I'll admit that I am a tad bit biased on this examination, because I hate Chip Caray as an announcer. From the unoriginal "Steve Stone has never picked up a dinner check" every freaking game for his years with the Cubs to the way he laughs when he finishes non-funny sentences ... I just think he's a brutal baseball announcer. If his name wasn't Caray (or Albert or Brennaman) he'd be working minor league games on the radio.

Usually when fans say the announcers seemed like they were rooting against a team, it's lame. Yet last night it really felt like Chip was pulling for the Angels, and I'm unbiased. The cherry on top was when the Angels tied the game on a two RBI single off the bat of Torii Hunter.

You see, the Bostonians had been doing the old, slow, "TORRRRRRR - EEEEEEEEE" chant during the at-bat.

The instant Vladimir Guerrero crossed home plate, Chip exclaimed -- in jubilation -- "And no one's chanting now!"

It came off like smack-talk. I could understand if he was a home announcer -- like doing play by play for the Angels radio station -- but he's supposed to be a national announcer, thus without bias.

Sure sounded biased to me.

Now that Brian Cashman has signed on for three more years, it's time for the Yankees to get back to doing what they do best -- namely, throwing ungodly sums of money at players. The starting rotation needs the most attention, especially considering Chien-Ming Wang, who made all of 15 starts in 2008, is the only sure thing.

Feel free to pencil Joba Chamberlain in for a spot, though given his injury history, anything more than 20 starts should be considered gravy. Theoretically Philip Hughes and/or Ian Kennedy will contend for a spot, but only if they make huge strides over the offseason.

Andy Pettitte? As of last month he still hadn't decided if he wanted to play another year. Same goes for Mike Mussina, who told the New York Daily News yesterday he hasn't "put a timetable" on making up his mind.

So what other options are the Yankees considering? George King III of the New York Post is convinced CC Sabathia, the jewel of free agency, is headed for California, which could make A.J. Burnett the new top option.

Most people on the payroll of the Boston Red Sox are focused on the Tampa Bay Rays and the ALCS right now but one guy is already thinking about 2009. Because of shoulder surgery, Curt Schilling hasn't been an on-field part of this playoff run but he's not ready to officially hang up the cleats and begin the clock on his Cooperstown candidacy just yet.

Schilling said that if his shoulder recovers, he'll tear himself away from campaign photo ops and give baseball one more try.

"If I do decide to come back, I would work to the point I was ready and somewhere around May 1 let the teams know I wanted to pitch the second half. I'd obviously need to spend June in the minor leagues building it all back up and then hopefully come back and help a team in contention win a World Series."

He's just like Roger Clemens without all that nasty steroid business.

If Schill does give it another go, it's hard to imagine it will happen with the Red Sox. They are set at the top of the rotation. With Justin Masterson, Clay Buchholz and other young guns in the system, there doesn't seem to be much room for a risky bet on a fading star. It's time for a change, in other words, which the politically minded Schilling may or may not appreciate.

With all that's happened between the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez, I wouldn't have been surprised to find that Manny would have a reluctance to talk about his former team, or that there was a hint of lingering bitterness towards the Red Sox organization. But it's not like that at all. In fact, even though Manny is now decked in Dodger blue, he apparently still carries his Red Sox Nation card in his wallet ... because he's rooting for Boston to get to the Series to face his Dodgers.

"I've got my boy David Ortiz and [Mike] Lowell and all those guys," Ramirez said. "I'm pulling for them."

Although Ramirez would only say "anything's possible" to a potential World Series matchup between the Dodgers and Red Sox, with the left fielder noting both clubs have to first beat some tough opponents, he joked around about the trade that sent him packing to the West Coast in a three-team deal that landed Boston left fielder Jason Bay. (...)

"That was a good trade," Ramirez said. "I think it was the right move. [Bay] can run, play the outfield. He's got six tools. I've got five."

Let's see: Hitting for average? Check. Hitting for power? Check. Baserunning? Check. Throwing? Check. Fielding? Yup, Bay can do that too. So what's that sixth tool? Makes a mean Chicken Marsala? Great at Scrabble? Renaissance man? Able to resist the urge to use the bathroom behind the Green Monster during a pitching change? I don't know. Whatever it is, it's a tool that's working well for the Red Sox in the playoffs as they're now on their way to play Tampa Bay in the ALCS while Manny and the Dodgers are prepping for Philly in the NLCS.

With all those tools between them, would that make a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series like, Tool Time?

