Thoughts After Day 2

Well, day two of the MLB playoffs has passed and, I have to say, not too many interesting things have gone down. Let's take a quick look at each of the series.

A's vs. Twins
I don't want to say that the Twins are done because Oakland loves finding amazing ways to blow things, but, yeah, the Twinkies are toast. Minny will throw Brad "I can't throw 80 and my shoulder hurts, but I'm tough" Radke, Johan "I'm on three days rest, please don't ruin me" Santana and Boof "I legally changed my name to this why?" Bonser against Danny "I'm the best number 3 starter in the playoffs" Haren, Rich "I'm probably the third best pitcher in all the postseason if I'm healthy" Harden and Barry "I'm on regular rest and already beat you once" Zito. Sounds like the A's should get one of those to me.

Padres vs. Cardinals
The bastard stepchild of these playoffs, the series nobody cares about gets back going at 4 today. I picked the Pads in four, and I'm sticking with that. You had to figure Carpenter would win Tuesday, just because he's so good. But when you're throwing Jeff Weaver out there in Game 2, as the Cards are, you have big problems. And, memo to the Padres: Walk Albert Pujols!!! Bruce Bochy is an idiot, I repeat, idiot, if he lets a pitcher throw to him again unless the team is up a lot.

Yanks vs. Tigers
This should continue being a walk-over of a series for the Yanks. The team won Game 1, and that probably should have been the hardest. Now here's the one thing to worry about if you're a Yankee fan: today's game. If somehow the team comes out flat in a rescheduled day game and lets the Tigers tie the series, there could be big problems. Randy "I've sucked for two years" Johnson goes in Game 3 with his pained back and awful stache, and Jaret "Am I really getting a postseason start?" Wright goes in Game 4. Detroit counters with Kenny Rogers, who can never be trusted, and their ace, Jeremy Bonderman. Yanks need a win today; and I expect they'll get one.

Mets vs. Dodgers
Only one game done, and my prediction is sort of off, since I thought Lowe would win. I still think LA wins in 5, though. Randolph proved once again he can't manage yesterday, even though the Mets pulled it off. Maine has been the team's best starter in the second half, by far, and the manager pulls him after just about four innings, even thought he's only given up one run. This taxes the bullpen incredibly, and when you got three five-or-six-inning pitchers going the next few games, this could be a problem. And this doesn't even account for the fact that Randolph was playing for ONE RUN in the FIFTH INNING. He has the best lineup in the NL (or AAAA, which ever you'd like to call it); the only chance the Mets have to win is if they bash their way to the World Series, and then promptly get their butts kicked. His bullpen still gave up four more runs (and it could have been more); he just got lucky his offense, again, bailed him out. If they lose that game, we're all here wondering how you take Maine out after four, just to pitch Mota, who's been bounced around so much this year, for TWO full innings. And, of course, he gave up three runs. This will all catch up to the Mets.