>Well, Mike, much as I hate to say it, I don't think the Jays are going to make the playoffs.

You may be right. I don't think the Brewers are going to make it, either.

Total fiasco in Atlanta last night. Infield fly rule called 225 feet from home plate? Bring in the replacement umps!

The team I am keeping an eye on, along with the Giants, is the Tigers. They have the best hitter and the best pitcher in baseball. No one should want to face that starting rotation in a short series. Verlander, yeah, we all know about him. They also have Doug Fister in there. He was voted the most underrated pitcher in baseball in a player poll. They have issues, starting with the bullpen, but that is a dangerous team.

Miguel Cabrera winning the triple crown sent me down baseball memory lane to the last time it was done, by Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. That's a pretty long time in between. I was 10 years old, the Red Sox were competitive for the first time in eons, and it was a classic four team pennant race. As you know, there were no playoffs then, just the winners of each league meeting in the World Series. The AL went down to the final day. It seemed like Yaz kept coming up in crucial situations and got a hit every time. Of course I am sure memory has distorted that. But it did seem that way. I was a 10 year old kid in New England and that was the first time I followed baseball seriously. World Series games were still played in the afternoon, in sunshine as god intended, and we were allowed to watch the games in the classroom at school.

I think Cabrera's numbers this year exceeded Yaz's in every major category. Of course, it was a different era. Hitting 40 homers or batting over .300 really meant something. They hadn't lowered the pitcher's mound or started cramming the whole rabbit into every ball.

Enjoy the playoffs. I am more excited about them than I have been in several years.