As the Wild Card representative in the National League, the Astros can become the fourth team in as many years to win the World Series without winning a division. And though the city of Houston may not admit it, just making the World Series for the first time in the history of the franchise is an accomplishment of its own. While Chicago does have a World Series history, it is not long. The White Sox most recently had a chance to win it all in 1959, when they lost the Series to the Dodgers, and the last year they won the World Series was in 1917.

The biggest storyline of the American League Championship Series was the dominance of the White Sox starters, who, after a Game 1 loss, pitched four consecutive complete-game wins, becoming the first team to do so in the postseason since the 1956 Yankees. As impressive as Chicago’s bullpen abandonment was, no single White Sox pitcher enters the World Series with as much respect or past success as any member of the Astros’ daunting ace machine that includes Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt. While Clemens and Pettitte are postseason veterans, Oswalt will be making his first World Series appearance. But by winning two games in the National League Championship Series — including an outstanding performance in the series clincher following his team’s incomprehensible Game 5 loss — Oswalt, still unbeaten in six career postseason starts, proved that he can handle playoff pressure.

Sox starter Jose Contreras, who allowed six runs over 17 1/3 ALCS innings, has matured immeasurably since his days as a big-game bust with the Yankees, and is being trusted, justifiably, with a Game 1 start against Clemens. Games 2 and 3 (Pettitte vs. Mark Buehrle; Oswalt vs. Jon Garland) will likely be decided late, but Chicago holds a clear edge in Game 4, starting Freddy Garcia against Brandon Backe.

Both teams lack power on offense, instead manufacturing runs with a small-ball approach rarely seen in the American League. While any edge may not be drastic, the White Sox do hold an advantage over the Astros offensively. Should seven games be played, Houston will have to play four on the road, where an alarming number of Astros batters hit far worse than at home this season. Craig Biggio hit .295 at Minute Maid Park this year, but just .235 on the road. Shortstop Adam Everett’s road average was .216, compared to .282 at home. Catcher Brad Ausmus hit .280 at home, but only .237 on the road, while Jason Lane (.298) nearly reached .300 in Houston, but managed just a .239 average away from home.

Lance Berkman and Morgan Ensberg are major threats, but without runners on, they’re far less intimidating. The White Sox, conversely, have pests at the top of the order in AL stolen-base runner-up Scott Podsednik and Japanese import Tadahito Iguchi, complemented by sufficient power in Paul Konerko — Ensberg’s equal — and Jermaine Dye. Third baseman Joe Crede, suddenly erasing regular-season fan and media gripes with a stellar postseason, adds punch to the bottom of the lineup.

Each bullpen could struggle more than expected, but for contrasting reasons. The strength of Chicago’s rotation during the ALCS made just two-thirds of an inning from Neal Cotts the only necessary relief work from the Sox in the series. But whether the rest will hurt or help Chicago may not ever be known if the team’s starters can pitch as deep into games as they did against the Angels. For Houston, Brad Lidge’s blown save in Game 5 gets perhaps more attention than it deserves, but by setting the Cardinals up with runners on first and third with nobody out in the ninth inning of Game 4, he nearly surrendered a one-run lead in what was likely the most important game of the series. Lidge’s most breathtaking pitch is his slider, which was fatal in the 2004 postseason, very effective throughout the 2005 regular season, but at times has been flat and entirely hittable this October, possibly due to the closer’s appearance in more games than necessary down the stretch.

This series will be controlled by pitching from the start, and could closely resemble the 2001 World Series, which went seven games and featured a Yankees team that had three pitchers with a sub-4.00 ERA and a Diamondbacks team led by future Hall of Famers Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. And as in that series, the team with home-field advantage this time may find a way to put together just enough hits to win a decisive game.

Missing from this year’s series will be Carlos Beltran, who carried the Astros to within a game of their first World Series appearance as a franchise last season, but signed with the Mets in the offseason. Houston hasn’t replaced the power Beltran provided, but it has better pitching than last year’s team, now that Andy Pettitte is healthy and having one of his best seasons.

But St. Louis may have improved its pitching even more since last year, trading for Mark Mulder and benefiting from a Cy Young-caliber season by Chris Carpenter, who missed last October with a biceps strain. Game 1 will match Pettitte against Carpenter at Busch Stadium, starting off what could easily be a seven-game series.

