The Second Season Begins Tonight....

We're probably going to be saying this every week from here on out...But this week could be the season.

If we sweep the week or win five of six, we're sitting pretty for the division and the wildcard. Split, we're barely treading water. Any worse than a split..I don't even want to think about.

We can send a very clear message to Infidel Nation if we take it to them this weekend. A sweep would be nice, but taking two out three would bite into that lead and put them on their heels. This isn't a team that has a lot of experience being frontrunners. They won last year playing the underdog. They didn't sneak up on anyone like the Marlins did in 2003. But it's a lot harder playing the front-runner. Winning when everyone expects you to win. Ask the Cardinals. They've done a great job so far, especially when you consider the injuries and bullpen problems they've had. Now it's time to turn the heat up another 20 degrees. Through a quirk of the schedule, the bulk of their remaining games are at Castle Grayskull. While it's half and half for us.

See the resemblance? Is that Johnny Damon in the tights? Or is it Kevin Millar....

Their schedule however, is a little tougher than ours. They still have to play the Angels, A's and six more games with us. They're only team with a winning record that we face this month. So unless we forget that we're playing the Jays, Rays and O's....we have slight advantage in scheduling I think. Yeah, they're great at Castle Grayskull. But the Angels and A's pitching can counteract some of that. And they're both playing for their seasons so you can't expect either squad to roll over and die.

The Angels/Sox series this week can actually help us in several ways. If the Sox win, they hurt the Angels playoff chances if the A's continue to win. That helps us because the A's are a much better playoff matchup for us than the A's. Particularly if we get the wildcard. Obviously, the Angels beating the Sux helps us because if we take care of business, it put us in prime position to take over the lead of the division after this weekend.

So obviously, we can't afford any more burps against the D-Rays or anyone else. The Big Unit has to earn his paycheck tonight and on Sunday. And the rest of the staff has to pick up the slack for losing Moose. If we get Mike back, great. But we can't assume that right now. The D-Rays gave us no help last week when they played the Sux. Time to make them pay this week.

Screw October. The playoffs start tonight.