The Angels won a game in the playoffs. Against the Red Sox. At Fenway Park. I know that seems improbable given recent history, but it happened. And if the Angels want a Game 5, it's going to have to happen again tonight. Interestingly, the Angels chose the schedule with an extra day of rest, so Jon Lester and John Lackey take the mound on regular rest tonight. The Angels might regret that choice given the way Lester dominated them over seven shutout innings in Game 1.

The game starts at 8:30, as the Red Sox try to become the final team to join the LCS fray (assuming the Rays current lead holds up) and the Angels try to force a decisive Game 5. Follow along after the jump as my fellow FanHouse luminaries and I chronicle the events.

The White Sox rode the left arm of John Danks to stay alive in their ALDS series with the Rays. Today, we see a matchup of two talented pitchers making their playoff debuts: Andy Sonnanstine for the Rays, Gavin Floyd for Chicago.

Who cracks? Who shines? Is this series going back to the Trop, or do the Rays start scouting that Angels/Red Sox game tonight? Find out along with us in a very special "FanHouse Live Chat"!

For a few years, Jason Bay was baseball's best kept secret. In 2005, he mashed his way to a .306/.402/.559 line that gave him the fifth highest VORP in either league, yet he only finished 12th in National League MVP balloting because he played in the anonymity of Pittsburgh. The next year, he had a stretch in May in which he homered 10 times in 10 days, but the Pirates lost seven of those games and no one took notice. He's in the midst of another hot streak right now, and people are finally noticing because he's now a member of the Boston Red Sox and the hot streak is happening in the ALDS.

In Bay's first two playoff games he's got five hits in nine at-bats, including a huge two-run home run with the Red Sox down 1-0 in the sixth inning of Game 1 an a three-run homer that gave the Red Sox a 4-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2. Two days ago, someone asked Bay how he felt about playing in a playoff game and he responded,"I don't know, I haven't played a game yet." I'm guessing he'd give a different answer right now.

Jason Bay is not a better hitter than Manny Ramirez. It's stupid to try and argue that he is. Whether or not you think Manny Ramirez was a distraction to the Red Sox before he was traded is up to you, but the Sox seems pretty convinced that he was. Right now, I don't think they're upset with their choice.

Francisco Rodriguez is going to see some form of red socks in his nightmares for a long long time.

Last season it was Manny Ramirez who took Frankie deep to win a playoff game in Boston. This season, with Manny gone, the coast was seemingly clear for Rodriguez when he entered the game in the eighth with the Angels down 5-4 in Game 2 of their playoff series Friday night. But after the Halos tied it, David Ortiz drove one off the glove of a leaping Reggie Willits. And after a ground out by Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew took Rodriguez deep to give the Red Sox a 7-5 lead, and ultimately a 2-0 lead in their best of five series.

But what was so striking about that home run was Drew coming back to the dugout where he was greeted by happy teammates ... including one who told Drew "You set him up man, you set him up." Not only did the quote come through loud and clear on television, it must have come through loud and clear to Rodriguez. If a closer who had 62 saves in the regular season can be "set up" like he was a mere mortal, what chance does any other Angel pitcher have in this series?

It's a testament to the talent and the smarts of this Red Sox lineup that they can not only make Rodriguez look so ordinary, but that they can make the only team with 100 wins in the regular season look like a team with no chance to win Game 3 much less this series.

The Rays hit a speed bump last night when Carlos Pena was pulled from Game 1 after just two innings with blurred vision, but he has his sights on playing tonight. (Get it? "His sights?" Okay, moving on ... ) As Marc Topkin explains in the St. Petersburg Times, Pena suffered the ailment on Wednesday:

Pena was relaxing at home early Wednesday night when he felt something in his left eye and rubbed it. The result, he found out after some extreme pain and an emergency visit to team eye doctor Mark Sibley, was a scratched cornea and some significantly blurred vision.

He initially tried to play through the injury but was worried about making throws. Fortunately, with the help of eye drops, antibiotics and a clear contact, his vision should be back to normal tonight.

In hindsight, it's somewhat amusing how little press Pena's absence received. Evan Longoria provided more than enough firepower to get the job done, but Pena led the team this year with 31 home runs and 102 RBI. Can you imagine the uproar had this happened to Aramis Ramirez or Derrek Lee? There would've been thousands of words in Chicago's newspapers today about how the Cubs are cursed and how even particles of dusts are part of the cosmic conspiracy.

Update: According to the St. Pete Times, Pena was in the original lineup but was scratched at the last second after having trouble fielding grounders. So that's that.