Notes from yesterday's games:

- Hindsight is always 20/20, but the biggest question for me in the Twins game is not why they couldn't get runners over in a couple of key spots, but why they didn't bring in Joe Nathan in the top of the ninth - this being a home game, he would never have a chance for a save situation - and while you're still very much in the game with a one run defecit, why not make sure it stays that way. Unlike, say, Mariano Rivera, Nathan doesn't need to worry about pitching consecutive days, and even pitched on four days in a row in late September. If you're the Twins, you want to hold on to those Santana games anyway you can.

- When will people learn to pitch around Albert Pujols? The man is a machine. San Diego burned, like so many teams before them, when, with a runner on, they threw it right at him. Sure, the Cards scored a couple more runs, but that Pujols homer really set the pace. When a guy is that head and shoulders above the rest of the lineup, no reason to let him beat you.

- I think I got just about what I expected from the Yankees-Tigers game. Yankees winning, putting the most runs on the board, but the Tigers scoring a few as well. Not a blowout, making the Tigers at least seem competitive, but the Tigers didn't show enough to make me thing they're going to take any games in this series yet. We'll see if Verlander can harken back to his stuff from July, when he had a 1.01 ERA. I hope this gets interesting.

- The team that I think needs to be least worried after their loss is San Diego. The Cardinals really need to win each time Carpenter steps to the mound. The Padres can wait on their pitching depth, and the bats are plenty likely to come around against the rest of the Cards' rotation.