Padres ride an arm and a prayer

By David Plattner

It's that time of year again. While many lament the loss of summer, baseball fans are unquestionably thrilled that October has finally arrived, ushering in the grand game's finest stage: the playoffs. After a truly extraordinary regular season, baseball's true gem--postseason play--is providing a dynamic climax to the annual eight-month marathon.

COURTESY CBS SPORTSLINE.COM George Arias and Kevin Brown celebrate their first-round win.

Okay, maybe my poetic waxing is a bit excessive. The first round of the playoffs was not very exciting at all. The division series were downright tame in comparison to the regular season's wild finish, during which the Cubs defeated the Giants at a raucous Wrigley Field one-game, do-or-die playoff. By contrast, not one of the four first-round playoff series stretched to a deciding fifth game. The only matchup to stray from its script saw the Padres overcome a stacked Houston squad and among them, a certain 6' 10" lefthander.

The other three series, however, were true to form and not much fun to watch. Just ask the Cubs how much fun the first round was. All the gutsy Chicago squad had to show for its memorable season was the privilege of getting trounced by the mighty Braves. But Chicago didn't go down without a fight. After a lackluster performance in game one, the Cubs rebounded behind Kevin Tapani, who miraculously outdueled Tom Glavine in game two and took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The Cubbies were just two outs away from sending the series to Wrigley tied at a game apiece, when, in typical Cub fashion, Tapani allowed a tying home run to Javy Lopez. The Braves went on to win the game and clinch the series in three, handing a tragedy-stricken franchise another heartbreaker.

The Red Sox can probably lay an even greater claim than the Cubs to the distinction of being professional sports' most snake-bitten franchise. After pummeling Cleveland 11-3 in game one of their division series, the Sox folded, dropping three in a row. As ESPN and Fox did not fail to remind us, every Boston fan at Fenway seemed to be gripped by the fear of seeing his or her team allow another promising season to go up in smoke. The Fenway faithful had their suspicions confirmed when Dave Justice drilled a two-run double in the eighth inning of game four to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead and drive a stake into Boston's heart. The pesky Tribe moved into its third ALCS in four years, while the Curse of the Bambino reigned triumphant in Boston.

The fact that the Yankees were so good in the regular season and even better in their first-round dismantling of Texas also makes them uninteresting. Their starting pitchers were virtually unhittable in their division series, as they made a potent Ranger lineup look hapless--Juan Gonzalez and company were held to just one run in 27 innings. New York is, as much as it pains a Yankee-hater like me to admit, the best team in baseball, probably by leaps and bounds. As much as I'd love to see the Indians knock out the Bronx Bombers for the second straight year, I'm afraid an upset is unlikely.

Undoubtedly the only true excitement of the first round was the San Diego Padres. For all the hype that the Randy Johnson-led Astros received prior to the series, one was led to believe that San Diego's chances were slim. But Kevin Brown outdueled the Big Unit in game one, striking out 16 in eight innings. The underrated Brown, a lean, mean workhorse who also pitched tremendously in game three to win on three days rest, proved better than Johnson, whose first loss in the Astrodome this year set the tone for the series. Houston did eke out a 5-4 victory in game two, but lost the next two in the disgracefully-named Qualcomm Stadium.

Brown's two dazzling outings would have easily earned him MVP status in any other best-of-five series, but in this one he had a close rival in Jim Leyritz. Leyritz, a gritty back-up catcher with a mediocre regular-season career, has established himself as the best clutch postseason home-run hitter of the '90s. Building on his past playoff glory as a Yankee, he hit a game-tying two-run homer in the ninth inning of game two, a game-winning blast in game three, and a shot in game four that helped San Diego beat Johnson for the second time in the series and advance to face Atlanta.

The Padres are a great team to watch. They have outstanding pitching, they play solid defense, and they tend not to break your heart--they've won 177 consecutive games when leading after eight innings. Against Atlanta, they're a heavy underdog. If they haven't yet emerged as the darlings of baseball, they've certainly captured my heart. Go Padres!

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