Opinion

When Jim Thome flied out to short left field in the bottom of the ninth Thursday night, that out secured the New York Yankees eighth straight postseason victory over the Minnesota Twins.

The things which the Twins have no control over, whether it is missed third strike calls or fair balls ruled foul, have always come back to haunt them against the Yankees. Add in the many base running errors of last season's ALDS, too.

At the time of year when all the talk is of MVP hitters and Cy Young pitchers, many important players are often not even considered. Although MVP does include the term valuable, that award is usually given to the player who has produced the most offense, and the Cy Young to the pitcher with the lowest Earned Run Average.

The 2010 MLB Playoffs are only just underway—each NLDS series is only one game old—and we've got both drama and storylines. Rarely has the first six games of a baseball playoff season been so eventful.

As we head into this weekend's games, here's a look at the storylines that have begun to develop. Some teams are doing the opposite of what we expected, while Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees are doing exactly what we expected.

Let's have a look.

For those who did not have the pleasure of watching Game Two of the ALDS between the Yankees and Twins, one of the biggest story lines was a controversial call in the seventh inning. With one out, two strikes, and Jorge Posada on first base, Carl Pavano threw a tailing fastball on the inside of the plate for what "should have" been strike three.

This is not what the Rays envisioned in the second season.

They did not anticipate striking out a lot. They did not anticipate leaving many men on base. They did not think their ace would fail when it mattered. They did not think they would be in danger of being eliminated by the Rangers.

This is exactly what happened. This fine season has gone ugly in the span of two days.

The Rays will be heading to Arlington down by two games, and they will be lucky if this series goes back to Tropicana Field.

Two games into both American League Division Series match-ups and it seems that the Yankees made the right decision by winning the Wild Card.

As more and more of the offseason days have rolled on by it has become more and more apparent that the Florida Marlins are not leaning towards retaining Edwin Rodriguez as their manager next season. The current interim manager received a strong recommendation from the players and a approval of the front office in the work he has done.

Rodriguez went an even 46-46 after taking over for Fredi Gonzalez and inheriting a series of bullpen woes and freak injuries along the way. 

So much for first postseason jitters.

On Wednesday night, the incomparable Roy Halladay set the bar even higher, cementing his name in the record books as he threw a no-hitter in game one of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.

Halladay's performance was only the second no-hitter in postseason history, (Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 world series the only other), and simultaneously marked the first time since 1973 (Nolan Ryan) that a pitcher completed two no-hitters in one season.

I've had so many people ask me what is was like to be there last night—I can't articulate it.

It's impossible.

After the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, it took me until the morning before the parade, the parade I had dreamed of for far too long, to realize that every sports game I'd ever attended, every game I'd ever watched, every dollar I'd ever spent, every hour of sleep I'd ever lost, and every ounce of energy I'd ever exhausted, was all for that day. That morning. That moment.

After a successful debut in 2009 with the Blue Jays, starting pitcher Ricky Romero improved in almost every conceivable way in 2010. With two full seasons under his belt at the big league level and still just twenty-five years old, Romero has established himself as one of the game's best young starters.