phillies. Overall, Lee pitched seven innings, allowing five hits, no walks, with 10 strikeouts, exceeding the Rangers wildest hopes.

Following Cliff’s lead, C.J. Wilson offered his own highly dominant performance to further deflate the hopes of a stunned Tampa Bay Rays club. After allowing a lead-off single to Jason Bartlett to start the game, Wilson didn’t allow another hit until the bottom of the seventh inning. In between, he walked two hitters, but that would be all he would permit to reach base in his 6.1 innings of work, while striking out seven Rays. If he is able to consistently pitch like that following Lee, the Rangers like their chances against anyone in baseball. The baton is now passed to Colby Lewis to keep the train rolling in Saturday’s Game 3.

Relief Pitching

When your first two starting pitchers in a series pitch deep into the game, both reaching at least the seventh inning, it greatly reduces the stress on your bullpen. That’s precisely how any manager draws it up, a deep, effective starting performance, then hand the ball over to your elite relief arms. No messing with questionable middle relief, no stressful decisions on which relievers to use. You want your starters to transition seamlessly into your best setup men, then directly to the closer. Simple.

After two games in the ALDS, Ron Washington has been able to do just that. Thanks to his dominant starting pitchers, he has only needed to use his most reliable bullpen arms for a total of 4.2 innings. Both Darren O’Day and Darren Oliver have pitched in each game, with Oliver pitching three innings, allowing no hits and one walk, while striking out two. O’Day has face three batters, allowing a single, but striking out the other two. Closer Neftali Feliz was used in Game 1 to finish off the opening victory. He made it interesting to start the ninth, walking the first two hitters, but then retired Ben Zobrist on a liner to right and struck out the last two hitters to preserve the win. Order was restored.

No one can predict if the Rangers’ starters will continually work into the seventh inning as they have thus far, but even if they don’t, Ron Washington has a handful of reliable arms to hand the ball to late in games.

Offensive Production

A team usually doesn’t count on their run production increasing in the postseason when you’re facing the best pitching staffs in the game, but that’s precisely what the Rangers have done over the first two games of the ALDS. After averaging 4.86 runs per game in the regular season, placing fourth amongst American League clubs, the Rangers have increased that rate to 5.5 runs per game with 11 runs scored in the series thus far. Of course, it’s only a two game sample, but that bodes well for a team making its first playoff appearance since 1999, proving that they won’t wilt under the glare of the bright lights in October.

Through two games, the Rangers are balancing their strong pitching performances with a robust offensive attack, making it difficult to key in on any specific weak point in their game. Shutting down the opposition and scoring runs, the two primary aspects of a successful baseball team.

Thus far, the Rangers are tied with the Yankees with their 11 runs scored, are second to New York in total hits, have hit the most home runs of any playoff team, and have the highest slugging percentage in the postseason. Possibly the most encouraging sign for the Rangers is that they have accomplished that all on the road, where they struggled to a 39-42 record during the regular season. Many wondered if the team could hit enough away from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to win crucial road games. Well, the team has stepped up and answered that question emphatically.

Also encouraging is that the Rangers are producing offensively, and they haven’t yet gotten a lot out of their two biggest hitters, Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero. It has been a balanced attack, seeing four different players hit a home run each, with six different hitters collecting an RBI. This bodes well for the team going forward. If opposition is able to focus in on a couple of key hitters, it makes it much easier to stifle an offense, but if you never know where the damage is coming from, each batter is a critical situation for your opponents’ pitching staff.

Looking Ahead

With home-field now secured for the remainder of the ALDS, the Rangers are in prime position to advance beyond the Division Series for the first time in club history. The Rangers are a much more potent offensive club at home in Arlington than on the road, and will look to put the Rays out of their misery in the next two games. Texas was 51-30 at home this year, so heading back to Rangers Ballpark to try to conclude the series should bolster the team’s confidence even further. Although the Rangers don’t want to look too far beyond Game 3 on Saturday, their advance scouts have their eyes on their potential ALCS foes, with the Yankees looming as favorites to advance alongside Texas. If that matchup eventually occurs, it would represent an opportunity for the Rangers to exorcise their franchise’s playoff demons against the only team they have ever faced in the postseason, a team that has defeated Texas in three consecutive playoff series dating back to 1996.

