Baseball Bliss

It doesn't get any better than October. This is why they play 162 games a year to get to the fall with a chance to win it all. The momentum is more important, the stakes higher the drama amped up to new levels. Every nigh there's a hero, and every night someone is left wondering what could have been. There are champs and there are chumps. The scapegoats who are left in the wake as teams move on to the next round. The short five game series of the opening round is truly about momentum and it forces teams to adjust and plan accordingly and differently than they would in a longer series which is all part of the intrigue.

With four games yesterday and today you couldn't ask for much more, especially after the drama in the AL last night. Who would have seen the A's coming back like that or A-Rod sitting on the bench while Ibanez played the hero. Granted Johnson and Vlaverde, the O's and Tiger's respective closers haven't been good in the post season, it lends itself to making the game more intriguing. A's manager Bob Melvin said they never feel like they are out of it and we say why. This ragamuffin team of nobody's is proving everybody wrong. They have another huge test in reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander tonight but never count them out.

In NY the Yankees do what the Yankees do, win. But this was different. Never before in the history of the game has someone done what Raul Ibanez did, tying the game in the bottom of the 9th and winning it in the 12th with home runs. it was incredible, unpredictable and more so because it was A-Rod he was hitting for. A-rod said all the right things after the game and handled it very well, and with his numbers he couldn't have been shocked, but I'm sure there's a part of him that wanted that chance.

In Cincinnati the Reds again failed to advance blowing a 2-0 series lead to the SF Giants. The Giants were clutch and found their offense when they needed it. The Reds now have a long off season and a lot of questions to answer after letting it slip away. The pitching of the Giants, especially in Cincinnati shut down the Reds for the most part and going forward will be tough to beat as it as in 2010 when they won it all.

The Nationals forced a deciding game 5 in dramatic fashion with a Jason Werth walk off home run, and will play St. Louis tomorrow to see who goes on the NLCS. The stakes only get higher from here on and I for one can't wait to see how it plays out.