Seven subplots to the Amtrak Series

Dear Hank Steinbrenner, I’m sorry. Sometime in mid-May, I wrote a column lambasting your mismanagement of the New York Yankees. To be fair, at the time I voiced my complaints, your team was stuck in fourth place in the AL East, and catching up to the first-place Red Sox seemed more a pipe dream than a possibility.

Then something happened. The Yankees started having fun again, and wouldn’t you know it, they started winning as well. The Yankees won in blowouts, they won in extra innings, they won with great pitching performances, they won with impressive displays of power hitting, and most importantly, they started winning close games. Fast forward to late September: The Yankees were sitting pretty atop the AL East with a 103-59 record, the best in baseball.

I could go on about what changed with this year’s Yankees. How Mark Teixeira’s play at first base made the Yankees into a defensive force, at one point setting the record for most consecutive games without an error. How right-hander A.J. Burnett brought fun back to the Bronx, repeatedly throwing pies in the face of whichever teammate was being honored with a post-game interview. Or how Mariano Rivera, Yankee savior and closer for well over a decade, proved he was far from over the hill and put in one of his best seasons ever, with 44 saves and a 1.76 ERA.

Yet despite this Yankee resurgence, there is still work to be done. In one of the most anticipated World Series matchups in recent memory, the Yankees and Phillies will take to the field tonight in Game 1 to do battle for baseball supremacy. This series has it all: marquee pitching matchups, big-name players throughout both batting lineups and rowdy fan bases to boot.

In order to get you, and everyone else, ready for Game 1, here are seven subplots that could make this series one for the record books.

Indian reunion

About 15 months ago, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee were teammates on a mediocre Cleveland Indians team. Sabathia was coming off a 2007 season in which he won the Cy Young, and Lee was on his way to capturing the award in 2008. Now, thanks to some nifty deadline trades and monster free-agent signings, the ex-Indians find themselves set to face off in Game 1 of the World Series.

Both Sabathia and Lee have been superb this postseason, reaffirming their status as two of the best left-handers in the game. The only thing more exciting than a Game 7 showdown between these two disaffected members of the Tribe would be if a certain group of Theta and Pi Phi freshmen threw down in the Frist cafeteria.

Pedro’s back

Once upon a time, right-hander Pedro Martinez was the scourge of the Yankee Empire. Back when the Bronx Bombers were in the midst of a nine-season stretch of AL East titles, Pedro was the one pitcher who did not fear the Boys in Blue. Martinez once brashly referred to the infamous Curse of the Bambino by exclaiming, “Wake up the Bambino, maybe I’ll drill him in the ass.”

Point being, Pedro doesn’t fear the Yankees. Even though he’s well past his prime, Martinez was able to dial back the clock in the NLCS, pitching seven shutout innings in his only playoff start thus far for the Phillies. Pedro is slated to start Game 2 in the Bronx, and a vintage Martinez start could give the Phillies an early edge in the series.

The Big Four want five

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera. Those four names have been synonymous with Yankee success since the team’s World Series title over the Atlanta Braves in 1996. Regarded as the standard bearers of Yankees past heading into the 2009 season, the Big Four played like it was 1999 during the Bombers’ playoff run so far.

Rivera had a career year, the left-hander Pettitte re-emerged as a solid third starter, and shortstop Jeter batted .334 and has a chance to win the first MVP award of his career. If the Big Four can add one more World Series title to their resumes, it would further cement their legacy among the all-time Yankee greats.

Mr. October?

Traditionally, third baseman Alex Rodriguez has about as much success in October as Pamela Anderson would in a convent. Long lambasted as the overpaid, underperforming reason for the Yankees’ recent postseason swoons, Rodriguez has emerged as a man on fire this postseason.

In one of the most impressive playoff power displays since Reggie Jackson, A-Rod is currently batting .438 this October, with five home runs and 12 RBI. If Rodriguez can continue his hot streak in the World Series, he could finally shed the label of postseason goat, once and for all.

Bronx bombs

All year, the new Yankee Stadium was ridiculed as playing too easy for power hitters. For much of the year, the number of home runs hit to the right-field seats at Yankees’ home games was almost comical. Fortunately, this played right into the hands of the Bronx Bombers, who lived up to their name and were hands down the best power-hitting team in the AL.

The Yankees have yet to lose a game at home in the postseason, but that could change in the World Series. The Phillies have a lineup loaded with lefty sluggers. First baseman Ryan Howard, second baseman Chase Utley and leftfielder Raul Ibanez could all take advantage of the short porch in right field and take away the Yanks’ home-field advantage, something they have valued all year.

Fan wars

When it comes to sports, New York and Philadelphia fans are not a group to sit down together at a dinner table. This inter-city sense of animosity will be seen throughout the World Series, and the group of fans that give their team a bigger home-field advantage could be pivotal. The winner of this bleacher battle will also have an upper hand in claiming sports fan supremacy for their city.

Princeton, often seen as a town on the line dividing New York and Philadelphia sports allegiances, also plays a role in this fan conflict. Rarely are University students given the opportunity to shamelessly taunt their friends from a rival city. For the next two weeks, many students will have this opportunity. I’m not sure what will transpire, but it should be fun.

Win one for the Boss

No, this isn’t a Knute Rockne speech, but the Yankees have a little extra motivation in this series. For decades, George Steinbrenner, the notorious owner of the Yankees, made his presence known at every important game his team played. But now the Boss is sick. No one knows how sick, but he hasn’t been at any of the Yankees’ playoff games this year.

This, however, is the World Series we’re talking about, and the elder Steinbrenner will be in attendance. Who knows if the Yankees will have another chance to win a title for their long-time owner? The Bombers know Steinbrenner will be at the Stadium, and with that in mind, they will be all the more motivated to bring home their 27th World Series title.

Prediction: Yanks in six.