Houston’s bullpen proved its worth in the Division Series, particularly in a series-clinching, 18-inning Game 4 win in which seven pitchers combined to allow just one run over 13 2/3 innings. Roger Clemens came out of the bullpen on two days’ rest and earned the win, pitching three scoreless innings and allowing one hit, sriking out four.

Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen finished the Division Series strong, bouncing back from a shaky Game 1 performance in which he recorded the game’s final two outs, but only after allowing a run on four hits. But even on his best day, Isringhausen can’t match the brilliance of Astros closer Brad Lidge, who made a name for himself in the 2004 playoffs and pitched four scoreless innings in this year’s Division Series. In last year’s NLCS, Lidge made the Cardinals’ offense, that team’s strength, a complete non-factor by allowing a single hit over eight scoreless innings in which he struck out 14 and walked two. If Houston’s starting trio of Pettitte, Clemens and Roy Oswalt are able to hold down this year’s Cardinals — who don’t have as powerful an offense as last year’s team — long enough to hand a lead to their closer, Lidge will be the one to carry the Astros to the World Series.

For only the second time since 1997, the American League Championship Series includes neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox, who both suffered surprising defeats in the opening round, setting up a long offseason in two baseball-driven cities. The White Sox had three days off between their series-clinching win over the Red Sox and the opening game of the ALCS, while a Game 5 victory celebration and a late flight gave the Angels no more than a few hours of sleep before Game 1. But the lack of rest didn’t hurt the Angels, who managed enough offense off White Sox starter Jose Contreras to make a winner of Paul Byrd, who was pitching on three days’ rest.

While a second straight home loss to open the series would hurt the White Sox in Game 2, it would not drown their chances at a series win. Even with Contreras and Game 2 starter Mark Buehrle having been used, Chicago’s starting staff is too deep to be pushed aside. With Jarrod Washburn, who missed his scheduled ALDS Game 4 start with strep throat, starting Game 2 opposite Buehrle, who held the Red Sox down in a critical ALDS Game 2, the White Sox should make the trip to Anaheim with the series even.

Bartolo Colon’s absence from the ALCS roster with an inflamed right shoulder could be more helpful to the Angels than the White Sox because his replacement, Ervin Santana, pitched fearlessly in the deciding fifth game of the ALDS, holding the Yankees to three runs over 5 1/3 innings for the biggest win of his rookie career. In his second big league start, Santana limited the White Sox to five hits in a complete-game shutout win on May 23.

The Angels proved in the Division Series that they could win more games than they lose even without sparkplug Chone Figgins and relentless powerhouse Vladimir Guerrero playing at their best. Figgins, who stole a Major League-leading 62 bases this season, went 3-for-21 (.143) without a steal in the five games against the Yankees, while Guerrero batted .333, but had no extra-base hits all series.

But even if the White Sox can’t contain Figgins and Guerrero, they should feel confident in a bullpen that allowed the Red Sox just four hits over 7 1/3 scoreless innings in the Division Series. The difference-maker could be Orlando Hernandez, who was a playoff staple for the Yankees throughout their most recent dynasty and is 9-3 with a 2.57 ERA in 105 career postseason innings. Hernandez already added to his legend this year with a remarkable performance in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the Division Series, when he relieved Damaso Marte — who had loaded the bases with Red Sox before getting an out — and induced two popouts and a strikeout to get out of trouble and keep the lead in Chicago’s hands. Hernandez worked two more innings before Bobby Jenks earned his second save of the series and ended Boston’s season.

Francisco Rodriguez should scare the White Sox more than Jenks does the Angels, but with stronger starters, the White Sox — like the Astros in the NL — have the ability to make their opponent’s closer a non-factor by taking a lead into the late innings for a bullpen that has yet to allow a run this postseason.

Possibly the most interesting pitching matchup of the series comes in Game 2, when John Lackey will oppose New York’s Chien-Ming Wang. Although he was overshadowed by Colon’s 21 wins this season, Lackey finished with comparable — if not better — numbers than the staff ace in many areas. Lackey won just 14 games, but struck out 199 batters, ranking third in the AL, and his ERA of 3.44 was slightly lower than Colon’s. Lackey also allowed half as many home runs (13) as Colon (26).

