Kemp, bullpen pull through for Dodgers  —  Relievers pick up Wolf with 5 1/3 solid innings vs. Cards  —  LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers don't have leading candidates for Cy Young or MVP, but they do have something the Cardinals don't have.  —  A Game 1 victory in their National League Division Series.

Yankees catch fire, Twins tire  —  Like old times in New York  —  NEW YORK - Derek Jeter got a big hit, just as he did in Octobers past at the famed ballpark across the street.  CC Sabathia joined in the postseason fun.  Even Alex Rodriguez broke out of his playoff rut.

Paul Byrd's heart is still in Anaheim  —  Paul Byrd will find out soon whether he'll be on the Red Sox roster for the American League Division Series.  And if he makes it, it figures to be a bittersweet accomplishment because if Byrd was watching the series from home, he'd probably be cheering for the Angels.

AL dominates my 2009 playoff-team seedings (cont.)  —  7. Rockies  —  Plusses: That it's hard to name a weakness may be their biggest plus.  They were easily the best team in the NL in the second half and are 74-42 under manager Jim Tracy.  Troy Tulowitzki (1.042 second-half OPS was third-best …

Florida girl sues, gets back Ryan Howard's 200th home run ball  —  MIAMI — A Florida girl who grabbed a historic home run ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard has her prize back after suing the team for its return.  —  The July home run against the Florida Marlins was Howard's 200th.

Productive Base Stealing And The Mets  —  In the recent Athletics Nation interview with A's GM Billy Beane, interviewer Tyler Bleszinski asked about an often divisive topic in the realm of baseball discussion, the stolen base: … Emphasis mine.  It was Michael Lewis's book Moneyball …

ALDS Game 1: Twins at Yankees  —  YANKEES  —  Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.37 regular season)  —  TWINS  —  Pitching: LHP Brian Duensing (5-2, 3.64 ERA regular season)  —  WEATHER: October-ish.  Cloudy and cool.  Forecast calls for temps in the 50s tonight and windy conditions.

Oct. 7 — COLE: EARLY STARTS ‘NOT FAIR’  —  Good morning, all, from the Bank.  Lots to tell already, and it's only 11:30 a.m.  —  1. Cole Hamels feels the pain of all the Phillies fans who will be stuck at work, unable to watch Games 1 or 2 because of the early start times.

Mat Gamel, Trade Bait?  —  Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is speculating that Mat Gamel might be a candidate to be traded in the offseason based on comments made by Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin and assistant GM Gord Ash during their end-of-season press conference on Wednesday.

WAR: It Works  —  We use Wins Above Replacement around here a lot, as one of the focuses of the site is to accurately quantify the value each player produces, and WAR is the best tool we have to do that.  However, it faces a decent amount of skepticism from people who don't trust various components …