Baseball Playoff Update: Angels vs. Yankees is Set, Dodgers Wait for Philly and Colorado

MLB Update: Angels vs. Yankees is Set While the Dodgers Wait for Philadelphia and Colorado

Two of the favorites to make it to the World Series when the MLB Playoffs started, the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals, were both swept by the L.A. Angels and L.A. Dodgers and now will have to wait for 2010 before trying to get into the World Series.

The Angels were magnificent on Sunday when rallying from 2 down in the 9th inning to score 3 runs and take a 7 to 6 lead over Boston going into the bottom of the 9th. Boston couldn’t do anything against Angels’ closer Brian Fuentes, who led the majors in saves during the regular season, and the Angels’ sweep was completed.

The key call in the game actually came from the Red Sox who decided to walk Tori Hunter in order to get to Vladimir Guerrero. Guerrero made them pay by providing a 2 out 2 run single that put the Angels into the lead for good.

The other L.A. team, the Dodgers, didn’t need any heroics on Saturday in order to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals. Facing another top pitcher in Joel Pineiro, the Dodgers simply played baseball, turning 7 hits against Pineiro into 4 runs, and causing St. Louis Manager Tony LaRussa to go the bullpen early. L.A. then coasted to a victory.

Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla, who was in Texas just a couple of months ago, was amazingly efficient when allowing only 4 hits in 7 innings and striking out 4. Padilla notched the win in the Dodgers’ 5 to 1 victory.

The two L.A. teams passed the broom onto the New York Yankees who swept the Minnesota Twins and will now face the Angels in the ALCS. The Yankees did their magic on Sunday when racking up 5 hits and 2 runs on Carl Pavano and then 1 heat on relievers Ron Mahay and Jon Rauch. The Yankees haven’t shown any signs of slowing down and are easily the favorites to not only make it into the World Series but to win it right now.

Expect a lot of runs when the Angels venture to N.Y. this Friday as neither team is known for shut down pitching.

Philly Has Had Enough…They Start Lee on Monday Night

There is one game scheduled on Monday night because of the sweeps by the L.A. Dodgers, L.A. Angels and New York Yankees.

At 6:05 pm EST, the Philadelphia Phillies take on the Colorado Rockies in Game 4 of their divisional playoff series. Philadelphia used a 9th inning run on Sunday in order to put away the pesky Colorado at Coors Field and now have a shot to get into their second straight NLCS.

The Phillies are favorites to win at -105 but Cliff Lee, whom they start on Monday night, is an underdog in the MLB sportsbook at -1 ½ -210. Those are strange odds. In any case, the Rockies have little shot against the terrific Lee who should simply beat down Ubaldo Jimenez, like he did in Game 1 of this series, and help Philadelphia march into the NLCS to take on the L.A. Dodgers.