Despite missing two months with shoulder inflammation, Wang has proven to be one of the Yankees’ most reliable starters in his rookie season, using his above-average sinkerball to induce weak ground ball outs.

For Game 3, the teams will head to Yankee Stadium, where Randy Johnson will face Angels veteran Paul Byrd. Waiting until the third game of the series to use their ace should not concern the Yankees because Johnson pitched much more comfortably at home this season, going 11-2 with a 3.13 ERA compared to 6-6 with a 4.64 ERA on the road.

The Angels have built a reputation for owning one of baseball’s best bullpens. A late-season slipup was quickly forgotten, and while Francisco Rodriguez isn’t quite up to Mariano Rivera’s level, he’s proven he can handle the Yankees, recording five saves in six opportunities against New York this season.

In Chicago, the White Sox will be the first obstacle hoping to disrupt the Red Sox’s ambitious quest to win back-to-back World Series titles, sending Jose Contreras against Matt Clement in Game 1. Although Contreras won 11 games after the All-Star break and each of his last eight starts — over which he had a 2.09 ERA — his career struggles against the Red Sox can’t be overlooked. The right-hander won his only start against Boston this season, allowing three runs over 5 2/3 innings, but is 2-4 with an 11.67 ERA throughout his career against the Sox.

Since opening the season with nine wins in his first 10 decisions, Clement has faltered, allowing four or more runs in eight of his last 16 starts.

Game 1 aside, Chicago holds an edge over Boston in the rotation based on the work of Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia, who each compiled a sub-4.00 ERA and collectively won 48 games this year.

Neither team’s bullpen appears in postseason shape, with Chicago’s Dustin Hermanson having been replaced as the team’s closer due to back pain despite earning 34 saves in 39 chances. With Keith Foulke, one of 2004′s postseason heroes, sidelined or ineffective almost all year, Mike Timlin has been forced into the closer role, which he has handled adequately. The bigger question for Boston has been the rest of its bullpen, which was desperate enough to promote 2005 draft pick Craig Hansen down the stretch.

But Boston’s bullpen may ultimately receive the help it needs from an unlikely source. In the 2002 playoffs, Rodriguez broke out as a 20-year-old rookie, helping the Angels to a World Series title. The next year, Josh Beckett did the same in his second full season, baffling the Yankees in the Bronx to clinch the Series. Jonathan Papelbon — who struck out 34 batters in as many innings this season, allowing just two earned runs in 14 September and October innings for a 1.29 ERA — has the talent to make himself equally famous by stabilizing Boston’s bullpen and carrying the Red Sox deep into October.

In the National League, NL Cy Young hopeful Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals will host Jake Peavy and the Padres in Game 1. On this season’s final strikeout list, Peavy (216) and Carpenter (213) finished two and three, respectively, in the Majors, behind only Minnesota’s Johan Santana (238). Even if Peavy is able to outduel Carpenter — who went 2-1 with a 5.73 ERA in five September starts — and give the Padres a 1-0 series lead, St. Louis’ starters for Games 2 and 3 — Mark Mulder and Matt Morris — combined to win twice as many games this year (30) as Pedro Astacio and Adam Eaton, who will start for San Diego in those games and likely struggle to subdue the Cardinals’ always-potent lineup.

While the Braves have won the NL East for 14 consecutive years, they’ve won the World Series just once — 1995 — across that span, and have made it past the Division Series only one time since losing the 1999 World Series to the Yankees. In last year’s Division Series, the Braves lost in five games to the Astros, who will again represent the NL Wild Card and start their playoff run in Atlanta.

The Braves may have added Tim Hudson to this year’s rotation, but the trio of Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and 20-game winner Roy Oswalt could prove too powerful to match, as shoulder pain forced John Smoltz to miss his final start of the regular season. The Astros have at times spoiled brilliant performances by their starters by scoring few or no runs at all, but with Pettitte lined up to start two games if necessary and Brad Lidge closing games out, Houston has more than enough to feel safe, even without home-field advantage. Only Contreras won as many games after the All-Star break (11) as Pettitte, whose 1.69 ERA since the break helped hold opponents to a .201 batting average. Although Clemens battled a tight hamstring over the second half of the season, he still led the Majors with a 1.87 ERA, beating the runner-up — Pettitte — by over a half-run.

