Looking Like Yankees and Phillies...

CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez are proving to be a lethal combination to all that get in the Yankees' way. They combined again to help New York take a commanding 3-1 lead in the ALCS with a 10-1 win in Anaheim.

A-Rod hit his 5th homer of the post-season and third in as many games, matching the output of the Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the 1977 playoffs. The Yankee record belongs to Bernie Williams with 6 long balls in the 1996 post-season for the Yankees.

Sabathia moved to 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in the playoffs with his 8 inning performance, while former Padre Chad Gaudin finished things up in the 9th.

Game 5 comes up Thursday in Anaheim.

Umps having tough post-season...

Is it me, or has the umpiring in the post-season been sub par? Tim McClelland, who really seems already retired, completely blew the call at third base. Jorge Posada had the right to the bag with two men occupying it, but as he stepped off, the runner from second, was tagged, then Posada who over ran the bag was tagged out. According to my knowledge of the rule book, that's a double play. According to McClelland's only one out was recorded. Hmm.

McClelland struck again, saying that Nick Swisher left early from 3rd on a tag play. Only thing is as the video replay clearly shows, McClelland was only watching the catch in center by Torrii Hunter and not the tag up. Talk about making an impact. WOW.

Add Dale Scott to the roster as well. Kazmir's pickoff play at second base, was as clearly an out as you can have. Yet Scott didn't see it that way.

Again not saying these plays determined the outcome of the game, but these guys are supposed to be the best in the world. That's why they make 6 figure salaries. That's why they can take vacations in the middle of the season. That's why they don't have to study video of the games they ump, like pro football refs (who are part time by the way) do, and college basketball officials do. It would only seem logical to want to get better at what you do. Right? How much time could it take to review a game after it's over? Or on their first class flight to the next city?Can't be much time. It's embarrassing to watch. The worst part is the arrogance of some of them as well. In the old days, a player could have a say, a chat with a man in blue, but today, you look at him cross-eyed and you are gone. What a shame.

What ever happened to getting it right? Why can't the umps get together and maybe overrule each other?

NLCS...

It could be all over in the NL as of tomorrow. The Phillies will try to close out the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. Cole Hamels goes for the home team against former Phillie Vicente Padilla for the Dodgers.

Ryan Howard will try to keep up his amazing post-season, he's recorded an RBI in all 7 of Philadelphia's playoff games. That is a single playoff record.

Stub-hub-bub

The ticket brokering service Stub-hub made a big time boo boo this week. The company sent an e-mail Monday offering fans, METS post-season tickets. METS playoff tickets. Cue up Jim Mora..."PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS?"...the Mets finished the regular season 70-92 and were toast by mid-July. The company suffered an apparent e-mail glitch and sent out a retraction email apologizing for any confusion. PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS?

Manny-reasons why Manny Being Manny isn't good...

Where was Manny Ramirez while the Phillies were rallying to beat the Dodgers Monday night?Let's go with multiple choice, A) Sitting on the bench rooting on his team, B) At the dugout railing yelling and screaming for his team to hold on, or C) In the shower. If you answered C, in the shower, you are correct! Ramirez was unaware of anything that happened in the bottom of the 9th. He was lifted for a defensive replacement and instead of staying with his team, he hit the showers. Great example isn't he?

Alright, that's it for tonight. Have a good one everybody...

Andy

Yankees Use A CC Rider...

On a cold night in the Bronx, the Yankees used their horse, CC Sabathia in a 4-1 win over the Angels in game one of the ALCS. It's not a shock that the Yankees defended the home field, however to me, it is a shock the way the Angels lost. Committing errors. Even Torrii Hunter committed one in the game, just his second error in 2009. Hunter is such a good centerfielder that since 1998, that was his 30th career error. The three team errors led to a couple of unearned runs, and that spelled doom for the Angels.

Either way it was going to be a tough chore to get to a "locked in" CC Sabathia. He went 8 dominant innings, and is proving to be quite worthy of the lucrative deal he signed in the off season. He's showing why they were crying in Lake Erie when the Indians traded him to the Brewers. Sabathia almost single handedly led the Brewers to the playoffs, but since he was being used seemingly every day he ran out of gas. He then ran out of Milwaukee and signed the "big bucks, no whammy's deal" with the Yankees. How nice must it be for Joe Girardi to throw Sabathia for 8, then turn to Mariano Rivera in the 9th? Trivia: What does CC stand for? I'll answer that later in the blog!

