Pennant Fever!

Thank the baseball gods above that we have, at least, 2 solid pennant races going down the stretch...






In the National League, we have the Colorado Rockies clinging to their Wild Card lead by 2 games over the surging Atlanta Braves with just 6 games left to go in the regular season...






After 14 years of being a postseason regular, the Bravos have fallen off the radar. However, their rediculously good pitching staff may push them back into some meaningful October baseball...






The two hurlers leading the way are Javier Vasquez and Jair Jurrjens...Javier is having a renaissance season going 15-9 with a miniscule 2.83 e.r.a and 229 whiffs! The pride of the Netherlands, Jair Jurrjens, is 14-10 with an even lower e.r.a of 2.61...this kid's only 23 years old people! In each of their last 4 starts, these two have been nothing short of filthy!


Vasquez: 4-0 0.81 e.r.a 30 Ks and 2 complete games


Jurrjens: 4-0 0.63 e.r.a


That's only 5 combined earned runs in 61 innings pitched....Throw rookie phenom Tommy Hanson, veteran Derek Lowe and the recenty returning Tim Hudson behind that and you may have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball....definitely one that can compete with the nastiness coming out of St. Louis...






Sitting at 86-70, Atlanta has reeled off 7 straight wins and 15 out of their last 17 games...can you say 2007 Rockies? After 2 more games with the Marlins, the Braves get 4 games AT HOME against the lowly Washington Nationals...The Rockies? They also have their last 6 at home, but will have a much tougher time at it with the Brewers and N.L West leading Dodgers coming to Coors field...If you ask me..this is the year that the Braves play the role of comeback kids and win the wild card for the N.L!






As a Mets fan, I find myself pulling for the Braves because hey...they're not the Philthies..I also feel that Bobby Cox does deserve one more shot at October before he rides off into the sunset....









Baseball fans can thank mother nature for giving us one of the more pivotal doubleheaders we have seen in quite some time today as the Twins play a pair in Detroit today sitting 2 back of the Tigers for the lead in the A.L Central division.



I always find it funny that somehow...someway...the Twins are always playing competitive baseball at the end of September...It seemed highly unlikely this year after Justin Morneau went down for the remainder of the season...at the time they were 70-72 and 5.5 games back...Since then, they have gone 11-2 and Michael Cuddyer has become Minnesota's version of captain clutch hitting .370 with 6 HRs and 19 RBIs in that span...



On the other side of the spectrum, the Tigers are looking like a team with one foot in the grave and the other slipping...A team that was 7 games up about 3 weeks ago is looking like they are regretting a couple of their deadline acquisitions...Aubrey Huff has only hit a miserable .198 in his 35 games as a Tiger and Jerrod Washburn has hurled an e.r.a of 7.33 in his 8 starts in the Motor City after pitching lights out in Seattle....



The Twins need to take at least 3 of 4 in this series to stay alive in my view and this afternoon's game one is huge because in the night cap they have to deal with Tigers ace Justin Verlander...no easy task...



The Twinkies also have an easier set of 3 games after this series if they can manage to pull closer to the Tigers....While the Tigs have to deal with the White Sox, Minnesota gets to end their season at the Metrodome against Kansas City...However, they will have to deal with Zack Greinke on Saturday...Will there be postseason baseball at the Baggy Dome for one last time or will the Twins close out their stadium in Mets fashion by narrowly missing the playoffs?