Kuzul

Updated Sun. Oct. 3 7:34pm

All playoff teams and matchups decided:

Wed. Oct. 6

Game 1: Texas at Tampa Bay

Game 2: Cincinnati at Philadelphia

Game 3: NY Yankees at Minnesota  

Last year, they started around 2:30, 6, and 9:30 ET on Wednesday. Maybe they push the starting times earlier so they start the game in Minnesota earlier and allow the game to start earlier in New York.

Thur. Oct. 7

Game 1: Texas at Tampa Bay

Game 2: NY Yankees at Minnesota

Game 3: Atlanta at San Francisco 

With San Francisco hosting, maybe they can push the start times later than 2:30, 6, 9:30 to push the Yankee game closer to 7-8 pm ET.

Fri. Oct. 8

Game 1: Cincinnati at Philadelphia

Game 2: Atlanta at San Francisco 

I would expect around 6pm and 9:30 pm, maybe push back half an hour.

Sat. Oct. 9  

Minnesota at NY Yankees

Tampa Bay at Texas  

This could go either way. If they do 6 and 9:30, Texas has to get the late game. Maybe they can switch the order of the games and start in Texas around 4:30pm ET (3:30 pm in Arlington) and then the Yankees around 8pm.

Sun. Oct. 10  

Game 1: San Francisco at Atlanta

Game 2: Philadelphia at Cincinnati

Game 3: Minnesota at NY Yankees

Game 4: Tampa Bay at Texas 

You probably have to start Atlanta at noon and make games start as soon as possible to prevent a late start in Texas (unfortunately Texas is the only team not in the Eastern time zone so they have to go last).

If both NLCS games finish Saturday, I see Tampa and Texas playing around 3:30/4 pm followed by Minnesota/Yankees in prime time.

If the Atlanta series ends on Saturday, I would expect Philly/Cincy around 2:30 pm, Minnesota/Yankees, Tampa/Texas

If the Philadelphia series ends on Saturday, I would expect San Francisco/Atlanta around 1pm, followed by Tampa and Texas and Minnesota and Yankees in prime time.

Mon. Oct. 11  

Game 1: San Francisco at Atlanta

Game 2: Philadelphia at Cincinnati

If both games are played, expect a pre 6pm start time for Game 1 to prevent a late start in Cincinnati (or Atlanta)

Tue. Oct. 12

Game 1: Texas at Tampa Bay

Game 2: NY Yankees at Minnesota

Wed. Oct. 13

Game 1: Cincinnati at Philadelphia

Game 2: Atlanta at San Francisco

I would expect Tampa and Texas to be playing early Wednesday and Thursday. Yankees of course will be playing close to if not in prime time every time.

The Phillies should have all their games in reasonable slots. I would imagine they are more popular than Tampa and Texas and with them playing the Reds they won’t be playing any late night games like the ones in Colorado in 2007 and 2009.

Relevant NFL Games/Times Next Weekend:

Sites:

The Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the road.

The Cincinnati Bengals are at home next Sunday but they do not play in the same stadium as the Reds.  

NFL Game Times:

1 pm start: NY Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cincinnati Bengals

8:20 pm start: Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers

Monday night: Minnesota Vikings, NY Jets

The AL is off Monday so no conflicts with the MNF game is possible barring a rain out Sunday.

They would probably want the Phillies and/or Giants to not play around 8pm but considering the Yankees will play then it likely won’t matter.

As for the 1pm, too many teams to avoid. Someone probably has to play in that slot. Obviously the Yankees won’t be playing at 1 pm, I can’t imagine they would play an early game in Texas. I think it’s likely San Fran/Atlanta would be 1st over Philadelphia/Cincinnati (even though it is 10am in the Bay Area). Maybe they can move the Falcons game to 4pm to accomodate.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

OK, this assumes the Phillies will go to the World Series but here goes nothing.

If the Phillies are the top seed in the NL (which they would be if the season ended today), they would get the option of playing Game 1 on Wednesday vs Game 1 on Thursday. All other games would be the same regardless.

Starting a day earlier will allow the Phillies to go to a 3 man rotation with one pitcher starting games 1 and 4 on regular rest and another starting on games 2 and 5 on regular rest. If they start Thursday, the Game 1 pitcher on Thursday would have to pitch on short rest to start Game 4 (Monday). I am assuming the Phillies will choose to start a day earlier if they have the choice.

