SO: So was the Coma’s initial rotation just smoke? Because now Pedro’s saying he’s starting Game 2 and Schill’s taking Games 1 and 5. And the Angels, now leading the West by one, have the exact same record as the Twins. I have to wonder, is the switch due to the possibility of missing Santana? It’s all up in the air for now, and probably will be until the outcome of that juicy Angels-at-A’s series this weekend.

SK: I don’t know about the rotation. All I know for sure is that I’m considering a petition to the Great High Ayatollah, suggesting a fatwa on the Yankees would be a good idea.

October 1st

As a Red Sox fan, I am of course aware that there is another baseball league, but my grasp of it is vague, like a European’s grasp of the New World in the seventeenth century or an American’s grasp of the solar system in the nineteenth. Yes, somewhere in the American Midwest there lives a fearsome wand-wielding wizard named Pujols, and I know that in California there be Giants, for my Red Sox did truly visit them once in the season which is now almost over. But like most Red Sox fans, my focus will remain fiercely fixed on what is sometimes called “the junior circuit” until—and if—we have to play one of those quasi-mythological Others in the World Series. And that’s okay, because in this final weekend of regular-season baseball, I find plenty to occupy me within the familiar geography of the American League.

Three of the four AL postseason teams have now been decided: the Yankees (AL East champs), the Twins (AL Central champs) and the Red Sox (AL wild card). The winner in the AL West will be decided this weekend, in Oakland, when the A’s and Angels, with identical 90-69 records, go head-to-head. It will be, in effect, a mini-playoff, one the Red Sox and their fans will be watching with great interest. We’ll play the team out of our division with the best record, but as I write this on Friday afternoon, Minnesota’s record is also 90-69. That means we could wind up facing any one of those three. All I know for sure is that I’m hoping Cleveland will put a hurtin’ on Minnesota this weekend, because we have to start by playing two away games no matter who our opponent is. Given that, I would prefer to steer clear of the Metrodome as long as possible.

Not to mention young Mr. Santana.