Three Game 5s spread between tonight and tomorrow

Getting ready to watch Tigers-Yankees in just a few minutes on TBS. It's the first of three decisive Game 5s in the first round. Tomorrow it's Brewers-Diamondbacks at 3 p.m. MT and Phillies-Cardinals at 6:30 p.m. MT. It doesn't get much better than this. If you get a chance, I encourage you to check out as much of these games as possible. Seasons are on the line and it's now or never. I love it.

I hope the Tigers reconsider their position of not bringing ace pitcher Justin Verlander out of the bullpen tonight should the situation warrant it. It's Game 5 and in my book, you should have all hands on deck.

Well, in any case, here we go!

Playoff picks

Sooo, the two teams I picked to make the World Series, the San Francisco Giants (86-76) and the Boston Red Sox (90-72) didn't even make the playoffs. I'm sad about the Giants, but think it's cool the Tampa Bay Rays (91-71) made it. Anyway, let's get cracking with my playoff picks:

American League:
Texas Rangers (96-66) over Rays in 4. The Rangers have some pitching and have a very potent offense, but the Rays have a ton of intangibles, but a ton of pitching. I think the Rangers have more talent, though, and will pull it out.

Detroit Tigers (95-67) over New York Yankees (97-65) in 5. Putting it simply: the Tigers have Justin Verlander and he gets to pitch twice in a full series. He's the best player in the American League this year in my book. Both teams have hitting and pitching, but I think Verlander makes the difference.

National League:
Philadelphia Phillies (102-60) over St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) in 4. The Phillies just have a better team. Their pitching staff, particularly the starting rotation is better. But the Cards have a good team and a good manager in Tony La Russa so they should make it a series.

Milwaukee Brewers (96-66) over Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68) in 5. The Brewers have a much better team on paper. But so did the Giants if you ask me. The D-Backs have the intangibles and mojo that could carry them past the first round. However, the Brewers have good chemistry and I think the deciding factor will be home field advantage.

Well, for the heck of it, I'll pick the LCS and World Series while I'm at it: Rangers over Tigers in 7 and Phillies over Brewers in 6. In the World Series, Phillies over Rangers in 5. More detailed picks on the succeeding rounds when they are upon us.

Tomorrow, it's Rays at Rangers at 3 p.m. MT and Tigers at Yankees at 6:30 p.m. MT. Both games are on TBS. The National League Playoffs get underway on Saturday.

Tough times for the World Champion Giants

When I last posted, the World Champion San Francisco Giants were 61-44 and coming off taking 2 out of 3 from the Phillies (78-42) in Philadelphia. And the Giants had just acquired slugger Carlos Beltran, the premier piece on the trade market, from the New York Mets (59-62). The Giants led the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West by 4 games. Things were looking up.

Now, Beltran is on the Disabled List and the Giants have gone 5-13 since my last post. Their record is 66-57 and they trail Arizona (69-53) by 3.5 games in the West. It doesn't help that the Diamondbacks never seem to lose anymore. The Giants are struggling and need to turn it around soon. Real soon. The schedule is approaching September, and the Giants don't want to be too far out of striking distance.

Beltran is far from the only one hurting right now. Stellar set-up man Sergio Romo is also on the DL, and starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez left tonight's game at the Braves (72-51) with an apparent injury. Nate Schierholtz and Jeff Keppinger also have suffered injuries of some sort and their prognosis for return isn't totally certain. Not to mention, Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez are sidelined for the season. It seems the Giants have had more than their share of bad luck.

Still, all is not lost. It stands to reason that the Diamondbacks have to lose a few games and let's not forget, the Giants were even farther behind the Padres around this time last year. So, there's still hope, even if things are looking bleak right now and it kind of feels like this might not be the year. I'll keep paying attention and hoping for the best.

Charlie Manuel's sour grapes

Philadelphia Phillies (65-39) manager Charlie Manuel insists the World Champion San Francisco Giants (61-44) aren't in his team's heads after the Giants took two out of three from the Phillies in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia this week. To me, his comments sounded like he was insecure. Additionally, he said that Giants pitchers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were good, but not great pitchers. Perhaps he thought both men throwing six and seven innings without giving up an earned run to his vaunted lineup was an abberation. Or maybe he's forgotten Cain's seven shutout innings against the Phils in Game 3 of the NLCS last year or Lincecum's Game 1 victory in the same series.

