Lean to the Right

Dave Paisley

Well, the playoffs are well and truly under way, and it once again becomes obvious that baseball's powers that be have a list to the right that make Rush Limbaugh proud. The bias is so profound it might even get Pat Buchanan's approval. What I'm talking about is, of course, the East Coast bias. From the timing of games to the grating Noo Yawkophilic prattlings of Bob Costas, it's pretty evident that the game of baseball has not left its heart in San Francisco.

Sure, it's nice for the East Coast to get six or seven hours of baseball all in prime evening time when they can enjoy it, but us poor saps on the left coast get screwed with playoff games starting at 1 p.m. for crying out loud. Short of kicking back and taking the afternoon (make that several afternoons) off work, we're stuck punching reload (or refresh for you IE types) every five seconds on our web browsers trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I can hear some of you now wondering why we don't tune in to net radio broadcasts. Well, I would if I had a blasted sound card on my five year old PC at work! But I don't, so please don't bother to suggest it.

And don't get me started on Costas. Once the darling young up and comer of baseball commentators, it's obvious that Bob has now been drinking his own bathwater for far too long. Apparently determined to become a legend in his own lunchtime, he has taken the Yankees on for the playoffs in much the same way as he relentlessly omitted much reference to those other countries at the Olympics. I guess we should be grateful we missed him covering the Division Series games.

But enough griping. The games themselves have been fascinating. The Yankees and Mariners is a matchup that makes so much sense from a Seattle perspective. The Division Series of 95 is still the pinnacle of Mariner achievement, and if they are to go one better, who better to do it against than the defending World Series champs? The teams are very similar in many ways, too. Neither team is really that good offensively, and each has broad, but sometimes flaky pitching. And now they each have a disabled starter -- Cone for the Yanks, Moyer for the M's. With the series now reduced to a best of 5, here's a look at the position by position matchup, hitting first (season OPS numbers shown, and an R in front of the position indicates a reserve player):

Catcher is a definite plus for the Yanks, as even surprise grizzled veteran Joe Oliver isn't hitting anywhere close to Jorge. Tino Martinez, though is a serious drag on the Yankee offense. .750 from a first baseman is atrocious. John Olerud has been something of an offensive disappointment for Seattle, but he still handily outscores Tino. Second base is close to a wash with two light hitting veterans going head to head, while third is about the same. Despite what the NY media hypewagon would have you believe, A-Rod far outshines Jeter offensively, especially this year. The outfield is a big plus for the Yankees with Justice and Williams beating the living daylights out of Cameron and whatever scrub (yes, that means you, Rickey) the Mariners have in left. Buhner is a definite win over O'Neill if he plays, but not if Javier or Martin is subbing for him.

Overall, the offensive edge goes to the Yankees because they don't have all their eggs in two baskets.

Here's the pitching matchups:

It looks like the starters are all dialed in for the playoffs, with Garcia, Neagle, Halama and Hernandez all pitching brilliantly, giving up only three runs between them. Shame about the Mariner bullpen in game 2, but they were due for a fall, and it sure was a big one. Sele/Pettitte and Abbott/Clemens look like pretty good matchups, and the series will rest on the relative performances of the rotations through the next four games. It's tough to pick a winner, but I give the M's the edge because they have Bret Tomko ready to come in if a starter has the wheels fall off early. That's where Joe Torre will miss Ramiro Mendoza. Today's bullpen meltdown notwithstanding, the bullpens are quite comparable, with the edge in depth going to the Mariners. Overall, with a twist of homerism thrown in, I expect to see the M's win in six or seven games.

Meanwhile in the NL, with the Mets up one game on the road, here are the similar matchups over in the NL, pitching first this time:

Al Leiter against Rick Ankiel in game 2 doesn't look good for the Cards to me. I think this is where experience really helps. And in game 3, Rick Reed looks good against Andy Benes. The bullpens look pretty comparable. Unless the Cards can unleash something the next couple of games, Mike Hampton could be looking to close out the series in game 5. As for the offense:

The Mets win the catching position hands down, but the Cards take 1B whether McGwire or Will Clark is playing there. The Mets win second in a romp, while third base goes to the Cards. Renteria beats Rent-a-scrub at short, while the Cards win the outfield handily. Apart from Todd Pratt, the Mets have got nothing on the bench, while the Cards have McGwire and a set of slightly better scrubs than New York. Overall offensive edge goes to the Cards. But we all know that good pitching beats good hitting, we all take it one game at a time and they all put their pants on one leg at a time, so let's not count our chickens before they hatch. I say the Mets win this based on strength of starting pitching, but then again, I could be wrong.

Not many people know this, but Dave Paisley is the secret agent in charge of making sure Bob Costas never gets to be baseball commissioner. If you want to join the fight just send him your low, low, annual dues of $1,000,000 to drdjp@strikethree.com.

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