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| | Wednesday, October 6 | |||||
Special to ESPN.com | ||||||
| 1. Clemens is key It's obvious that the key for the Yankees is to get Roger Clemens set up and pitching well. During the last week, the plan was to give Clemens six days' rest as the first-game starter, but he struggled again and Joe Torre elected to go with Orlando Hernandez in Game 1. Clemens will now start the third game. It's time for him to step it up. He's huge. He's got to be the lead horse for the pitching staff. That's what they got him for. Starting pitching has to be the difference for the Yankees. You think of Texas and Cleveland as the two teams with the most questionable starting pitching in the postseason, so the starters will be vital for the Yankees. They have to shut down the other team's offense and let their lineup score five or six runs. But if the starters are going five or six innings and giving up four or five runs, the Yankees may be in trouble. 2. Yankees' lineup New York's lineup is the same group of guys as last year, they just haven't had the career years like they did last season. You look at Arizona, and they kind of did with four guys -- Jay Bell, Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams and Steve Finley -- all having career years. But I think New York's lineup is good enough to score enough runs. Bernie Williams is the one guy that opposing teams fear the most, because he can beat you so many different ways with the bat. 3. Rivera and ... I think the Yankees have the best closer in the American League. Mariano Rivera hasn't given up a run his last 30.2 innings and in his career during the postseason he's allowed just two runs in 35 innings, an ERA of 0.51. If they get to him, they're in pretty good shape, but they haven't been as deep as in recent year. Ramiro Mendoza hasn't been quite as strong and Mike Stanton has had some back problems. It looks like Allen Watson will fill the Graeme Lloyd left-handed role. I think there's always pressure with the Yankees. But they have a lot of veterans who know to deal with it. I actually think there was more pressure last year because they had the second-greatest regular season in history and the team wouldn't have been satisfied if they hadn't gone all the way. 4. Sele and Helling I don't think Rick Helling and Aaron Sele have to pitch lights out -- unless they get paired up with Pedro Martinez in the second round. They have to hold the opposition to three runs in six innings or four runs in seven and give the Texas offense a chance to win the game. Of course, it's easier to have that mindsight during the regular season when you're beating up on Minnesota and Detroit. It's a different story when're facing El Duque or David Cone. 5. Zimmerman must rebound Jeff Zimmerman obviously was key to the Rangers all season but his recent struggles were something you had to worry about all year. You can't blame Johnny Oates for going to the well so often early in the season, because he was so incredibly effective. But Zimmerman was pitching a lot of innings and you wondered when he might get fatigued. It's tough to go through a season without getting tired, especially when you're working 75, 80 innings out of the bullpen and it's the first time you've done it in the big leagues. You hope he bounces back and pitches well in the playoffs. The Yankees have the home-field advantage, but since baseball went to the division playoffs in 1995, the home team is 64-63 in the postseason. ESPN's Dave Campbell will be covering the playoffs on ESPN Radio. | ALSO SEE Campbell: Five keys for Indians-Red Sox
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