coming … soon?

The American League Championship Series, which will feature several Mississippi connections, starts Friday. That’s three days after Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee’s masterful performance for Texas in Game 5 of the ALDS. It’ll have been six days since East Central CC’s Marcus Thames hit his first postseason homer, helping the New York Yankees complete a sweep in their ALDS. The NLCS doesn’t start until Saturday. The two NLDS ended on Sunday and Monday. This extended downtime, created largely by TV commitments (tail wagging dog), is a problem for baseball. As many as three World Series games could be played in November. They’ve got to figure out a way to compress the regular season and the playoffs. … Anyway, we are witnessing the stuff of legend by Lee. With two wins in the ALDS, he is now 6-0 in postseason play. He’ll match up with the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS and Game 7 if it goes that far. Thames, the right-handed half of New York’s DH platoon, will get to face the left-handed Lee at least once. Stay tuned for that. Both have been to the World Series before, Lee with Philadelphia last year, Thames with the Detroit Tigers in 2006. Neither got a ring.