Thursday Morning Quickie

Yesterday was interesting because the games played enforced one playoff stereotype while stomping on another.

First, the idea that pitching wins in the playoffs was enforced as each game was dominated by a starting pitcher. I expected Beckett and Webb to pitch well, but Francis' excellent pitching against the Phillies was a shock, just because he's not been the most consistent pitcher all year and the Phillies' lefties have hit lefty pitchers well. However, you couldn't tell from watching the game on Wednesday. Utley and Howard combined for 7 strikeouts and Francis cruised until Rowand and Burrel went back-to-back in the 5th inning. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, the Rockies' bullpen was just as good as Francis' first four innings, and Holliday hit a homer for insurance.

Speaking of homers, I thought teams in the playoffs were supposed to manufacture runs? Not last night. A lot of the runs were on homers, including 3 of the 4 Red Sox runs and 2 of the 3 D-backs runs.

Time to go to an interview. Oh well. I'll be back later.

BTW, the NHL season started last night and the Yankees will beat the Indians IMHO. I hope I'm wrong.