MLB American League Championship Series

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

Looking Forward ...

The rain made it feel like eons between Game 5 and 6 in the American League Championship Series, but in terms of setting up the World Series it worked out pretty well.

NEW YORK -- No starter/reliever pair has combined to lock down more games with the win and the save than Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.

So why not one more, for old time's sake?

"It happens an awful lot, that's for sure," a champagne-drenched Pettitte said early Monday morning.

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Let's try this again. The World Series is just three days away, but there is still a little business to take care of in the American League.

After rain got in the way of Game 6 on Saturday, the Yankees and Angels will go at it Sunday night, with New York looking to book its first World Series trip since 2003 and Los Angeles looking to force an all-or-nothing Game 7 Monday night in the Bronx.

In a series that has seemingly had it all, it's a pair of left-handers in the most vital game yet. Andy Pettitte, with all of his postseason experience, takes the hill for the Yankees against the Angels' Joe Saunders. Join the MLB FanHouse crew for a live chat from first pitch to final out starting at 8 PM ET.

Maybe the folks at MLB.com never found out that Game 6 of the ALCS was postponed on Saturday night, or maybe they're just playing the odds, but for some reason you can already buy your Yankees 2009 AL Champion swag in the MLB Shop. That's right, the AL Champions t-shirt that the Yankees will be wearing in the clubhouse as they douse themselves in champagne after knocking off the Los Angeles Angels.

It can be yours for only $24.99 plus shipping and handling! Who cares if they haven't actually eliminated the Angels yet?

NEW YORK -- The same nasty East Coast weather that seemed to throw the Angels off their game at the beginning of the American League Championship Series now may have worked in their favor.

The reason: John Lackey.

The Yankees already had their ace, CC Sabathia, lined up to pitch Game 7. But because Saturday's rain in New York pushed Game 6 to Sunday and Game 7 to Monday, Lackey could now pitch Game 7 on three days' rest.

"If we get Lackey going in Game 7," Scott Kazmir said, "we have a lot of confidence in that game, that's for sure."

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Game 6 of the ALCS between the Angels and Yankees, scheduled for 7:57 PM ET Saturday night, has been postponed until Sunday because of inclement weather. First pitch will be at 8:20 PM ET.

The adjustment means that if Los Angeles wins on Sunday, Game 7 will be played on Monday, one of the scheduled off days before the start of the World Series on Wednesday.

Rain has threatened all of the ALCS games played in New York, finally resulting in a postponement on Saturday because of a bleak forecast throughout the duration of the night.

Check back at MLB FanHouse later for more reaction, news and analysis of how the postponement will impact the remainder of the series.

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Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday night was a pretty exciting game for fans of both teams, and interested observers as well. Of course, not everybody in the world has an attention span long enough to focus on a baseball game for too long without deciding they need the world to be paying attention to them.

When alcohol is introduced into the mix, it speeds up this process, and we end up seeing a situation like the one that occurred in the sixth inning last night. That's when an Angels fan decided to make his way into the waterfall/rock formation that is beyond the left-field wall in Angels Stadium.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- You should forget the baseball fantasy that took place Thursday night next door to Disneyland, but only if you're among the wise who believe in pinstriped destiny this year. There is no Rally Monkey or Thunderstix at Yankee Stadium, where the American League Championship Series is headed after the fluke that was the Los Angeles Angels' 7-6 victory in Game 5.

The Yankees still will take it all -- the AL pennant, a world championship, maybe the Western Hemisphere -- because they have somebody who won't settle for less.

Derek Jeter.

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

Looking Forward ...

So you thought the weather issue was dead when the Yankees and Angels left New York? Wrong, especially now that the ALCS is headed back to the Big Apple.

There is rain in the forecast for Saturday night's Game 6, with showers expected in the morning in New York and heavier downfall expected as first pitch approaches. The chance of precipitation is 80-90 percent right now, but hey, at least it'll be warm (highs are expected to be in the mid-60s).

In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.

Pointing a finger at a manager is an easy thing to do after a heart-wrenching loss. Sometimes the hard truth of a loss is little more than a lack of execution by the players. The Angels' Game 5 victory came down to a poorly executed pitch from the hand of Phil Hughes. That simple of an answer might be difficult to swallow, but that single offering has, at best, delayed the Yankees' return to the World Series.

Make no mistake, New York is at this point in the postseason because of the performance of its young relievers. But, youthful mistakes and jitters cost the Yankees dearly Thursday night. Until Game 6 begins on Saturday night, the pitch every Yankee should be replaying in their head is a fastball in a 1-2 down the heart of the plate to Vladimir Guerrero.