Puffing in the Posteason: 2009, page two

Posted: October 5, 2009

The Angels are on a mission after the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart early in the year, who died in a car accident after the game he started the night before. The Angels hang Adenhart's jersey in the dugout during each game. The Texas Rangers occupied first place in the AL West for a significant part of the season, but the Angels reverted to form when Vladimir Guerrero, who hit his 400th career homer this year, came back to the lineup, mostly as a DH, in the second half. Torii Hunter came back from injury with a vengeance and the Angels infielders all became an offensive force, especially with the emergence of Kendry Morales, a Cuban first baseman who tried to defect eight times before succeeding. Morales became the fifth Cuban-born player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season. (Name the other four without looking it up and Savona will buy you a Cuban sandwich.) Morales had a year (34 HR, 108 RBI) that made every Angels fan forget that Mark Teixeira had not been re-signed from the year before. Morales makes a reported $1.4 million to Teixeira's average $22.5 million a year over eight years with the team from the Bronx. What a bargain. On the pitching side, AL leading closer Brian Fuentes (37 saves) made K-Rod a memory.

For the third year in a row, the regular season ends without all the playoff teams determined. The Detroit Tigers, after having led the AL Central for most of the season, played only well enough to secure game 163, a one-game playoff in Minnesota's Metrodome against the Twins. The Twins lost a one-game playoff to the White Sox last year. This year, Minnesota surged in the second half and mostly without one of their two big stars, Justin Morneau, in the last couple of weeks.

If the Twins win it will mark the first time that a team playing its last year in a stadium will have made the playoffs before moving into its new ballpark the following year. Yes, in 2010, the Twins are giving up the Hefty-bag outfield wall and will play outdoors. No dome. No retractable roof. In Minnesota. Where it's really, really cold, not to mention snowy, every month except, I think, August.

As I mentioned, I think Derek Jeter is in the conversation when it comes to AL MVP this year, but I'd have to make Twins' catcher Joe Mauer the favorite. He killed the ball all year and was, with Morneau, the team's leader. As for the Cy Young in the AL, I vote for Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals, if only on the basis of earned-run average. No pitcher in either league won 20 games this year and Greinke was the only reason to pay attention to the Royals this year.

The National League

Los Angeles Dodgers v. St. Louis Cardinals
Philadelphia Phillies v. Colorado Rockies

My Pick: Cardinals

In the "who'd a thunk it" category, where did the San Francisco Giants come from? Sure, they couldn t score much, but they were in the Wild Card race until September with a pitching staff that saw the guy they were about to move out of the rotation, Jonathan Sanchez, pitch a no-hitter, and had Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson reach the career 300-win mark. The Giants also provided the year's best nickname, belonging to Pablo Sandoval, the Giants third baseman. Sandoval was dubbed "Kung-Fu Panda" by teammate Barry Zito for the way Sandoval jumped over a tag at home plate one game.

Inside of Ceniza Cigar Lounge in Pasadena, California.

Also, the St. Louis Cardinals basically ran away with the NL Central with more than 90 wins. The Cubs just didn't show up most of the second half. Milwaukee had no big-name pitching to speak of, but provided one of the most amusing celebrations of a walk-off home run when Cecil Fielder imitated a hand-grenade exploding on home plate, sending his gathered teammates falling backwards like they were part of a Busby Berkeley number. (Look it up, or rent Blazing Saddles and fast-forward to Dom DeLuise.)

The Cards, to me, are the team to beat in the NL now that Albert Pujols has some real protection in the lineup with Matt Holliday hitting behind "The Machine, " as Pujols is sometimes called.

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