The only way it could have been better would have been for Henry to hit the very first pitch, the one thrown by Gerald Ford.

Of all the contributions Hank Aaron has made to baseball in 20 blameless years, of all his accomplishments as a player and his acts of graciousness, generosity and loyalty as a person, none was half so valuable as his achievement of yesterday. It isn’t only that his 714th home run matched a record that for more than 40 years was considered beyond human reach, and it isn’t particularly important that this courteous, modest man has at last overtaken Babe Ruth’s roistering ghost. What really counts is that when Henry laid the wood on Jack Billingham’s fastball, he struck a blow for the integrity of the game and for public faith in the game.

With one stroke he canceled schemes to cheapen his pursuit of the record by making it a carnival attraction staged for the box office alone, and he rendered moot two months of wrangling between the money-changers and the Protectors of the Faith.

Standard-bearer in the latter camp was Bowie Kuhn, whose rare exercise of authority as baseball commissioner brought about Aaron’s presence in the lineup. When the game’s upright scoutmaster notified the Atlanta Braves that he expected Aaron to play two of three of the team’s early games, he brought back to memory an observation made some years ago by the late Tom Meany as toastmaster at a sports dinner in Toots Shor’s.

"Ford Frick just reached for the rye bottle," Tom announced between introductions. "It’s his first positive move in four years."

This is the sixth season in office for Frick’s successor-once-removed, and nothing he did in the first five years was anywhere near as important as his action in this matter. Bill Bartholomay, the Braves’ president, meant to keep Aaron on the bench through the first three games in Cincinnati in the hope that crowds would fill the Atlanta park to see Henry go after Ruth’s record in the 11-game homestand that opens Monday night.

Kuhn realized that in the view of most fans, leaving the team’s cleanup hitter out of the batting order would be tantamount to dumping the games in Cincinnati. He explained to Bartholomay what self-interest should have told the Braves’ owner, that it is imperative that every team present its strongest lineup every day in an honest effort to win, and that the customers must believe the strongest lineup is being used for that purpose.

When Bartholomay persisted in his determination to dragoon the living Aaron and the dead Ruth as shills to sell tickets in Atlanta, the commissioner laid down the law. With a man like Henry swinging for him, that’s all he had to do.

Thanks to Mrs. Herbert Aaron’s muscular son, 2:40 p.m., April 4, 1974, will stand until further notice as Bowie Kuhn’s finest hour.

That was the time of day when Henry hit the ball, and although his 715th home run will mean more to him because it will advance him into a class all by himself, it was his finest hour, too.

To be sure, he didn’t realize that beforehand. While the controversy that Bartholomay started was going on, Henry said some foolish things. He talked about protecting the Atlanta box office and about the rights of Atlanta’s dwindling body of customers. He said it didn’t matter whether he played or not because the Braves weren’t going anywhere this year.

When they said, "Suppose the commissioner orders the Braves to play you," he said that in that event he guessed the commissioner would have to make out Cincinnati’s batting order, too. This smart-aleck line must have been fed to him, for Henry isn’t a smart aleck.

Had he given it any thought, he would have realized that there was no need for Kuhn to worry about the Cincinnati batting order because nobody in the Reds’ organization was playing tricks for box-office purposes. Kuhn knew he could rely on Sparky Anderson to start the team he considered most likely to win. If he could have placed the same reliance in the Braves’ brass, he would never have set a precedent by pre-empting the manager’s responsibility.

As it turned out, there was nothing contrived about the locale or the timing of the event. It happened in the first inning of Henry’s first time at bat, and the hit produced the first runs of the season.

It was witnessed by a standing-room-only crowd of 52,154 who weren’t lured in by Aaron but rather by the local tradition that dictates that every ambulatory citizen of Cincinnati must attend the opening game even if he doesn’t show up again all summer. It wasn’t even postponed till tomorrow, when the box office could use a special attraction and the game will be on national television.

The way Henry did it removed all taint of commercialism. For this day, at least, the business of baseball made way for sport.

Since making the playoffs as the Wild Card team in 1995, the Yankees have won the American League East every season but one — 1997, when they finished two games behind the Orioles and lost to the Indians in the first round of the playoffs. Every other season has seen New York clinch the division by a total ranging from 2 1/2 games in 2000 to 22 in perhaps the franchise’s proudest year, 1998. This season, however, has been completely different.

