Yankees advance to face Phillies in the World Series

Let the Bieber Bus Series begin. Andy Pettitte earned the win and set a postseason record for victories, Mariano Rivera recorded a six-out save and Johnny Damon scratched out a big two-run hit, as the New York Yankees head back to the Fall Classic for the first time since 2003 and will face your defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. It's a series that will pit brother vs. brother in places like Easton, Pa., just to name a few, and for the Phillies, offers a chance at redemption for the pennant-winning Whiz Kids, bitterly swept by the Yankees in the 1950 World Series. Cliff Lee has been announced as the Phillies' Game 1 starter Wednesday at Yankees Stadium. CC Sabathia, who took home ALCS MVP hardware, is probable for the Bombers.

Beerleaguer: Along the Bieber Bus line, Philadelphia allegiances are strongest in Kutztown. They get weaker as the bus travels east, toward the stench of New York City. Wescosville is still solidly Phillies - maybe a few NY truck drivers sitting at the Charcoal Diner, but Hellertown, the last stop before Port Authority, starts turning toward the dark side in a hurry. The City of Reading once bled Phillies red, but with the large transplanted Latino population, the fan base has been diluted over the years. The Pedro Martinez signing was a shot in the arm, however, as a record-shattering and heavily Latino crowd came out to watch Pedro rehab for the R-Phils. Still, these days Reading isn't as concentrated as Kutztown's corn-fed socioeconomic demographic. Unless you're one of those hippy-dippy professors from the university, you root for the Phillies end of discussion.

Comments

[daveynopes]

i was thinking of calling it the pinstripe series but that works...lol

[Mike Scuilli]

http://media.photobucket.com/image/gay%20a%20rod/razgriz76/arod.gif

That is all

[Ryan]

It is only fitting that for their second straight title the Phillies will crush the Yankees!

LET'S GO PHILLIES!!!!!!!!

[J.R. King]

Can the Phillies pitch their way through the Yankee lineup? Hamels, Pedro, Blanton, Happ, Lidge, Madson, Park, Eyre, Myers. Lots of question marks.

[Verdeforce]

Bring on the 1950 World Series rematch! First time in history that the Phillies have faced the same opponent from a previous series. Prompting a new motto for the next week and a half: "Do it for the Whiz Kids!"

[BriceCrispies]

I'm a student up at Rutgers in New Brunswick.. this place is going to be the scene of a Civil War between yankees and phillies fans for the foreseeable future (WS and off-season).

[timr]

I imagine the same is true for the NJ Turnpike. Brice mentioned New Brunswick--thats probably the northernmost bastion of any significant percentage of Phillies fans, on account of all the South Jersey students at Rutgers. Anything above that is definite Yankees territory.

[DH Phils]

Old Phan and others: You have to be careful when giving a manager too much credit or blame. As somebody (maybe clout?) pointed out, Bobby Cox was regarded as an idiot in his first stint with the Braves. Later, the team won 14 straight division titles, and he was regarded as a genius. However, the team only won 1 world championship. Should we conclude that Cox is a great manager in the months April through September, and a mediocre one in October? I would argue that the Braves' historically excellent pitching staff in the mid-90s was 20 times more important than the manager.

Clearly, Manuel isn't hurting the Phillies much, but it's not difficult to fill out a successful lineup card when you have the players that the Phillies have.

I will say this: your overpraising of Manuel is necessary on this board, in my opinion, to offset the rampant overcriticism of Manuel that happens on a daily basis during the season. In reality, I don't think the manager makes much of a difference one way or another. I think it would make more sense to say that Manuel's immense knowledge of hitting has helped players like Werth and Victorino reach their potential, but even that is difficult to say from a fan's limited perspective.

