I wouldn't want to be the Detroit Tigers today. The hero of the American League Central Division one game playoff captures the highly coveted Batter's Box POTD honours..
The beauty of baseball is anyone can be a hero, especially in the post-season. Casilla's batting average just two points below the Mendoza Line coming into yesterday's game. His game-winning hit in the 12th that plated Carlos Gomez put his average two points above .200. I don't know about you but I thought Casillia beat Ryan Raburn's throw in the bottom of the tenth inning. Granted, the ball arrived at the plate in plenty of time but I don't think Gerald Laird got the tag down in time. Anyways, until yesterday's hit, Casilla's 2009 season has been a disappointment in the Twin Cities as he drove in just 17 runs without a homer. That's after the 24 year-old switch-hitter from the Dominican batted .281 last season with seven bombs and 50 RBI.
Thanks to Casilla's heroics, the Twins are in New York tonight to take on the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series. It's a battle of lefties as the Twins go with Brian Duensing against the Yankees C.C. Sabathia at 6:07 ET. Boston and the L.A. Angels don't play until Thursday in Anaheim.
The playoffs get underway at 2:37 p.m. ET in Philadelphia as the defending World Series Champion Phillies take on the Colorado Rockies in an NLDS rematch from 2007. Lefty Cliff Lee toes the rubber for Philadelphia and Ubaldo Jimenez goes for Colorado. Can the Wild-Card winning Rockies derail the Phillies again? That's the $64,000 question.
At 9:37 ET tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers host the St. Louis Cardinals. N.L. Comeback Player of the Year Chris Carpenter gets the ball for the Cards while lefty Randy Wolf starts for the Dodgers.
I hope this will be a great post-season to help make up for the lack of good races during the regular season. Play Ball!
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