They Angels will beat the Yankees again. Why? Mike Socia

There are not many teams that beat up on the Yankees in recent years. That’s not surprising. With the ability to have a payroll like the Yankees have had, you would think that they would have the better players the majority of the time.

But that’s not the case with the Angels. For whatever reason, they are not intimidated. During the legendary Joe Torre era of Yankee baseball that began in 1996 and included four World Series championships and 12 straight trips to the playoffs, only the Angels held a winning record against New York. Including Joe Girardi’s tenure the Angels hold a 79-66 advantage against the Yankees since 1996.

For whatever reason, this combination of management and players for the Angels has been able to do what no other team in baseball does. Routinely beat the Yankees.

One Of The Very Best

With a third consecutive AL West crown, Mike Scioscia became the first manager in history to bring six clubs into postseason play in his first 10 seasons. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to get past the Yankees either. The Socia let Angels and Yankees have some history in October, and the memories are not warm and fuzzy for the Bronx Bombers and their fans.

- In 2002 and in '05, the Angels eliminated the Yanks in ALDS showdowns.

- En route to the franchise's lone World Series championship in '02, the Halos knocked out New York in four games, splitting the first two in the Bronx and then taking two in Anaheim.

- Three years later, in a rematch, the Yankees again split their two home games before going west and losing the decisive fifth game at Angel Stadium.

This year The Angels and Yanks split 10 games this season with the Bombers taking three of four in their new home ballpark.

The Yankees haven't been to an ALCS since 2004, when the Red Sox chased away all their ghosts with their implausible dream of a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. The Angels' most recent visit to an ALCS also was less than satisfying. The White Sox took them out in five games in '05, winning the last four.
With each team sweeping their AL Division Series and having four days off, each team having fully rested rotations. Some would argue too much time.

With the storied history of the Yankee, there aren’t any teams that they feel they have to prove something against, except the Angels. The Yankees have the stars, the Angels have the guts.

Who remembers Mike Scioscia’s dramatic, ninth inning, game-tying home run against the New York Mets' Dwight Gooden in Game 4 of the 1988 National League Championship Series (Click to watch)? The ‘88 Mets do. Take a look at Doc Gooden in the picture. It was the start of the downfall of a “what was supposed to be a Hall of Fame career.”

Scioscia was a key player on the Dodgers' 1981 and 1988 World Series champion teams, and is the Dodgers' all-time leader in games caught (1,395.) He was a winner as a player and a winner as a manager.

The Angels will beat the Yankees again. Why? Mike Socia. - Blake Kearny

Blake Kearny is a retired baseball scout from Los Angeles, California. He currently runs a baseball school for children in Los Angeles

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Red Sox Nation is alive and well.....

The Red Sox are 9-1 in their last 10 games and streaking. I’m not suggesting that they catch the Yankees (they are still 5 back – well maybe I am) but clearly they are starting to fire on all cylinders and primed to do damage in the playoffs.

For you all you Red Sox Nation freaks out there, here are some interesting tidbits and reason to believe.

1. Boston has 14 games (seven home/seven away) remaining with no off-days.

2. Heading into 2009, they won 93 games or more in six of their last seven seasons, making the postseason in four of them. They currently sit at 89 wins.

3. The Red Sox are 52-22 at home and an even 37-37 on the road.

4. The Red Sox have a 99.9 certainty of making the playoffs, just behind the Yankees' 100 percent. Their all-important magic number is seven.

5. AL Central leading Detroit Tigers has a 77.5 percent chance of making the postseason, the lowest of any divisional leader by a long shot. The Anaheim Angels (the team Boston would play if the season ended today) have a 99.2 percent chance.

6. Everyone that thought John Farrell was to blame for John Smoltz and Brad Penny excelling elsewhere should have to revoke their pink Boston hats. The starters have allowed three runs or less in 13-straight games and have an 8-1 record with a 2.18 ERA during that time.

7. Josh Beckett's 201.1 innings this year are the most he's thrown since 2006, when he threw a career-high 204.2 frames. He’s healthy.

8. Since giving up five runs on May 26 in a loss to Minnesota, the highest amount of runs Jon Lester has given up has been four—which happened one time in a late-July win. He's lost just once in his last 16 starts.

9. Since joining the Red Sox on Aug. 1, Victor Martinez's batting average has jumped from .283 to .297, along with his slugging (.461 to .477) and on-base percentage (366 to .378). In September, he's batting .370 and has a 19-game hitting streak, heading into Sunday. He is just two RBI short of his third career 100-RBI season.

10. Finally, the Red Sox are just five games behind the Yankees in the AL East. Back in August after that sweep and in subsequent weeks, Boston winning the division seemed to be so far-fetched it was ridiculous.

Not anymore. - Walter Stanley

Walter Stanley is a Red Sox season ticket holder for 23 years and psyched for this year’s playoffs.

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Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship!

An Old Fashion Pennant Race

We are two weeks into the college football season and the NFL has just completed its first week. If you are not in contention in your fantasy baseball league or your favorite team does not have playoff prospects you are probably not following baseball all that closely at the moment. But there are some interesting races coming down the stretch. There is even an old fashion pennant race!

In the American League, it’s all about the Texas Rangers. They are hanging tough in the AL West hovering 4.5 games behind the Anaheim Angels for the division lead and 4.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the Wild Card. With only 19 games left to go they are running out of time BUT they have 7 games left against the Angels (yes – 7 out of their 19 games left are against one team – who made that schedule?) and that makes this one not over by a long shot. It should be an interesting final three weeks.

In the NL East the Philadelphia Phillies lead the Florida Marlins by 5.5 and the Atlanta Braves by 6. The Braves have 3 games left with the Phillies and the Marlins have 5 games left with Phillies. Since the NY Mets are not the team in the lead a collapse is not likely, but stranger things have happened and it’s too early to give up faith if you are a Marlins or Braves fan. Your odds aren’t good but you do have a fighting chance to close the gap directly when you play the Phillies. Also, it’s not likely but there is an outside shot that the Marlins or Braves can still grab the Wild Card spot as they are the same number of games out from that as they are from the Division lead (but they have more teams to climb over).

On to the NL West where some real baseball like it ought to be is being played. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies are tripping over themselves all tied up and the San Francisco Giants are only 3.5 game behind. It hasn’t gotten a lot of press nationally (it’s gotten some here) but if the Rockies win the division it will be the greatest comeback in MLB history (in terms of the number of games) as they would have come from more than 15 games back to catch the Dodgers. The Rockies and Giants have 2 more games left with each other (tonight and tomorrow night) and then they each play 3 games against the Dodgers.

The Giants have some momentum after Tim Lincecum (in line for back to back Cy Young Award's) pitched another gem last night over the Rockies striking out 11 in the Giants 9-1 win. This one is not over by a long shot and is clearly the most interesting race in baseball. Assuming no one backs in here, the runner-up in the division has a real shot at being the Wild Card representative so it’s not all or nothing for any of them. - Paul Leume

Paul Leume is a MLB columnist from Montreal, Canada. Paul, a one-time beat writer covering the Montreal Expos for the Montreal Gazette is a proud grandfather of 3 girls and now spends his time offering his thoughts and prospective on Major League Baseball on a variety of blogs and websites throughout Al Gore’s internet.

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Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie Baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship!