Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward ...
Is it the desperation of potential elimination that makes teams more willing to push the envelope? Or more willingness to push ace pitchers? Or an extremely good batch of No. 1 starters and a weak bunch of No. 4s?
Whatever it is, two clubs in 0-2 Division Series holes appear ready to bring back their Game 1 starters on short rest in Game 4, should they get to that point. The Red Sox acknowledged as much before their Game 2 loss to the Angels.
There once was a left-hander who at age 25 had a career winning percentage better than .700 and had already won the clinching game of a World Series sweep.
His name was Whitey Ford.
There's another such lefty, and the Red Sox intend to start him Thursday against the Angels in their American League Division Series opener.
Boston chose Jon Lester for Game 1 over proven postseason winner Josh Beckett, a pretty good indication of where the southpaw stands.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games.
Of all the things Ripken discussed Tuesday, the most intriguing subject, not surprisingly, was one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is an oft-maligned regular season superstar, in that he's put up extremely gaudy regular season numbers throughout his career, yet has never played in a World Series and has pretty sub-par numbers in the playoffs overall -- especially of late.
Terry Francona announced the Red Sox rotation for the series on Sunday as well. Jon Lester will take the ball in Game 1 to face Lackey, while Josh Beckett will start Game 2 followed by the young Clay Bucholz in Game 3. The question is, who will Boston's fourth starter be?
It was easy and obviously warranted to be worried about Jon Lester's health coming off his close encounter with a Melky Cabrera line drive last weekend in New York. The fact remains, however, that Lester was rocked for eight hits in less than three innings of work before the line drive even came into play.
In other words, going into Thursday night's start against Cleveland, there was more than his health to monitor.
The Boston southpaw brought his power stuff against the Yankees, but his mechanics and command betrayed him. Lester generates a great deal of his velocity with torso rotation, but he also has to be careful to stay closed long enough to command his pitches.
Atlanta has two more games with Florida and then four against Washington. Colorado hosts Milwaukee for three before finishing with three games at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Right now we feel like we're in control," [Chipper] Jones said. "We're dictating at-bats whether it be on the mound or whether we're hitting. And a lot of good things are happening."
NEW YORK -- With this weekend's Red Sox-Yankees series serving as a possible ALCS preview (although it would be folly to assume that), Boston came in with the edge in the category that matters most: starting pitching.
Friday's game may have closed the gap some, and nearly did dramatically.
As Joba Chamberlain turned in his best effort since July, giving the Yankees reason to believe they have a capable No. 4 starter if they reach the second round, the Red Sox had to spend a few moments wondering if power lefty Jon Lester will be available for the playoffs after he was writhing on the mound in the third inning.
But Boston "dodged a big blow there," as left fielder Jason Bay said after the Yankees' 9-5 victory.
NEW YORK -- The Red Sox seem to have survived a scare Friday when lefty Jon Lester was diagnosed with a bruised quadricep after taking a line drive off his right leg.
With Lester and Josh Beckett, the Sox looked to have the top 1-2 starting punch in the AL playoffs and the deepest starting corps. The Boston Herald reported Friday that Boston had already chosen Lester to start Game 1 of the AL Division Series, so losing him would be a major blow.
Lester was hit by a Melky Cabrera shot, just above the knee. After staying on the ground for a few minutes, Lester was able to hobble off the field and into the clubhouse.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The Phillies weren't expecting much when they signed Pedro Martinez right around mid-season. Well, let me rephrase and say the Phillies weren't expecting this much.
On Sunday, Martinez pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out seven while walking two. But those aren't his most amazing numbers. When Martinez pitches the Phillies are a perfect 7-0. Think about that. Every time Pedro runs out there to take the mound the Phillies win.
While injuries were the main topic, we spoke about other topics, too. We talked a little about a potential platoon situation for Lance Berkman in Houston and we threw out a handful of household names that most fantasy owners should be dumping at this point.
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
There once was a left-hander who at age 25 had a career winning percentage better than .700 and had already won the clinching game of a World Series sweep.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the 
While we're not going to know who the 
It was easy and obviously warranted to be worried about 
Starting Five
NEW YORK -- With this weekend's 
NEW YORK -- The Red Sox seem to have survived a scare Friday when lefty 
