Squire wrote:Frankly, I think all of the analysis is a waste of time. 7 games is pretty statistically insignificant and playoff outcomes are random.

SQUIRE

TenuredVulture wrote:

Houshphandzadeh wrote:

Warszawa wrote:

Warszawa wrote:I wonder which World Series discussion will win?

It might be time to merge these suckers.

I was thinking about starting a third thread. It is the world series.

Houshphandzadeh wrote:Kinda crazy how all these guys think Myers, Blanton, and Moyer don't have a shot of winning a single game. As if the Rays pitching is so good they never screw up.

DAVID MURPHY:
The numbers say pick the Rays. The homefield advantage says pick the Rays. The rust factor says pick the Rays. So, naturally, I'm picking the Phillies.

Why? Because quantification doesn't win championships. All season, the Phillies have defied quantification. They seem to play their best when the odds are against them. And from Vegas to the pundits, the odds certainly aren't in their favor in this World Series. History isn't in their favor in this World Series.

So here's the gig: At long last, the Phillies' offense hits the collective stride that it has spent all year looking for. Howard. Utley. Rollins. All of them. Together. Crunch your numbers. I'll stick with my hunch.

Phillies in 6.

BILL CONLIN:

Seven innings. Just like a high school game. The key to the Phillies winning their second World Series title is to have a lead four times after the top of the seventh on the road and bottom of the sixth at home. The biggest edge the Phils have on the for-real Tampa Bay Rays is the back end of what has been the National League's best bullpen.

Romero...Madson...Lidge. It is the mantra for victory.

Don't buy into the notion that the Phillies are the more experienced team. The Rays dominated baseball's strongest division, the American League East. Not ready for prime time? Cerebral, unorthodox manager Joe Maddon's youngsters played the 2007 world champion Red Sox 25 times, winning the pennant in a tense Game 7. They played the Yankees 18 times. That's 43 games against two teams with payrolls totaling about $350million. And be prepared for big-time lineup speed. Outfielders Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and the rightfield platoon of Rocco Baldelli and Fernando Perez could pass for a world class 4x 100 relay.

Before Pat Gillick came to town, people would ask me when the Phillies would win another World Series. My reply was invariably, "Probably not in my lifetime." I wasn't getting any younger and the team was treading water. Finally, I am in position to say, "Hey, two out of six ain't bad."

Phillies in 7.

PAUL HAGEN:

The Tampa Bay Rays lost seven straight games before the All-Star break. That was supposed to be the end. The Rays faced the White Sox in the division series. Their lack of postseason experience was supposed to be their undoing.

They faced the proud Boston Red Sox, winners of two world championships since 2004, in the League Championship Series. Surely, that would expose their weaknesses.

Well, guess what? The Rays kept proving people wrong. They kept proving people wrong because they're really good. They have the more solid top-to-bottom rotation, which is what tends to be the difference-maker at this time of year. They play well in their controlled-atmosphere bubble. And the Phillies could be stale after going 6 days without playing a game.

Rays in 6.

RICH HOFMANN:

Sitting in a ridiculous ballpark after a workout, imagining what thousands of clanging cowbells sound like, trying to figure out how the Phillies might be able to pull this off. Frankly, it's hard.

The Phillies simply have not scored runs consistently enough, not during the regular season or the postseason. It is what I continually come back to when I analyze this thing. They need early runs, they need patient at-bats, they need to get into the Rays' bullpen — which is no picnic, but which is their only hope. And I'm just not sure.

The layoff will hurt them. Tropicana Field will hurt them. Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza will hurt them. Games 1, 2, 5 and 6 have a chance to be beauties, if Kazmir-Cole Hamels and Shields-Brett Myers match up. But there is more involved than that, and I just don't know if the Phillies can hit enough home runs to pull this off.

Rays in 7.

JOHN SMALLWOOD:

The Phillies' pitchers must avoid mistakes because the hard-swinging Rays make you pay in spades.

Be leary of B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena. The Phillies will have to win one or two slugfests. Be patient at the plate. The Rays' starters can be prone to control issues. Make them throw a lot of pitches and get to the bullpen.

Phillies in 6.

SAM DONNELLON:

It's too cruel to even think of: a World Series Game 6, in a dome, your Phillies needing a victory to survive. Bottom of the ninth, the slimmest of leads, your perfect closer on the mound. The American League is the better league. To get here, the Rays just went through the last two American League teams to win the World Series. Compared to the two new faces the Phillies churned through, the Rays' road would seem much tougher.

So what do you think happens in that Game 6? Does the perfect closer remain perfect? Do we get to a Game 7 this time?

Rays in 6. And yeah, I hope I'm wrong, too.

MARCUS HAYES:

This one is easy, right?

Typically, the Phillies struggle against good, young pitchers they haven't seen, and they've barely seen Scott Kazmir and James Shields, and they've never seen Matt Garza. But then, they walked over the Dodgers' Chad Billingsley and the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo.

Brett Myers is a ticking time bomb, inconsistent, overemotional...but then, his two solid postseason starts and his heady approach at the plate show signs of maturity.

And what of momentum? The Rays have been riding a wave all year, a feel-good story out of baseball's best division with huge wins all year over the Red Sox, whom they just outlasted in seven in the ALCS. But then, fueled by Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers swept the Cubs, and the Brewers won six of seven to make it to the playoffs.

In 2004, Larry Bowa was wrong: Now is the time.

Phillies in 6.

ED BARKOWITZ:

Though it's less than a decade old, the 21st century already has seen serious sports traditions tossed aside.

The Red Sox have won more World Series than the Yankees. There have been Stanley Cup champions from California, Florida and North Carolina and none from Canada. The Patriots have won Super Bowls, the Cowboys have not.

The pattern of Philadelphia as perennial losers is next.

Just before she passed away, Charlie Manuel's mom told him he'd be going to the World Series. And here he is, due in large part to outmanaging Joe Torre in the League Championship Series. The karma must continue.

Phillies in 5.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Gawd dang, son, Charlie Manuel sure can sound like a country bumpkin sometimes.

Understanding Manuel can be a tough task for anyone unfamiliar with the Philadelphia Phillies’ manager. Born in West Virginia and raised in Virginia, Charles Fuqua Manuel Jr. has a thick Appalachian drawl and doesn’t articulate thoughts like a professor.

The folksy 64-year-old skipper would’ve fit in perfectly on “The Andy Griffith Show” or “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

JayBallz wrote:Charlie is not articulate

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Gawd dang, son, Charlie Manuel sure can sound like a country bumpkin sometimes.

Understanding Manuel can be a tough task for anyone unfamiliar with the Philadelphia Phillies’ manager. Born in West Virginia and raised in Virginia, Charles Fuqua Manuel Jr. has a thick Appalachian drawl and doesn’t articulate thoughts like a professor.

The folksy 64-year-old skipper would’ve fit in perfectly on “The Andy Griffith Show” or “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer Oct 21, 7:34 pm EDT

FTN wrote:

By ROB MAADDI, AP Sports Writer Oct 21, 7:34 pm EDT

slamjim wrote:So who has Hamels dome stadium stats?

slamjim wrote:So who has Hamels dome stadium stats?