MLB National League Division Series

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

Looking Forward ...

Let's keep this section short, since there will be plenty of looking ahead here over the next few days. TBS took a hit in the first round of the postseason, with three sweeps robbing the network of a more dramatic finish to the Division Series.

The League Championship Series ought to make up for it.

DENVER -- How the Philadelphia Phillies were able to sneak all those cases of Bud Light into Coors Field is another story. But it was quite evident what the beverage of choice was following the team's scintillating playoff-clinching win Monday over the Colorado Rockies.

Sure, champagne was sprayed at the start. But, other than shortstop Jimmy Rollins walking around with a bottle of Domaine Michelle, eventually nearly every Phillies player was content to be chugging a jumbo can of suds.

"It's definitely more of a beer team, no doubt about it,'' said Philadelphia reliever Brad Lidge. "Champagne tastes great for celebrating and when it's in your face. But after that it's beer.''

The Phillies are a gritty team from a hard-working town, so it's only appropriate in beer they trust.

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

There is one lesson that we learn year in and year out as the postseason unfolds. The team that has their bullpen clicking is often the team that wins. Game 4 on Monday night was a microcosm of the series between the Phillies and Rockies. While they were not dominant out of the 'pen, the Phillies were able to slam the door where Colorado could not.

In the final two innings of Monday's game, the Philadelphia bullpen surrendered just one walk against Colorado's four. As close as the Rockies came to winning the game, it is unrealistic to feel confident in winning a contest in which your bullpen surrenders that many free passes to a lineup that hardly needs the help.

Let's start by looking at two stat lines. Some of you have probably already guessed where I'm going with this, but bear with me.

Player A: .319/.395/.691, 1 HR/11.56 plate appearances
Player B: .207/.298/.356, 1 HR/37 plate appearances

If you haven't already figured it out, both of those players are Ryan Howard. "Player A" is Howard against righties in 2009 and "Player B" is Howard against lefties in 2009. To simplify, Ryan Howard is Albert Pujols against righties and David Eckstein against lefties. So why does no one question Jim Tracy's decision to leave right-hander Huston Street in the game to face Howard with the Rockies' season on the line?

Contrary to popular belief, Ralph Branca didn't throw away a pennant with his pitch that became Bobby Thomson's shot heard around the world. All of the Brooklyn Dodgers kept themselves out of the World Series back then. They choked away a huge lead in September to force that playoff against the New York Giants.

Remember Bill Buckner's gaffe?

Overrated.

That was in Game 6. The Boston Red Sox still had a chance to win the world championship in Game 7, but they didn't.

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

Looking Forward ...

TNT purports to know drama. Its sister network TBS knows all too well the absence of it. At least when it comes to the Division Series, that is.

ST. LOUIS -- All those walk-off homers in the regular season earned Andre Ethier a nice reputation as a clutch producer, but so far in the postseason he is earning a new, even more important one.

"He's the new Mr. October," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said of Ethier. "He's been clutch for us all season, down the stretch. I don't know how many big hits he's gotten for us. But he's right in his element."

With two series over, Major League Baseball has updated the schedule for the rest of the Division Series.

The Rockies and Phillies will play their Game 4 at 4 PM ET if the Yankees-Twins series is still going on. Should the Yankees finish off a sweep Sunday night, the NL Game would move to 6 PM ET.

Series-by-series times are after the jump (all times Eastern).

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

Looking Forward ...

With the World Series scheduled to go into November, we had a feeling extreme cold weather could play a factor in the postseason. Who knew it would be so soon? Wintry weather forced the postponement of Game 3 of the Rockies-Phillies NLDS to Sunday night.

It should be nicer than it was Saturday, with the game-time temperature projected to be in the low-40s, but that's still awfully frigid for baseball, and it will only get colder as the game goes on.

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

The St. Louis Cardinals may have beaten themselves in getting swept by the Dodgers, but Game 3 left us with a classic question. Was Vicente Padilla's strong pitching performance all him or the opposing lineup's doing? On this particular night, there was probably little the Cardinals could have done to stop him.

Padilla brought the raw stuff of an ace to the hill, touching 97 mph and sitting around 93-96 most of the night. Most importantly he was able to locate his fastball inside to righties with some running action.