A payroll exceeding $200 million couldn’t save the Yankees from a sluggish opening month. After a loss to the A’s on May 6, New York was 11-19 and locked with Tampa Bay in last place in the East, wondering how so much money could produce such a flat start. While more wins would ultimately come, the Yankees struggled to find the regular season consistency that seemed to come so naturally in past seasons, instead following modest winning streaks with longer-than-desired hiccups, looking up at the Red Sox in the standings more often than not.

A 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Sept. 8 — New York’s 11th in 16 games against Lou Piniella’s club — kept the Yankees four games behind the Red Sox the day before the opener of a three-game home series with the defending champs. With six games remaining against the Sox, the Yankees were still optimistic about their chance to win the division, but realized that a series loss in the Bronx would all but hand Boston the division title and make the Wild Card race the only one worth following in New York down the stretch.

The first two games of the series weren’t close, with the Yankees winning the first thanks to four Red Sox errors and Curt Schilling returning to form in the middle game to help Boston even the series. Essentially clinging to their hopes of a division title, the Yankees sent Randy Johnson to the mound for the final game, a matinee on Sept. 11.

When the Yankees traded for Johnson before the 2005 season, they expected to add a pitcher who could benefit from more than enough run support, win 20 games easily and compete for — if not win — the AL Cy Young Award. In 2004, Johnson threw a perfect game, posted a 2.60 ERA and 290 strikeouts in 245 2/3 innings and found a way to win 16 games on a Diamondbacks team that went 51-111 and allowed 284 more runs than it scored.

Instead, what the Yankees got was a frustratingly unpredictable pitcher who would — repeatedly throughout the season — silence a potent offense five days before losing his command, composure and perhaps a game against a far weaker opponent. Entering the series finale with Boston, Johnson was 0-1 with a 6.46 ERA against Tampa Bay in four starts, yet 3-0 with an ERA nearly two runs lower against the Red Sox. Not sure of what to expect, the Yankees could only hope that their "ace" would be able to put the souce of his struggles aside and perform the way he had a year earlier.

Starting for Boston was Tim Wakefield, the 39-year-old knuckleballer who went into the game leading the team in wins with 15 and had gone 7-1 over his last eight starts. The Yankees took an early lead when Jason Giambi — as much of a mystery as Johnson — hit a solo home run with two srikes and two outs in the first. From that point, the game was Johnson’s.

Holding Boston hitless until Kevin Youkilis led off the fourth with a bloop single, the future Hall of Famer came through with his most important effort of the season, leaving after seven innings with a 1-0 lead and — aside from two walks — Youkilis’ one hit as the only blemish on his line.

Despite getting two outs in the eighth, Tom Gordon was replaced by Mariano Rivera when AL MVP contender David Ortiz came up as a pinch-hitter and the go-ahead run. Rivera walked Ortiz, but got Johnny Damon to ground out to end the eighth. In the ninth, Boston mounted its obligatory late rally, putting runners on first and third with two outs before former Yankee John Olerud struck out to end the game and allow the Yankees to creep back to within three games of their rivals.

Although Wakefield struck out a career-high 12 batters and allowed only two New York hits after Giambi’s homer, it was the first-inning shot that would decide the game and provide the Yankees with the momentum and confidence they would need to threaten the Sox for the division lead.

New York followed that victory by winning eight of its next nine games, while Boston lost five of its next 10 to fall out of first place by a half-game on Sept. 21, when Johnson held Baltimore to three hits and a run through eight for his 15th win and, in Tampa Bay, Mike Timlin contributed to the Devil Rays’ decisive five-run eighth by allowing three runs and taking the loss in a 7-4 defeat. For the first time since July 18, the Yankees stood atop the AL East.

Through Sept. 21, the Yankees have 11 games remaining, while the Red Sox have 10. The two will square off for the final three games of the season at Fenway Park from Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in what could be the three most significant regular season games either team has played in recent memory. The thrilling possibility remains that a team from another division may have already clinched the AL’s Wild Card berth, leaving just one playoff spot to be taken by either the Yankees or Red Sox, two infinitely proud franchises that have come to label a season without a postseason appearance as nothing short of a failure.