In the NLCS and World Series, you have to go with a 4 man rotation according to the schedules (they removed non-travel days off). If you go to a 3 man rotation, one pitcher could be pitching 3 games in 9 days and your #2 and #3 pitchers will both have to go on short rest as well.

I am against a 3 run lineup. Joe Blanton has won playoff games and World Series games before (heck, he won one with his bat before – remember the 2008 Game 4 home run?). We also have Kendrick as well. Or maybe a few innings of each. I’d rather have fresh Hamels, Halladay, and Oswalt. Think about it, if we can’t win 4 out of 6 games that the Big 3 pitch, we don’t deserve to win the series. And if we expect our pitchers to pitch on short rest, pitch counts become more important and we have to take our starters out earlier and depend more on our bullpen. So to me a 4 man rotation is the way to go.

I may be in the minority on these next two points.

1) I want my ace on the mound if I get to a Game 7. Assuming a 4 man rotation, three pitchers pitch two games – Games 1 and 5, 2 and 6, and 3 and 7. Why is it so important to have your ace pitch Game 1? He’s only going to pitch 2 games anyway. I’d set it up for my ace to start Game 3 and 7. Don’t you want your best pitcher on the mound in the most important game of the season? As for the NLDS, if you use a 3 man in a best of 5, the pitcher pitching Game 5 would pitch Game 2.

2) Who do I consider the ace? Cole Hamels. Yeah, Roy Halladay won 20 games. The playoffs are a totally different beast. Halladay has never pitched in the postseason. Sure Cole pitched horribly in 2009 but are you going to hold that against him? What was Roy doing last October? Playing golf? And let me ask you, who’s got the ring? Or the MVP trophy (make that trophies)? CC Sabathia is a great regular season pitcher but the Phillies have had a lot of success against him in the playoffs. Cole has proven at least once he can pitch in the playoffs and World Series. Roy hasn’t.

So based on my two points, here is my projected pitching schedule assuming we make it to the World Series and every series goes the distance.

NLDS Game 1 (Wed. Oct. 6): Halladay

NLDS Game 2 (Fri. Oct. 8): Hamels

NLDS Game 3 (Sun. Oct. 10): Oswalt

NLDS Game 4 (Mon. Oct. 11): Halladay

NLDS Game 5 (Wed. Oct. 13): Hamels  

NLCS Game 1 (Sat. Oct. 16): Oswalt

NLCS Game 2 (Sun. Oct. 17): Halladay

NLCS Game 3 (Tue. Oct. 19): Hamels

NLCS Game 4 (Wed. Oct. 20): Blanton or Kendrick

NLCS Game 5 (Thur. Oct. 21): Oswalt

NLCS Game 6 (Sat. Oct. 23): Halladay

NLCS Game 7 (Sun. Oct. 24): Hamels  

World Series Game 1 (Wed. Oct. 27): Oswalt

World Series Game 2 (Thur. Oct. 28): Halladay

World Series Game 3 (Sat. Oct. 30): Hamels

World Series Game 4 (Sun. Oct. 31): Blanton or Kendrick

World Series Game 5 (Mon. Nov. 1): Oswalt

World Series Game 6 (Wed. Nov. 3): Halladay

World Series Game 7 (Thur. Nov. 4): Hamels

I would want my top two starting twice in the NLDS so Halladay and Hamels with Hamels potentially starting Game 5. Now assuming the NLDS goes 5 and we advance, Oswalt likely has to start Game 1. Same for the NLCS/World Series.

To me, Game 1 is just one of seven games. You got to win four of them. Who cares if you don’t have your best pitcher on Game 1? We won Game 1 of the World Series last year. It didn’t do us much good. Then again, there are 29 other teams in baseball. 21 of them would love to be in the playoffs and I would imagine about half of the 8 teams in the playoffs would love for Roy Oswalt to be pitching Game 1 for them.

Now should we clinch the NLDS or NLCS early, maybe I would go with Halladay for Game 1 and switch Oswalt to Game 2. But Cole Hamels to be must be the guy who takes the ball for Game 7. Then again, if Halladay looks good in the NLDS and/or NLCS, maybe I would be comfortable having him pitch Game 7 for me. And you would also consider the potential lineup (Halladay vs a lineup more dependent on right handed hitters and Cole vs a lineup more dependent on lefties).

