The ALCS starts on Friday at New York with the Los Angeles Angels vs The Yankees.

Who do you think will win the series and advance to the World Series?

I'm hoping for 2-0 lead for my Angels, but chances are they will tie one game a piece. It's very important for my boys to win the first game tho! If they can do that, it will set the rest of the series in their favor.

The Yankees do not play well in Anaheim. A few weeks ago, the Yankees won the first series against the Angels at home. Which they have not done since May of 2004. The Yankees are 18-5 at Angels Stadium.

What a great ALCS this will be! I have the Angels home game 1 tickets, and I'll be there on Oct 19th baby, and the Rally Monkey will all over New York and go to the big show /grin



Go Angels!!!

Yankees in 5

Riiight, and like the Yankees owned the Twins too?!? With the way the Twins were playing their series...the Yankees SHOULD had done a lot better with scoring. The Angels would had mop the floor with the Twins if they had played them in the ALDS.

The Yankees won't have an easy time against the Angels period.

What?

The Yankees are going to lose the ALCS, that is what Neesha!

ok

And what I was saying before...The Yankees did win the series, but it was not a blow out like it should had been. Still, they have a lot of talent, but they are an aging team nonetheless.

The Twins really need to learn to base run better, and they had, it could had been 2-1 yesterday.

I still can't believe the Twins left 17 runners on base in game two. Then again, why did the Yankees pitching allowed that many runners in the first place.

The Yankees played a division winner. They swept them. There's really no such thing as "should have been" in sports. Professional hitters are paid to hit just like professional pitchers are paid to pitch. Not every game is going to be 1-0.

I am not a Yankee fan, but I don't know how much more you can beat a team than winning the series 3-0.

You don't score runs by getting runners on base -- they only count the run if the runner crosses home.

Let's look at the rosters.
Catchers:
Yankees - Jorge Posada
Angles - Mike Napoli

Jorge is getting old, but he does have 80 games of post season experience. He also had a better season, than Napoli (22/81/.285 vs 20/56/.272). Slight nod to the Yanks

First Base
Yankees - Mark Teixeira
Angles - Kendry Morales

Big Tex led the American League in HR (39) and RBI (122); had a .290 average, and scored 122 runs. Morales led the A's in HR (34) and RBI (108) had a .306 average, and scored 86 runs. Both are switch hitters, Both are very productive. Tex is the better defensive player. Slight edge to Yanks

Second Base:
Yankees - Robinson Cano
Angles - Howie Kendrick

Both second sackers tend to bat 7th. Cano has had a more productive year, Kendrick has split time with Izturis due to injury. Yanks have edge.

Short Stop:
Yankees - Derek Jeter
Angles - Erick Aybar

Jeter is the heart and soul of the Yankees. The Yankee Captain knows how to win. Yankees have big edge here.

Third Base
Yankees - Alex Rodriguez
Angles - Chone Figgins

Which A-Rod shows up? If it is the on that played in the ALDS then the Angles may have problems. If it is the old A-Rod, then he will fade into nothing. How will Chone Figgins fare on the big stage?

Outfield:
Yankees - Johnny Damon (LF); Melky Cabrera (CF); Nick Swisher (RF)
Angles - Juan Rivera (LF); Torii Hunter (CF); Bobby Abreu (RF)

Neither of the OFs are of the old dominating types. Hunter is the closest to that and is an outstanding defensive player. Edge to Angles

Designated Hitter:
Yankees - Hideki Matsui
Angles - Vladimir Guerrero

The old Vlad the impaler could single-handedly carry this team. He has been hurt for a large portion of this season. Godzilla is also a dangerous hitter dealing with injury issues. Push here.

Starting Pitching:
Yankees - CC Sabathia; A.J. Burnett; Andy Pettitte; Joba Chamberlain (Also reliever)
Angles - John Lackey; Ervin Santana; Jared Weaver; Scott Kazmir

Both staffs are solid. Yankees have more strikeout power.

Relief Pitching
Yankees - Mariano Rivera (Closer); Phil Coke; Phil Hughes; Damaso Marte; Alfredo Aceves
Angles - Brian Fuentes (Closer); Jason Bulger; Darren Oliver; Kevin Jepsen; Matt Palmer

Rivera is the best closer in the game. The Phil's are solid and Joba can either come out of the pen or start. Gotta give the Yanks the advantage here.