Detroit hasn’t appeared dominant at any point this year, but for much of the early part of the season was able to briefly string together consecutive wins and flirt with or temporarily surpass the .500 mark. Much of the team’s early success was due to its starting pitching, which didn’t feature flashy names like Johan Santana or Roger Clemens, but consistently gave the team quality starts and would usually factor in a loss only if the team’s small-market offense was unable to put enough runs on the board.

Although just 22, Jeremy Bonderman earned the title of staff ace entering the season based on the way he closed out 2004. Through the last seven starts of his second season, the right-hander went 5-3 with a 2.33 ERA, striking out 60 in 58 innings and breaking out on Aug. 23 with a 14-strikeout, complete-game shutout of the White Sox. Detroit’s new ace was almost as impressive in his final start of the year, when he held the Devil Rays to four hits and struck out nine for his second shutout.

Bonderman got off to an equally strong start in 2005, beating the Royals on Opening Day to further convince the Tigers and the rest of the league that he was not a fluke. After a win over the Twins on June 21, he stood at 9-4 with a 3.68 ERA, perhaps on his way to a 20-win season and a sharp increase in fame. But Bonderman’s great start was almost lost in the rest of Detroit’s rotation, which was benefiting from a staff’s worth of surprisingly good seasons.

On July 5, Mike Maroth — who lost 21 games in Detroit’s woeful 2003 season — held a 4.07 ERA that would have set a personal career low had the season ended then. After beating the Giants on June 18, Jason Johnson’s ERA was a full run lower at 3.07. Nate Robertson was 4-7 with a 3.28 ERA on July 15, and Sean Douglass, who was promoted from Triple-A Toledo on June 22 and won his first start with the Tigers three days later, was 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA on Aug. 4.

It wouldn’t have been reasonable to expect each pitcher to continue pitching so well, but few could have foreseen what would happen to Detroit’s rotation — arguably the Majors’ most underrated over the first half — once the season hit late August.

The Tigers sent Bonderman to the mound on Aug. 24 almost expecting their ace to win the middle game of a three-game set with the A’s after Robertson had pitched eight innings of two-hit ball in the previous night’s win. But when Marco Scutaro hit a line drive off the ace’s right wrist in the fourth inning, everything changed. Bonderman left the game immediately and would be charged with six runs and the loss by the end of the night.

Although Bonderman returned five days later for his next scheduled outing, the ace’s short night would set off an impossibly poor — and long — string of starts kept alive by each member of Detroit’s rotation. From that loss against Oakland through Sept. 3, when Detroit lost at Chicago, Tigers starters went 1-8 with an ERA of 13.31, pushing the team to a 2-8 record in the span, across which the club’s team ERA jumped from 4.19 to 4.53. Only twice in the 10-game period did a Tigers starter last into the seventh.

Despite all of his impressive work earlier in the season, Douglass lost his spot in the rotation after allowing 15 runs in 6 2/3 innings over his two starts in the horrendous stretch. Roman Colon, acquired from the Braves at the July 31 trade deadline, will make his first start for Detroit on Sept. 7.

Cleveland’s bullpen ranked 26th among the 30 Major League teams with a 4.88 ERA and closed out just 53% of its save opportunities, tying the Royals and beating only the Rockies (51%), who are faced with a perennial disadvantage, playing 81 games in the thin, hitter-friendly air of Coors Field.

This year, however, the Indians have enjoyed a substantially more reliable bullpen, and the difference is reflected in the team’s record. Through Aug. 28, Cleveland stood at 73-58, one game behind the Yankees for the AL Wild Card lead, due in part to its bullpen’s Major League-low 2.84 ERA and .224 batting average allowed.

The most noticeable difference is in Cleveland’s closer role, which was potentially the Majors’ most unstable a year ago, but has left little to be desired this season. Six different pitchers recorded at least one save for the Indians last year, with Bob Wickman’s 13 saves leading the team at season’s end. This year, Wickman has lowered his ERA by over a run to 2.90 and has earned 34 saves in 39 opportunities, narrowly trailing his career high of 37 set with the Brewers in 1999.