Manuel's statement that greatness comes with consistency (and his assertion that Lincecum and Cain have not yet achieved this) is almost laughable. Lincecum won back-to-back Cy Young Awards and the following year was the MVP of the Postseason while pitching his team to a World Series victory. If that's not consistent, I don't know what is. Cain, on the other hand, didn't surrender even one earned run the entire postseason and has a 3.39 career ERA in five full seasons, including 2.89 in 2009 and 3.14 last year. Cain's ERA is 2.91 this year, Lincecum's is 2.78. Both seem pretty consistent to me. All I'm hearing from Manuel's comments is sour grapes.

The blogging and tweeting will be limited at best until August 7th, when I return from vacation with a flourish.

MLB predictions

It's that time of the year. Thursday is Opening Day for Major League Baseball, one of the best days of the entire year if you ask me. There's something about baseball that just makes it seem like it's going to be a good summer. Check out ESPN for three games tomorrow and of course MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv all season long. The World Champion San Francisco Giants open up at the hated Los Angeles Dodgers at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN, should be exciting. Okay, so now it's time to give you my picks for the upcoming season, starting with the American League:

AL East:
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles

AL Central:
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

AL West:
1. Oakland Athletics
2. Texas Rangers
3. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
4. Seattle Mariners

AL Wild Card:
1. New York Yankees
2. Texas Rangers
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Detroit Tigers

And now for the National League:

NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. Florida Marlins
4. New York Mets
5. Washington Nationals

NL Central:
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West:
1. San Francisco Giants
2. Colorado Rockies
3. San Diego Padres
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Arizona Diamondbacks

NL Wild Card:
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Atlanta Braves
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Florida Marlins

In the AL seeding, I predict 1. Red Sox 2. Twins 3. Athletics 4. Yankees and in the NL 1. Phillies 2. Giants 3. Brewers 4. Rockies

And now for the round-by-round playoff predictions (NL winning the All-Star Game to give them home field advantage for World Series):

Division Series:
Red Sox over Athletics
Yankees over Twins
Philies over Rockies
Giants over Brewers

League Championship Series:
Red Sox over Yankees
Giants over Phillies

World Series:
Giants over Red Sox

There you have it, I'm picking my World Champion San Francisco Giants to repeat. How could I not? They do have pretty much the whole team back and the chemistry with this group is unlike just about anything I've ever seen in professional baseball, and there is something to be said about that.

The Phillies are going to miss Chase Utley I think, but they do have that pitching staff. But the Giants have the pitching, too, plus they have all the intangibles. The Red Sox I think are the team to beat in the American League. Carl Crawford is a big addition for them. I think the Athletics are going to make a run in the West this year with their young, talented pitching staff. In another pick that might surprise, I've picked the Brewers to win the NL Central. They've acquired some pitching to go along with that offense, notably Zack Greinke from the Kansas City Royals. Alright, that's all for now. It's time for baseball. All hail the World Champion San Francisco Giants!

Cliff Lee to Phillies

Prized free agent pitcher Cliff Lee has apparently agreed to a deal with the Phillies. Wow, nobody saw this one coming, I mean nobody. I don't have time right now to go into a lot of detail, but I have provided this useful link to a Jayson Stark column that I think does a nice job of articulating the details, etc.:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove10/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=5918008

I also liked the tweet from Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News that I have re-tweeted and can currently be read to the right of this post as well as on my Twitter account at twitter.com/dpaysports. And yes it is true, the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants did beat Lee (twice), Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels on their way to the championship.

The Giants win the pennant!

Pictured: The San Francisco Giants celebrate their fourth pennant since moving west.

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 tonight to win the National League pennant! Those words just sound great! Awesome!!! I am so excited! This is what it's all about! The Giants are going to the World Series! Wow this feels great!

The Giants beat the Phillies 4 games to 2 to win the National League Championship Series. Brian Wilson got Ryan Howard looking for strike three on a full count with two outs and runners at first and second. As FOX announcer Joe Buck said, that was about as intense as a baseball game could be. You have one of the best closers in the game throwing to one of the best hitters in the game with the winning run on base, two outs and a full count with a trip to the World Series on the line. I'm just glad that Wilson came through and sent the Giants to the Fall Classic. I don't think it's totally sunk in yet, but it's just an amazing feeling.

Juan Uribe hit the game-winning home run with a solo shot off Ryan Madson in the 8th inning to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. Uribe has had a good year with the power numbers and it makes me happy to see him come through. That home run will be long remembered among Giants fans. Good, good stuff.

