I know you’ve heard me say this before, but October brings us the best, especially in baseball, the greatest game ever.  

All four playoff series took center stage yesterday, first, in the national league, the St. Louis Cardinals opened up another can of whup-ass against the Washington Nationals, beating the Nats 8-0, behind Chris Carpenter, who again dominates in the postseason.  Carpenter threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings to improve his postseason record to 10-2 in 16 career starts.  Pete Kozma hit a three-run homer and Matt Holliday added two RBI.  St. Louis can end it all today in game 4.  In Cincinnati, the San Francisco Giants had an offensive power surge with home runs from Gregor Blanco, Angel Pagan, and Pablo Sandoval and got a great relief effort from Tim Lincecum to beat the Reds for the second straight game, 8-3 and tie the series at 2-2, setting up a deciding game five today.  

All the excitement yesterday, however, was in the American League.  Yankee manager Joe Girardi made a difficult decision yesterday in keeping the struggling A-Rod hitting third in the Yankee lineup.  After going 0-3 with two strikeouts yesterday, Alex was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Yankees down, 2-1, and facing arguably the best closer in the American League this season, Jim Johnson.  Girardi sent Raul Ibañez to bat for A-Rod in the most crucial of situations, and Ibañez came through with a game-tying home run to send the game into extra innings.  With the game still tied 2-2 in the twelfth inning, Ibañez ended the game with another homer and Frank Sinatra started singing “New York, New York” at the stadium.  The Yankees win, 3-2, and they have a chance to end the series today.  Meanwhile, out west, the Oakland A’s staved off elimination one more time, beating the Tigers 4-3, setting up a deciding game five tonight.  The A’s trailed in the bottom of the ninth, 3-1, but managed to score three runs against Detroit closer Jose Valverde, the winning run scoring on a single by Coco Crisp.     

Four games on the docket today.  At 1 pm, on TBS, Cincinnati and San Francisco hook up in the deciding game five of their series, and both teams will send their aces to the mound.  The Reds will start Mat Latos, the Giants will counter with Matt Cain.  At 4 pm, also on TBS, the Cardinals will try and close out their series against the Nationals.  Ross Detwiler will start for Washington, while St. Louis will send Kyle Lohse to the hill.  At 7:30 pm, again on TBS, the Orioles and the Yankees meet again at the stadium.  Philip Hughes will toe the rubber for New York, Joe Saunders will start for Baltimore.  The nightcap tonight is Detroit in Oakland against the A’s in the fifth and deciding game of that series.  Jarrod Parker will start for Oakland, Justin Verlander will start for Detroit. Game time is 9:30, and you can watch it on TNT.

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  Local talent Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles became the second youngest player ever to homer in a post season game.  Who holds the distinction of being the youngest ever to connect long distance in the postseason? Tell you later, alligator. 

In college football this weekend, FIU takes on Middle Tennessee in their Homecoming game at 6:00 pm on Saturday at the Cage.  Don’t miss the game broadcast (in English) on your smartphone or on the computer at www.fiusports.com.  I will be handling the play-by-play, and Pete Pelegrin will be handling the color analysis.  The University of Miami Hurricanes are licking their woulds after getting mauled by Notre Dame last week, and return home to the Seven Names Stadium to take on the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina.  Game time is 2:30 pm, and you can watch the game on ESPN-U on your cable or satellite system.  In other games involving the top-ranked teams, #1 Alabama is at Missouri, #3 South Carolina visits #9 LSU, #4 Florida travels to Vanderbilt, #5 West Virginia goes to Texas Tech, #6 Kansas State is on the road at Iowa State, #7 Notre Dame hosts #17 Stanford, #8 Ohio State is at Indiana, and #10 Oregon State travels to BYU.  #2 Oregon is off this week. 

Here’s the complete schedule this week in the NFL,

TONIGHT

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Tennessee Titans

Tenn +6.5 8:20 pm NFL Network

SUNDAY

St. Louis Rams @ Miami Dolphins

Mia -3.5 1:00 pm FOX Ch. 7

Oakland Raiders @ Atlanta Falcons

Atl -9.5 1:00 pm

Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns

Cle +1 1:00 pm

Indianapolis Colts @ NY Jets

NY -3.5 1:00 pm

Detroit Lions @ Philadelphia Eagles

Phi -4 1:00 pm

Kansas City Chiefs @ Tampa Bay Bucs

TB -4 1:00 pm

Dallas Cowboys @ Baltimore Ravens

Bal -3.5 1:00 pm

Buffalo Bills @ Arizona Cardinals

Ari -4.5 4:05 pm

New England Patriots @ Seattle Seahawks

Sea +3.5 4:05 pm

NY Giants @ San Francisco 49ers

SF -6.5 4:15 pm

Minnesota Vikings @ Washington Redskins

Was -2.5 4:15 pm

Green Bay Packers @ Houston Texans

Hou -3.5 8:20 pm NBC Ch. 6

MONDAY

Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers

SD -1 8:30 pm    ESPN

Bye week for the New Orleans Saints, the Chicago Bears, the Carolina Panthers, and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers this morning in an exhibition game in Beijing, final score 94-80.  Here’s a surprise . . . LeBron James led the Heat with 20 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds while playing only 26 minutes.  Ray Allen came off the bench to score 15 points on 5-11 shooting, including 4-8 from behind the three-point line.  The Heat and the Clips close out their two game trip to China Sunday at 12:30 am.  You can stay up late on saturday night and watch the game on NBA-TV on your cable or satellite system.

By the way, in a totally unrelated situation, are the National Hockey League and the players ever going to figure out how stupid they both are with their labor dispute?  Does anyone have “the upper hand” in this situation?  They might as well let the kids from “South Park” decide their fate.  

THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  Local talent Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles became the second youngest player ever to homer in a post season game last night.  Who holds the distinction of being the youngest ever to connect long distance in the postseason?  Machado’s blast came at the age of 20 years and 96 days.  Andruw Jones, then of the Atlanta Braves, connected long distance twice against the Yankees in the first game of the 1996 World Series at the tender age of 19 years and 180 days.  

Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” segments (for the Spanish-challenged, “Sports Jam Session”) every day, Monday through Friday, at 9:25 am and 12:15 pm on Radio Esperanza, 1550 AM or on the internet on www.miradioesperanza.com.  

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.