Postseason Predictions 2009

Not sure exactly how often, perhaps a couple times, I gave some postseason predictions on here. Not sure if I ever did a full post dedicated to it, close to one if not, anyway, here it is for 2009!

I would have started with the NL East, but since Montreal does not have a team, I'll go AL East.

Well obviously New York will be facing Boston in the ALCS, Yankees with the home field advantage. Prediction, Yankees in four.

The Angels will host the start of the other ALCS, however it will be against either Detroit or Minnesota (3GB). Both with 10 games to play. I predict Minnesota will make it, only to lose to the Angels in five.

Now the National League.

Looks like the three current division leaders will be in, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. Atlanta and Florida will require a miracle to make it in, as they are 7 and 7.5 GB respectively. In the NL West, Colorado has a fighting chance only 6GB with 9 games to play. That is of course for the division.

The NL wildcard will be most likely Colorado, however Atlanta and Florida are not far behind, 3.5 and 4 GB respectively.

Standings:

Philadelphia 89 - 63 .586
St. Louis 89 - 64 .582
Los Angeles 92 - 61 .601

With the above in mind home field advantages need sorting out in the coming days. I have not been following baseball much since the All Star Break, but I'll guess Los Angeles and Philadelphia for home field advantage. So I'll guess Colorado at Los Angeles, and St. Louis at Philadelphia for the NLDS. No point in guessing the outcomes, as I am less familiar with the NL thanks to the over coverage of the AL East around here.

Schedules as of this moment can be found here. Also, posted below, mostly for my own easy reference, and since they are inevitably going to change somewhat, I like to compare said changes.

Kansas at Cleveland/Baltimore at New York

Started watching the Royals at Indians in the latter part of the game before extra innings.

With the score 1 apiece Jhonny Peralta singled on a line drive to left fielder David DeJesus in the bottom of the 9th. Asdrubal Cabrera was on second. DeJesus threw a one hopper to catcher Miguel Olivo, who held on to the ball while being collided into to record the out. Fast forward to the bottom of the 11th, this time the winning run on second being Michael Brantley. Jhonny Peralta again at the plate. Peralta singled to DeJesus who once again threw the outfield assist to Olivo who was knocked down again, but held on for the out. Top of the 12th, Miguel Olivo hit a solo homer, it ended up being the game winning homer. So Olivo the hero, but kudos to DeJesus' throwing arm!

The official description from the Royals site:

Miguel Olivo got the Royals started with an RBI groundout, withstood two collisions to deny runs at the plate and homered in the 12th to lead KC to a 2-1 win over Cleveland on Friday.

I also caught the end of the Orioles at Yankees. I tuned in just before Jeff Fiorentino grounded out to first baseman Jose Molina to pitcher Mark Melancon. Funny to see Molina playing 1B! One time I saw Expos backup catcher Einar Diaz play 3B at a game I was at in 2004. Molina probably could make it as a first baseman, when you think of Prince Fielder being at first.

Eric Hinske was the last out for the Yankees loss. Interesting fact, he has played for every AL East team save for the Orioles! The only non AL East team he has played for was for the Pirates.

Also of note, Justin Turner, Orioles 2B, got his first major league hit, a line drive to CF Brett Gardner. His major league debut was September 8th, at Boston, where he had 2 AB. He came in as a pinch hitter for Melvin Mora in the 7th. He stayed in the game playing third. His last AB was a line out to right.

Michael Dunn was the last of six Yankees pitchers tonight. He pitched the ninth. He gave up one hit, and struck out one. It was his second major league game at Yankee Stadium after making his major league debut September 4th in Toronto. In his MLB debut he only pitched .2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 walks (he was replaced by Edwar Ramirez, and then Aaron Hill doubled in those two runs).

Oh, and Derek Jeter got a couple hits.

Nick Johnson departs, Livan returns

Not new news, regardless...

Nick Johnson has found himself on another useless team, the Florida Marlins. The Nationals traded him for Aaron Thompson. Thompson was with the Double A Jacksonville Suns, he finished with the Double A Nationals affiliate Harrisburg Senators. The Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League made the playoffs with a 47-23 record, while the Senators of the Eastern League did not make the playoffs with a 70-72 record.

Livan Hernandez was signed by the Nationals on the 26th of August, 6 days after being released by the Mets. I believe he is the only former Expo with the team, however I am too lazy to fact check, and really don't care to be honest.