1. There's no... bunting in baseball?
Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard. Chase Utley and Mark Teixeira. Hideki Matsui and Raul Ibanez. The Yankees hit more home runs than any team in the American League this season (244 compared to the runner-up Rangers 224) and the Phillies hit more homers than any team in the National League (224 compared to the second-place Rockies 190). Forget bunting up the third baseline, it will be a well-placed grand slam that ultimately decides this series.
2. The Dueling Aces.
In the words of the late John Spencer as Leo McGarry in The West Wing, "This is how a Super Power is supposed to act." Both the Yankees and Phillies went out and got the front-line starting pitcher to help push them over the top. It started in New York with the much-debated signing of C.C Sabathia and his bloated $161 million contract -- not to mention the complaints about everything else that is bloated about him. But the ALCS MVP is 3-0 in three starts and has given the Yankees the hope that this will finally be their year.
Then came the Phillies at the trading deadline. Remember when the Phillies "lost out" on Roy Halladay? All Cliff Lee has been is baseball's best pitcher since coming to Philly, and for someone who had never made a postseason appearance, Lee looked like a natural as the Phillies coasted through the National League.
With shades of Jack Morris and John Smoltz in 1991, whichever ace outshines the other should be the one who pops the champagne at season's end
3. Where the Wild Things Are: Ricky Vaughn or Mitch Williams style?
Brad Lidge had well documented 2008 season that saw him not blow a save the entire season..
The Phillies had to wait until April 18 for his first blown save this year. And then May 18 for his second. And then a week later for his third, and the following night for his fourth... .
Lidge may have 31 saves in 2009, but it was his 11 blown saves and 0-8 record that makes Charlie Manuel nervous -- especially given the fact one of those losses and two of the blown saves came in his two appearances against the Yankees in the Bronx this season. Yet there is no doubt in a one-run game with the vaunted Yankee middle-of-the-order upcoming, who is getting the ball in the night inning . Depending on which Wild Thing closer shows up -- Charlie Sheen or Mitch Williams -- may depend on if the Phillies keep their series title.
4. The joke's on you... or is it me?
To say AJ Burnett and Cole Hamels have been enigma's is really giving "enigma" a bad name -- like Jim Carrey as Edward "E." Nygma in Batman Forever. Burnett came over from Toronto with a huge offseason contract and the raw stuff to back it up. But like always, he'd follow a seven-shutout inning performance by surrendering seven straight hits the next outing. Hamels was last year's World Series Most Valuable Player, only to inexplicably fall to a pedestrian 10-11 this year. Whether the two face off in Game 3 or not, if history has taught us anything, one team will look very smart sticking with their guns at the end of this and one will have the entire baseball world laughing at them.
5. Alex Rodriguez channeling his inner Derek Jeter.
The ARod-Jeter on-again, off-again friendship has been well-chronicled. But this postseason they have been flawless together, going a combined 25-69 (.362) with eight home runs. While Jeter is known for postseason heroics, Rodriguez has had more in common with Greg Norman. That said, he can silence his critics forever -- ala former teammate Randy Johnson in 2001 -- with a series for the ages in 2009.
