MLB AL Division Series #1 Preview

New York Yankees vs.






Detroit Tigers




Starting Pitching:

The Yankees received some bad news when Randy Johnson went down with a stiff back at the end of the season and was unable to make his final start of the season. He's expected to make his game 3 start. The Yankees have five starters in Corey Lidle, Johnson, Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang and Jaret Wright. Either Wright or Lidle will likely serve as the long reliever in the event a starter struggles or gets injured early. In just his second year as a MLB pitcher, Wang has shown he belongs with a nasty curve and hard fastball. While he doesn't strike out a lot of guys, he is a very productive pitcher. Johnson is the elder among the Yankees pitchers but he still collected a respectable 17 wins and 172 strikeouts. His health and Mussina's health are the question marks for the rotation. Look for the starters to go deep in the ball games.
What a difference a year makes. Just last season 17-games winner Justin Verlander spent the majority of the season in triple-A. Nate Robertson had a bad year in 2005 winning 6 and losing 17. This year he was .500 winning and losing 13 starts. The Tigers made a nice free agency pick-up in the iff-season, signing veteran lefty Kenny Rogers who rewarded management by winning 17 of his starts. He'll need to continue that success in the playoffs if the Tigers are to go anywhere.

Edge: Yankees.

Relief Pitchers:

The Yankees have arguably the best closer in the game in Mariano Rivera. The challenge is going to be getting to him in the 8th or 9th with the lead. Kyle Farnsworth and Ron Villone whould be solis set-up men. Mike Myers will be counted on to get the left-handed batters and switch hitters of the Tigers. Brian Brunley is the real surprise edition to the bullpen. In hjust his 3rd season in the Majors he beat out vets Chacon, Octavio Dotel and Tayon Sturtze. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the pressure cooker that is post-season play. Rounding out the 'pen will be long reliever Scott Proctor.
Veteran closer Todd Jones anchors this young bullpen. Rookie rightie Joel Zumaya will come in the 7th or 8th to set-up for Jones. Veteran lefty Jamie Walker will be counted on to face the likes of Matsui and Damon and any other lefties the Yankees may send up to the plate. fernando Rodney will be a middle reliever who is quite capable. He'll be facing his 1st post-season competition. Long-reliever Wilfredo Ledezma is enjoying by far with a respectable 3.58 ERA. Rounding out the bullpen will be a secod long-reliever in Jason Grilli.

Edge: Yankees

Catcher:

Jorge Posada has worked with every Yankee pitcher this season and he really knows how to play-call. At the plate, this switch-hitter has done a pretty good job with a .277 average, 29 home runs and 93 RBI's. Posada can be counted on to throw out would-be base stealers on a consistent basis.
Ivan Rodriguez has had a fantastic season in helping the young pitching staff of the Tigers develop at a faster rate than most people thought. He also has a high rate of throwing out base stealers. I-Rod hit .300 with 13 HR and 69 RBI. He'll have to be better in the post-season as the clean-up hitter in the Tiger's line-up.

Edge: even

1st Baseman:

Gary Sheffield has all of 2 games as a 1st baseman in his career. His defense is not going to be what it should be, especially if he gets a throw in the dirt which will inevitably happen. His bat is no problem though, as in this injury-plagued season, Sheff blasted 6 HR and hit .289 in just 34 games (Sheffield missed a good chunk of the season with torn wrist ligaments due to a collission at 1st base. The big question will be ow Sheffield's wrost holds up with his violent swing. Also playing some 1st base will be Jason Giambi who is also battling wrist problems that will require surgery at some point. This season, Giambi hit .253 while cracking 37 dingers. He also knocked in 113 runs.
Veteran Sean Casey, acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Reds, will get the bulk of the work at 1st base. He cracked 8 long balls while batting .272 for the Tigers. Casey should provide some power into this line-up.

Edge: Tigers.

2nd Baseman:

Second-year player Robinson Cano is having a career year at the plate, hitting .322 with 18 HR and 72 RBI's. He's smooth in the field and will make a solid DP combo with Derek Jeter. This kid is going to be a star for years to come and he's only 22.
The Tigers will counter with Placido Polanco, who's a pretty effective # 2 hitter, batting .295 with 4 HR and 52 RBI's. Polanco will have to be better at driving in runners for the Tigers to succeed against the Yankees.

Edge: Yankees

Shortstop:

Derek Jeter is simply the best at his position in the game. He rarely makes an error in the field and makes even the toughest plays look easy. This season, Jeter is the runner-up for the batting title in the American League. He's also a front runner for the American League MVP. He really helped the Yankees when they were missing Outfielders Matsui and Sheffield for extended periods of time. Jeter finished the regular season with a .343 average and 14 HR and 97 RBI's. The Yankees might need him to crack a few more HR's in the post-season, but then again probably not. Jeter is traditionally clutch in the post-season and there is no reason to think this season will be any different.
Carlos Guillen is no slouch in the field as he has real soft hgands and has hlped the Tigers complete many DP's this season. At the bat he hit .320 with 19HR and 85 RBI's. Guillen will have to continue that type of hitting in the post-season. Guillen also has speed to burn and could be a thorn in Posada's side.

Edge: Yankees (because of Jeter's proven track record in the playoffs.)