Jonathan Sanchez struggled in this one, giving up 2 runs in the first inning and couldn't find the strike zone. Sanchez hit Chase Utley with a pitch in the third inning and Utley tossed the ball back to him under-handed. Sanchez took exception to this and the benches cleared. It was kind of fun to see the benches clear (there wasn't a fight) and to see guys on both sides show so much emotion for their teams. That proved to be the last hitter that Sanchez faced as he left with two runners on and nobody out. Jeremy Affeldt got out of that inning unscathed and threw two innings in total. Madison Bumgarner pitched two scoreless innings as well. Javier Lopez threw an inning of his own (he's been simply great for the Giants this season) and Tim Lincecum even came in in relief and recorded an out. Lincecum allowed a couple of runners to get on in the eighth and Brian Wilson came in and got out of that and then finished the save in the ninth. The bullpen threw seven scoreless innings in total -- simply awesome in a playoff game.

Cody Ross was named NLCS MVP and to me this was really an obvious choice. He was the Giants' most productive player, particularly on offense, for the entire series. I'm happy for him. I'd say that's a pretty good for a guy the Florida Marlins simply gave away on a waiver claim this year.

The World Series gets under way on Wednesday at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. It will be the Texas Rangers at the San Francisco Giants for Game 1 at AT&T Park. Game 2 is set for the same time on Thursday night. I'm excited the Giants have home field advantage. This should be awesome. Go Giants!

Rangers win ALCS; Giants-Phillies Game 6 upcoming

The Texas Rangers defeated the New York Yankees 6-1 tonight to win the ALCS 4 games to 2. The clinched in front of a rabid home crowd to earn their first pennant and World Series berth in team history. Colby Lewis was really good for 8 innings of pitching and Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz both had big hits in a key 4-run fifth inning for the Rangers. Josh Hamilton took home the ALCS MVP award after a really good series. The Yankees walked him intentionally three different times tonight. The Rangers' lineup is flat out dangerous and their starting pitching has looked quite good as well. The bullpen has been a little shaky, but they did get a great outing from Derek Holland in Game 4 and Neftali Feliz has been dynamic as the closer. They will be a tough out for whoever plays them in what I think will be a long World Series.

I'm really, really happy that the Yankees have lost and won't win the World Series this year. As I've said before, to me they represent everything is wrong with baseball. They have an exorbitant payroll that reaches far beyond even what other large market teams are capable of and are basically poachers of players that other teams have developed. It's infuriating. They think they can just get whoever they want and essentially buy championships. So I was very happy to see all the shots of the Yankees and their long faces late in the game as the inevitability of losing this game sunk in on them. Good stuff.

The San Francisco Giants take on the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the NLCS Saturday night in Philadelphia at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. The Giants lead the series 3 games to 2.The Giants start Jonathan Sanchez and the Phillies go with Roy Oswalt. Despite the loss at home in Game 5, I still think the Giants have a really good chance to take home the pennant. Sanchez is a really confident pitcher and has had really good stuff and control lately. The offense has been able to scratch across a few runs and even scored the game-winner against Oswalt when he came on in relief during Game 4. If I had to pick I would say the Giants win this game and move on to the World Series. I hope I am right, I think it will be a good, close game. Go Giants!

Giants drop Game 5, series goes back to Philly

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-2 tonight in Game 5 of the NLCS. The Giants still lead the series 3 games to 2. Game 6 is Saturday in Philadelphia with the start time yet to be determined (it depends on the outcome of Game 6 of the ALCS tomorrow night). Roy Halladay had a strained groin and seemed to be in trouble every inning for the Phillies but he gutted out six innings and had just enough to earn the win. The Phillies did most of their offensive damage in the 3rd inning, scoring three runs off Giants ace Tim Lincecum who suffered his first postseason defeat.

The Giants' defense let them down in the 3rd inning as Pablo Sandoval missed third base on a bunt attempt by Halladay that would have resulted in a double play and Aubrey Huff misplayed a groundball that ricocheted into center field and allowed two runs to score. The offense had some chances in the first inning as well but Phillies first baseman was able to snare a ball that Huff hit right on the screws for an out. If not for that play, the inning could have been a lot bigger than it was with the one early run the Giants did get. It's bad luck on that play, but part of baseball at the same time.

