I hate these best-of-five series. One weird game and the entire season could go down the toilet. The Yanks only won two more games than the Tigers. How is five games enough to determine which is the superior team? As you can tell, I’m a little nervous. I think this series could go either way. Facing Verlander twice is scary. He can win this series all by himself. For that reason, Game 1 is going to have more importance than usual.
In the end, that’s probably what everything is going to come down to: whether the Yanks can get a win off Verlander. He’s great but the Yankee lineup is deeper than ever. They’re going to have to take advantage of every opportunity and make Verlander work in every at-bat to get him out of the game as soon as possible. That’s the Yankees’ specialty. And if anyone can keep up with Verlander, CC can. As good as Verlander pitched this year, he’s still not as dangerous as Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee but you don’t want to face any shutdown pitcher in the first round.
I feel pretty comfortable with Nova going in Game 2 but Freddy Garcia is going to be an adventure. It’s a shame that Phil Hughes never got it going this year. Using Posada as DH is questionable as well but Girardi can’t be afraid to switch him out if he struggles. The Bombers have the experience, but in the playoffs, pitching is king.
Prediction: Yankees in 4
Rainman Suite 