In advance of what will be an exciting 2009 World Series between the Yankees and Phillies, we’re opening up the blog to you. We want your opinions on the series…

• Who will win? Why?
• Who are you rooting for?
• Who are your favorite former BlueClaws in the series?
• If you are a Mets fan, who are you rooting for? Why?
• Anything else you can think of…

Just two restrictions…1) have fun, 2) keep it clean

Email everything to ggiombarrese@blueclaws.com to play. We’ll post them all here on this blog, on our Facebook page and on our Twitter page.

Thanks and enjoy.

This will be fun. Game one is Wednesday.

Met fan choices:

Option A: Root for the Yankees…The Phillies won last year. If the Yankees win this year, the Met fans then have to hear it from both sides. But at least the talk of a dynasty in Philadelphia has to wait.

Option B: Root for the Phillies…If the Phillies win, you have to deal with a budding dynasty in your division, jubilant Phillies fans, but at least you share a market with a devastated Yankees fanbase.

Option C: Move to Europe.

Last week we gave you part one of our interview with Matt Forman of Baseball America, who ranked SAL prospects here. That focused on offensive players, and here we’ll look at the pitchers (7. Jason Knapp, 19. Trevor May, NR. BJ Rosenberg) and some general issues and thoughts.

Q: What did you like about Trevor May?

A: I was a little surprised at the consideration he was getting from managers and scouts. There’s not too much of a difference between May and Knapp, with both being big-bodied guys who throw hard. May is a few tickets lower than Knapp (92 vs 95) but they’re similar bodies, arm slot, sinker/slider. The difference might be in May, that’s he’s a little more compact. But I think he was just a buy that really surprised me and everyone else. He wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen, but it’s hard to ignore the performance.

Q: Was BJ Rosenberg close to making the list?

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Charlie Manuel has to make a decision, three days rest for Cliff Lee, games 1-4-7 in the World Series, or games 1-5 on normal rest and then see what happens. Presumably, assuming he is not needed in a game seven (which would now be on Monday night), Joe Girardi would put CC Sabathia on the three-days-rest plan of 1-4-7. But it’s not something that Lee has done, ever.

We say roll the dice. He’s been too good (two earned runs in 24 innings in the playoffs) to only get two starts out of. Plus, you’re going to be a little nervous if it’s Sabathia against Joe Blanton at 2-1 Yankees in game four.

Option:

Lee, Cole Hamels, Pedro Martinez, Lee, Cole Hamels, JA Happ, Lee…This gives you Lee on three days rest in 1-4-7. Cole Hamels throws twice, 2-5, the second time on short rest…Pedro throws (at home) in game three and JA Happ in game six…

• What this rotation does: you don’t have to pitch a righty in Yankee Stadium. Historically, teams try to neutralize left-handed hitters in Yankee Stadium because of the short porch in RF. That’s probably more relevant this year because of the way the ball carries at the House That George Built. Though the Yankees aren’t loaded with lefties.
• While Hamels hasn’t been great in the playoffs, you still get five games out of Lee and Hamels, your two best pitchers. The problem comes in trying to get the whole series out of Lee, Hamels, and Martinez. You can’t do it unless you pitch Martinez on three days rest, which we assume is not an option. So Happ or Blanton will have to be used to start one game in this series.

We’ll see…

Let’s catch you up on the former BlueClaws in the Arizona Fall League, game by game over the last week…this week we’ll begin some more in-depth stuff on the AFL now that they’ve played something of a meaningful number of games:

October 21…Mike Cisco got hit hard, allowing four runs on six hits in just two innings. Domonic Brown went 0-4.

October 22…Brown, hitting 3rd, went 2-4 with a double, two runs scored, and two runs batted in, raising his average to .303 (through today)…Tuffy Gosewisch went 1-5 with two RBIs…Edgar Garcia had his most productive outing in the desert, allowing just a run over three innings to pick up the win…Michael Schwimer threw a shutout inning.

October 23…Brown, the only Philly to play, went 1-4.

October 24…Steve Susdorf went 1-4, Troy Hanzawa 0-4 and Brown 0-2 last night for Scottsdale.

Quick impressions…Brown has hit well at .282, but important is the five walks in 39 at bats that he has so far…Michael Schwimer has allowed a run in five innings and nothing yet has come home off Scott Mathieson.

What often seperates one team from another in postseason baseball is not the big bopper in the middle of the lineup, but the thoroughbred at the top of the rotation. Last year, Cole Hamels served that role for the Phillies, and this year it’s been Cliff Lee. The Yankees have one of those guys too, and his name is CC Sabathia.

