There is nothing in baseball like the five game playoff format of the division series.

A win in any game and you think you are on your way to the finish line without delay.

A loss in a game and it seems like the world ended and you have no chance to ever get to the next round.

The situation is contrary to everything the fan has endured over the course of the 162 game season, when the mantra is “no problem we’ll get them tomorrow”.

Now, “tomorrow” is the dreaded word for any loser.

In this series, the losses are dissected to the most infinite detail, the wins are glorified beyond the reality of the situation.

There are reasons why a team loses a game, some are more compelling than others, and some will carry over to the next game, if they go to the heart of the team.

Most reasons for a loss do not carry such weight.

You just have to come out and play your game and see what happens.

With that explanation in mind, let’s look at Sunday baseball.The Yankees are gone, beaten by the Angels. The Angels hit and never stopped hitting. The Angel pitching was never anything to write home about, but it was good enough to get the job done.

Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival were fabulous, throwing better than anyone on the Yankee staff. The Yankees looked old and beatable throughout the series.

Thankfully for Jason Giambi he had a short drive home to Huntington Beach from Anaheim when the series ended and didn’t have to fly all the way back to the Big Apple.

So much for Giambi jumping the A’s for a better chance to make the world series with the Yanks.

The A’s now face the Twins in the deciding game of their series.

The A’s have their best postseason pitcher going today against a team that has had distinct trouble hitting him or any competent lefthander all year.

Mark Mulder had a chance to seal the deal last October in game five in Yankee Stadium. He didn’t get it done, leaving after some defensive mistakes in the fourth inning.

Ralph Terry comes to mind. The righthander threw the pitch to Bill Mazeroski in the 1960 World Series that Maz hit into the leftfield stands giving the Pirates the championship in the ninth inning of game seven.

Two years later Terry was on the mound in Candlestick Park facing Willie McCovey with the winning runs on base in the ninth inning of game seven in the World Series between the Giants and the Yankees.

Terry got McCovey to line out and the Yankees were world champions, vindicating Terry and his manager Ralph Houk.

The point being that good pitchers come back and redeem themselves all the time. One year it works out and the next it may not, but the good ones are on the mound when that ultimate moment plays out.

Mark Mulder finds himself in that spot today. Mulder may go on to win 200 games in his career, going down as one of the best of all time, but fans will remember his performance in the deciding game of a playoff series when assessing his baseball career.

The Twins throw righty Brad Radke, a capable pitcher. Radke has never been in this situation before and faces an A’s lineup geared to punish righthanders.

Radke stopped the A’s 20 game win streak in the Metrodome. He tries to send the Twins into the ALCS today.

Mulder has been here before, just as Ralph Terry had in San Francisco in 1962.

Mulder on three days rest will beat the Twins 7-3 with Ricardo Rincon and Billy Koch finishing the game.

The Giants are one win away from flying to Atlanta for their own game five.

Livan Hernandez has never lost a postseason game. Tom Glavine his opponent has won close to 240 games in his Hall of Fame career.

The Giants will play today’s game like the 7th game of the world series. Unfortunately, so will the Braves.

Both pitchers are capable. The managers won’t hesitate going to the bull pen at the first sign of major trouble. Today, the giants will bring in their more experienced relievers instead of Manny Aybar.

Hitting will decide this game. I have felt all along that the Giants hit better than the Braves up and down the lineup.

Yesterday Barry Bonds could have put his team ahead with an off field single, through the shift in the third inning. He hit the ball hard up the middle, right into the shift, ending the rally. His team never recovered.

The Giants need to hit in the clutch, if they do, this series will go back to Atlanta on Monday.

Hernandez has been here many times in October, I like his chances against Glavine.

Arizona is home and the Cards move on. Arizona was a beaten team coming in, St. Louis hits the ball and has a deep 25 man team.

The Diamondbacks need to get a big hitter or two to help the middle of their order.

The five game series moves on today, forget about yesterday, the fortunes of baseball change by the minute in this format.

Just enjoy today’s game like yesterday never happened.

It’s the only way to look at it.