I thought Halladay showed a lot of heart tonight. It was clear he didn't have his best stuff, but he still only gave up two runs in six innings which to me shows a lot of character. And to find out after the game that he strained his groin in the second inning only makes his performance more impressive.

Cody Ross continues to be the frontrunner for NLCS MVP as he doubled in another run to push his RBI total to 5 for the series. He just seems to keep coming up with big hits in big situations. Let's hope he continues to swing a hot bat in Philadelphia.

I'm still optimistic about the Giants. They have already won in Philadelphia in the series and have Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain to pitch Games 6 and 7 against Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Hopefully Game 7 isn't necessary, but it's nice to know that Saturday isn't an elimination game. I can hardly wait to see what happens. Game time should be just before 6 p.m. MT if the Rangers close out the Yankees tomorrow and just before 2 p.m. MT if the hated Yanks force a Game 7 in Texas for Saturday night. Speaking of the ALCS, it resumes tomorrow night. Here's the details:

Game 6 -- New York Yankees (Hughes) at Texas Rangers (Lewis), 6:07 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 3-2)

And in another sports note, did anyone else notice what kind of beat down #1 Oregon (7-0, 4-0 Pac-10) put on UCLA (3-4, 1-3 Pac-10) tonight? The final score in Autzen was 60-13. The Ducks look really good and really fast. They are going to be tough to beat. I'm not a big Oregon fan per se, but their team sure is fun to watch play.

Giants win Game 4

Just a quick post tonight, but I have to say I am really excited about the Giants beating the Phillies 6-5 to go up 3 games to 1 in the series. Game 5 is tomorrow in San Francisco at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. I'll be watching. You should be too. Juan Uribe hit a walk-off sacrifice fly tonight. Resiliency is the word that comes to mind when describing tonight's win and that's not the first time this year I've used that word. Great win, the Giants should shoot for closing it out tomorrow night. They seem like a really tight-knit group that keeps grinding it out. It's been a fun year. Let's hope it gets even more fun. Go Giants!

Cain is able and Ross comes through again for Giants in Game 3

Pictured: Cody Ross once again comes through, this time with an RBI single in the 4th inning.

The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 this afternoon in Game 3 of the NLCS to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is set for tomorrow night at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. Matt Cain threw seven shutout innings and outdueled Cole Hamels to earn his first career postseason win. Can't say enough about Cain, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said that Cain seemed to get even tougher when he got in more pressurized situations. The rest of the country is starting to see what we've seen for a couple of years now: the Giants have some big time pitching. Javier Lopez pitched a perfect 8th -- I still don't think he gets all the recognition he deserves as he's been absolutely lights out lately. Brian Wilson threw a scoreless 9th to earn the save.

Cody Ross once again came through, this time with a two out RBI single in the 4th inning off Hamels to enable the Giants to draw first blood. He's really dialed in right now -- after the game both Ross and Hamels said they felt it was a pitcher's pitch which makes it even more impressive that he was able to pull it to left field and give the Giants the lead. Aubrey Huff followed with an RBI single of his own and Freddy Sanchez added an RBI single an inning later.

The Giants are in pretty good shape but it's important for them to keep riding this momentum into tomorrow night's game. A win tomorrow night will put them in great shape for a prospective National League pennant.

The Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees tonight 10-3 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in the ALCS. The big blow was a three run home run from Bengie Molina to make it 5-3 in the 6th and the Rangers kept adding on after that. Reliever Derek Holland was as big a hero as anyone, throwing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball to hold down the fort. He appropriately earned the win. The Rangers have a chance to clinch tomorrow. That sure would be cool.

Here's the details for tomorrow's games:

Game 5 -- Texas Rangers (Wilson) at New York Yankees (Sabathia), 2:07 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 3-1)
Game 4 -- Philadelphia Phillies (Blanton) at San Francisco Giants (Bumgarner), 5:57 p.m. MT (FOX, Giants lead series 2-1)

Cliff Lee dominant; Giants-Phils resume play tomorrow

The Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees 8-0 tonight at Yankee Stadium to take a 2 games to 1 lead in the ALCS. Cliff Lee was masterful through eight scoreless innings and the Rangers rocked the Yankees bullpen with six runs in the 9th. Josh Hamilton hit a two run home run in the first and that was all Lee needed. This was a big win for the Rangers who took home field back and will try and extend their series lead tomorrow evening.