So last night’s Angels come-from-behind win over New York could mean a big boost for the Phillies, resting and waiting for their next opponent. Why?

Because an Angels win tomorrow means Sabathia has to pitch in game seven on Sunday night, and that would knock him out of game one on Wednesday, should the Yankees get there. Plus…

• If he pitches game one, he can go 1-4-7 on three days rest and pitch three times in the World Series, though the Yankees would still use a 4th starter so they don’t have to pitch AJ Burnett or Andy Pettite on three days rest.
• If he has to pitch Sunday, the earliest you’re looking at Sabathia is game two (on three days rest), and they he gets, at most, two starts in the World Series.

Meanwhile, the Phillies can sit back, relax, wait, and root for the Angels.  

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What questions do the Phillies have to answer over the next week? Paul Hagen has the story in today’s Philadelphia Daily News.

Baseball America recently put four 2009 BlueClaws among their top 20 South Atlantic League prospects in an annual post-season ranking (see ranking here). We wanted to take you a little bit more in-depth on those player, so we sat down for a Q&A with Matt Forman of Baseball America, who made the list.

We’ll start with the offensive players (13. Anthony Gose, 17. Travis d’Arnaud, NR. Harold Garcia). Next week, we’ll talk about the pitchers.

Q: You were here for Gose’s home run in game one of the finals against Greenville. What was your take on him?

A: I was very impressed. Just reading the scouting reports before I saw him, I thought he was in the Michael Bourn mold. But he’s got more upside than Bourn does…He’s a hard-nosed guy that doesn’t wear batting gloves. He’s got some pop, and plays a shallow center. He can track anything down. His arm is strong. He’s the complete package.

Q: Is there a comparison with a current big leaguer?

A: He’s like Carl Crawford, in that he has the four tools now. For Crawford, the power came later in his career. You think he (Gose) can hit for power down the line, though I’d like to see a little more from him in playing the small ball game. He could wreak havoc with his speed.

Q: What did you see from Travis d’Arnaud?

A: If he were in a more hitter friendly park it wouldn’t surprise me if he hit .275 with 20 home runs. His doubles  number (38, led league) was very impressive. His hands are good and he has a very compact approach…

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When Ryan Howard hit a home run on Monday, in game four of the NLCS, he tied Lou Gehrig with eight consecutive post-season games with an RBI (tied by A-Rod last night). In our recent trend of looking back at some former BlueClaws, let’s look at Howard’s time with Lakewood.

• He hit .280-19-87 with the 2002 BlueClaws, who went 69-70.
• His 19 home runs was 3rd in the league (Andy Marte was 2nd).
• His 87 RBIs ranked 4th (Marte drove in 105 and was first…David Wright, current rival, was thrid wtih 93).
• Remember, Howard, while certainly an excellent player with the BlueClaws, at the time was not considered the top prospect even on his team. That was pitcher Gavin Floyd, who wetn 11-10, 2.77 that season.

That takes us to 2007, when he came back for a rehab assisgnment.

• Here is the story from MiLB.com after Howard hit a home run in the 5th inning of an 11:05 am game.
• The home run tied him with Randy Ruiz with 91 RBIs all time, first place in BlueClaws history: “Did I really?” he asked, “That’s awesome!”
• Also that day, one of our favorite photos (seen here).

Congratulations to 2005 BlueClaws pitcher JA Happ, who today was named by The Sporting News panel of 338 players as their NL Rookie of the Year.

Happ went 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA with the Phillies this year in 35 games (23) starts and 4-4, 2.36 with the BlueClaws in ’05.

A strange year for Happ began in Clearwater when the lost the 5th starter’s job to Chan Ho Park coming out of spring training, but by May, after Park was struggling in the rotation, Happ moved out of the pen and had a tremendous year.

Orioles scout Bob Szymkowski signed Happ (Northwestern) out of the 3rd round in 2004 for the Phillies. He told The Sporting News:

J.A. wasn’t the typical pitching prospect because he didn’t necessarily put the numbers up on the radar gun. Most times, he threw 86 to 88. But Jay had very good mound composure and competed very well. His best qualities were a very deceptive delivery in terms of his arm slot and the ability to mix all of his pitches and locate them on the perimeter of the strike zone. While he didn’t have a power approach, he still had a great feel for pitching.”

Entering this season, Happ was ranked 9th on the Phillies prospect list by Baseball America. He was 11th in 2008 and 8th in 2007.