Like I said, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves just yet though. For now, let’s look forward just to Saturday’s Game 3 in Arlington as the Rangers will look to finish off the Tampa Bay Rays as quickly as possible, and then we can start making arrangements for the American League Championship Series.

Please check out further coverage of the Rangers’ Playoff action and analysis of their postseason aspirations by Scott Gyurina.

MLB Playoff Predictions: Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays Positional Match-ups

Texas Rangers Pitching Well-Armed For Deep Playoff Run

Texas Rangers: How They Can Beat the Yankees In the Postseason

Texas Rangers’ 3 Biggest Question Marks Heading Into Postseason Action

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The 2010 MLB Playoffs are only just underway—each NLDS series is only one game old—and we’ve got both drama and storylines. Rarely has the first six games of a baseball playoff season been so eventful.

As we head into this weekend’s games, here’s a look at the storylines that have begun to develop. Some teams are doing the opposite of what we expected, while Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees are doing exactly what we expected.

Let’s have a look.

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Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in Game 1 of the NLDS is without question the greatest starting performance in Phillies’ playoff history. But it certainly isn’t the only great one.

Here are the 10 best postseason starting pitching performances in Phillies’ history.

Keep in mind that the following rankings are not just based on the excellence of the pitching line itself, but also on the relative magnitude of the game in which the performance came (basically, World Series performances counts for extra).

Enjoy this trip through Phillies’ history!

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The big story of this Yankee season has been the starting pitching, so it is no coincidence that this list has only four batters included.

The Yankees have had disastrous seasons for how much they are paying both AJ Burnett and Javier Vazquez.

So it is without question that the Yankees need to address the top five arms on the squad and shore up their rotation when it comes time to make their offers to free agents this winter.

Without further ado, here are the 10 players that New York should take a run at this winter.

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Two games into both American League Division Series match-ups and it seems that the Yankees made the right decision by winning the Wild Card.

The New York media continuously jumped on the Yankees regarding their play over the past two months. In reality, yes, they were playing horribly, but they were also not playing with a sense of urgency. The Yankees had already put the Boston Red Sox away, or at least it was the feeling at the time, and they played poorly because of it.

Joe Girardi knew his team was veteran laden, a nice word for being old, and this allowed him to rest some of his regulars before the grind of the postseason began. As a result, the Bronx Bombers went a combined 30-31 to end the season, yet still managed 96 wins.

The prolonged slump scared some in the media and fan base, who thought the Yankees would not be able to flip the switch once the calendar turned to October. However, the way they played down the stretch showed they had a plan.

The Yankees did not want to face the Texas Rangers in the first round of the playoffs. The Yankees split eight games with them this season, including a three game sweep in Texas, where they were thoroughly outplayed in every facet of the game.

They had every reason to fear playing them. The Rangers feature a rotation with two lefties, including one the Yankees are extremely familiar with, having faced him in the World Series last season. The Yankees Achilles heel this season has been facing lefties, and going against Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson, was not something they wanted to do.

Girardi’s pitching staff also has to be thankful that they do not have to go up against the juggernaut that is the Rangers offense. They can beat you with the long ball and small ball, without showing mercy for any of their opponents. 

Once the Yankees clinched the Wild Card, they did not have to worry much about the Rangers. Instead, they became the Tampa Bay Rays problems, and problems are exactly what the Rays have has so far against the Rangers.

The Rangers clubbed around Rays ace pitcher, David Price, to win game one, and then tallied another six runs off “Big Game James” in game two. The Rays are now in a desperate situation against the Rangers, facing elimination, with Matt Garza on the hill to save their season.

The Yankees, however, received an adequate pitching performance from C.C. Sabathia last night, in addition to some clutch hitting from Mark Teixiera and Curtis Granderson, to get the victory. Tonight, the Yankees sent Andy Pettitte, their old war horse and the most successful pitcher in playoff history, to the mound in hopes of taking a commanding series lead.

Clutch pitching from Pettitte, clutch hitting from the veteran Yankee lineup, and the brilliance of Mariano Rivera closing out the game for a second consecutive night, gave the Yankees complete control in the series. 

As the Rays contemplate the end of their season, the Yankees are one win away from advancing to the ALCS, knowing they made the right decision.

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