Nothing better than postseason baseball

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Well, it's already been a wild start to the beginning of the MLB playoff season.

We had a Detroit-Minnesota play-in game to determine the final playoff spot, a ninth-inning thrilling win by the Los Angeles Dodgers and outstanding pitching from a host a starters.

It's October and there's a reason why it's the greatest month of the year -- well, besides my birthday falling on this month -- because of the MLB playoffs.

Some observations from the postseason so far:

* Are Red Sox fans nervous yet? It's only one game, don't hit the panic button yet Red Sox Nation. Big-game ace Josh Beckett is on the mound tonight, no worries, right? I'll call it now, if Beckett gets the win tonight, the Sox wins this series vs. the Angles. If not, then bye-bye.

Boy, John Lackey was great last night for the Angels. If he pitched at Fenway, he would have been yanked after 5. One mistake by Jon Lester -- he looked fine since getting drilled on the leg with a line drive by New York's Melky Cabrera -- a Tori Hunter 3-run blast, cost him.

* So CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez are suppose to be choking dogs in the playoffs, but not Wednesday against the Twins. Sabathia allowed only one earned run in 6-2/3 innings, while A-Hole was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. At least for one night, the stage wasn't too big.

Does it surprise anyone that Derek Jeter is so good? His two-run HR got the Yankees back even at 2-2 and the team fed off that emotion later in the game. He's a captain and best leader in MLB for a reason.

* I think that Colorado-Philladelphia series is boring, perhaps because I think NL baseball is a snoozer. But Cliff Lee is nasty. He showed that by going the distance in Game 1 for the Phillies. Shows you how important a legit ace is worth in the playoffs.

* Even the biggest of Dodgers fans were writing off their boys against the Cards. They said, based on history, that there was no way that the Dodgers would beat St. Louis in a five-game series, but that tune might change real quick after the Dodgers now lead the series 2-0.

Los Angels beat St. Louis ace Chris Carpenter in Game 1 -- who would have called that one? -- and now they can send St. Louis left fielder Matt Holliday a Christmas card after his bonehead play in the ninth gave the Dodgers life.

Holliday, who the Cards traded for during the season, totally gaffed a liner off the bat of James Loney which would have been the final out, and led to LA's dramatic two-run, game-winning rally in the ninth with big RBI hits by Ronnie Belliard and Mark Loretta.

Yes, Holliday is claiming he didn't see the ball, and St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright complained after the game about Dodger fans waiving white towels which is why Holliday missed the ball.

He suggested blue towels and didn't think it was fair that they can waive white ones. Cry me a river. Shut up and deal with it. Your outfielder had the boner play of the game. Be a man and deal with it. Good luck trying to win three straight now. It's not going to happen.