Random Fandom

Yesterday's Games: At least the Houston at Atlanta game wasn't a blowout. I was getting worried that the Twins-Yankees series would be the only one worth watching by a national audience. Just the kind of nail-biting game and dramatic ending that makes playoff anything worth watching. Couldn't have been easy for Ron Gardenhire to see Bobby Cox leave closer John Smoltz in for a 3rd inning for the first time in more than 3 years... and pitch just fine. I'm still not excited one iota by this series, but at least it's a little competitive now. I really don't have much to say about Los Angeles at St. Louis (it's difficult to see much of a game while shuttling a child to and from swim lessons) other than I don't rule out the possibility of the Dodgers winning the next two in L.A... but I ain't counting on it.

Playoff Satisfaction Index: A couple days ago, I established my Playoff Satisfaction (PS) score for the playoffs, based on how much I wanted a particular team to win each series. Tuesday's score was a 7 out of 9 (pretty high). Wednesday's score was lower (3 out of 8), as was Thursday's score (1 out of 3). My cumulative score thus far? 11 out of 20. With today's AL matchups (which I care more about than the NL -- comes from years and years of living in AL markets), it could swing...

Derek Jeter: I forgot to mention this yesterday, but does anybody think that Jeter's tagging for home on Wednesday night could just as easily be called foolhardy? If Jacques Jones gets off a decent throw (or isn't backpedalling when catching the ball), Jeter might've been tagged out...

Who Wants To Be A D-Backs Manager? According to the Republic, the Diamondbacks are interviewing Al Pedrique (yesterday), Mark Grace (informally, perhaps, today), Bob Melvin (today), Lancaster manager Wally Backman (next week?), and Anaheim Angels bench coach Joe Maddon (next week, especially if the Angels don't get their act together today).