DownSwinging.com

Today I saw two of those games where you just had a feeling. I unfortunately had to miss the majority of both the Yankees-Angels and Dodgers-Phillies matchups, but was fortunate enough to watch the ends of both live. Maybe it’s just because it panned out, but in both cases, I just had this gut instinct the home team was going to pull it out. And in both cases they did–both with walk-off doubles.

If anything these past few days have reaffirmed what I wrote a few days ago–If someone is going to beat the Yankees, it’s going to be the Phillies. The Yankees handedly won game 1, but games 2 and 3 were extra-inning affairs that could have gone both ways, and that’s exactly what the Angels need. Think about if the Angels hadn’t made a few clueless errors in this series. They could easily be up 2-1 right now. Unfortunately, despite their win it seems to me it will probably be too little, too late. Facing C.C. Sabathia is not the sort of pitcher they want to face. You never know, but I think they said it right on Baseball Tonight recently (it was either Fernando Vina or Buster Olney) who said the Angels just seem a little bit intimitaded of the Yankees. A little scared. They need to play the same way they did during the season to continue their success now.

But I’ll tell you who won’t be scared of the Yankees: The Phillies. The Phils have been there before, last year in fact, but they still won’t be favorites in a Phillies-Yankees World Series. They have the Lee and Hamels and Martinez (and Happ too), and they have the lineup to match it. But they also have grit, and they showed that tonight. Any team that’s going to win a World Series needs a bit of that magic and fire, and no doubt the Phillies have got it. So while I wouldn’t favor the Phils heading into the Bronx, I certainly wouldn’t count on them backing down.