The case for the Yankees begins with one Carston Charles Sabathia; he is the best starting pitcher on either team and could possibly be the single most important player in the series (with the possibility of him starting Games 1, 4, and 7). The robust left-hander is coming off 6.2 innings of 8 hit, 2 run (1 earned) playoff baseball. He struck out 8 and walked none is his handling of the Twins. I say handling because he was good, but by no means great. He did not command the strike zone well with his fastball and had to rely heavily on his devastating slider. To me, this makes what he did all the more impressive. The true test of a starting pitcher is what they can do on a night where everything isn’t right; the first game of the ALDS proved to Yankee fans what they already know: CC is a bona fide ace who can win a game without his best stuff. This is the kind of guy you want to lean on in a grueling seven game series.

The other two starters, AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte, have been the subject of a fair amount of skepticism. Although CC had his postseason ghosts, the way he had been pitching really negated the question. However, AJ went through an awful stretch in August that raised many questions about the state of the Yankees pitching. Andy Pettitte hit a slight road bump with a tired shoulder, which prompted the obligatory, “Is he healthy,” questions. After watching the ALDS, I think much of the negativity surrounding these two has dissolved. Burnett went 6 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 run and striking out 6 while walking 5. Pettitte went 6 and a third giving up 1 run on 3 hits with 7 K’s and 1 walk. 

To me, the only questions about the Yankee starters are as follows: will the walks the Burnett is bound to hand out haunt the Yankees more against the Angels than they did against the Twins (I tend to think yes), and will they decide to screw the 4th starter and just go with their three best (I think yes again, it’s that time of year folks).

The Angels top two starters, Lackey and Weaver, impressed more with their ALDS performances, some say, because of who they did it against: the mighty Red Sox. The Sox were coming off, arguably, their best offensive month (Sept./Oct.) as a team, hitting 43 home runs, finishing with their highest batting average in any month (.286) and a season high in total bases (493). So it wasn’t that they were limping to the finish line, but the Sox sure seemed lifeless against the Angels. Sure, there is credit to be given to the Halos, but I think there’s more to this.

The first two games of the ALDS were of course played in Anaheim. The 2009 Red Sox finished 39-42 on the road, meaning they were the only playoff team without a winning record on the road. While they had an OPS of .806 in the regular season, good for second in the league behind the Yankees, their road OPS was a mere .753, similar to the season number for the Indians and the Marlins. The Red Sox are not the same team on the road. I do not think it is a coincidence that when the series came back to Fenway, the Sox finally showed some life on offense. While Lackey and Weaver certainly pitched well and Kazmir struggled, I think the Home vs. Road splits reared their ugly heads in that series.

So yes, I’m spinning this to make the Angels look less impressive than the Yankees even though the Yankees pitched to the wet noodles (minus Sir Mauer) bats of the Twins. Although I just took a stab at the Twins offense, they put together good at-bats, worked counts and came up with quite a few timely hits. I blame their offensive futility more on the bad baserunning than the lack of hitting. Bottom line is that both teams will be pitching to better offenses this series than in the ALDS, and that’s how it is supposed to be.

I give the edge to the Yankees because I’ll take best stuff any day. There are no doubts that CC has better stuff than Lackey, and that AJ has better stuff than Weaver. Lets be honest about that. Call the third game a toss up if you’d like, but who would you take in that game? The guy tied for the All-Time lead in postseason wins? Or Kazmir, who may have better stuff at this point in both of their careers? I take Pettitte 100 times out of 100. 

I’m really looking forward to this series as it should be excellent baseball played by, in my opinion, the two best teams in baseball.