Chatting with the Enemy: On Lee, Mo, and Tex

To get ready for Wednesday's World Series game one with the Yankees we did a Q&A with the Yankees fans from Fack Youk. Enjoy.

What, if anything, scares you about the Phillies? How could you see this series playing out and the Phillies winning? Can they beat the Yankees without the Yankees beating themselves?

Fack Youk: First and foremost, the Phillies are the champions until someone knocks them off; that's enough to be concerned about. They have an AL style line up that runs deep. Howard, Utley, Ibanez, and Werth are all legitimate threats at the plate; Victorino and Ruiz have had torrid Octobers. Cliff Lee is a defending Cy Young winner, one of the top five or so starters in baseball, and has been virtually untouchable in three post-season starts; Cole Hamels earned his stripes last October; and the bullpen appears to be back on track. All of these things are cause for concern.

I see these teams as being close to evenly matched, so a Phillies victory wouldn't be shocking. The Sabathia-Lee match ups are going to be pivotal in determining the Series. I don't think either team will emerge victorious without the benefit of some mistakes from their opponents. But the Phillies won't need a complete meltdown from the Yankees in order to come out on top.

A-Rod has become a legitimate playoff beast. Can you point to something specific that sparked this turnaround or was it simply a matter of time?

For the most part I think this post-season has been a statistical correction of his past October struggles. Love him or loathe him, he's one of the most talented men ever to play the game. He couldn't continue to struggle that way forever. That said, I do think A-Rod has a tendency to get lost inside his own head so to speak, and allow his past failures to lead to future failures. I think he has changed his approach this year. He seems more relaxed, more confident; he seems to be less worried about what everyone thinks of him; he seems not to be thinking too much. He's said his 2 HR, 7 RBI inning against Tampa on the season's final day was a confidence booster. That's all helped, but not nearly as much as his own talent has.

Coming into the playoffs your 'pen was regarded as a big strength but they've faltered a bit in the postseason. How confident are you between the starters and Mariano? How do you handle the Phillies big lefties late in the game?

The Yankee pen has pushed my blood pressure up more times than I'd like this month. But, I'm still chalking that up to a small nine game sample size. The guys in the Yankee bullpen have done their jobs well all year and I have no reason to believe that they can't continue to do that for seven more games. Ideally the Yankees won't need anyone between the starters and Mariano, but if it comes down to it, I trust the other arms out there.

Yankee pitching coach Dave Eiland says the Phil Hughes needs to fix a small mechanical flaw, so it doesn't appear that he's just straight lost his stuff. I'd trust Alfredo Aceves or David Robertson in a big spot. I am concerned that Girardi continues to deploy Joba Chamberlain like it's 2007 when he had a disappointing regular season and has looked pretty hittable this October. I don't want to see Brian Bruney in anything but mop up duty. As for the lefties, I'd be most confident with Mo's cutter bearing in on their hands. Short of him though, Phil Coke and Damaso Marte have both done well against fellow left handers. However, I am concerned about Coke's knack for giving up the long ball and Marte's fondness for issuing free passes.
 
Mo's getting up there in age, he's bound to lose in a big spot one of these days, isn't he?

Age doesn't appear to be having any effect on Mo. His last two seasons are as good or better than any two year stretch in his entire career, yet he's a month shy of 40 and less than a year removed from shoulder surgery. He has lost in big spots before, against Cleveland in '97, Arizona in '01, and Boston in '04, so it wouldn't be unprecedented, but I wouldn't count on it happening. The guy has pitched the equivalent of two full years worth of post-season games and has done so to the tune of a 0.77 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP while walking just 19 batters and surrendering two home runs. I know I talked about A-Rod's monster post-season being a correction to past underperformance, but it would take an unthinkable, prolonged collapse for Mo's post-season numbers to even sniff his career averages. The man is simply on another level.

If you had to pick a Yankee and a Phillie to be the WS MVP, who you going with?

Both rosters are stacked offensively and on the mound. There are probably eight or nine guys on each team who are legitimate MVP candidates. Anything can happen in a best of seven series so it could be someone who we wouldn't even consider. Best guess though, I'll say Mark Teixeira for the Yankees and Chase Utley for the Phils. And even though you didn't ask, I'm guessing Yanks in six.