ALCS Preview: Anaheim Angels vs New York Yankees

[Writers's Note: As someone raised in southern California who attended dozens of Angels games during his college years, including two playoff games in 2002, I will refer to the Angels' city as Anaheim, not Los Angeles nor "Los Angeles of Anaheim."]

No doubt we have the two best teams in the AL — perhaps in baseball — playing for the American League pennant.

The New York Yankees surpassed 100 wins this season and reclaimed the AL East as their own. The Anaheim Angels continued their dominance of the AL West with another 90+ win season and division title.

Fans should be ecstatic to see this quality matchup.

It also presents many story lines.

[Editor's note: Before we get to the storylines, listen to AJ's appearance on the MSF podcast previewing the ALCS and NLCS. Below you will also find info regarding how the Yankees and Angels fared this season, plus the TV schedule, and probable pitching matchups.]

Midwest Sports Talk Podcast: ALCS & NLCS Preview

2009 ALCS: New York Yankees v Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

• Yankees-Angels season series: 5-5
• Regular season records: Yankees 103-59 | Angels 97-65
• Regular season run differential: Yankees +162 | Angels +122
• Official Websites: New York Yankees | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• StubHub: Yankees-Angels ALCS Tickets as low as $102 (for games in New York)
• RazorGator: Yankees-Angels ALCS Tickets
• TickCo: Yankees-Angels ALCS Tickets Save $10 on Orders of $150 or More at TickCo (code = Minus10)

Yankees-Angels ALCS TV Schedule and Pitching Matchups

Yankees-Angels ALCS Preview and Analysis

In the Division Series, both teams exorcised demons of various kinds. It’s well-known that the Angels had never beaten the Red Sox in the postseason, and had seen their season end at Boston’s hands the past two Octobers and three of the last five. That Anaheim took Boston in sweeping fashion, in come-from-behind-style at Fenway for the clincher, after dominating in California, was perfect.

The Yankees had owned the Twins in postseason play this decade. However, in terms of a hurdle somewhat akin to Anaheim’s, you’d never know with all the media praise and accolades, that New York had not won a postseason series since 2004 before Sunday’s win.

That was their hurdle, folks. And it just might be a stat worth nothing, but ESPN, TBS and MLB.com passed, at least as far as I heard.

In any event, nearly half of baseball (14 of 30 teams, by my count — so much for lack of parity;  see one-third of the 2009 NFL teams being awful for that) had won a postseason series since the Yanks last did, versus Minnesota five years ago, nonetheless.

I’m not discounting the triumph, New  York’s good starting pitching, or A-rod’s recrudescence, but the Yanks have not won a postseason series from someone other than the Twins since the 2003 miracle versus Boston. The Angels are not the Twins. While Minnesota is arguably the 6th or 7th best team in the stacked AL, Anaheim is at worst second best to NY this year, better in the minds of many.

Minnesota, thanks to bullpen implosions, base-running blunders and one horrible umpiring call in the left field corner, gave the Yanks Game Two and conceivably lost a winnable Game Three due to similar mishaps. While the Yanks starting pitching was better than expected, they fell behind in all three games against a team whose lineup is full of guys making less than a million bucks that few outside of baseball know (and a batting champ).

Additionally, New York needed late homers to tie Games Two and Three; so, since no one else is telling the truth, the Yankees did little to impress (me) aside from AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Rodriguez. C.C. Sabathia, who will pitch Game One Friday night in the Bronx, was good, but this workhorse also could not get through the 7th. The team hit just .225. The usually tough NYC media hardly noticed, ebullient in praise and platitudes, as if this were a Barack Obama speech.

Will C.C. survive against his next, much tougher foe? Considering the love he’s receiving (nearly 65% agree he should start Games 1, 4 and 7), I am apparently insane, but his eight hits allowed over 6.2 laborious innings versus a team that was half-asleep did not impress me.

Now New York is, at time of this publication, toying with the idea of using the big guy (along with Burnett and Pettitte) in a three-man rotation. While heavy rain and cold may make this moot, there are historic pros and cons to such a move.

Again, I’d add, since no one else will, that Sabathia has allowed 16 hits in his last 9.1 innings pitched, with 11 runs allowed, six earned. Statistically, he’s not exactly hitting his stride, but local observers, ignore this, and feel he’s at his peak?

Factually, Sabathia was 0-2 with an ERA over six against the Angels this season. His career ERA vs. Anaheim is close to five and he’s lost seven of 12 decisions.

{A local talk host here in Indianapolis, who hails from the northeast and is a confessed Yankee fan was quite honest Tuesday afternoon. He claimed ESPN, which thankfully is not televising playoff games anymore, is so biased, so pathetically pro-Boston and New York, that it will be “unbearable” to watch their pro-Yankee analysis the next week or two. Just a heads up.}

The crux of the matter heading into Friday, for me, is this:

Rarely, if ever, in my 25 years watching baseball have I witnessed a team facing an easier postseason matchup than the Yanks in Round One.