Then again, if you’re arguing Cole Hamels or Roy Halladay for Game 7, life is good.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

This Sunday afternoon, the Phillies and the Eagles are both playing at about the same time (Eagles at 1pm and Phillies at 1:35pm). So if you have to choose one game to watch, which team would you watch?

I think it should be the Phillies. I am hoping this weekend the city of Philadelphia finally makes the right choice. We should be a baseball town, not a football town. We want to paint the town red, not green.

Why should you watch the Phillies rather than the Eagles?

The Phillies are simply a better team. They won two World Series or two more than the Eagles won Super Bowls. The last time the Eagles won a championship was 1960, before I was even born. Back then, they won the NFL Championship. The NFL was just 13 teams or less than the size of the current NFC. Winning the NFL back in 1960 would be like winning the NFC today. They had to win one playoff game to win the title. These days, you have to win 2-3 to win the conference and 3-4 to win the Super Bowl.

In addition to winning the World Series in 2008, they made the World Series last year and won the division three years in a row (and are currently leading the NL East as we speak). The Eagles made the playoffs the last two years but if they were happy with that they wouldn’t have shipped the star QB out of town (to a division rival, no less).

Which brings us to another reason to choose the Phillies over the Eagles. The Phillies care about winning. The Eagles don’t. Donovan McNabb is just the latest of casualties of players the Eagles got rid of before the end of their careers. How about Brian Dawkins? Brian Westbrook?

Don’t think that trading Donovan McNabb was a spur of the moment thing. They drafted Kevin Kolb in 2007, two seasons removed from a Super Bowl appearance. You don’t think they were planning to replace McNabb?

And don’t forget the whole TO mess. TO wanted to renegotiate his contract after a superb season which led to a Super Bowl appearance. The Eagles refused. Did TO handle it correctly? Of course not. Attacking your QB is like biting the hand that feeds you and I’m sure he enjoyed playing last year in Buffalo with Trent Edwards.

The bottom line is the Eagles care more about making money than winning. If they can find someone who can do your job cheaper, they don’t care if the guy is not as good. Does it matter who your favorite Eagle is? In 3-5 years, they will be playing for another team.

How cheap are the Eagles? If the Eagles had their way, you wouldn’t even have been allowed to bring food into the stadium. Don’t forget that they fired an employee for criticizing letting Dawkins go (I’m sure glad I don’t work for the Eagles).

Meanwhile, the Phillies take care of their players. Look at the contract Ryan Howard got. And they make trades like the ones for Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt. I don’t see the Eagles making those moves (then again the way the Eagles treat players most free agents have no interest in playing for Philadelphia anyway).

The Phillies care about you and their players. The Eagles don’t. And if the Eagles continue to sell out games and dominate the local market, why should they change? If the Phillies played like the Eagles, Citizens Bank Park would be half full. Or if they traded Howard and Utley away, same. Is anyone left from the Super Bowl Eagles team? Look at the 76ers. They made the playoffs and their attendance was still awful. Why should the Eagles get a free pass for being 8-8 or 7-9 or for trading away all their good players?

So that’s where you come in Philadelphia. Why should we accept Kevin Kolb as our starting QB? Why should we accept management that cares more about profits than wins?

So, make a statement. Don’t go to their games. Don’t watch their games on TV. Don’t buy their jerseys (of course if you bought a Kevin Kolb jersey I’m worried about you). And support the team in Philadelphia that cares about you, the fans. Hurt the Eagles the only way they’ll listen.

And this is where this Sunday comes in. The Phillies and Eagles are both playing Sunday afternoon, both on over the air TV. Instead of watching the Eagles game (who cares, they are playing Detroit), watch the Phillies game. The Phillies only have two weeks left before the end of the season. They are in a playoff race. You can watch the Eagles lose all through November and December.

Sure, the US is a football country and of course the NFL is the most popular league in America. But it isn’t unprecedented to see a baseball game outdraw a football game in a local market. Last year, New York of all places overwhelmingly chose the Yankees over the Giants head to head during the playoffs.

Let’s make it happen here in Philadelphia. I want to see this week that more Philadelphians watch the Phillies game than the Eagles game. Let’s see how Joe Banner and company feel about that.

And if a Phillies playoff game is on at the same time as an Eagles game, watch the Phillies. The team that cares about winning. The team that cares about its players. The team that cares about its fans. And by the way, the BETTER team. The team that actually has a ring.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com