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Although it has no predictive value for tonight's game, I was curious about how past Yankees teams have fared when facing postseason elimination.

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There's a 6th member of the Postseason 3-HR-Game fraternity. Adrian Beltre connected in the top of the 7th off Matt Moore for his 3rd solo HR of the day and a 4-2 lead; the first two HRs came against Jeremy Hellickson (here's #2). It was the only hit Moore allowed in his 3 innings of relief, and snapped his 15-inning scoreless streak.

The Rays got a run in the 9th and had the winning run at the plate with 2 out, but Desmond Jennings bounced out, and Tampa's magical season is over. The AL defending champion Rangers advance to the ALCS for the 2nd time in club history. 

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Two polls...one for who deserves it and one for who will actually win it.
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So much happened in the bottom of the 6th inning that I'll leave my discussion at that. Caveat: I did not see the inning, so if there's some hidden explanation for the events that baffled me when reading the play-by-play, I apologize.

First the obligatory stat note, then the crux of the matter:

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Once the two teams for this year's World Series are determined, there will be a small bit of attention paid to some player on one team who also played on the other team.

Let's take a peek at the players with a lot of plate appearances or innings pitched for each possible combination. I got these results using the Multi-Franchise tool.

Phillies-Yankees:

Bobby Abreu, Oscar Gamble, Charlie Hayes, Ricky Ledee

Sparky Lyle, Tom Gordon, Shane Rawley

Phillies-Tigers:

Placido Polanco, Lance Parrish, Glenn Wilson

Jim Bunning, Schoolboy Rowe, Willie Hernandez

Phillies-Rangers:

Del Unser, Pete Incaviglia, Marlon Byrd, Ricky Ledee

Mitch Williams, Vicente Padilla, Sparky Lyle

Phillies-Rays:

Pat Burrell, Travis Lee, Kevin Stocker, Marlon Anderson

Roberto Hernandez, Danys Baez, Cory Lidle

Brewers-Yankees:

Willie Randolph, Gary Sheffield, Gerald Williams, Charlie Hayes

Bob Wickman, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Myers

Brewers-Tigers:

Ben Ogilvie, Rob Deer (yay!), Gary Sheffield, Alex Sanchez

Mike Myers, Jim Slaton, Steve Sparks

Brewers-Rangers:

Jim Sundberg, Darryl Hamilton, Dave May, Darrell Porter

Brian Shouse, Francisco Cordero, Danny Darwin, Doug Davis

Brewers-Rays:

Greg Vaughn, Gabe Gross, Gerald Williams, Ben Grieve

Alberto Reyes, Brian Shouse, Seth McClung

Diamondbacks-Yankees:

Tony Womack, Tony Clark, Andy Fox

Randy Johnson, Mike Myers, Brian Bruney, Randy Choate

Diamondbacks-Tigers:

Tony Clark, Luis Gonzalez, Danny Bautista

Jose Valverde, Mike Myers, Brandon Lyon, Gregg Olson

Diamondbacks-Rangers:

David Dellucci, Rod Barajas, Royce Clayton

Doug Davig, Rick Helling, Mike Morgan

Diamondbacks-Rays:

Travis Lee, Quinton McCracken

Randy Choate, Lance Cormier

Cardinals-Yankees:

Enos Slaughter, Johnny Mize, Tino Martinez, Roger Maris

Lindy McDaniel, Bobby Shantz

Cardinals-Tigers:

Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria, Juan Encarnacion

Syl Johnson, Doug Bair, Juan Acevedo

Cardinals-Rangers:

Don Blasingame, Luis Alicea, Todd Zeile, Royce Clayton

Cris Carpenter, Rick Honeycutt

Cardinals-Rays:

Miguel Cairo, Randy Winn, Mike Difelice, Tino Martinez

Trever Miller, Alberto Reyes

Trivia question 1: can you name the only player to play for each of the 4 AL playoff teams? Answer

Trivia question 2: can you name the only three players to play for each of the 4 NL playoff teams? Answer

Trivia question 3: can you name the only four players to play for each of the 4 "old" playoff teams? (Yankees, Phillies, Cardinals, and Tigers)? Answer

Trivia question 4: can you name the only player to play for each of the 4 "young" playoff teams? (Diamondbacks, Brewers, Rays, and Rangers)? Answer

In 71 PAs before today by current Brewers against Ian Kennedy, the only home run came from Prince Fielder. But that HR came in their very first encounter; in the next 10 times they faced off, Kennedy got 6 Ks while allowing two hits.

Was that head-to-head record a factor in Kirk Gibson's decision to let Kennedy pitch to Prince Fielder in the 7th, after Ryan Braun's 2-out double?

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[And that's why superstitious folks hate to carry a long streak into the postseason....]

If you've been to this blog a few times, you likely know that Detroit's rookie RHP Al Alburquerque did not allow a home run all year (43 IP), and had been touched for just one extra-base hit, a double back on May 11, yielding just 16 singles in his last 30 IP. He had also stranded 28 of 31 inherited runners this year; he had entered twice with the bases loaded and emerged with a clean slate each time.

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-- Lance Berkman crushed the first pitch he saw from Roy Halladay for a 3-run HR in the top of the 1st. The Cards lead 3-1 in the 5th (at this writing).

The blast followed a 4-pitch walk to Albert Pujols with a man on 2nd and 1 out. Despite appearances, I highly doubt that the walk to Albert was intentional.

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The Tigers took a big hit last night when rain suspended Game 1. Now Justin Verlander won't pitch again until Game 3 and will make just one appearance in the division series even if it goes 5 games. The same is true for CC Sabathia, but given Verlander's excellent season, this figures to hurt the Tigers more than the Yankees.

Now the Game 2 starters will resume Game 1 today, with Ivan Nova and Doug Fister taking over for the aces. These same two guys would match up in a Game 5 if necessary.

So a couple of weird things about Game 1 when it resumes today--it's a lot like starting a fresh game in the sense that the score will be tied (though at 1 instead of 0) and the home team (the Yankees) will bat first since the Tigers already made out in the top of the second, so the game will resume from the bottom of the second. Another weird thing is the obvious one, that two starting pitchers are both coming in relief early in a close game.