The Yankees have an "Ace," and the Angels don't.
Really, that's been the difference in this ALCS so far. The Yankees' CC Sabathia has dispensed two xerox masterpieces, a pair of dominant eight-inning, low-hit, one-run performances, and the guys who were runners-up in the off-season CC Sweepstakes have had no one to match him.
So Mike Scioscia's overpowered guys are down 3-1, like their L.A. neighbors, and they will turn to the closest thing have have to an ace, John Lackey, to try to take this thing back to New York.
Only Lackey is no Sabathia. He's no Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee, either.
Maybe now you can understand why so many of us urged the Angels to make the deal for a truly elite pitcher at the trade deadline.
In postseason baseball, "Aces" are the difference more often than not. Remember Orel Hershiser in 1988? Or Curt Schilling with the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks, the latter lucky enough to have had a pair of aces with Randy Johnson joining the party? There was Jack Morris with the Twins and John Smoltz with the Braves and Josh Bekcett with the Marlins and Red Sox and . . .well, you get the idea.
Great starting pitchers are the Academy Award winners of October.
And Sabathia, who was paid a King's ransom to sign, has earned his money for the Yankees, not only dominating this series but losing just once -- that's right, once -- since July 28.
In the ALCS, he outpitched Lackey in Game 1, then came back on only three days' rest, to outpitch the disappointing Scott Kazmir in Tuesday night's 10-1 rout.
You recall Kazmir. He's the guy the Angels acquired because of his terrific record against Boston and New York. So he started once against each in the postseason, pitching poorly in both games.
Arte Moreno tried to get Sabathia, who would come back to pitch Game 7 in this series if it were needed, in the off-season. But even he couldn't match the $160 million-plus the Yankees paid the jumbo-sized lefty.
At the trade deadline, GM Tony Reagins dabbled with the idea of dealing for Halladay or Lee, but in both cases the Angels came up short, claiming the asking price was too high. You know, there were all those promising "prospects" to consider.
In retrospect, you can't help but wonder if, given another chance, they would make that deal now in Anaheim, where the only "Ace" they've seen lately has broken their hearts.
-- Steve Bisheff