October 2, 2008 Playoff Games Open Thread

The Sox and Rays get started today w/ Javier Vazquez going against James Shields. Vazquez has been positively awful in his last 3 starts (18 ER in 12 IP) and Guillen's been going w/ a 4 man rotation for about 10 days now. He may run those starters into the ground in his quest to bring a title back to the south side. It says something about how good Shields has become that he's the game 1 starter over Kazmir. He's less heralded than his teammate but he's been very good since the beginning of last season. And he's just 26.

The Brewers and the Phils are the prime time game -- Sabathia against Brett Myers. I like the Phils in this series but Sabathia's going to give fits and the starting rotation is probably the Phils' achilles heel. It's now a 2 out of 3 series for the Phils. They'd better finish it off in 4 b/c they're not going to want to face the big guy a 2nd time.

Finally, it'll be the big Z against my favorite Dodger -- Chad Billingsley. He's 24 years young and, if you didn't already know it, one of the best pitchers in the NL. He's going to be some kind of special. The Cubs had better hope he's got some postseason jitters b/c Zambrano's been shaky of late (no-hitter excepted) as he battles the injury bug. The rumor is that Piniella's going to have Ted Lilly (did you know his real name was Theodore Roosevelt? I didn't make that up!) ready in case Zambrano's in trouble early. The Cubs do not want to go to LA down 0-2. Kuroda and the Dodgers' pen are better than you might think.

Today's sbnation friends include

Brew Crew Ball

The Good Phight

Bleed Cubbie Blue

True Blue LA

South Side Sox

DRays Bay

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