Pitching rules

Two days into the MLB playoffs, we have seen some great pitching already. The pitching statistics this season has been way better thanks to the fact that a lot of the league is now de-juiced. And proportionally the playoffs seems to be featuring even better pitching since this time of the year is always about pitching. Yesterday, Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter for Philly. He is already the front-runner for the NL Cy Young and then he goes out and pitches a no-hitter in his first game ever in the playoffs. I have always loved this guy as a pitcher since his days in Toronto. Of course, I wanted him to do well back then considering he was beating the Yankees and the RedSox all the time. Now he is in Philly - a team I don't particularly love (or hate). But he has always been a great pitcher and is now getting the right level of recognition after being slightly under-rated in Toronto for all those years. This is just the second no-hitter in the history of the playoffs and I am glad a true ace like him got it done.

Today, Tim Lincecum did what we all knew he was going to do for the Giants. The Gigantes won 1-0 behind a 2-hit, complete game shutout by Timmy. I am never a hater or a sadist, but I am one when it comes to the Giants. As an Arizona Diamondbacks fan and a Oakland A's fan, I have both a divisional jealousy and a geographical rivalry working against the Giants. But even I started pulling for this kid in the late innings because he was just filthy! He had 14 strikeouts and most of them were a swing and a miss. The Braves hitters are probably still swinging and flailing away in their dreams. It's amazing how many times they swung at stuff not even close to the strike zone and how over-matched they looked in the process. Thats just domination. Derek Lowe is definitely overrated, but he was good today. Unfortunately he has nothing to show for it. Lincecum on the other hand put the "touch" in untouchable. If he does this every start, the Giants may be a scary team this off-season.

In the AL, Andy Pettitte added to his post-season resume today by pitching another gem. Both the road teams are now leading the AL series 2-0. Thats surprising, especially in the Texas-Tamapa Bay series. Cliff Lee and this kid C.J. Wilson bottled up the Rays by holding them to 1 run over 2 games. I guess I was wrong about Texas. The series is not over, but both the Yankees and the Rangers should wrap it up at home either in 3 or may be 4 games. They better wrap up the ALDS before Sunday when both NY and Dallas have NFL games to follow. Speaking of the NFL, Randy Moss has been traded away from the Patriots to the Vikings. The Vikes are going all in and I am not sure what comes out of this except coach chilly losing his job at the end of the season. What's the value of Moss when Favre retires? I am sure this is a very uncomfortable question for the Vikes, but I do like this trade for this year. A motivated Moss is still a game-breaker and it should be fun to see these guys play. As for the Patriots, a legendary coach like Bill Belichick with 3 super bowl rings can do a trade like this. He has enough goodwill in the bank to gamble on this season and think really long-term. More power to the hoody!

I was watching the sportscenter and I might have seen the most stupid back-to-back questions in television history. Merril Hoge for some reason was sent to interview Ben Roethlisberger. First, he asks him "what's the difference between Big Ben and Ben?". I am sitting there thinking what kind of stupid question is that? Roethlisberger goes on and blabbers something about how Ben is that little kid from Ohio and is back now and Big Ben was the result of all the hype blah blah blah. Then Hoge in all seriousness asks Roethlisberger, "that incident in Georgia, was it Ben or Big Ben". Come on, give me a break and grow some balls! If you can't ask legitimate questions to Roethlisberger, who needs all the help from the media as he is trying to rehab his tattered image, who the hell are you going to ask the tough questions to? I always liked Hoge as a football expert in the NFL edge show, but he should really stick to his day job. A 'seal here and a seal there" is a lot better than "Ben or Big Ben".