Opinion

The American League Championship Series moves to the Bronx tonight as the Yankees and Rangers are locked up at one game apiece. The pitching matchup of Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee should be a great one.

However, there may be a matchup that is just as important.

Yankees starter Andy Pettitte must keep the Texas base runners from running wild. The Rangers got the Yankees in an early hole in Game 2 after stealing three bases, including a steal of home in the first inning.

The 2010 playoffs have been somewhat predictable up to a point;

Two seasons ago, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first—and last—time this decade. They went into the offseason with a sense of urgency—a sense that holds none of the connoted nerves for Yankees fans, considering they always have the financial power to get the job done.

And they did.

The Yankees signed three of the top free agents to long-term deals. CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira were all Yankees. They would go on to win the World Series.

In today’s issue of the New York Daily News, there is a sidebar that contains the names and faces of 15 current players on the baseball team from New York that isn’t the Yankees. This team has been my favorite team ever since I was a young child, when my dad, who apparently hated me and wanted to doom my baseball dreams for the rest of my life, raised me as a fan of this team.

San Francisco Giants fans have to feel good about Tim Lincecum now. After a few rocky months, Lincecum is hitting the mid-90s again with his fastball and looking as dominant as he did during his two Cy Young years. I knew going into the game that, if they were both on, Lincecum would out-pitch Roy Halladay.

ESPN.com reports today that the Mets have scheduled a second interview with former Oakland A's GM Sandy Alderson next week, and Alderson could be named the next general manager of the Mets when it's all said and done.

We panicked every year that they wouldn't win the division, but they did. We panicked during their July slump, but they overcame this by having a hot August and September.

Who were they?

The Philadelphia Phillies.

The panics have already started again in Philadelphia after a 4-3 loss to the San Fransisco Giants in Game 1 of the NLCS.

It’s easy to cheer when your team is the Giants, a town awaiting a charming moment, a town awaiting a miracle, a town awaiting a celebration in the Bay Area. Earlier this season, when a refreshing moment hardly seemed far-fetched, the San Francisco Giants mounted into a premier ballclub with the grandest turnaround as an uneventful sport enticed a large crowd near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Since the arrival of Citi Field in New York, the classic folk song "Meet the Mets" is rarely rejoiced around the stadiums 41,000 plus seats. 

As much as each and every Met fan still enjoys referencing the song from time to time, "Meet the Mets" went out with Shea Stadium, and is no longer the team anthem that so many generations came to admire.

The Rangers hired Ron Washington as their manager in 2007. They wanted a manager who would be the anti-Buck Showalter. They felt Washington's light approach would get guys to play at a high level after being worn down by Showalter's micromanagement.

Washington did not start out well in his first year as the Rangers manager. His team got off to a rough start, and he did not get along with Mark Teixeira.