3rd Baseman:

Alex Rodriguez is having an awful year in the field, committing 20 errors of the course of the season. Physically, he's healthy, mentally he has a tendency to verthink sometimes and thus the errors occur. The misfortunes in the field have also turned into mistfortunes at the bat, as he struck out 139 times and hit .290, which is low for his standards. His HR's were down slightly with 35 long balls. A-Rod managed to drive in 121 runners. At the end of the season, Rodriguez was showing signs of improved play, both at the bat and in the field.
Brandon Inge is slowly learning to play 3rd base and is also prone to errors. At the plate, he hit .253 with 27 dingers and 83 runs batted in. Inge is a great athlete and is always playing hard. He could make things intreresting at this position.

Edge: even.

Left Fielder:

Hideki Matsui is coming off his first major injury (broken wrist) and has just returned to his regular position after a couple of weeks DH'ing. Normally, Matsui is a very reliable hitter and his defense is pretty solid. However Yankees fans will be holding their collected breaths when Matsui attempts a diving catch that the same thing doesn't happen to his wrist again. Over his shortened regular season, Matsui managed to hit .302 with 8 HR and 29 RBI's.
Monroe is a pretty solid outfielder who can hit for power, as demonstrated by his 29 HR season. His average is a little on the low side (.255) and will have to be better for the Tigers to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Monroe is not much of a threat to steal, but he can run when he has to.

Edge: Yankees.

Center Fielder:

Johnny Damon was a great free agent pick-up for the Yankees. He proven his worth with his trong defense, however he needs to improve his throwing. At the plate, Damon hit a decent .286 with 24 HR and 80 RBI. The RBI total might have been higher if not for the fact that Damon hits lead-off. He can also give I-Rod fits as he will likely attempt to steal bases with a good chance to succeed. Look for Damon to be a major player in the playoffs.
In his first full Major League season, Curtis Granderson has shown he can play in the Majors. Granderson has the speed necessary to play Center Field and he can steal bases. At the plate Anderson hit .260 with 19 HR and 68 RBI's. One thing Granderson will need to improve on is his patience at the plate as he struck out an astronomical 178 times in the regular season. He needs to learn to ait for his pitch. Granderson should do okay in the playoffs.

Edge: Yankees.

Right Field:

Bobby Abreu, acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies at the trade deadline, will control Right Field for the Yankees. He was on a roll over the final 58 games of the season, of which he played for the Yankees, where he hit .330 with 7 HR and 42 runs batted in. Abreu is a threat to steal, so pitchers will have to watch him closely. His defense is pretty good and he is expected to make a major contribution to this team.
Magglio Ordonez is the Tiger's clean-up hitter and he's a pretty good one at that. He hit .277 with 24 long balls and 104 RBI's. Ordonez can contribute on the defenseive side of the ball as well. He won't provide much of a threat to steal, with runners in scoring position, he'll drive them in 35% of the time.

Edge: even

Designated Hitter:

For the Yankees, Jason Giambi will primarily assume this role. When helthy, he can crack the ball over the wall at a pretty consistent rate (37 HR in the regular season.) However, he is not at 100% heading into the post-seson, as he has a bad wrist and will need surgery at some point, he's hoping to postpone until after the season. If Giami is unable to perform, Gary Sheffield will take his place. Sheff is probably closer to full health than Giambi, as he came back from his wrist surgery a couple of weeks from the end of the season and has shown no significant ill effects from the injury. Look for Sheffield to contribute a key hit in this series.
The little known Marcus Thames will serve as the DH for the Tigers. He smashed 26 HR , while hitting .256 and driving in 60 runs. Thames will be hard pressed to match the Yankees combo at this position.

Edge: Yankees.

The Yankees have a very deep bench featuring the likes of the present dayMr. October in Bernie Williams, who can still contribute, although he is getting older. Also, acquired at te trade dealine to shore up the Outfield was Melki Cabrera, who on any other team would be a starter. Backing up Posada will be second-year player Sal Fasano, who haas done OK in the games he played, hitting just .217 with 5 HR and 15 RBI's. He strikes out about a third of the time. Andy Philips will be a back-up infielder who can play defense. He hite .240 in the 110 games he played. Miguel Cairo won out over Aaron Guiel and Craig Wilson for the final bench spot. Who was left off is also a big part of the reason why the Yankees bench is so deep (Wilson and Guiel.)
The Tiger's bnch is not nearly so deep, as Omar Infante is probably the best of the bats with a .277 average in '06. Vance Wilson can also hit with a .283 average in the regular season. None of the bench players on the Tigers are proven power hitters as Wildson hit 5 HR to top the bench players. Perez has speed and is likely the only steal threat off the becnch.

Managers:

Joe Torre is a proven winner, as he has led the Yankees to 4 World Series. He hasn't won in five years and he's hungry for a win. Torre handles pressure situations very well and possesses a lot of patience.
Jim Leyland has won 2 World Series, both with the Florida Marlins. This season, he has taken a young Tigers team under his wing and guided them to an unexpected Playoff appearance. He knows when to be stern and when to be laid-back, with the majority of the time spent being pretty laid back. Unforntuately, this team's lack of experience in the post-season will be their undoing.

Edge: even

Intangibles:

The Yankees go into the post-season with a well-rested squad, as hey played the final 2 games of the season with mostly back-up players, choosing to take the luxury of resting their stars knowing they had 1st place locked up. The Yankees are on a 2 game losing streak, but again their stars didn't play in the final game. This team could field a team at the All-Star game and win.
The Tigers of the 1st half are not the Tigers of the 2nd half, as the team went .500 after the All-Star break, and some of their key players went into bad slumps toward the end of the season (Casey, Thames and Monroe.) Their pitchers started to tire at the end of the season, and heir numbers weren't as good in the final couple of weeks. They will have to find ther second wind, if this team has one, and fast.

Edge: Yankees.

Series Predicton: Yankees in 3