Charles Klein
Immediately following the conclusion of Cliff Lee's latest act of wizardry, I am willing to bet many citizens of that concrete jungle dreams are made of thanked the same god who's blessed Andy Pettite with an indefatigable arm that they don't have to face Lee in Game 1.
Even though the Yankees swept the Twins aside the way Ludacris does the general populous of Atlanta in his "Get Back" video, I am not yet sold on the Yankees viability as a World Champion. I expect that the Rangers will put up more of a fight than the Twins, who, for whatever reason are incapable of beating the Yankees in October.
That is not to say that I do not expect the Yankees to win this series, because I do, but to merely argue that they have not been as dominating as their 3-0 record in the postseason may indicate. Sabathia, Pettite and Hughes pitched very well but I doubt their domination will carry over to the ALCS. Joe Mauer is a good hitter, but aside from him the Twins had little in terms of bona fide power hitting. The Rangers boast Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, etc. A much more troublesome lineup for Girardi's rotation to get through.
The Yankees did luck out in that they do not have to possibly face Cliff Lee three times in the ALCS in three potentially pivotal games (1, 4 and 7). They were also able to set up their rotation and will be fresh while the Rangers are coming off a roller coaster of a five game series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
This series pits the team with all the momentum (Texas) against the most rest (New York) and it will be interesting to see which holds serve in this series. The games will assuredly be lengthy as both teams can hit pretty well. Ultimately I lean towards the Bronx Bombers because they have the experience and nous to get to the promised land for the 28th time. They just have that winning gene. Considering Texas just won the franchise's first playoff series, they ought to be happy to just be in the ALCS this year.
Klein-strodamus predicts Yankees in six games.
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