Oct 03

The undercards are done, now to the main events

The preliminary bouts are over, with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh prevailing over Cleveland and Cincinnati respectively. Now the Division Series games begin.

First, on Thursday, Pittsburgh at St. Louis at 5:00PM ET, 2:00PM PT, 11:00AM HST. The Pirates start A.J. Burnett and the Cards pitch Adam Wainwright.

Okay, okay. The more important game of the two is Los Angeles at Atlanta at 8:30PM ET, 5:30PM PT, 2:30PM HST. The Dodgers start Clayton Kershaw and the Braves start Kris Mendel Medlen. One hopes that Kershaw throws his usual selection of fastballs, sliders and curves well enough to win, and that Mendel Medlen doesn’t throw peas like those his namesake Gregor once studied. The Dodgers need to score runs for Kershaw, something they’ve frequently had trouble doing. In fact, the Dodgers were shut out three times in games Kershaw started. All told, in 33 starts he gave up 55 runs, 48 earned, and he lost nine games. He could have sued for non-support.

Addendum: Both games are on TBS.