Division Series

NEW YORK - The rainy season rolls on. The playoff opener between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees was suspended because of rain in the second inning Friday night, wiping out the ace of each pitching staff for a few days. Justin Verlander started for Detroit against CC Sabathia in a highly anticipated matchup between two of the game's best pitchers. The score was tied at 1 in the middle of the second inning when play was halted. According to a rule adopted by Major League Baseball after rain wreaked havoc with the 2008 World Series, the game is not postponed.

The Oakland Athletics have been one of baseball's best teams the last three years, winning 91, 102 and 103 games in succession. But each one of those terrific seasons has ended with an elimination loss in Game 5 of the American League division series. Why can't the A's get over the hump? "I wish I knew the answer to that," first baseman Scott Hatteberg, in his first year with the team, said after the A's latest Game 5 defeat, a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins yesterday.

Division Series Best of five. Game 1: Tonight at Arizona, 10:07 Game 2: Tomorrow at Arizona, 10:07 Game 3: Saturday at Chicago, 6:07 Game 4: Sunday at Chicago, 1:07 Game 5: Tuesday at Arizona, 10:07

Turns out there is crying in baseball. It happens whenever sensible people witness one of those over-the-top champagne celebrations like the Phillies enjoyed Saturday. No one is quite certain when these rituals began, though it's likely they're a hybrid of the triumphant players' desire for an upgrade from beer and the champagne-spraying that long marked Grand Prix victory ceremonies. For nearly a century, the game's champions celebrated in a fashion befitting their modest incomes.

Veteran broadcaster Dick Stockton will do the play-by-play and Bob Brenly the color commentary for the Phillies National League division series, which will start on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park and be televised on TBS. Stockton, a native Philadelphian who began his professional broadcasting career at KYW in the mid-1960s, said each of the potential playoff matchups for the Phillies provide him with an intriguing story line. "The Cardinals are the team the Phillies had the hardest time with during the regular season, and they're fighting for their wild-card lives," said Stockton, who's best known for his call of Carlton Fisk's dramatic home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.

Larry Bowa won't look ahead. He has the Cincinnati Reds on his mind. The Phillies ticket office has to. The team announced yesterday that National League division series playoff tickets will go on sale at 7 p.m. tomorrow at www.phillies.com. Tickets also will be available at 9 a.m. Monday at the advance ticket windows, located on street level under Gate B at Veterans Stadium, or through the Phillies phone center at 215-463-1000. Hours at the ticket windows and Phillies phone center next week are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fans may pay with cash or credit cards.

Yankee Stadium is Byung-Hyun Kim's personal house of horrors, but Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little insists that had nothing to do with his decision to leave the reliever off the team's roster for the American League Championship Series. "None whatsoever," Little said before Game 1 against the New York Yankees last night. "This guy has had a lot of tenderness in his shoulder, and we can't go into a series like this with a pitcher that's going to be iffy every day. This is way too important.

Has there ever been anything dumber on sports television, on a national level, than The Baseball Network's postseason plan? (Pause . . . We're still waiting . . . ) That's what we thought: TBN is all alone in the dungeon of the damned. The postseason is baseball's best time, and baseball is not letting fans see most of the games. In the 1994 Daily News baseball preview, your devoted sports TV scribe wrote: "I suspect there won't be many complaints about regionalization during the regular season.

TAMPA, Fla. - There is nothing theoretical about playoff expansion for the Phillies. No one understands that, or how precious the opportunities are, better than Roy Halladay. He spent most of a brilliant career playing for a Toronto team that went to spring training every year with little or no chance of reaching the postseason. He came to the Phillies for a chance to change that, to compete on the biggest stage. Two years in a row, he got there. Two years in a row, a supposedly lesser team upset the Phillies and went on to win the World Series.

NEW YORK - With less than a month to go before opening day, baseball at last decided who's in and who's out come October. Now, even a third-place team can win the World Series. Major League Baseball made it official Friday, expanding the playoff format to 10 teams by adding a second wild-card club to each league. "I hope we get that extra spot," said new Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose team is coming off a 56-106 finish that was the worst in the majors.

The expectations for this Phillies postseason, higher than Billy Penn's hat before the National League division series started, zoomed into the stratosphere when Ryan Howard crushed a three-run home run in Game 1, finished the night with his fourth RBI, then hit a two-run single early in Game 2. In his first four official at-bats, Howard had six RBIs. The bitter memories of his taking a season-ending called third strike in Game 6 of last year's NL Championship Series against the Giants were fading quickly.

TEAMS THAT hope to be great want to win deciding games. Teams that are great win deciding games. The Phillies' 5-year run needs a second championship to validate it all. They know it. Everybody knows it. Win tonight's Game 5 of the Division Series against St. Louis and they are alive for that second title. Lose it and they get a year's worth of questions. Win it all again and celebrate forever. Lose tonight and the last 4 years looks like this: win World Series, lose World Series, lose championship series, lose division series; not an arc with a positive trajectory.

Some managers - no, make that most managers - would have pulled the plug on Raul Ibanez a long time ago. The 39-year-old leftfielder hit .161 with one home run in April, .211 with one home run and five RBIs in June, and .210 with one home run and eight RBIs in August. If you're Charlie Manuel, it's easy to stick with a veteran like Ibanez through April. He is a career .280 hitter, and he goes about his business in the right way even when things are going dreadfully wrong.

Five straight playoff appearances. One hundred two regular-season wins. A starting rotation for the ages. Were Phillies fans complacent after an 11-6 victory in Game 1 of the National League division series on Saturday night? Ho-hum, just another postseason appearance? Not a chance. To the sold-out crowd that packed Citizens Bank Park, every game played in October matters. "This is great, every time," said James Hammerstone, a fan who drove from White Haven, Pa., to see the game.

NEW YORK - The rainy season rolls on. The playoff opener between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees was suspended because of rain in the second inning Friday night, wiping out the ace of each pitching staff for a few days. Justin Verlander started for Detroit against CC Sabathia in a highly anticipated matchup between two of the game's best pitchers. The score was tied at 1 in the middle of the second inning when play was halted. According to a rule adopted by Major League Baseball after rain wreaked havoc with the 2008 World Series, the game is not postponed.

Capsules of other Division Series D-BACKS VS. BREWERS (BEST OF 5) Game 1: Tomorrow, Arizona (Kennedy 21-4) at Milwaukee (Gallardo 17-10), 2:07 p.m. Game 2: Sunday, Arizona (Hudson 16-12) at Milwaukee (Marcum 13-7), 4:37 p.m. Game 3: Tuesday, Milwaukee (TBD) at Arizona (Greinke 16-6), TBA Game 4: Wednesday, Milwaukee at Arizona, if necessary, TBA Game 5: Friday, Oct. 7, Arizona at Milwaukee, if necessary, TBA History: This marks the first time the two teams have met in the postseason.

Veteran broadcaster Dick Stockton will do the play-by-play and Bob Brenly the color commentary for the Phillies National League division series, which will start on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park and be televised on TBS. Stockton, a native Philadelphian who began his professional broadcasting career at KYW in the mid-1960s, said each of the potential playoff matchups for the Phillies provide him with an intriguing story line. "The Cardinals are the team the Phillies had the hardest time with during the regular season, and they're fighting for their wild-card lives," said Stockton, who's best known for his call of Carlton Fisk's dramatic home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.