Should be a good series, and I still think the Yanks win in 5.

I agree with pretty much all of those comparisons (although I'd still place even the old A-Rod miles ahead of Chone). Vlad can be great, but he can also pull an A-Rod-ish disappearing act in the playoffs. If the Yankees can get a solid performace out of CC, they'll win it in 5 (MAYBE 6) games.

Very good replies and you do know the Yankees have not beaten the Angels in the postseason yet (and its been more than one time too!). The Angels know what they are dealing with. Again, people never give my Angels enough credit it seems

No matter what, it will be a great series!

And the Angles had not beaten the Red Sox in the playoffs before this year either.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the Angles in the series. But stats like "XXX has never beaten YYY in ZZZ" are such worthless stats in major sports.

"LSU has won 32 Saturday Night home games in a row" until this past Saturday.

"St. Louis has won 7 playoff games in a row vs the Dodgers" - until they got swept this year.

They are nice historical stats but they have no impact on the games to come.

Because A-Rod missed the first month of the season, he still thinks it's September so that should tell you which A-Rod you should get.

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The Answer is the Angels in 4.

The Angles rock!

I posted in other thread who I would like to see in the series. As far as this one goes, I feel the Yankees have the better talent overall... but the Angels have the better manager and they have the "inspirational" story with the death of that young teammate early in the year to lift them up. So I guess it depends on whether you go with logic (talent) or fate (inspiration)...

I just really think it is silly to be playing a baseball game where the temperature is 41 degrees at game time.

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What happened tonight, Angels?!? Wow I kinda of thought the Yankees might win tonight (John has not pitched in the Yankee Stadium), and the weather, but the errors come on. Tomorrow we need to tie the series and bring the hurt here in Anaheim.

The Yankees record since May of 2004 is not good at all 18-5. They don't play well in Anaheim Stadium. Tomorrow is big, and my boys better step their game up big time for the win. Can't make these types of mistakes against NYY

Game 2 was an amazing game and a classic for the post season. Yes, the Angels left 15 runners on base and blew the save. But, we worked the Yankees and their Bullpen very well over all.

This game should had been the Angels' if Vlad did not leave 8 runners and that walk in the 2nd inn really haunted us now. Tomorrow I will be there to watch a great game, and an Angels win

If we can't win tomorrow, it will be VERY tough to get back into the series, and I will need to give the ALCS to New York if that happens. We will see because there is still tons of baseball to play.

The Yankees lead the series 2-0 and they have been down before to NY and still came back to win the series. Monday is a must win to get the ball rolling

that A-Rod HR in the bottom of the 11th was just BALLS

What a great game today and the Angels won! Man, I saw three Yankees homeruns (A Rod's was RIGHT in front of me), and then my boys come back and FINISH the deal! Vlad was awesome today and I'm hoping he conts to do so for the rest of the series

The Angels are far from being out of the woods just yet. They need to sweep all the home games before going back to NY. I don't want to head back 3-2 (or losing at home). Tomorrow, the Angels NEED to win again to tie the series. Man, the Yankees are one tough team, and they never let go.

I'm hoping the starting pitching goes better tomorrow. Because the Yankees will be using CC Sabathia and we all remember what happened in game one

New York leads the series 2-1

Yankees up 3 games to 1. Right on schedule to win the series in 5 games, as predicted.

CC was killer last night. Kazmir was not.

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I think the Angels can and will force a game 6, but we will see tomorrow. A.J. Burnett is pitching and my team has a better chance against him than CC

I just hope it's not a blow out again like the last game. I'm an AL fan and I won't be rooting for the Yankees in the World Series if they make it.

New York leads the series 3-2 and it returns to Yankee Stadium! I'm hoping the Angels force a game 7...it aint over yet.

Pretty impressive win. Most teams would have folded after the big 6-run inning.

My Angels had a great run this year, and were unable to push a game 7. Next year we will get them, but I'm very proud of what they did this year.

At least they did much better in the postseason than last year Can't say the same for the Dodgers tho!

My Mom is bummed, she's a huge Yankees fan but had tickets for game 7.