The San Francisco Giants host the Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow afternoon at AT&T Park in Game 3 of the NLCS. Hopefully they come out on top. Just a short post tonight as I am busy. Go Giants! Here are the start times for tomorrow's games:

Game 3 -- Philadelphia Phillies (Hamels) at San Francisco Giants (Cain), 2:19 p.m. MT (FOX, Series tied 1-1)
Game 4 -- Texas Rangers (Hunter) at New York Yankees (Burnett), 6:07 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 2-1)

Phillies even NLCS at 1-1

The San Francisco Giants lost Game 2 of the NLCS last night to the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 6-1. Roy Oswalt was dominant through eight innings, allowing only one run on a homer by -- who else -- Cody Ross. Jonathan Sanchez was pretty solid for the most part, he did walk three in the first inning but the third walk was granted on a missed call. The Phils were able to get a run when Oswalt ignored a stop sign from his third base coach and Aubrey Huff cut off an on target throw from center fielder Andres Torres that likely would have had Oswalt out by at least ten feet. Huff said he saw the stop sign and his instincts were to cut the ball off. It was a tough play, but the Giants still likely would have lost the game anyway.

After an intentional walk to Jayson Werth in the 7th, Jimmy Rollins hit a bases clearing double to bust the game open and make it 6-1. Even with Rollins struggling lately, he's not the guy you want up there in that situation if you're the Giants. J-Roll loves the big stage and has a knack for coming through in the clutch -- it's what he does. I wasn't surprised to see the big hit there that just missed being a grand slam.

Cody Ross hit his 3rd home run of the series in just two games. He is really dialed in right now and I hope he stays that way when the series shifts to northern California.

You can't understate what a big performance this was from Oswalt to even the series at 1-1 heading back to San Francisco. He was dynamic and seemed determined to get the win. Game 3 is tomorrow afternoon at 2:19 p.m. MT on FOX. The ALCS resumes tonight with it being imperative for the Rangers to get a win with their ace Cliff Lee on the mound. Here's the details:

Game 3 -- Texas Rangers (Lee) at New York Yankees (Pettite), 6:07 p.m. MT (TBS, Series tied 1-1)

Giants take Game 1 of NLCS

At left: Cody Ross celebrates after one of his two home runs Saturday night in Philadelphia.

The San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 Saturday night in Game 1 of the NLCS from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Cody Ross was the big star, clubbing two home runs off Phillies ace Roy Halladay, who had thrown a no-hitter in his previous start. Tim Lincecum went 7 solid innings, yielding 3 earned runs. Javier Lopez retired two hitters in the 8th and Brian Wilson earned a four out save. Halladay allowed 4 earned runs in his outing. Pat Burrell had an RBI double and Juan Uribe an RBI single in the top of the 6th to push the Giants' lead to 4-1. The Phillies countered with a two run homer from Jayson Werth to trim the lead to 4-3 but would get no closer.

The big thing about the first Ross home run was that Halladay had not allowed a hit to that point and the game was in the third inning. I think that hit and that run that gave the Giants the 1-0 lead really helped loosen everyone up. Ross has been huge lately and it's pretty to cool to see from a guy whose acquisition seemed to be almost an afterthought in the minds of Giants fans. Even when Carlos Ruiz tied the game up on a homer, the Giants did not lose their cool and recaptured the lead behind Ross' second long ball. It was interesting to see on the replays on Baseball Tonight that Ross' stroke looked pretty much exactly the same on both of his homers on pitches that were in almost the exact location. That's some good consistency.

The Giants showed resiliency tonight and did not fold in front of a rabid, sell-out crowd and the two-time defending National League Champions. I thought the bullpen did a tremendous job. Brian Wilson has been great, but so has Javier Lopez ever since the Giants acquired him from the Pirates. Lopez has been extremely tough on left-handed hitters and that trend continued tonight when he retired Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in succession in the top of the 8th.

It's nice to take the opener in Philadelphia and have the lead now not to mention having the assurance of going back to the bay area with no worse than a split. A win tomorrow night, however, would be pretty sweet.

In the ALCS today, the Texas Rangers bounced back in a big way from last night in defeating the New York Yankees 7-2 to even that series at 1-1. The Rangers' bats were once again hot and they were able to jump out to a big lead. The difference today was that the bullpen was able to hold the lead, throwing 3 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball. The win was the first home win in Texas Rangers playoff history so it's good to get that out of the way. One cool play in the game came in the first inning when Elvis Andrus stole home on a double steal play to put the Rangers up 1-0 and help give them some momentum. Cliff Lee pitches for the Rangers in Game 3 on Monday night in the Bronx in a very pivotal game in the series.

