Well, the Yanks, Dodgers and Phillies all jumped out to 1-0 leads in their respective series on Wednesday, with only the Dodgers game being somewhat of a surprise. That’s a pretty big “ouch” for the Cards, since they already threw their biggest weapon in Chris Carpenter and ended up losing. If the birds can’t Wainwright (heh) the ship in Game 2, they’ll be staring at a huge deficit with their also-rans on the mound. However, something tells me if they do push it to a fourth FullTilt game and are facing elimination, we’ll see the Cy Young candidate make a return to the mound for the start. Even facing an uphill battle, I wouldn’t count out the Cardinals. They’re an extremely well-rounded team that’s well-coached and believes in itself.
So how about the AL? Let’s look at the Game 3 match ups.
Angels at Red Sox. After playing a couple at home, LA and Boston will head to New England, where the likely matchup will be Kazmir vs. Buchholz. Even with his up-and-down year, I give Kazmir the edge in this one. Plus the Angels have superior depth in the bullpen, especially with reliable regular-season started Jon Garland moving over there for the postseason. But will it matter? The Red Sox have had the Angels number for years now. And you can bet that’s weighing on Boston’s mind, and probably not in a good, motivational way, either. Kazmir’s overall record for the year was 10-9 with a 4.9 ERA. Even in the AL, an ERA near 5 is pretty bad. Buchholz hasn’t started much, and he’s 7-4 with a 4.2 ERA. Does anyone else feel confident taking the over in this one? I think you’ll see Boston favored somewhere around -135 to +120. The pitchers seem to be a wash, so I’d watch the hot bats through the first two games, and ride those through this one, as well.
Yankees at Twins. No, you can’t fault Minnesota for being tired as they were blasted 7-2 by New York on Wednesday, but there’s no time for excuses in the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Twins, they’re facing a baseball betting team hungry to prove it’s still the best in the business. However, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. I’ve been saying all along that neither team that was vying to come out of the Central was really that good. Even with Morneau, who has been seen playing on PokerStars, the Twins wouldn’t have a shot. And I don’t expect them to win a game in this series, including Game 3. The matchup puts Andy Pettitte (14-8, 4.1 – the guy has still got it) against, ironically, Carl Pavano (14-12, 5.1). You do have to hand it to Pavano for pulling together an above .500 record after starting 21 times for the lowly Indians, but the ERA, again, speaks for itself. The Yanks should dominate this one, Metrodome or not. Yankees -155, Twins +145. I’d still bet the Yankees. The offense is getting contributions from almost every spot, and the Bronx Bombers just might be hitting their groove at exactly the right time.