Tag : A

We all have issues. Some of us, clearly, have more than others. Butbefore I get started on everybody's problems -- especially thosechallenge-challenged sad sacks from New York, the Mets -- here'swhere we stand with the postseason contenders before what could bea long, wet final regular-season weekend:
ALREADY IN: Rays (American League East champs), Red Sox (AL wild card), Angels(AL West champs), Cubs (National League Central champs), Dodgers(NL West champs).
STILL TRYING TO GET IN: Twins, White Sox, Phillies, Mets, Brewers.
WHAT'S STILL TO BE DECIDED: In the AL, the Central title (Twins, White Sox). In the NL, theEast title (Phillies, Mets) and the wild card (Phillies, Mets,Brewers).
The next few days could be white-knucklers. We might even roll intoMonday and, possibly, Tuesday with makeup games and tiebreakersbefore everything is decided. Or, if things fall just right andthey're not building arks in New York and Philadelphia, we could bedone with this thing by Sunday and start the postseason onWednesday, as scheduled.
Here are the issues facing those teams that still matter:
The Mets: Johan Santana is going to start Saturday's game against the Marlins with justthree days of rest since his last outing, when he threw acareer-high 125 pitches in a win over the Cubs. Santana has neverhad to pitch on short rest in the regular season. That's howdesperate the Mets, who fell a game behind the Brewers (and twogames behind the Phils in the NL East) with an ugly loss to Floridaon Friday night, are right now.
They have no choice, really. The Mets have to win their final twogames, and even that may not be enough.
"I would have to say I'm concerned, no doubt about that. Wereally, really put ourselves in a tough spot," manager Jerry Manuel said after the Mets' listless 6-1 loss to the Marlins. "Andwe're the only ones to blame for that. We had opportunities, anddidn't get it done."
If the Mets win behind Santana, they will turn to enigmatic lefty Oliver Perez .
Whatever, if the Brewers and Phillies win Saturday, but Santana andthe Mets lose, that Shea Stadium finale on Sunday will meanabsolutely nothing.
The Brewers: Friday night's win over the Cubs was huge for Milwaukee. It wasthe Brewers' fifth straight win -- after a 4-15 start to September,remember -- giving them that one-game lead over the Mets in thewild card. But it's not as if they can coast now. New manager Dale Sveum is rolling the dice and going with Ben Sheets to start Saturday's game against Chicago. Sheets lasted only twoinnings in his previous start because of elbow pain.
And if the Brewers need another big win Sunday -- say, if they loseSaturday or the Mets win, or both -- they'll go with CC Sabathiafor the third straight time on short rest. That's almost crazy talkfor the big fella, who already has thrown 244 innings this season-- on top of 244 last year, plus some in the postseason. Will thisguy ever wear down?
The Phillies : They're sitting relatively pretty, two games up in the East. Theycan lock up a postseason spot with a win this weekend against theNationals, or a Mets' loss. If the Phils get in Saturday, theycould bypass Sunday's starter, ace Cole Hamels , and have him ready for Game 1 of the division series.
"We have everything in our own hands right now," Ryan Howard , who slugged his baseball-best 48th home run and drove in two moreruns (RBIs No. 145 and 146) Friday night in a win over Washington.
Jamie Moyer , 5-0 with a 3.78 ERA in his last nine starts, is scheduled tostart Saturday.
The Cubs : Since they're already in, and they already have homefieldadvantage throughout the NL playoffs, the Cubs are spending theirweekend in Wisconsin getting loose for the postseason and healingup. Manager Lou Piniella let a couple of more regulars into the lineup Friday against theBrewers, though he didn't play do-it-all Mark DeRosa (sore calf) and the skipper wasted zero time pulling catcher Geovany Soto when he tweaked his sore hand on a swing in the sixth inning ofthe 5-1 loss.
Piniella has announced his postseason rotation -- Ryan Dempster , Carlos Zambrano , Rich Harden and Ted Lilly -- with Jason Marquis heading to the bullpen and a couple of bullpen arms still to bedecided. What that means for this weekend is Lilly on Saturday,Marquis in probably his last start of the year on Sunday ... andthen, as far as the Cubs see it, a hopefully healthy bid to endthat 100-year drought thing that everybody is talking about.
Both NL division series will begin on Thursday.
The Dodgers : Joe Torre 's group is in, too, and has no say on where it's going (theDodgers will have the worst record of any postseason player), sothe manager's lineup card Friday in a loss in San Francisco was aslong as a typical New York fan's face these days.
Torre, after 13 straight postseason appearances with the Dodgers,knows how to get ready for October. He still has to see how healthyshortstop Rafael Furcal and second baseman Jeff Kent might be. Kent made a case to make the postseason roster with ahome run against the Giants, barely three weeks after undergoingknee surgery.
Derek Lowe , who started Friday but was pulled after three innings, isscheduled to start Game 1 of the division series on Thursday.
The Rays : With Boston's late loss to the Yankees on a rainy Friday in NewEngland, the Rays captured the AL East -- still a little hard tobelieve, eh? -- and now will face whoever wins the Central, eitherthe Twins or White Sox, starting Thursday in Tampa Bay. That meansagainst the Tigers this weekend, manager Joe Maddon will be much more concerned with finding out who's healthy thangiving the good people of Detroit a decent show.
The Rays have activated outfielder Carl Crawford , recovering from hand surgery, though he'll be used only as adefensive replacement or pinch-runner right now. A spot on thepostseason roster for the team's longest-tenured player seemsfar-fetched at this point. Maddon also has to test the health ofcloser Troy Percival over the next couple of days, and set up his rotation for theteam's first postseason ever. With Matt Garza pitching Saturday, James Shields is expected to get the call to start Game 1 of the ALDS.
The Red Sox : Boston pulled starter Daisuke Matsuzaka when rain delayed the start of Friday's game, and then scratched David Ortiz (scheduled to start at first base), and later manager Terry Francona yanked a gimpy third baseman Mike Lowell from the game, just to be on the safe side. All of them were goodcalls considering the team's long-shot chance at the AL East title.After the Sox lost any shot at it with the 19-8 clobbering by theYankees, the moves looked downright brilliant.
In doing so -- pulling their best players and losing -- the Soxsettled for the wild card and a weekend of tuning up for theirdivision series against the Angels, which begins Wednesday. Josh Beckett is selected to start Game 1 against the Angels. He'll probably befollowed by Jon Lester and Matsuzaka.
The Sox also have to see how healthy Lowell, J.D. Drew and others are this weekend.