Postseason play began yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately many games are once again being carried on the Family Channel, which Fox sold to ABC after last season, giving sister network ESPN an opening to carry games, if two games, both supposed to be covered by the Family Channel, overlap. I normally wouldn't care where the games were broadcast as long as we received the feed, but we're once again inundated with ads for "The Thirteen Days of Halloween", as if Fox's voodoo ads for the playoffs weren't bad enough.

The consensus opinion is that the Twins were really nervous in their first playoff game as a team. They certainly weren't playing like the team with the best defense in the majors. While the A's also didn't display stellar fielding, Minnesota committed two errors in the first, and a third in the second with another close call in which Corey Koskie ran in for a pop up and only missed colliding with Doug Mientkiewicz, who caught the ball, because Brad Radke was standing in the way. After running into Radke, Koskie bopped Mientkiewicz on the head with his glove, bringing to mind thoughts of Little Bunny Foo Foo. Of course one of the earlier misplays included the three of them and catcher A.J. Pierzynski standing around while a ball dropped between them.

Ron Gardenhire's lighthearted attitude and a mid-game wake-up call from Torii Hunter are credited with motivating the team to snap out of their early slump. I disagreed with Oakland's decision to pull Tim Hudson from the game, as despite his struggles, this move forced them to use their bullpen for several innings. The decision to work Ted Lilly as a starter in his rehab, rather than in the bullpen role he'd fill in the playoffs, also appeared to haunt the A's as he gave up a couple runs and allowed Hudson's baserunners to score. However Oakland could have easily staged a rally if they hadn't left quite so many runners stranded on base. We picked the A's in this series but they won't beat the Twins by playing sloppily.

Jason Giambi's pants took center stage early in the New York game. Announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver noticed he had a hole in his uniform after a slide and wondered why he didn't change into new pants between innings. Following around a dozen shots of Giambi's backside and an inning of discussion, the booth learned that these were Giambi's lucky pants and that he'd have them patched that evening, but he'd be wearing them for the rest of the season. At the beginning of the game the broadcasters had highlighted factors that might affect the game, pointing out that for Roger Clemens, "Mr. Splittee = Mr. Wildpitchee"; they apparently intended his inane baby talk to illustrate that the Rocket doesn't possess great control of his splitter. However, after the Giambi pants' incident, Mr. Splittee became Jason's pants.

Beyond the banter of the announcers, the game was highly entertaining. Derek Jeter started the Yankees off with a homer to left center in the first. Anaheim tied the game in the second, but Giambi's lucky pants granted him a two-run homer in the fourth. The Angels again tied the game in the top of the next inning. However, Rondell White, whose spot on the playoff roster was in question after a disappointing season, contributed with a homer to right center to lead-off the fifth.

Troy Glaus attempted to counter the New York bombs with homers in consecutive at-bats; unfortunately both were solo shots to begin the Angels' 6th and 8th innings. Bernie Williams put the Yankees in the lead permanently with a three run shot to right field in the bottom of the eighth. Early in the game Raul Mondesi fired a throw to third base that made Anaheim baserunners exercise additional caution when the ball was hit to right.

Many commentators have criticized manager Mike Scioscia for not using closer Troy Percival in the eighth. However Percival's rarely pitched two innings in the last season and the rest of the bullpen is fairly strong. Instead, Scioscia probably should have considered using Francisco Rodriguez, who the Yankees have never seen since he's only been in the majors a short time. The downside of his inexperience is offset by his skill, which has enabled Rodriguez to compile a 13:2 K:BB with 3 H allowed in his 5.2 major league innings. He also struck out well over a batter an inning in the minors, so those numbers don't represent a fluke.

I have to say that I didn't envision Randy giving the Cardinals such an edge in the first game. While I felt St. Louis might have a chance if Randy allowed a homer and the Diamondbacks offense couldn't keep up, I didn't expect him to have less than a half dozen strikeouts while allowing 12 baserunners in 6 innings.

Of course manager Bob Brenly didn't help his team by leaving Erubiel Durazo on the bench when they need to deploy their best possible offense after losing Luis Gonzalez for the season. Gonzalez separated his shoulder a few days before the end of the season, necessitating surgery to repair ligament damage. Brenly also insured that they wouldn't win the game even if the offense could overcome the damage allowed by Randy. Greg Swindell compiled a 23:5 K:BB in 33 IP during the regular season but allowed 38 H and 9 HR for a 6.27 ERA. He shouldn't have been on the playoff roster, let alone in this game. Brenly should have called upon Mike Fetters to relieve Randy, since Fetters has a huge following in Arizona and would have invigorated the team through the crowd, potentially spurring a rally.

While I originally predicted Schilling to struggle in this series, I think Randy's meltdown is just the inspiration Schilling needed to regain his pre-September form. The Diamondbacks will probably come back strong in Thursday's game.