With both NL teams starting their series today, the Rays-Rangers continuing, and the Tigers-Yankees trying to finally play the bottom of the 2nd, it's wall to wall baseball...weather permitting.
11:00am PDT is the Diamondbacks and Brewers (Go Ziggy!)
2:00pm PDT is the Cardinals-Phillies (Will Matt Holliday drop a key fly ball? Stay tuned)
4:00pm PDT is the Rays-Rangers (if the Rays win the World Series, will Dan Johnson be voted an 87% share?)
5:30 PDT is the Tigers-Yankees (exit Verlander and Sabathia, enter Fister and Nova).
The "Question of the day" is which team will ultimately get hurt more by losing the chance to pitch their ace twice in the 5 game series, DET or NYY? Both are hugely reliant on their ace, with Verlander being the Tigers' best shot at an upset and with Sabathia being the Yankees' only truly reliable starting pitcher.
This much I know: Likely as not, either Fister or Nova is going to emerge as a huge factor in the series, perhaps the deciding one. If it comes to that, my money's on Fister, who is becoming a "Doyle Alexander-like" story for the Tigers. But then again, would you take the Tigers to win in this matchup, knowing they can't even get two starts from Verlander? Probably not.
My ultimate conclusion: BARELY KNEW HER!
{still funny}
A'S NEWS: Susan Slusser reports that pitching coach Ron Romanick, hitting coach Gerald Perry, and bench coach Joel Skinner will not return next year, and that two possible pitching coach hires for next year include Bryan Price, a fellow Cal alum Bob Melvin has worked with before, and Curt Young, whose manager, Terry Francona, was also let go yesterday.