[Old Phan]

Anybody who thinks you can just throw a bunch of guys on the field and say "Go play. I'll just sit here" are kidding themselves. Obviously, the manager isn't getting the hits or throwing the strikes, but a team without appropriate management on field and off won't win.
There is much more to being a manager than just filling out a lineup card, and I suspect a good part of it is taking place in the locker room, on days off, etc. Getting that many personalities to work together well is not easy.
I'm not giving Cholly too much credit or not enough. I think I'm giving him the credit he deserves. Are there other managers out there that could have accomplished the same goal? Most likely. However, if results matter, then there is no question that overall he is doing an outstanding job. If you want to pick out mistakes he's made, fine. That's easy.

[Old Phan]

" I would argue that the Braves' historically excellent pitching staff in the mid-90s was 20 times more important than the manager."

How come they couldn't win the big games then? Not saying it was or wasn't Bobby Cox.

[AT]

Just wanted to let you know- there's still plenty of Phillies red in Reading.

[Manny Trillo]

1. Beating the yankees would engender the sort of legitimacy that beating the rays simply could not.

2. Beating rivera is going to be the most difficult thing that this team has ever done.

3. This is easily going to be the most expensive WS of all time. If you thought it was bad when all the fans suddenly take on the look of lawyers, investment bankers and other social parasites, you ain't seen nothing yet.

[dlhunter]

So the Phils as a franchise, have been around 18 years longer than the Yankees.

Does that mean we had pinstripes first?

[EastFallowfield]

The Phils are outscoring the Yankees this year in the postseason by about a run per game.

Of course, we don't play great AL teams with their airtight defenses like the Yankees have so far.

[zudok]

Clearest case of good versus evil since Skywalker - Vader.

[Meyer]

Father vs. Son-In-Law here in the greater Easton Area. Yankee fans will be heard once again in the workplace. Three days of hype. Lee led by the West Virginian should push North to Allentown then East on 78 cutting off any excape to the Poconos on 33.

[EastFallowfield]

Nation will be pulling for non-phony, non-corporate Phillies

[Rex]

Easton Represent.

This should be fun.

[phargo]

Ew, do not look at the coverage of the ALCS on ESPN.com, at least not before you've had breakfast. "Fawning" doesn't begin to describe it. Yuck.

@zudok- hilarious, and true.

There is actually another Phillies fan at my workplace, but I don't know him. Count in Davthom, and pretty much the entire state of ND backs the Phillies.

Go Phils!

[bathtubhippo]

sorry jw--i'd bet this is going to get branded 'the turnpike series.'

[EastFallowfield]

Looked at ESPN.com. Gammons likes our chances at least.

[ozark]

Phils take it all in the Bronx. The ultimate smackdown.

[phargo]

EFF, I will have to go check that out- I got so turned off by the words "magic" and "empire" on the front pages, I had to leave....

[NEPP]

We win Game 1, we will win the Series.

[joe]

Happ won National League Rookie of the Year!

[A-Train]

It looked like the Yanks were playing the Nats last night. They swung at ball 4, got picked off base, threw the ball in the outfield, dropped easy plays, etc.

The Yankees are a very good team. The Phils will have to bring their A game for sure. But they won't throw games away like the Angels did.

[NEPP]

***Happ won National League Rookie of the Year!***

Not the real one, just the Sporting News one. The real one hasn't been announced yet.

[Kutztown Fan]

Glad I could deliver the metropolis of Kutztown to the Phillies fold. While there are a few Yankee fans among the population at KU, they've wisely remained quiet while the Phillies fans roam the streets.

It should be a good series. For obvious reasons I want the Phils to prevail, but I'd really like them to sweep just to shut my secretary's pie hole.

[BobbyD]

The Angels looked real bad in that series. Even on paper their lineup isn't impressive.

Versus the Yankees, I like the Phils 5 through 9 much better than NY.

Not a stretch to say Lee vs. Sabathia 2 to 3 times will decide series.

[Bridoc10]

I wouldn't agree that New Brunswick is the northern-most point in NJ as a concentration of Phillies fans. There are an awful lot of us in Hoboken, too.

This World Series matchup is like an early Christmas gift. I cannot WAIT for Wednesday night.