Minnesota was a .500 team through mid-September; they were playing without their second best player (the 2006 AL MVP), and their top starter did not pitch at all since they used him during last Tuesday’s play-in marathon. The Twins had to play that five hour thriller just to get into the playoffs, then, due to a scheduling quirk, fly to New York, arriving about 12 hours before Game One with a rookie pitcher going.

Yet, Minnesota still somehow managed to take a 2-0 lead in that tilt, then fatigue set in, during the only game they lost semi-convincingly. The Yanks, hungry and rested, took on a team they regularly handle (and did so seven times in 2009), while the Twins’ franchise had lost four (now five) playoff series in a row and now eight straight playoff home games.

Most startlingly, the Yanks trailed in every game, and needed last at bat heroics, poor Twin base running, bullpen implosions and an all-time terrible umpiring call to eke out Game Two at home, and in many ways, needed some of the same in Game Three. Were the Twins just happy to be in? Perhaps, but the Yankees could not have had a worse prep for the powerful Angels.

While playing the Twinkies gave New York no favors, playing Boston primed the Angels. I surmise Yankee Nation was so desperate to finally win a playoff series that they overlooked how simple this first task should’ve been in 2009.

The Angels stellar offense features high-priced talent, patient hitters like motivated ex-Yankee Bobby Abreu and other veteran leadership. Anaheim also has top notch managing, camaraderie, clutch players, and much else. They will be more than formidable. The Angels were vulnerable in April and May, reeling from the loss of a young teammate, three major starting pitching injuries and a hot Texas Ranger team. They stymied that, and succeeded, as good teams do. Down to their last strike versus Boston, this very complete, mostly homegrown team, could’ve packed it in and awaited Game 4; they did not.

In terms of nuts and bolts, both teams are very deep hitting-wise. The Yanks have more power, while the Halos showcase more reliable guys who can put the ball in play and set the table for the power men and especially steal bases, which will be key. The Yanks have three guys who pitched solidly in round one, but that was against the Twins crew, not Anaheim’s lineup of .300 hitters.

Though the Yanks fancy a three-man rotation, I should still note that New York’s fourth starter is a major question mark. Joba Chamberlain looked passable in brief work, while Phil Hughes was awful in two of three appearances. Mariano Rivera was ultimately Mariano Rivera success-wise, yet allowed four hits in three innings pitched. Surely he’s  superior to Angel closer Brain Fuentes, though Brian sailed through the division series, especially at Fenway when he was needed most.

The Angels might be concerned with the ineffectiveness of Scott Kazmir , while Joe Saunders, winner of 16 games in 2009 and scheduled to pitch Game Four in Boston, will now go in Game Two on the road. Both could factor in positively against the left-handed-dominated Yankee lineup. Anaheim is wise to one lefty Saunders at New York to neutralize the Yanks’ left-handed power at the lefty-friendly Yankee Stadium.

Jered Weaver and John Lackey are obviously a tremendous one-two punch no matter where they throw. Lackey is experienced, clutch and confident. The big Texan will oppose Sabathia in the opener Friday night; Weaver will throw in Game Three back home, with Kazmir to follow. Anaheim has serious starting pitching depth.

I confess looking to prior series in order to analyze the upcoming one can be futile, especially when baseball is the most unpredictable of all sports, therefore one must look at how the Yanks won 103 games this season and the Angels 97. Both teams are very, very good. There are numerous storylines, of course, but consider these stats:

The teams split ten games in the regular season, though the Yanks won three of the last four.

New York is 63-73 vs. Angels since 1996, playing especially poor in Orange County. The Yankee team ERA is five during that stretch.

And while it’s well-known that the Yanks were eliminated in 2002 and 2005 by Anaheim, some forget they beat the Angels in the opening game during both of those five-game series.  The Angels won’t fear playing or falling behind on New York’s big stage, as they tied the Phillies for most road wins in 2009, with 48 triumphs in 81 tries.

So far, as the sheltered NY media is wont to do, they have paid lip service to Anaheim’s dominance of the Pinstripers. Aside from a short Thursday morning assessment in the Daily News, even when they try to make serious lists of why the Yanks will take the series, they come off cliché and silly. (To be fair, so have the Angels writers.)They do so at their own (team’s) ”peril.”

I prefer not to make predictions, but as you can see, I have a hunch here about one “special” team. And though I’m disinclined to guess how grown men will perform on an athletic field, especially baseball, as you can see last week, unlike most in the east/midwest, I was confident in the Halos handling Boston. If the Angels perform to their potential, a Freeway Series may indeed beckon in 2009.  Heck, John Wooden hopes so. Can’t go wrong with the birthday boy.

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