After defeating Oakland in the first round of the playoffs last year, Boston has taken seven out of eight games from the A's thus far this year.

Question: Does Billy Beane's "shit" not work in the playoffs or not work against Boston?

Colon yielded just one home run, a rinky dink fly ball off the bat of Gregg Zaun that landed in the first row of the seats just inside the foul pole down the right field line. Bartolo has now allowed 35 four baggers and is only three behind Manny Ramirez for the league lead. Oops, scratch that. Colon is a pitcher. Well, that's what the program said the last time I checked. Sheesh, it must be nice to be 14-11 with a 5.33 ERA. By comparison, Ben Sheets is 10-11 with a 2.93 ERA and a major league-leading 7.5:1 K/BB ratio.

I guess Bartolo must be doing a helluva job of "pitching to the score." Or perhaps Colon is benefiting from an Angels offense that is producing 6.56 runs per game for him (ninth best in the majors) whereas Sheets is being held back by a Milwaukee offense that is backing him with just 3.33 runs per game (second lowest run support in baseball).

Question: How would you like to be Arte Moreno, knowing you owe a pitcher who appears to be in the early stage of decline an average of $12.75 million for each of the next three years? Repeat after me. There is no such thing as a (31-year-old, 250-plus pound) pitching prospect--at least not one that is worth more than $50 million over four years.

Bonds' four bagger was his 40th of the campaign--the eighth time he has reached that mark, tying him with Hank Aaron for the N.L. record. Babe Ruth holds the major league record with 11. It was also Bonds' fifth consecutive year of slugging 40 or more homers--two seasons short of Ruth's record, which is being challenged by Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa this year. However, A-Rod (33 HR) and Sosa (29) both need to step up their current pace if they want to tie the Bambino.

Bonds is now just two homers shy of 700 and two walks short of his major league record of 198 set in 2002. For a daily fix on this subject, be sure to track the Bonds watch on Lee Sinins' Around The Majors Reports, which are also published at The Hardball Times.

Question: Will Bonds become the Hall of Fame's first unanimous selection or will some writer show his ignorance by snubbing the greatest player of at least the last half century?

In the meantime, the Diamondbacks slumped to 54 games under .500. The difference between the 2004 version of the D-Backs and 2003 is a lot more than just Curt Schilling. Arizona's offensive woes have been well chronicled, but the team's defensive ineptness has hurt starters such as Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb just as much.

One of the pleasures of watching a Dodgers game in September in the heat of a pennant race is listening to Vin Scully simultaneously calling the action live while giving a play-by-play account of game(s) affecting the team's pennant hopes elsewhere around the league. Scully's best work may have come in 1959 when he was broadcasting Dodgers games while giving his listeners updates on the rival San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Braves happenings. As a kid, I listened to Dodgers '59 so often that Scully's words are indelibly etched in my mind. Happily, I was fortunate to pick up a mint copy of the LP over the internet earlier this year.

"Big bouncer over the mound, over second base. Up with it is Mantilla, throws low and wild! Hodges scores! We go to Chicago!"

Question: Has there been a more important "Dodger" than the redhead from Fordham University?

The Cardinals have given up fewer runs than any team in baseball, yet most fans seem to think the team's success is strictly a function of its high-powered offense. I'll let you in on a little secret. The Cardinals pitching staff has also allowed the lowest combined on-base percentage and slugging average in the majors. The fewest runs and the lowest OPS. What's not to like?

Chris Carpenter (14-5, 3.37 ERA), Jason Marquis (14-4, 3.44), Matt Morris (15-8, 4.40), Jeff Suppan (15-6, 3.97), and Woody Williams (10-7, 4.00) may not win the award for the most talented staff in baseball, but they just may be the best performing set of starting pitchers around. The fivesome has not only put up good numbers but it has been durable, starting all but three games this year.

Jason Isringhausen, who is tied for the league lead in saves with 40 to go along with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP, gives the Redbirds an elite closer. If Steve Kline can make it back for the playoffs, the Cardinals could have three southpaws in their bullpen to offset the club's all-righthanded rotation. Should St. Louis face San Francisco in the playoffs, let it be known that Ankiel has faced Barry Bonds three times during his career and struck him out every time. Talk about wild?

You may or may not think the Cardinals have good pitchers, but they sure as hell have good pitching.

Question: Are we going to have to endure the Hunt for Red October cliche every year that a team with such colors challenges for a spot in the World Series? Enough, OK?