Division Series Roundup

Rangers 6 Rays 0: CJ Wilson pitched 6.1 scoreless innings of 2 hit ball and Big Game James fell flat giving up 4 runs in his 4.1 innings.  In my preview for this series, although I said the Rangers had the better starting pitching, I still picked the Rays, dumb move.  I clearly underestimated the Rangers advantage in the rotation especially considering the Rays' total lack of ability to hit left-handed pitching (Cliff Lee and CJ Wilson).  While a lot of people have criticized Maddon for starting James Shields, I actually defended the move.  His underlying numbers are still above average, and you'd much rather pitch him at home than in Texas.  He did throw a clunker though and Maddon is going to (deservedly) get a lot of heat for it, but if Shields threw 9 innings of 1 run ball the Rays would still lose -- the bigger problem right now is scoring runs.

Yankees 5 Twins 2: This one looked like it was from the 90s; Andy Pettitte goes 7, unnamed reliever bridges to Mo, Mo does his thing. This one wasn't without controversy (again) as Lance Berkman's go ahead, and what would be game winning hit, came after a missed called strike 3 (with more on that here)  It should be noted that the umps during this series have been horrible, and you don't need the TBS zone graphic to illustrate that.  They've been consistently inconsistent, which is basically the worst thing an ump can be.

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine before the game, we wondered what was more important for this game: a Yankees win or a promising start by Pettitte?  Obviously in the playoffs you take the win, every time, but if the Yankees are going to win the World Series (which is all that matters for them) they'll need a healthy and effective Pettitte. Luckily for Yankee fans they got both tonight as Pettitte pitched rather well, avoiding a potential disaster early on and then smooth sailing from there.  Pavano looked filthy early on but as the Yankees often do, they started to get to him on their 2nd and 3rd trips to the plate.  While he was still at a low pitch count after the 6th, it may have been wise for the Twins to hand the ball over to the bullpen, obviously hindsight is 20-20 but this is something the Yankees always do-- give them more time to see a pitcher and they'll get their hits.  The Twins season now rests on rookie Brian Duensing who will start Saturday at Yankee Stadium, tough job.  My guess?  He looks sharp after 3-4 innings until the Yankees start to get to him.  Let's hope for the Twins sake that Gardenhire doesn't leave him in too long.

Giants 1 Braves 0: Roy Halladay threw the no-hitter but Tim Lincecum was about as good last night pitching a shutout on 2 hits while striking out 14.  Timmy had everyone nervous for a little while there but he's been dominating recently.  Since September he's 6-1 with a 1.6 ERA with 66 Ks in 50.2 innings.

The Giants run in this game wasn't without controversy either, Buster Posy was the beneficiary of a bad call on a stolen base in the 4th inning that allowed him to score what would be the Giants' only run.  Maybe robot umpires aren't the worst thing ever-- MLB is going to have to seriously consider expanding replay.  Bud can't skirt this issue either like he has attempted to with steroids.  I don't think the players union is up in arms about expanded replay like they were with expanded testing.  Just do it already, before something bad, really bad, inevitably happens.