Playoff open thread

The games start kind of late today, so I probably don't have to staple this thing to the top (other than the Freddy Sanchez post, there's nothing recent below this one, that's all I'm trying to say).

4PM- Twins @ A's. It's the last chance for the Twins here as they put all their hope on Brad Radke and his bad shoulder. That would kind of be like if the Pirates were in the playoffs and all their hopes were on Denny Neagle (without the crack whore incident). OK, that's semi-unfair to Radke (he's four years younger than Neagle, I picked them because they both won 20 games in 1997 and haven't done it sense then). Still, Radke's arm is falling apart and if he can manage to go 5 innings today, it might be a Willis Reed game for the Twins and give them some kind of rejuvenation. If he can't, well, Jason Kendall and the A's will be in the ALCS. I don't know what to think about this series at the moment. The Twins seem fried, but it's always stupid to bet against an Oakland A's fold. Did I mention that Danny Haren is starting for the A's? Gee whiz, I bet the Cards would rather have him than Mark Mulder right now.

8PM- Yankees @ Tigers. Maybe the oldest pitching matchup of the post-season, Kenny Rogers vs. Randy Johnson (though Maddux and Glavine are both involved in the NL and if El Duque comes back for the NLCS he might singlehandedly be older than any two other pitchers combined). The Gambler hasn't face the Yanks at all this year. That may have something to do with his career 6.45 ERA and 1.88 WHIP against them. That means this is probably a bad time for him to be making that first start. Since Rodgers is like a million years old, it's got to be more of a mental thing against the Yanks than anything, which is even worse for the Tigers. Lucky for the Tigers the Yankees won't be wearing their home unis in Detroit, so Kenny can't be stuck staring at those damn pinstripes (though actually, Rodger's numbers at Yankee stadium are slightly better than his overall numbers against the Yanks).