The Philadelphia Phillies continue to look like a team on a mission to win back-to-back World Series championships. After splitting the two games in Los Angeles, the Phillies blasted the Dodgers in front of their home fans.
Ryan Howard started the momentum for Philadelphia. His two-run triple in the bottom of the first inning opened the gates. When it was all said and done, the Phillies had handed the Dodgers an 11-0 thrashing.
Howard and Shane Victorino finished with three RBIs, while Jayson Werth had two. Every starter for the Phillies scored — including pitcher Cliff Lee.
Speaking of Lee, he was tremendous. …read more

The New York Yankees gave C.C. Sabathia a truck load of money to convince him to come to the Big Apple. On Friday, Sabathia showed the world why the Yankees wanted him so much as New York beat the Los Angeles Angels by a final count of 4-1.
In eight innings of work, Sabathia gave up four hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out seven. It was Sabathia second postseason win in two starts. Closer Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth inning to pick up the save.
To put runs on the board, the Yankees relied on Hideki Matsui, Alex …read more

Thanks to three-run homers by both Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz, the Philadelphia Phillies have taken a 1-0 lead in the NLCS. The Los Angeles Dodgers appeared to be rallying toward a win but they fell short and lost by a final count of 8-6.
After James Loney hit a solo shot in the second inning, the Phillies responded by putting up five runs in the fifth. Three of the runs came on the Ruiz homer, while Ryan Howard added a two-run double. The Dodgers were able to close the gap to 5-4 but then Ibanez authored his three-run blast in …read more

The New York Yankees have a problem. Although they have practically a billion dollar budget, the team doesn’t have a reliable fourth starter at the moment. However, manager Joe Girardi might have a solution — a three-man pitching rotation.
If the Yankees decide to go with the three-man rotation, the rotation will consist of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte.
“We are definitely considering possibly going to a three-man rotation in this round,” said Girardi, “but we’ll have to take a look at it and see how it goes.”
The biggest risk of going with the three-man rotation is Sabathia’s health. The …read more

Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion. The Philadelphia Phillies proved that saying correct one more time on Sunday night. Although the Phillies got down early 3-1 against the Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia kept battling and ended up with a 6-5 victory.
With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the ninth, Ryan Howard hit a sacrifice fly to score Jimmy Rollins. In the bottom of the ninth, Phillies fans had to pray. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia’s closer who had a 7.21 ERA and an 0-8 record in the regular season, was able to record the save despite giving up a …read more

Heading into the 2009 baseball postseason, many experts predicted that the Boston Red Sox were ready to roll to another World Series title. Following a Game 2 loss against the Los Angeles Angels, that talk is all but dead. The Angels have a stranglehold on the series following Friday’s 4-1 victory.
For the second straight game, starting pitching was the key for the Angels. That fact is ironic considering that the Angels’ weakness all season long was supposedly their lack of starting pitching. Friday’s star was Jered Weaver, who went 7.1 innings while giving up only two hits, two walks and …read more

In a scoreless ballgame, Torii Hunter came to the plate with two of his Los Angeles Angels teammates on base. With one swing, Hunter put the Angels up 3-0. From there, the Angels glided to a 5-0 victory.
On the mound, John Lackey was dominant for Los Angeles. In 7.1 scoreless innings, he allowed four hits and one walk while striking out four batters. Darren Oliver pitched the final 1.2 innings and didn’t allow a baserunner.
For the Red Sox, it wasn’t the way the team wanted to start their 2009 postseason. They had only four hits while racking up three errors. …read more

The Los Angeles Dodgers limped to the end of the 2009 baseball regular season. However, in their first game of the postseason, the Dodgers looked like the team that dominated the National League for much of the season.
After Ryan Ludwick hit a single to put the St. Louis Cardinals up 1-0, the Dodgers got a two-run blast from Matt Kemp — and never trailed again. Los Angeles ended up winning the ballgame 5-3.
Chris Carpenter, who is likely to win the 2009 NL Cy Young Award, didn’t fair well. In five innings, he gave up nine hits, four walks and four …read more

The 2009 baseball playoffs begin on Wednesday. The final spot was filled by the Minnesota Twins after they were able to beat the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central tiebreaker game.
Here are our 2009 baseball playoff predictions:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
New York Yankees over Minnesota Twins in 4
Los Angeles Angels over Boston Red Sox in 5
Los Angeles Angels over New York Yankees in 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia Phillies over Colorado Rockies in 5
St. Louis Cardinals over Los Angeles Dodgers in 3
Philadelphia Phillies over St. Louis Cardinals in 6
WORLD SERIES
Los Angeles Angels over Philadelphia Phillies in 7
The Angels have had to overcome many obstacles this season. …read more

After the Minnesota Twins lost Justin Morneau for the season due to a back injury, the Twins appeared to be dead in the water. Not anymore. The Twins have won seven straight games after beating the Detroit Tigers again on Saturday.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Twins got hot. Jason Kubel hit a two-run single to give the Twins the lead. Then Michael Cuddyer put the game away with a three run homer as Minnesota beat Detroit by a final count of 6-2.
With the win, the Twins are 76-72 and just two games behind the …read more