In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
Unless you are a fan with a rooting interest in this World Series, it's nearly impossible to not appreciate how good of a matchup this World Series is. Both the Phillies and Yankees have dominant aces they can rely on, sluggers that pound the ball with the best of them, and tenacious hitters who seem to make every at-bat an epic battle.
In such an even matchup, it's difficult to find glaring edges for either club, and that is where advanced scouting can come into play. Knowing how to pitch a certain dangerous hitter in order to neutralize him or what to look for against a particular pitcher could be what wins or loses a potentially tight series such as this. So, where are those holes each team can exploit and what will it take for them to come out on top?
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
The contrast between Tuesday night's starting pitchers could not have been more stark. CC Sabathia was efficient, mixed his pitches and threw nothing but strikes. Scott Kazmir, on the other side, never seemed to find any kind of rhythm and essentially played right into the strengths of the Yankee lineup.
New York's lineup is difficult enough to navigate without giving them any assistance, and assistance is exactly what Kazmir gave them. If you intend to have success against them, you must establish a secondary pitch in the early innings. Especially given the issues their lineup has had against the breaking ball in the early part of the ALCS, Kazmir's ability to locate his slider was going to be crucial to his outing.
NEW YORK -- They could have tossed aside their mittens and shunned their wool coats, that's how blistering hot the cozy confines of the new Yankee Stadium felt now that CC Sabathia had everything under control. It's been quite awhile since this corner of the Bronx has rocked with so much confidence and rolled with such delightful expectations, but that's what happens when the ace doesn't sweat.
Up on their feet, banging whatever or whoever stood near, tens of thousands of Yankee fans rose as one and emptied their lungs in rapturous unison: CC! CC! CC! It wasn't just that Sabathia was blowing through Angel hitters with shocking ease; no, it was so much more. It was the eighth inning and he was still throwing ridiculous heat, his fastball kissing the inside corner of the plate, his slider hypnotizing the batters from Southern California until it looked as if they were swinging at the big lefty's stuff with greased-up surfboards.
NEW YORK -- There had to be close to 50 bodies pressed together in the corner of the Yankees' clubhouse, cameras bumping heads and notebooks battling microphones. The team has a perfectly spacious interview room around the corner, a nice podium where an athlete can stretch and pontificate without a bunch of sweaty reporters pushing close enough to see his nose hairs.
But Alex Rodriguez was perfectly happy to make his way through the chaotic crush and face the media without a buffer. Someone fired a question and, from the back of the pack, all we could make out was, "Jetes ...CC ... they were the story." What about his two RBI singles that twice extended the Yankee lead? "Felt good ... team effort ... great pitching from CC." Was the postseason monkey off his back? "Not about me ... good to contribute ... hey, no need to shove each other."
NEW YORK -- It was bound to happen, probably sooner before later. The Minnesota Twins couldn't keep flying high on adrenaline and spunk, could they? This was a mismatch of gargantuan proportions, the mighty uber-rich Yankees against a sweet little team from the Midwest that barely squeaked into the playoffs at the very last second. The Twins couldn't possibly continue to rock and shock the baseball world, could they?
Not on this night, no. Not with CC Sabathia, the Yankees ace, rested and frothing at the chance to prove he can indeed carry the sport's wealthiest, most stacked club all the way to the finish line. Not with Derek Jeter, Captain America, eager to prove last season's postseason absence was an embarrassing, once-in-his-lifetime fluke.
For every Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte with a history of success in the October, the Yankees seem to have a player who has to prove himself in this coming one.
You'll hear all about from now until those players redeem themselves -- or the Yankees are eliminated.
"It's going to be a huge deal," said CC Sabathia, who will take a 7.92 ERA from his five playoff starts into Game 1 of this year's Division Series.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Johan Santana had never seen the Metrodome before the Twins took him from Single-A in the Rule 5 draft.
"When I first got there," Santana told FanHouse, "my first impression was, 'How can you play baseball in a place like this?'
"I came from Single-A and from Venezuela, and we don't have any of that stuff. ... I couldn't figure it out. How could this thing [the roof] be up in the air? And then it feels like you're in a bubble. And then you play baseball."
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly, extended look at some aspect of America's pastime.
As I look ahead to the MLB playoffs, I'm faced with the fact that my beloved Cubbies aren't going to be competing. Being a devout baseball fan, though, there's no way I'm not watching the postseason. Without a horse in the race, I'm forced to focus instead on individuals, and there are always plenty of reasons to watch certain players. Thus, I'm going to list 10 players I'm looking forward to watching and five players I wish I could come October.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
While the majority of the American workforce got a day off on Labor Day, some major league hitters were getting their power stroke on in a big way. With only 11 games on the docket, four players left the yard twice in one game: Derrek Lee, Billy Butler, Mark Teixeira and Juan Uribe. The fantasy fallout isn't huge, save for one; Lee's having a resurgence, Butler a breakout campaign and Teixeira an MVP-caliber season. Uribe, though ... that's news.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.
In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.
In 
NEW YORK -- They could have tossed aside their mittens and shunned their wool coats, that's how blistering hot the cozy confines of the new Yankee Stadium felt now that 
NEW YORK -- There had to be close to 50 bodies pressed together in the corner of the 
NEW YORK -- It was bound to happen, probably sooner before later. The 
NEW YORK -- Can a team win the World Series with an ace sporting a 7.92 ERA and a cleanup hitter with one RBI in his past 59 at-bats in the playoffs?
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
