NY newspapers preview the playoffs

“We basically lucked out when we played them,” Torre said. “At our place, they really weren’t swinging the bats very well, and at their place, they didn’t have Hafner."

That quote from Yankee manager Joe Torre about the Yankes 6-0 record against the Tribe this year can be found in every New York-area newspaper this morning.

The above version was in the New York Times.

A slightly longer version appeared in The Daily News.

We basically lucked out when we played them at our place," Joe Torre said. "And they weren't really swinging the bats very well at their place and they were without (slugging DH Travis) Hafner. We happened to have Alex on our side in the last game at our place. They play a very aggressive game."

The Daily News of course, not heeding the words of the manager, talked about the Yankees "huge advanatage" going into the series.

On paper, it'd be easy to believe the Yankees have a huge advantage, considering they outscored Cleveland 49-17, averaging 8.16 runs in the six games. They batted .348 against Cleveland and slugged 14 homers. A-Rod had six homers, Jason Giambi four. The only regular who didn't hit .300 against Cleveland is Melky Cabrera, who batted .280. The pitching staff had a 2.67 ERA.

The Yankees swept the Indians at the Stadium in April despite starting the trio of Chase Wright, Kei Igawa and Darrell Rasner. In the final game of that series, the Indians led 6-2 with their closer, Joe Borowski, on the mound but lost, 8-6. Rodriguez smashed a walk-off three-run homer.

The Yankees haven't faced lefty C.C. Sabathia, one of the Indians' two Cy Young candidates. They beat Fausto Carmona once, but Carmona also threw six strong innings against them in April.

To its credit, Newsday - the Long Island daily paper - advises its readers to look beyond the stats when evaluating the series against the Tribe. This is probably the fairest evaluation of the Tribe to be found in the New York media this morning. In particular, it mentions the quality of the Tribe pitching staff, and - with good reason - finds closer Joe Borowski to be the only chink in the pitching armor.

The Record - which covers the mostly ritzy Jersey suburbs northwest of the city - reports the Yankees, and in particular Derek Jeter, are giving the Indians their due respect.

"You can throw every number out -- all that stuff. You still have to play the games."

But the paper itself didn't seem to be listening.

Despite their wild-card status, and the potential of one fewer home game, the Yankees will be viewed as the favorite -- and Jeter will still plead that the Yanks' past performance against Cleveland doesn't make a difference.

The Star-Ledger - which is based in Newark and covers NJ suburbs and the old, gritty cities south and west of NYC - ran pretty much the same article, only with a few more quotes from a larger group of Yankees saying pretty much the same thing.

Finally, The New York Times' Murray Chass - who has been a baseball writer at the Old Gray Lady for eons - gives the Tribe credit for clawing their way to the top the hard way this season.

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One bit of news from the Yankee camp. Hideki Matsui was sent back to New York yesterday to have fluid drained from his knee.

The Yankees say the knee has been bothering the leftfilder since July, but they are also saying he likely will be limited to DH duty.

That means Johnny Damon - who has battled nagging injuries himself for most of the season - will have to start in left and the slump-ridden Melky Cabrera is the only option in center.