[Chris in VA]

I used to live in Princeton, NJ, and even there the town is split - the southern half inclined toward the Phillies, the northern half looking up toward New York. Of course, when the Yankees took the Trenton Thunder as their AA team, it increased some of the Yankee loyalty in the area .... It'll be a fun series, but by no means will it be easy for either team!

[Max]

Not one ESPN expert predicts the phillies. Not a one. Reminds me of last year.

[SmokyJoe]

In the manager debate, do the Rockies of this year offer any kind of example, or is it just an outlier? What about the Marlins 5 years ago?

There are probably ten or more examples in the last 20 years of a team completely turning it around mid-season after getting a new manager. Cause/effect or coincidence?

[RSB]

Is it blasphemous to admit I don't hate the Yankees? I can't get that worked up about an AL team they almost never play. The Mets, hate 'em. The Dodgers are very easy to dislike. But other than Alex Rodriguez, who is there to really get your disdain behind?

I mean, I get it, it's the Yankees as a concept most people hate. Not just because they're the most prestigious franchise, but because they're 'corporate' (right, and a team that plays at Citizens Bank Park isn't) and have free will to spend untold millions on whomever they desire. Shrug. Rivera, Hughes, Pettitte, Posada, Jeter, Cano, Cabrera, Chamberlain: all homegrown, as were the majority of the '90s/early 2000s teams.

They're not my favorite team and never will be. But I respect the Yankees, just as NY fans should respect the Phillies. Is that such an unreasonable idea in the post-season? Can fans be partisan without hating?

[clout]

What's great about this series is that the stakes couldn't be higher. If the Phils win, they will have beaten the best team money can buy and cement their status as the greatest Phillies team in history.

If they lose and don't get back to the post-season, then they will be remembered as a good team that beat a flukey opponent in 2008 but were pushed aside by the best and probably weren't as good a team as the 1976-83 era.

The stakes couldn't be higher. I expect emotions on this blog to be off the chart once the games begin.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

I remember a Met fan (likely "PS") back before the season started, saying Rollins is "at it again" by predicting the Phils-Yanks to be in the WS. I believe it was in the Playboy interview.

Personally, I'm glad Rollins was "at it again". I like when he predicts things.

[clout]

SmokyJoe: If you really want an answer to that, look at the individual player stats when the old manager was fired. Were they below career norms for the players or above? What happened with those stats the rest of the season? Did they go up and get back to career norms? Would that have happened if there wasn't a new manager?

This is the sort of cause and effect you can have fun with. Beerleaguers say the 2006 team got hot because Abreu was traded (even though the team actually got hot 10 days before he was dealt and just continued).

The Phillies failed to advance in the playoffs in 2007, but in 2008 with So Tqguchi they went all the way. This season they don't have So Taguchi. If the Yanks win, then the calculation is easy: Phils win it all with So, can't win it without him.

[Bedrosian's Beard]

RSB: I'm with you on that. I grew up a Don Mattingly fan and always enjoyed reading about the old Yanks, like Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, etc. I loathe "Red Sox Nation" far more.

[Ryan K]

Does the Bible prophesy a Phillies win?

http://www.ryankellermeyer.com/2009/10/26/does-the-bible-prophesy-a-phillies-win/

[McG]

Lancaster has a large New York population. Should be another front line to the Philly/NY World Series, more then a few bar fights will break out over the next week.

[Bob P]

My hometown of Bangor, PA which is about 6 miles from the NJ line is about a 70/30 split in favor of the Phillies. The new "Big Red Machine" is gonna kick some NY ass! A-roid won't know what hit him because his ass is so numb from all those needles!!!

[Elaine Becker]

The town of Phleetwood (renamed from Fleetwood for the Series) sits a few miles to the west of Kutztown and is solidly for the Phillies. The Bieber bus is an icon to us and it's an honor (and humorous as well) to hear the Series named after it. WE LUV OUR PHILLIES IN PHLEETWOOD. Win it for Harry!