White Sox 3B Gordan Beckham was named AL Rookie of the Year.

The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce their choice as ROY in November. Recently, Dan Uggla and Willy Tavares were named by TSN (06, 05) but Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Howard were named NL ROY by the Baseball Writers. So we are talking two different awards. But Happ got selected by his fellow players, something that’s always extra special.

We hosted our ticket package holders and group leaders at FirstEnergy Park last night for our annual playoff party. Part of the evening included photos with our two (06, 09) SAL Championship Trophies, such as this one, my personal favorite.

The rest can be seen here.

Quick rundown of the last few days in Arizona, where Domonic Brown continues to hit. He went 2-4 with two walks on Saturday night and then last night, hit his second home run of the desert season. In the process, he raised his average to .320 in Arizona. He’s been hitting 3rd and playing RF for Scottsdale.

This is what Rob Setingell of SNY.tv had to say about Brown in a Fall League preview:

Domonic Brown, OF, Phillies: He’ll look to build on a strong ’09 (.299/14/64 with 23 steals) and catapult himself into elite prospect status this fall. The Phillies will have a log jam of quality outfielders by mid-2010, which is great news for GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

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Pitching side…Edgar Garcia (1), Michael Schwimer (2), and Scott Mathieson (1) combined for four scoreless innings last night for Scottsdale in a 7-3 win over Surprise.

Made a trophy tour stop last week at Single Throw Internet Marketing, where Zack Rosenberg, BlueClaws marketing manager, sat down with Single Throw head Jim Farrell.

We’ve been looking at some former BlueClaws after these Phillies playoff games, and after his outing last night, let’s look at the four former BlueClaws that brought the Phillies Cliff Lee.

• RHP Jason Knapp was in a Greenville, SC mall with BlueClaws teammate Rob Roth when the deal went down. He heard from his agent, then waited out four and a half hours at the ballpark before the deal was official and he heard from Indians brass. Knapp was 2nd in the league in strikeouts when he was injured in July and recently had shoulder surgery, though he is expected ready for spring training. As the BlueClaws team bus was driving over to the ballpark, with Knapp on it, tv commentators were saying that the 18-year old was the key to the deal for the Indians, which brought some ooohs and aaahs from his BlueClaws teammates.
• C Lou Marson went 11-44 with the Indians as a September call-up (which he was last year with the Phillies) and the catcher on the 2006 champion BlueClaws will have every chance to be on the Tribe’s Opening Day roster next year. He will have to hold off uber-prospect Carlos Santana who might be another year away.
• IF Jason Donald was hurt much of the year with Lehigh Valley and didn’t play after August 15th with AAA Columbus in the Cleveland system. He’s the one of the three older members of the deal to not make his big league debut, but that should come next year and could come in the beginning of the season. The SS will be a utility infielder after starring for seven weeks with the 2007 BlueClaws before an early June promotion.
• RHP Carlos Carrasco was a guy the Phillies were hesitant to trade, and Chuck LaMar talked about his excellent “stuff” but ultimately, without Kyle Drabek or Domonic Brown in the deal, he was going to be in it. Carrasco debuted with the Indians, but went 0-4, 8.87 over five starts. He gave up four runs in his first pro inning and it took six hitters to get an out (except when Curtis Granderson was thrown out trying to stretching a double into a triple). He was one of the aces on the 2006 BlueClaws title team.

As for Lee, eight shutout innings last night and he has been flawless as the Phillies roll along in the NLCS.

“Make pitches, mix speeds, stay out of the heart of the plate,” Lee said after the game. “That’s the name of the game as far as pitching goes.”

(AP Photo)

Steve Susdorf hit his first home run in the Arizona Fall League, a solo shot off of Eddie Gamboa, who went 6-0 for Delmarva this season. Scottsdale, however, fell 7-4 to Phoenix in AFL action on Friday night.

The story of the game was the professional debut of Stephen Strasburg, who threw 3.1 shutout innings for Phoenix (Note: We goofed in yesterday’s AFL post, saying that Strasburg would pitch FOR, not AGAINST, Scottsdale and the Phillies prospects.)

“I definitely had the adrenaline going tonight,” said Strasburg. “Early on, I was wrestling the plate a little. I felt the same way before my first start in college.”

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Edgar Garcia, a former BlueClaw, gave up three runs in two innings, taking the loss. Michael Schwimer threw a shutout inning, and Domonic Brown had a double in the game.