Playoff Baseball Rocks

Is there anything better than baseball in October? It is so unpredictable and intense. I love it. Watching the Division Series these past few nights have been pretty amazing. We've been able to watch October stars be born, others have come up short under the pressure. October is truly the time to separate the men from the boys.

A fine example came last night in the first inning, yes, FIRST inning of the New York Yankees/Detroit Tigers game. AJ Burnett looked awful. He managed to load the bases and could not seem to find the strike zone to save his life. Luckily, a guy named Curtis Granderson was playing in center field prepared to bail Burnett out.

Burnett had managed to walk the bases full and was about to face Detroit right fielder Don Kelley. In the mean time, the Yankees already had activity in the bull-pen, as Cory Wade was up and loosening to take over for what appeared to be a dead in the water Burnett. Burnett proceeded to throw a fastball right down the middle that Kelley appeared to have gotten a good piece of lumber on.

That is when Curtis Granderson changed the face of the game. Initially he sold out and came in on the fly ball. Watching the game it was going to be an inside the park grand slam if Granderson was unable to come up with the catch. He (Granderson) realized his judgement error in barely enough time to make a spectacular catch to save the inning for the Yankees and the game for Burnett. Let's face it, that ball gets down, Burnett is pulled, Wade is in and the Tigers go on to win the game and the series. I don't think you can really dispute that fact. Last night capped off (for me) the full transformation of Curtis Granderson being a good/solid player in Detroit, to being an all-star in New York.

Travel down South to Tropicana Field and another October superstar was born last night. Adrian Beltre belted 3 homeruns to put the

Texas Rangers into the ALCS for the second straight year in a row. Beltre has been an absolute BEAST for the Texas Rangers this season and I love the fact that it has paid off for him this far.

This season he batted .296 with 32 home runs and 105 runs batted in. His slugging percentage was .561 this season, which is second only to his best career season in 2004 when it was .629. The guy has been a consistently good hitter and an impeccable fielder for his career and it is nice to see him in an organization that allows him the opportunity to shine.

Tonight we get to see 2 potential elimination games in the National League. The Phillies will be in St. Louis tonight trying to boot the Cardinals from the post season. The probable pitchers for tonight are Roy Oswalt for the Phillies and Edwin Jackson for the Cards. This is going to be quite the matchup. The last time Oswalt pitched in St. Louis he took the Houston Astros to their first... and ONLY World Series birth. On the other hand, Edwin Jackson has easily been the Cards best starter since late July. He has allowed 2 or fewer runs in 9 of his 12 starts. He has also gone 6 or more innings in 10 of those 12 outings.

Travel across the country and we will see the Milwaukee Brewers visiting the Arizona Diamondbacks and try to take them out of the playoffs. The probables for this game are Randy Wolfe for the Brewers, whom, while not an exciting pitcher, is a horse and an inning eater; squaring off with Joe Saunders for the D'Backs. I'm not sure what to think of this game - I think it may be an offensive outing, ending in a 6-4 final score - and I am assuming that 6 will be at the hands of the Brew Crew.

God, I love baseball.