1.  And the NLCS is rained out, so the A's and Tigers have the stage to themselves this evening.

2.  Did I hear A's fans booing Curtis Granderson? Is this the first time he's ever been booed in his life? I need a ruling on this.

Also, after the terrible news from NY today, I really need baseball to provide some free therapy. Pitching duel, please!

3.  So how does Loaiza look?

4.  3 Good. Even the hit by Polanco wasn't a bad one. Struck out Neifi and Mags.

5.  And I go to pan fry some trout, and we're tied back up. Aiee!

6.  Great piece on Cory Lidle over at Bronx Banter, on the off chance you haven't seen it:

http://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/archives/541847.html

7.  Verlander looks unbelievably nasty. Oakland's only chance against him would be if he loses some control and starts walking people, otherwise I don't see how they can touch that 100fastball/curveball combo.

But I do think they can take Rogers and Robertson. Unfortunately we'll only see them once more (each), assuming Bonderman is as unhittable as Verlander.

I'd love for Oakland to make me look silly.

8.  I don't believe this! The way Milton swung, I'd swear Pudge pulled a Crash Davis on his pitcher.

9.  Sometimes the faster you throw, the faster it leaves the ballpark.

10.  Sitting in for Ken, Mrs. Ken here.

Kotsay looks locked in tonight. Maybe those two DPs he hit into yesterday embarassed him.

By the way, on a happy note, Ken's car was found in Oakland, and towed directly to the Coliseum, so that he would have a ride home.

11.  The Fox announcers are jibbering about Bradley's home run trot. Thom, Psycho, Lou -- he did that speed-up-around-third thing all year. Does Fox's pregame research consist entirely of having some intern download batting averages from MLB.com?

12.  10 Hi, Mrs. Ken.

Great news about the car.

13.  Re.10:
Wow, the car was in one piece?

Now's time for the typical A's escape from a jam DP...wish they'd gone after Pudge with that intent instead of waiting for Monroe.

14.  Ken was right. The A's have morphed into the Twins. So close to comment 13 happenning :(

15.  Just when things were looking good.

16.  "Now's time for the typical A's escape from a jam DP"

Oakland just made you look silly, my man.

17.  I guess my plan to wear my Mexico Baseball t-shirt from the World Baseball Classic to show my solidarity with Esteban Loaiza is not paying dividends.

18.  I foresee Ken washing out plastic nacho containers in the bathroom sink.

19.  YES, it's Black Jack that Verlander looks like!! Thank you Lyons, I have been trying to figure that out since Game 2 vs the Yankees...

20.  And Justin V had not struck me as being quite as mean as McDowell was back in his day...until he laid out Scutaro with that 98 mph fastball up and in, geez!

21.  Get a T-Mobile phone and you, too, can disrupt sporting events while your friends and loved ones watch with shame.

22.  I have grown tired of Placido Polanco.

23.  C'mon, Milt.

24.  i came back to the dorm to check the score between classes, but now i have to go again. ugh. c'mon, A's.

25.  Re.16:
Yeah, I'd gotten so used to our previously air-tight infield turning that kind of ball into a DP. Not any more I guess, two borderline plays flubbed by Chavvy.

26.  Bah.

27.  At least the A's are going to miss the snow in Detroit....

28.  Even though we are pushing the pitch count on Detroit's pitchers, it won't matter, I guess. They can still send out their best bullpen pitchers again today. And because of the 1-day gap, they are available again to bail out Kenny Rogers.

29.  Well, Chavvy's at least trying to keep it interesting.

30.  I think Sheriff Blake and Art Nehf are warming up.

31.  30 I like my chances against Art Nehf.

Of course, he would be 114 years old, which should affect his velocity somewhat.

32.  So you think the A's couldn't handle the fastballs of the 107-year old Sheriff Blake?

33.  32 You don't get a nickname like Sheriff without developing some sort of craftiness.

Besides, if Scutaro's approach at the plate in that last bat is any indication, I think maybe I could retire an Athletic or two tonight.

34.  These posts come to you courtesy of the Apple Store in Sapporo which had a power adapter to replace the one that I broke before I left the States and could no longer jury rig to get to work.

35.  All Milton Bradley, all the time.

36.  Is that the first postseason instance of someone homering from both sides of the plate?

37.  The Game. Stepping up in the postseason.

38.  Milt killed that one, jeez

39.  36 according to Wikipedia, Bernie Williams was the first person to do it.

40.  Boy, I wish the Fox broadcast team would give Jim Leyland more credit for Detroit's success. I'm sure there's some sickly urchin in Detroit he healed with his calming words whom we haven't been told about.

41.  Swisher looks so lost at the plate right now, I'll be surprised if he doesn't take a wrong turn on his way to Detroit.

42.  My Swisher Ticket Magic isn't working this time, Phil.

43.  42 It's working about as well as Huston Street has for the past few weeks.

44.  Way to close it down, Street.

Ugh.

45.  I'm surprised that Street's toss to Swisher at first wasn't slammed for a home run. Or that Swisher didn't flail at it while it floated by, for that matter.

Yes, we've entered the Negative Nelly portion of tonight's broadcast.

46.  Dear Dr. Catfish,

So I won the World Series ticket lottery and they go on sale tomorrow morning. Should I bother?

47.  The Milt Man will bat

48.  Jeff Kent would have to approve of that hustle

49.  Noooo you TAG THE RUNNER!!!!

50.  To get the winning run to bat, what more can you ask for. Oh well.

51.  Well, they didn't roll over in the ninth. That's something.

52.  I don't like the idea of writing off the A's. But down 2 games to nil, heading back to Detroit to face Kenny Rogers, arch-nemesis to cameramen and Athletics, with only Rich Harden standing between us and certain doom...

... I do not favor our position.

53.  Kenny used up his post-season mojo against the Yanks--look for big Francesco to get it started...

54.  ah, crap.

55.  Rogers can't possibly duplicate what he did against the Yankees the other day, so I'm boldly predicting an As win in Game 3.