by Daniel Dullum

(0)Baltimore @ Kansas City (2) game ALCS three Monday: I’ll use the old cliche’ there is something to be said about getting hot at the right time and the Royals had a fierce month of September just to get to that one game playoff. That American League Central race was tight for the last three months of the season and the Royals just kept coming.

Here’s the secret for the Royals over the last three or four years they’ve done a great job scouting and drafting and they herded up a herd of rabbits that could hit. You put that with the pitching that they rounded up and good things are going to happen. The Royals were able to put a quality team back out on the field that fits their stadium Kaufman Stadium.

The stadium is so spacious, you remember back in the 70s and 80s they had some guys like George Brett that had power and guys like Willie Wilson and Amos Otis, guys like that who run, and it’s a pitcher’s ball park. So if the Royals have someone who can hit in the gaps in right field your good to go. The Royals have a line up for these guys. I don’t know where the home runs are coming from but Mike Moustakous he’s going to become a high draft pick in the fantasy league drafts.

The Royals have some awsome pitching and their heading home with pitchers like Yordano Ventura and James Shields. With the Royals leading this series 2-0 this is not what the Orioles had in mind but also keep in mind the Orioles are not out of it yet. This is a seven game series so if the O’s win on Monday night their right back in it. The Royals had Wade Davis on the mound on Saturday who did a terrific job.

Picking up Shields from Tampa Bay has been a huge addition and they’ve got some guys that can throw bullets like Greg Holland in the bull pen. The Royals bullpen is very strong it’s similar to like the Giants. If the Royals have a lead going into the seventh or eighth inning your work is cut out because these guys can slam the door.

San Francisco (1) @ St.Louis (0) NLCS game two Sunday night: The Giants have got into the NLCS in a very unspectacular way offensively their actually using a better small ball strategy to get the job done. They’ve got power in the line up but the power kind of comes and goes and the Giants have had to manufacture runs to do it.

The Giants have scored runs well and they’ve done it enough to back up that excellent pitching. The pitching for the Giants has really been the key here. In the starting pitching department their obviously missing Matt Cain for this series and the previous one. The Giants have these veterans like Tim Hudson and Madison Bumgarner to assume the role of the ace.

All these guys have to do is get that game to the seventh inning, the Giants might have the best bullpen out of the final four teams in the playoffs right now. That is saying something because Kansas City’s bullpen is outstanding. So are the Giants, you get to the seventh inning and later your going to be looking at Sergio Romo in the eighth, Santiago Casillas in the ninth, in the seventh you have any number of pitchers you can call on Jeremy Affeldt and Tim Lincecum are two.

The Giants have done well and they really accomplished what they really wanted to do and Saturday night they got the 3-0 shutout against the Cardinals behind the help of starter Bumgarner. The very least the Giants will get out of this trip is a split in two games. The Giants are in good shape regardless of what happens Monday night.

Daniel Dullum does MLB Post Season commentary for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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