Here's the stuff for the game tomorrow night:

Game 2 -- San Francisco Giants (Sanchez) at Philadelphia Phillies (Oswalt), 6:19 p.m. MT (FOX, Giants lead series 1-0)

League Championsip Series preview

The American League Championship Series gets under way tonight at 6:07 p.m. MT with the New York Yankees at the Texas Rangers. The Yankees start CC Sabathia and the Rangers counter with C.J. Wilson who was very solid in his Game 2 start against the Rays in the Division Series. The Yankees looked like a buzzsaw in sweeping the Twins in the first round and appear to have a lot of momentum plus a bona fide ace starting in Game 1. I hate the Yankees more than any other team in sports but I think they just have too much for the Rangers to handle and will win the series in five games.

It hurts the Rangers' cause that Cliff Lee likely won't be able to start until Game 3 of the series because he pitched on Tuesday night in the deciding Game 5 of the Division Series against Tampa Bay. Lee's performance in the Rangers' win has further solidified him as a big game pitcher who knows how to win in October. Curt Schilling, now an analyst for Baseball Tonight, said he feels a big key in this series for the Rangers will be to get Lee two starts. I agree as I feel the Rangers will have the edge when Lee takes the ball. They need to find a way to win a couple of other games, though. Tonight is a big game because whoever wins will be in the driver's seat for the series. If the Yankees win they will have stolen away home field advantage after the first game and if the Rangers win they will go back to New York with no worse than a split and their ace Lee lined up to pitch in Game 3. The stakes are high tonight and I'm excited to watch.

The National League Championship Series gets under way tomorrow night at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX with the San Francisco Giants at the Philadelphia Phillies. Game 1's pitching matchup could be one for the ages as the Giants go with Tim Lincecum and the Phillies with Roy Halladay. I'm really excited to watch that one. Halladay of course threw a no-hitter in his most recent (and first career) postseason start while Lincecum threw a complete game shutout in his NLDS start against the Braves and yielded only two hits while striking out 14 batters. Both teams have solid pitching, especially when you look at their first three starters. The Phillies go with Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. The Giants go with Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain. The Phillies' offense is more potent than San Francisco's and while the front line starting pitchers are similar (I may give the Phillies a very slight edge in this department) but I believe the Giants' bullpen is more formidable. This should make for a very exciting series and I for one can't wait for it to get under way. As much as I would love for the Giants to win and am craving a world title for them, I think the Phillies take this series in six games.

Giants finish off Braves

Pictured: The San Francisco Giants celebrate their NLDS victory over the Atlanta Braves.

My San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 tonight to win their best-of-five National League Division Series 3 games to 1. Cody Ross had a game tying home run in the sixth and then a game winning RBI single one inning later. The Giants once again proved they were resilient and even after falling behind on a couple of different occasions tonight, they fought back and got the win. I thought Ross was huge and I also thought rookie Madison Bumgarner pitched well for us. Brian Wilson walked a couple of guys in the 9th but still nailed down the save and the series.

This is some really cool stuff; this resilient bunch of guys are going to the NLCS, somewhere they haven't been since 2002. For now never mind that it's against the Philadelphia Phillies who have won the last two National League pennants. It's just time to savor the goodness of victory. It's been a great year and hopefully there is some more greatness left in it. The NLCS gets under way on Saturday from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

It was managerial legend Bobby Cox's last game ever and it was sad in a way for a legend and a classy guy to go out. I'm not sad enough to where I won't take the win, but it was just sad to see Cox go. He will be missed.

The big, winner take all Game 5 of the Rays-Rangers series tomorrow pitting starters David Price of Tampa Bay and Cliff Lee of Texas gets under way at 6 p.m. MT on TBS. I highly recommend checking it out.

And now to commemorate this occasion of the Giants moving on, I'm going to listen to the song "Winner" by Jamie Foxx featuring Justin Timberlake and T.I. Because, after all, you know you're looking at a winner.

Ankiel homer sinks Giants in Game 2

The Atlanta Braves defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-4 in 11 innings last night at AT&T Park. Rick Ankiel hit a mammoth home run off reliever Ramon Ramirez into McCovey Cove in the top of the 11th that was the difference in the game. The Giants struck first on a three run home run by Pat Burrell in the 1st and a Matt Cain RBI single in the 2nd to make it 4-0. Cain was superb in 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run.