Helping to bridge the gap from the Indians’ starters to their closer have been Bob Howry (2.80 ERA), David Riske (2.87 ERA), Scott Sauerbeck (2.73 ERA), veteran lefty Arthur Rhodes (1.98 ERA) and Rafael Betancourt, who has struck out 57 batters in 50 2/3 innings.

The Devil Rays, of all teams, appear to be following suit. At 5.87, Tampa Bay carried the Majors’ worst ERA before the All-Star break. It was one inning in particular — the eighth — that would repeatedly let the Rays down.

On June 21 in New York, the Devil Rays jumped out to a 7-1 lead over future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson and the Yankees by the third inning, only to see the four-run lead they took into the eighth evaporate when New York plated 13 in the inning en route to a 20-11 win. Travis Harper allowed four homers and nine runs, recording just two outs.

When Tampa Bay’s 4-3 lead over the White Sox on July 5 was lost after Chicago scored three in the eighth, Tampa Bay had been outscored, 90-27, in the eighth inning throughout the season. After the game, Rays manager Lou Piniella grew frustrated enough with his team’s relievers to consider using them to start games so that a starter would be able to enter the game later and pitch in the eighth. Although Piniella ultimately changed his mind, he could not be blamed for coming up with such a radical idea.

Desperately in search of bullpen help, the Devil Rays signed Joe Borowski on July 11. Borowski earned 33 saves in 2003 for the Cubs, who designated the reliever for assignment on June 29 after injuries had led him to ERAs of 8.02 and 6.55, respectively, in 2004 and 2005. The signing was seen as an insignificant move that would likely carry value only if the Devil Rays traded their All-Star closer, Danys Baez, before the July 31 trade dealine.

When the Rays decided to keep Baez through the deadline, Borowski appeared certain to finish the year without a chance at glory, stuck in a non-closing role on a last-place team. Borowski, though, was clearly not affected by that idea.

Borowski made his debut with Tampa Bay on July 15, pitching one scoreless inning, and through Aug. 28, still hadn’t allowed a run over the 21 innings he had pitched for his new team. The veteran’s scoreless streak has helped lower the Rays’ ERA since the All-Star break to 4.43, nearly a run and a half lower than the team’s pre-break mark.

And although the Devil Rays won’t make the playoffs this year, they’ve gone on a torrid streak since the All-Star break, running their post-break record to 27-15 after knocking the Angels out of first place in the AL West and clinching a series sweep with their 2-1 win on Aug. 28.

In spite of these blunders, hopes are high in Seattle because of the arm of Felix Hernandez, the 19-year-old prospect who joined the Majors on Aug. 4 and has pitched like a veteran since.

Hernandez tore through the Minors, going 9-4 with a 2.25 ERA for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers before being promoted to Seattle. In his first four starts with the Mariners, Hernandez has pitched even better.

He made his debut against the Tigers, showing rookie nerves early on by letting the first four batters he faced reach base, but calmed down in a hurry, inducing a double play before striking out Ivan Rodriguez to end his first Major League inning having allowed one run.

That relatively smooth bottom of the first in Detroit has been arguably the toughest inning of Hernandez’s young career. The right-hander went on to last five innings in that start, allowing just one earned run.

Since his debut, Hernandez has allowed three runs and struck out 26 batters, walking just two, in 24 innings, making it through the eighth in each of his three starts. His best start came against the Royals on Aug. 15, when he surrendered just one run on three hits over eight innings, striking out 11.

Martinez struck out Ricky Ledee for the first out of the eighth, but gave up a triple to the next batter, Antonio Perez, just before Jayson Werth homered to erase the shutout and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

The Mets, the oldest franchise to have never thrown a no-hitter, went down in the ninth, sealing the loss as well as a surprisingly poor 13-11 record in games started by Martinez, whose 2.96 ERA was ninth best in the National League through Aug. 19.

The loss dropped the Mets to 2-4 on an eventful West Coast trip that saw David Wright make arguably the best defensive play of the season two days before two-thirds of the team’s outfield was knocked out by a brutal collision in San Diego. Wright’s catch was the only bright spot for the Mets in another loss started by Martinez, who allowed five runs in that game and watched his ERA rise above 3.00 for the first time since May 22.

