Zen Dayley ...

The trick knee is acting up, which means there might be a storm brewing over how much the playoff format stinks and is set up to benefit undeserving franchises, like the Dodgers. In the meantime, some hardball headlines.

• It's not much to cling to, but Matt Garza, whom the Rays will have going on three days' rest vs. the Red Sox tonight (after last night's walk-off win), did pitch six shutout innings the only other time in his career he was asked to do so.
  
  The bad man with the knuckleball, AKA Tim Wakefield, is going for Boston. Who knows what he'll do.
• MLB stands to have Boston, New York, Philadelphia, both Chicago and both L.A. teams playing in October. The electoral college should run so smoothly. Those seven cities more than off-set having the Rays in the post-season. It's becoming painfully clear people in Tampa-St. Pete won't drive 20 miles over a bridge to see a first-place team, which means all the haters are right.
• Roy Halladay is the third-most abused pitcher in baseball (and that's not even taking into account his run support, he typed with full awareness that jokes about the Jays hitting are very stale). The Cy Young debate has pretty much been settled up -- Cliff Lee with his ridiculous record will get it, deservedly so, when you consider that while Halladay faces better hitters, he's also got better fielding behind him than Lee does with the Clevelands.
• Erik Bedard will have shoulder surgery. The curse of Bill Bavasi has only just begun for Seattle Mariners fans.