The 8th inning, though, is where things fell apart for the Giants. With a 4-1 lead going into the inning, the Giants called on Sergio Romo who promptly gave up back-to-back hits to start the inning. After this development, manager Bruce Bochy called on Brian Wilson for a six out save. Melky Cabrera reached on an error and a run scored putting the score at 4-2 with runners on 1st and 2nd. Following a sacrifice bunt, Alex Gonzalez doubled in the runners from 2nd and 3rd to tie the game at 4.

The Giants had a chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th as they had the bases loaded with one out. However, Buster Posey grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat. I honestly thought Braves 3rd baseman Troy Glaus was going to throw it home to be sure the winning run scored, but he sent it around the horn instead. The throw to second required a bit of a stretch, but Omar Infante did a great job in making the turn. It was a really solid play and the risk proved to be worth it for the Braves.

The bottom line is that the bullpen did not come through for the Giants and that is what matters. I thought Wilson pitched well and he only gave up the one hit to Gonzalez and the runs that scored in the inning were Romo's plus Cabrera who reached on the Pablo Sandoval error. Wilson looked dominant in a shut down 9th so I don't buy the argument that some people are making that Bochy brought him in too soon. The offense had a good start but didn't do much of anything after that and once again was not able to score on the Braves bullpen.

One development to watch is that Braves closer Billy Wagner had to come out of the game in the bottom of the 10th with an oblique injury and manager Bobby Cox has ruled him out for the remainder of the series. So as unfortunate as the injury is, it could prove beneficial as the Giants face the Braves bullpen at the end of games.

The series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 set for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. MT on TBS. In the other game yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 to take a 2 games to none lead in their best-of-five series. I didn't watch a whole lot of this game, but from what I gather the Reds defense really let them down and helped provide the Phils with a lot of their runs following the Reds taking an early 4-0 lead. Another thing to remember is that the Phillies don't quit so it's not extremely surprising that they were able to come back to win the game.

Here's the schedule for today's playoff games:

Game 3 -- Tampa Bay Rays (Garza) at Texas Rangers (Lewis), 3 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 2-0)
Game 3 -- Minnesota Twins (Duensing) at New York Yankees (Hughes), 6:30 p.m. MT (TBS, Yankees lead series 2-0)

Roy Halladay throws no-hitter!

At left: Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay embraces catcher Carlos Ruiz following his historic no-hitter against the Reds.

What a first day of the postseason! Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay stole the show on opening night of the playoffs by tossing just the second no-hitter in postseason history! Halladay was dominant all day long and showed why he is the consensus pick to win the National League Cy Young Award. Fortunately I was able to get home from work in time to see the last two innings of the game and to soak in the incredible atmosphere.

I remember growing up just hearing about Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series was the only no-hitter ever thrown in playoff history. That really puts this one in perspective. It is incredibly hard to throw a no-hitter in the regular season and in the playoffs it is just that much more difficult as there are only quality teams remaining.

Halladay has had a long career and until this year played for the Blue Jays and had never pitched in a playoff game. What a way to make an impression in his first ever playoff game. I can still hardly believe it happened. His stuff was, obviously, dominant. I can't think of a pitcher I would rather start a team with than Halladay. I thought it was really cool that it was a home game for the Phillies -- that really added to the atmosphere that much more, the fans were really pulling for it. Halladay said something in a post-game interview to the effect that to describe the atmosphere as electric wouldn't even do it justice.

Oh and the Phillies won the game 4-0. I think they are the team to beat this year with their pitching and their deep lineup. Here are the scores from Wednesday's Division Series Game 1s:

Texas Rangers 5, Tampa Bay Rays 1 (Rangers lead series 1-0)
Philadelphia Phillies 4, Cincinnati Reds 0 (Phillies lead series 1-0)
New York Yankees 6, Minnesota Twins 4 (Yankees lead series 1-0)

The Rays and Twins are both in a bit of a hole after losing Game 1 on their home field and will have to look at their Game 2s tomorrow as must-wins. I still like the Rays in that series against the Rangers as I think they have the deeper team. Cliff Lee was pretty darn good for the Rangers today, though. As for the Yankees, yuck, I just hope the Twins beat them. I think they can at the very least give them a competitive series, but winning tomorrow is paramount. Here's the schedule for Thursday:

Game 2 -- Texas Rangers (Wilson) at Tampa Bay Rays (Shields), 12:30 p.m. MT (TBS, Rangers lead series 1-0)
Game 2 -- New York Yankees (Pettite) at Minnesota Twins (Pavano), 4 p.m. MT (TBS, Yankees lead series 1-0)
Game 1 -- Atlanta Braves (Lowe) at San Francisco Giants (Lincecum), 7:30 p.m. MT (TBS)

That last one there is the one I will be the most dialed into for sure. The Giants play their first postseason game in seven years at home with their ace on the mound. I'm predicting a very competitive series and the Giants winning in five games. Derek Lowe goes for the Braves and he has been pitching very well down the stretch. We'll see how it all plays out. I can't wait!

MLB Playoff predictions

Okay here are my picks for the first round best-of-five playoff series, with the teams with home field advantage listed first. Starting with the National League:

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Cincinnati Reds: I'll take the Phillies in 3. Their pitching and offense put together will be too much for the Reds to overcome in this series.

San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves: Giants in 5. Both teams feature good pitching and offenses that can do things so I think it will be a competitive, long series. In the end I'll take the Giants with home field and the opportunity to have Tim Lincecum pitch twice in the series.

And now the American League:

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers: Rays in 4. The Rays are a more complete ballclub and will benefit from having home field advantage. They have offense and pitching and seem to have the drive necessary to advance. Cliff Lee of the Rangers could make things interesting.

Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees: Yankees in 5. It hurts to type that but I think with CC Sabathia pitching twice and with this team knowing how to win in October I have to go with the Yankees. The Twins will make it a good series and having home field advantage will definitely make things interesting.

For the record I'll take the Phillies over the Giants in the NLCS and the Rays over the Yankees in the ALCS. This would go in accordance of my preseason prediction of a Phillies-Rays World Series. And as I did in the preseason I'll go with the Phillies to win it all.

Reviewing my preseason playoff picks really quickly as well:

NL East pick/winner: Phillies/Phillies
NL Central pick/winner: Cardinals/Reds
NL West pick/winner: Rockies/Giants
NL Wild Card pick/winner: Braves/Braves

AL East pick/winner: Rays/Rays
AL Central pick/winner: White Sox/Twins
AL West pick/winner: Angels/Rangers
AL Wild Card pick/winner: Yankees/Yankees

Here's a look at the playoff schedule as the playoffs get under way today with Game 1s (starting pitchers in parentheses):

Texas Rangers (Price) at Tampa Bay Rays (Price), 11:30 a.m. MT (TBS)
Cincinnati Reds (Volquez) at Philadelphia Phillies (Halladay), 3 p.m. MT (TBS)
New York Yankees (Sabathia) at Minnesota Twins (Liriano), 6:30 p.m. MT (TBS)

Giants win the West!

At left: 3B Pablo Sandoval hugs CF Andres Torres (56) after the Giants defeated the Padres 3-0 to clinch the NL West.

The San Francisco Giants (92-70) topped the San Diego Padres (90-72) to win the National League West on Sunday afternoon. The offense was supplied by RBI hits by Freddy Sanchez and Aubrey Huff, both of which came on the heels of a triple from pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, as well as a home run by Buster Posey in the 8th inning. Jonathan Sanchez threw five strong, scoreless innings and the bullpen was able to close the door. Brian Wilson worked a 1-2-3 9th inning to record his franchise record tying 48th save of the year.

It was really awesome to watch the Giants clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2003. It's just an incredible feeling to watch your favorite team accomplish something that they have worked so hard for. It's a long season and to win the division on the final day is quite an accomplishment. That's another thing about baseball that I love: the regular season means so much. In no other sport do you see guys celebrating a playoff berth this way. Every year there are good teams (like the Padres this year) who don't make the playoffs which makes getting there all the more special. I like that the season has been watered down and that you have to be one of the top teams just to get to the playoffs, unlike in other sports where about half the teams make it, often with records hovering around the .500 mark.

With the win, the Padres were eliminated and the Atlanta Braves (91-71) won the Wild Card following their 8-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies (97-65) earlier in the day. The Giants and Braves meet for Game 1 of their best-of-five series on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. MT on TBS. I'm really excited to have my guys in the playoffs. It should be a fun ride. Go Giants!