But even if the Mets aren’t winning all of Martinez’s starts, they have to be thrilled with the season he’s had. The future Hall of Famer is in the midst of his 10th straight season of averaging over a strikeout per inning, and hasn’t held opponents to a lower batting average (.192) since 2000, when he went 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA for the Red Sox, allowing a combined 160 hits and walks in 217 innings.

Barry Zito, who at the age of 24 had won 23 games to beat out Pedro Martinez for the 2002 AL Cy Young Award, was off to a 1-6 start, pitching to an ERA of 4.85. Third baseman Eric Chavez was hitting .219 with an on-base percentage of .280. Shortstop Bobby Crosby, the defending AL Rookie of the Year, had played just three games, bothered by a stress fracture in his ribs.

By the next day, Oakland’s fortunes had changed. Crosby returned on May 30, beginning a stretch of hitting safely in 25 of 28 games to raise his average to .339 on July 2. From May 30-Aug. 13, Chavez hit .316, keyed by a .379 June average. But most importantly, Zito had turned his season completely around. As if a 3-2 record and 3.05 ERA in June weren’t impressive enough, the left-hander’s 2.51 ERA in July helped him win all six of his starts in the month and become just the second A’s pitcher since 1991 to win that many games in a month.

Dan Haren, acquired by the A’s after the 2004 season in exchange for Mark Mulder, had a June similar to Zito’s perfect July. In six June starts, Haren went 5-0 with a 3.09 ERA. On Aug. 12, the right-hander lost his first game since May 26, but the loss was hardly a discouraging one. Haren pitched a complete game, allowing just one run on three hits in Oakland’s 1-0 loss to Twins ace and defending AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, who struck out nine in his second shutout of the year.

With their unusual win on Aug. 11, the A’s had surpassed the Angels in the standings, claiming sole possession of first place in the West. Such a remarkable — and quick — turnaround was the product of a 49-16 record since May 29.

What makes Oakland’s surge even more impressive is the fact that 2005 was initially viewed by virtually all forecasters as a rebuilding year for the A’s. General manager Billy Beane had done the unthinkable before the season in trading away Mulder and Tim Hudson, two of the three aces that had been a fixture atop Oakland’s rotation, leading the franchise to four straight postseason appearances from 2000-2003.

But as Skip Bayless wrote just after the trades, Beane was always one step ahead of everyone else. Beane first sent Hudson, who went 11-2 with a 3.23 ERA in his rookie year of 1999 and has averaged 16 wins a year since then, to the Braves for two pitchers and an outfielder. Juan Cruz, who won six games in relief with a 2.75 ERA for Atlanta in 2004, hasn’t performed well in Oakland (8.49 ERA in 23 1/3 innings), but has gone 4-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 10 starts at Triple-A Sacramento, striking out 78 batters in 56 innings.

Expected to make a run for a spot in Oakland’s rotation at the start of the year, Dan Meyer was the other pitcher in the deal, and has struggled at Triple-A. The left-hander is 2-6 with a 5.26 ERA in 15 starts, allowing 120 baserunners and 13 home runs in 77 innings. Charles Thomas, the deal’s final piece, is hitting .262 in 57 games at Triple-A.

As unbalanced as that deal may appear now, Beane surely knows that the players obtained from the Braves are still too young to be judged as Major Leaguers. Not many will be surprised if Beane ends up with the better end of the deal years from now.

The second deal, though, has already proven to favor the A’s. Mulder, who averaged 18 wins a season with the A’s from 2001-2004, was sent to St. Louis for three more blossoming stars — two pitchers and a catcher. Haren has done more than expected for the A’s this year, while reliever Kiko Calero has recorded 33 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings. Daric Barton, the potential jewel of the deal, is hitting .323 in 36 games as a 19-year-old for the Double-A Midland RockHounds. He has improved his slugging percentage from .469 at Class A to .515 at Double-A and has struck out 16 times, drawing 24 walks.

Beane’s brilliance was again revealed months after the trades when he locked up Rich Harden, likely the most promising of Oakland’s current starters, with a four-year contract extension worth a total of $9 million. So since last December, Beane has made his rotation younger and more durable — Hudson has spent more than a month on the disabled list this season and Mulder collapsed down the stretch in 2004, going winless with a 7.27 ERA in his last seven starts. Even after a tough start this season, it really comes as no surprise that the small-market A’s are making a strong push for a division title and their fifth playoff appearance in six years.