Game 2...

Another one of the Yankees big money free agents will go in tomorrow's game two, AJ Burnett facing the Angels, Joe Saunders.

NLCS Game 2...

That's the way the Dodgers have been winning games all year long. Andre Ethier is usually in the middle of it as well. Such was the case today in LA, when the Dodgers evened up the NLCS with a 2-1 win over the Phillies. Both starters were dealing (pardon the cliche) in the game. Vicente Padilla, an unwanted man in Texas, found a home in LA, going 7 1/3, while striking out 6. He gave up a homer to Ryan Howard for the only Phillies run. Pedro Martinez was his usual post-season self, going 7 scoreless innings while striking out 3...

Crazy 8...

Then there was the 8th inning...and a typical Dodger rally. Here's the official play-by-play since it's too crazy to recap myself...(courtesy of CBS Sportsline.com)

DODGERS 8TH
Chan Ho Park pitching:
Casey Blake:	Strike looking, Ball, Ball, Blake singled to left
Juan Pierre ran for Casey Blake.
Ronnie Belliard:	Pickoff attempt to first, Bunt foul, Pickoff attempt to first, Belliard reached on bunt single to first, Pierre to second.
Russell Martin:	Ball, Ball, Ball, Strike looking, Bunt foul, Martin reached on fielder's choice to third, Pierre to third, Belliard out at second,Pierre scored on Utley's throwing error
Jim Thome hit for Hong-Chih Kuo.
Scott Eyre relieved Chan Ho Park.
Jim Thome:	Pickoff attempt to first, Ball, Thome singled to right, Martin to third
Juan Castro ran for Jim Thome.
Ryan Madson relieved Scott Eyre.
Rafael Furcal:	Ball, Foul, Ball, Ball, Furcal walked, Castro to second.
Matt Kemp:	Foul, Foul, Ball, Kemp struck out swinging.
J.A. Happ relieved Ryan Madson.
Andre Ethier:	Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Ball, Ball, Ethier walked, Martin scored, Castro to third, Furcal to second.
Chad Durbin relieved J.A. Happ.
Manny Ramirez:	Ramirez popped out to third.
End of Inning (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error)

Jonathan Broxton would then come on in the 9th and go 1-2-3 and even the series at 1-1. It was a much needed victory for the Dodgers with the next 3 games to be played in much chillier Philadelphia.

Game 3...

We have to wait until SUNDAY for game 3. Unbelievable. It's going to be Hiroki Kuroda going for the Dodgers, against another former Indian, lefty Cliff Lee for the Phillies. I still like the Phillies in this series, they play great at home, and their pitching still makes me a believer.

McCourt Case...

I'm not a Dodger fan by any stretch of the imagination. But I am rooting for them in this respect. I certainly hope that the impending divorce of owner Frank McCourt and wife Jamie McCourt. Padre fans know already that this can and will affect ownership and play on the field if it gets out of hand. At first glance, it's not looking good, consider this from today's Los Angeles Times:

Dennis Wasser, who represents Jamie McCourt, on Thursday rebutted claims that Frank McCourt is the club's sole owner.

"We disagree," Wasser said. "We are confident that, if the ownership issue must be adjudicated, the Dodgers will be determined to be community property, owned 50% by each of the McCourts."

But Marshall Grossman, who represents Frank McCourt, said he has documents to back up his assertion that his client is the sole owner.

"Anyone reading them will readily see that Mr. McCourt's ownership is 100%," said Grossman, who declined to release the documents.

Wasser said he was unaware of any such documents and said he knew of no reason why California's community property law would not apply.

This could get ugly LA, enjoy this playoff run...

Odd Pair...

Tommy Lasorda and Kobe Bryant were seen sitting together, in Tommy's seats right next to the Dodgers dugout. LaSorda who is an active Twitterer, tweeted about Kobe today: @TommyLasorda may not know this but Kobe bleeds Dodger Blue just like I do. And we both speak Italian!

Final Musings...

Full disclosure, I'm on vacation now for a couple of weeks, and will certainly try to update the blog as much as humanly possible. Please forgive me if there are a few lapses over this period of time. I'm visiting family out of town and it's great to see them after a long baseball season. Looking forward to getting back to SD though and the start of USD's basketball season which tips off November 13 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion against Stanford.

Have a great night!

Andy

TRIVIA ANSWER: CC Sabathia's full name is...Carsten Charles Sabathia