Key Stats of the ALDS and a New Poll

Let's go series by series in the American League and look at the key stats:

Yankees vs. Twins

Yankees pitching and defense was dominant. Each starter gave up one only run and the sole reliever to give up a run was Phil Hughes. In 29 innings the Yankees pitchers had a 1.55 ERA and had 34 strikeouts. The defense had no errors and besides Johnny Damon's one gaffe in Game 2, the defense was solid.

The Yankees offense was led by A-Rod (.455/.500/1.000, 4 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI), Derek Jeter (.400/.538/.900, 4 R, 3 XBH), and Jorge Posada (.364/.364/.636, go-ahead HR in Game 3). No other Yankee would have more than two wits, although Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira would also go deep for the Yankees. The Yankees made it count, though, with 7 of their 15 runs coming with two-outs.

The Twins hitting was great until they got a runners on base. Then, their hitting was bad, but their baserunning was atrocious. They were 5 for 13 with RISP in Game 2 but only scored three runs in the game. Try and figure that one out. In total they left 32 men on base, and were 8-28 with RISP. And even with those 8 hits with RISP, they only scored 6 runs in the series. Ouch. They certainly missed Justin Mourneau in that lineup.

The relief pitching also did the Twins in with Ron Mahay (5.40 ERA), Jon Rauch (6.75 ERA), Joe Nathan (9.00 ERA) and Jose Mijares (13.50 ERA) unable to get the Yankees out in the late innings.

Chad Jennings, the new LoHud Yankee blogger, says that the Yankees have some roster decisions to make before the ALCS starts. The Purist Bleeds Pinstripes makes some roster suggestions as well. I think the Yankees should pitch CC on short rest and get rid of the 4th starter, they should replace Damaso Marte on the roster with either Brian Bruney, Freddy Guzman, or Ramiro Pena, and they should continue to utilize the bullpen as they have been.

Red Sox vs. Angels

The Red Sox hitting was atrocious. I wondered how they'd hit in big situations, but thought that with Victor Martinez and a resurgent Big Papi, they would be a better hitting team. Not exactly. The team's hitting line was .158/.223/.232. Big Papi reached base once and struck out four times and only Jacoby Ellsbury had 3 hits. You wonder if this team misses Manny Ramirez in the playoffs.

The Red Sox bullpen was a tale of two parts. The middle relief (Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, and Takashi Saito) were great and didn't give up a run (minus Ramon Ramirez who gave up two without recording an out). The set-up man (Billy Wagner) and closer (Jonathan Papelbon) combined to give up 5 runs in 3 innings.

The Angels won Games 1 and 2 on starting pitching. John Lackey and Jered Weaver combined to throw 14.2 innings, giving up only one run, 6 hits, 3 walks and 11 strikeouts. Brian Fuentes, for all his troubles in the regular season, allowed only one baserunner en route to picking up two saves.

Kendry Morales (1 HR, 3 RBI) and Torii Hunter (1 HR, 3 RBI) provided the power and Bobby Abreu (.556/.692/.778), Erick Aybar (.364/.364/.636), and Vladamir Guerrero (.400 average) provided the hits needed for victory.

The Red Sox fired up the self-pity machine as told by Deadspin. For once, Wild Cards didn't keep on winning. Howard Bryant is calling this the end of an era.

Lastly, here was the poll that we conducted right after the Twins clinched. It was only a day of voting, and I know the voting public is mostly Yankees fans, but the results are below. Thank you to all of you who voted in such a short time (we had I have an updated poll up know with the teams left in the race. Vote to the right and let me know who you think will win the World Series.

Which Team Will Win The World Series?

Yankees	70%
Twins	3%
Red Sox	16%
Angels	6%
Phillies	3%
Rockies	0%
Dodgers	0%
Cardinals	0%