Now that the dust has settled on the Phils dramatic NLDS victory over the Rockies, let’s take a look at their next victims – the L.A. Dodgers. The Dodgers are the favorites to win the series (-120), but to be honest I felt like they were the 4th best team coming into the postseason. F them. Here's a position-by-position comparison of the two teams, after the jump
3B
Phils: Pedro Feliz (12 hr, 82 rbi, .266)
Dodgers: Casey Blake (18 hr, 79 rbi, .280)
Advantage: Phils, slightly. Offensively this is a push, but defensively Pedro can’t be touched.
2B
Phils: Chase Utley (31 hr, 93 rbi, .282)
Dodgers: Ronnie Belliard (5 hr, 17 rbi, .351)
Advantage: Phils. Not even worth discussing. Belliard is a bitch, Utley is the man…end of story.
SS
Phils: Jimmy Rollins (21 hr, 77 rbi, .250)
Dodgers: Rafael Furcal (9 hr, 47 rbi, .269)
Advantage: Phils. Jimmy has been tearing it up since the All-Star break and remains one of the top shortstops in the league. His glove is ridiculous.
1B
Phils: Ryan Howard (45 hr, 141 rbi, .279)
Dodgers: James Loney (13 hr, 90 rbi, .281)
Advantage: Phils. Pfffttt. This isn’t even close, son. Howard had an MVP-caliber season and was a monster in the NLDS. L.A. should be frightened.
C
Phils: Chooch Ruiz (9 hr, 43 rbi, .255)
Dodgers: Russell Martin (7 hr, 53 rbi, .250)
Advantage: Phils. Neither of these guys lit it up at the plate during the regular season, but Chooch turns into Johnny Bench in the postseason. For that, I give him the edge. Note: I have a distinct hatred for Martin after having him on my fantasy team all year. F’ng loser.
Outfield
Phils: LF Raul Ibanez (34 hr, 93 rbi, .272), CF Shane Victorino (10 hr, 62 rbi, .292), RF Jayson Werth (36 hr, 99 rbi, .268)
Dodgers: LF Manny Ramirez (19 hr, 63 rbi, .290), CF Matt Kemp (26 hr, 101 rbi, .297), RF Andre Ethier (31 hr, 106 rbi, .272)
Advantage: Dodgers. This is a tough one, but I’d say the Dodgers have the edge. Both teams have power in the OF (less Victo), and if Manny is on his game he can be deadly. Kemp and Ethier have both emerged as two legitimate stars in the NL, and Ethier has been in beast so far this postseason.
Pitching to come
Posts
These are probably the two best OF's in baseball.
ReplyDeleteI usually only wipe my butt with the Metro but today I read it by accident and it says that Furcal has the edge over Jimmy Rollins at SS. After I read that, I remembered why I usually only wipe my ass with it.
I would probably give Blake the edge over Feliz.