carp pettitte
21-5, 2.83 17-9, 2.39
might not be a bad idea to attack pettite early in the count tonight. it's not as if you gain anything by burning him out after 6 innings; garner just goes to the 'pen, which is not the soft underbelly we saw last season. like most pitchers, pettitte can be hurt on 0-0 if you guess right . . . .
'nother random thought: before we get too carried away with visions of small-ball, consider what happened to the white sox last night. they wasted four outs -- two caught stealings, two failed bunt attempts -- trying to gain a lousy base, ended up losing by one run. that stuff can backfire badly when you try it against good teams. . . . .
new pirate skipper jim tracy likes the cardinals.
sports book has the cardinals as the favorite to win the world series; then california at 5-2, the chixos at 4-1, and the astros at 9-2. can't find any line on the nlcs . . . . .
at tradesports.com, the cardinals are trading at $64 a share to win the pennant, about 1-2 favorites; the astros are trading at $36, a little better than 3-1 underdogs.