Playoff Pulse: And on the Fourth Day, They Started?

Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.

Looking Forward ...

Is it the desperation of potential elimination that makes teams more willing to push the envelope? Or more willingness to push ace pitchers? Or an extremely good batch of No. 1 starters and a weak bunch of No. 4s?

Whatever it is, two clubs in 0-2 Division Series holes appear ready to bring back their Game 1 starters on short rest in Game 4, should they get to that point. The Red Sox acknowledged as much before their Game 2 loss to the Angels.

"[Lester] threw 100 pitches [in Game 1]. I think we'd like to bring him back [in Game 4]. I'm getting ahead of myself, but then we'd want [Josh] Beckett to pitch Game 5. That's what we're hoping to do. But, try to get through tonight, make sure Lester's OK," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, legendary to baseball scribes nationwide for his terseness, was less forthcoming about his plans, but did hint that he would do the same with Chris Carpenter.

"We're spending a lot of time thinking about what we do to get to Game 4," La Russa said. "That is definitely the priority. ... Chris is one of the guys that's a possibility."

Carpenter and Lester are two of the best pitchers in baseball, so Francona and La Russa obviously want to maximize the number of starts they can get from them in a series, particularly with such a strong No. 2 behind each in Adam Wainwright and Josh Beckett, respectively, ready to follow them in a decisive fifth game.

Neither manager has particularly appetizing options among their rested hurlers either. Francona would go to Daisuke Matsuzaka if he didn't hand Lester the ball, while La Russa would go to Kyle Lohse or John Smoltz. Unless Smoltz hopped into a rejuvenator machine, we wouldn't trust any of that trio in a do-or-die game either.

In Their Own Words
"To me, Albert is in a class by himself. ... It may cost me [Saturday]. I don't know a three-run homer instead of a two-run homer. But I'm still going to make someone else beat me." -- Dodgers manager Joe Torre on his team's approach to Albert Pujols.
By the Numbers
July 4, 2007 The date of the last Twins victory in the Bronx. Johan Santana beat Mike Mussina that day. They've lost 10 straight in New York since. -- Ed Price
More From FanHouse
Price: Two Bronx Stars Born Krasovic: Halos on Brink Piliere: Scouting Notes

Looking Back ...

If TBS knows funny, then the Twins know drama. They've been involved in two of the three best games this week, with the other being Game 2 of the Dodgers-Cardinals NLDS.

Minnesota is now on the brink of elimination, and based on our extremely small sample size, that might be a bad thing for postseason intrigue.

Then again, a Yankees-Angels ALCS, which is what we appear headed for now, probably wouldn't be lacking for storylines. And if the Angels failed to finish the deal, a Yankees-Red Sox ALCS wouldn't be lacking either.

Scout's Eye View ...

The execution of the strategy to get ahead of the Yankees by pitching backwards and neutralizing their patient approach is what kept the Twins in Game 2. What lost the game was the inability to execute this strategy later on in the night. Looking back at Alex Rodriguez's ninth-inning at-bat against Joe Nathan, it's clear than the Twins closer had the right idea, but the inability to execute.

Nathan went with his secondary stuff three times in a row to start, missing first with a curveball then with two sliders. After getting back into the count with a 3-0 fastball for a strike, Nathan made a mistake over the heart of the plate with a fastball. Hitters of A-Rod's caliber don't miss those.

As poor of a mistake as this pitch was, it was the inability to throw his secondary pitches for strikes to begin the count that really came back to haunt him. When Rodriguez isn't forced to honor the breaking ball and can stay on his back leg on the pitch away, that's when you see those long home runs to center and right-center field, just like we saw on Friday.

-- Frankie Piliere (Full Scouting Notebook)

Saturday's Tale of the Tape ...

Dodgers (Vicente Padilla) at Cardinals (Joel Pineiro), 6:07 PM ET: Padilla definitely loves being a Dodger; his 3.20 ERA in eight appearances was his best in any setting since 2000. He's also 3-0 on the road as a Dodger. It's a pretty small sample with the current Cardinals, so there's no good read (only Mark DeRosa, of the starters, has faced him more than 10 times). Pineiro is considerably better at home (2.87 ERA compared to 4.07 on the road) and handcuffed the Dodgers in St. Louis earlier this year (eight innings, six hits, one earned run, seven strikeouts, one walk). Beware, however, of Manny Ramirez. In 38 career plate appearances against Pineiro, Manny has 14 hits (.424), four home runs, eight RBI, three walks (.500 OBP) and a 1.288 OPS.

Phillies (Pedro Martinez) at Rockies (Jason Hammel), 9:37 PM ET: In Pedro's last two outings, he was pretty bad (7.71 ERA in seven innings), his ERA was almost four runs higher on the road this year and his career numbers in Coors Field aren't good. On the flip side, no Rockies regulars have faced him more than four times, and that generally favors the pitcher (though both Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe have homered off before). Hammel is a much better road pitcher, as his home ERA is a daunting 5.73 in 2009. The Phillies haven't had any trouble getting baserunners on him, either. In 9 1/3 innings against the defending champs this year, Hammel coughed up 14 hits and two walks (a 1.71 WHIP). A possible X-factor? Matt Stairs is 5-for-8 with a double and two bombs off of Hammel. It's definitely going to be interesting in Denver. The matchups favor the hitters of both teams in a big way, but the weather may cancel it out.

-- Matt Snyder