[NT!]

btw i can see reasons for both teams to like the pitching lineup the sox have chosen here, but i think it's better overall for the sox. dice-k is the most likely of the three starters to get knocked out early so putting him between the other two makes sense. schilling is more likely to be battle-tested and ready for a road playoff game, small psychological edge there. dice-k is the highest variance matchup in my mind for cleveland, so you are basically gambling that he outpitches or matches carmona (or that the sox can get to him), instead of going with schilling who you expect to at least hang close to carmona for sure. then in game 3 you have a more steady guy who is likely to give you a significant edge over cleveland's game 3 starter, as opposed to dice who is, again, high variance and could easily be no better than westbrook.

plus if you believe 'momentum is only as good as tomorrow's starting pitcher,' the sox have more of a chance to break up any momentum cleveland has, whereas cleveland is much more likely to go without a quality start in their home park until as late as game 6. if i am tito i am very wary of letting this young cleveland team get on a roll, i think the pitching matchups he has chosen reflect that.

EDIT: nevermind, tito switched it up on me [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] guess they are really going for the jugular. i have to say i liked the other way better.