With a little over two weeks to go in the season, the playoffs are starting to take shape.

The Braves, Twins, Yankees, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks have either clinched division titles or will do so within the next week barring any catastrophic collapse, which doesn’t seem likely.

The A’s, Angels, Dodgers, and Giants will fight it out for the remaining spots, one will go home in the NL.

The bull pen tipped the balance in the A’s- Angels game Wednesday night, but the A’s might have suffered a bigger blow than losing the game, if x-rays show Ramon Hernandez has a significant hand injury, after the catcher was hit by a foul tip late in the game.

Expect the Angels to try to run today on back up catcher Greg Myers. Lucky for the A’s that lefty Mark Mulder is pitching. Mulder can hold runners close since he is a lefty and two, not many get on because he is on top of his game as a pitcher.

The Giants face their favorite friends in San Diego, while LA has to venture to the land of the unknown in Colorado.

What is in store for the teams today? Let’s see.The Angels have not faced Mulder this season. Anaheim has hit lefties pretty well all year long, but has only split their last 16 decisions against lefthanded starters. The A’s staff knows how lefties should pitch to Anaheim, since Barry Zito has thrown two great games against Anaheim in his last two starts.

Mulder is a big game pitcher and should start the playoffs for Oakland. The bull pen is rested. Last night the A’s pen lost the game when Jeff Tam ended up in the game during crunch time. Unfortunately for Oakland, Jim Mecir and Ricardo Rincon were not available due to recent work. Mike Venafro did a nice job getting Darin Erstad out in a clutch situation. Erstad is now 0-8 against Venafro, who is worth having on the roster if the A’s meet Anaheim in the ALCS, for that one reason.

Today will be a different story as Billy Koch, Rincon, and Mecir will get the bulk of the late inning work, if necessary.

Mickey Callaway goes for Anaheim and has been a pleasant surprise. Callaway was a disaster in Tampa Bay, but has replaced Aaron Sele in the Angel’s rotation very well. Like John Lackey, Callaway lacks the command of three pitches, which is vital to have, if a pitcher hopes to shut the A’s offense down.

The Angels will be in their pen by the seventh inning or earlier, while Mulder should take the A’s deep into the game.

Anaheim hits doubles, bunts and steals bases, against ordinary teams it is a great formula for success. They are 26-14 against lefties, Mulder is in the class of lefties who have had success against the Angels. Having Tim Salmon off his game right now doesn’t hurt the A’s chance for victory, either.

Whatever happens today sets up a terrific series next week in Oakland between these two teams.

The Giants have gotten well against the Padres for two years now. Ryan Jensen hasn’t pitched a good game in what seems like a month. Dusty Baker may have to have a long man ready (Kurt Ainsworth) early in the game tonight. Oliver Perez pitched well his last time against the Giants, but that was weeks ago, and the little lefty hasn’t been heard from since.

The Dodgers go to hit happy Colorado where the LA offense may get untracked. Omar Daal needs a big game tonight. Yesterday’s win in SF was big for the Dodgers because their confidence was shaken the prior two nights. Now, at least, they can look forward to being close to the Giants going into the four game series in LA starting Monday night, if they play well over the weekend.

As Charlie Dressen, Dodger manager in the early fifties used to say, “just hold ’em for seven innings and I’ll think of something”. well, if LA can just hold on for the weekend, maybe they’ll come up with the formula to beat the Giants next week at home.

Next week, A’s and Angels tee it up in Oakland and Giants and Dodgers in LA, pretty good baseball to look forward to.

Larry Walker is hurting again. Is there a more brittle big name player in the game today? I just don’t know why the Rockies resist trading Walker to an AL team as a DH.

Another amazing baseball story. The Benes brothers in St. Louis and Chicago. Both were written off for dead this year, yet both have come back and won for their teams. Simply, incredible perserverance for the two pitchers and they get people out in big games. I wouldn’t have guessed that they would have made it back in a million years.

Why is Mike Hargrove still managing in Baltimore? The team has collapsed again and it isn’t pretty. Time for a change.

The A’s and Angels match up very well. The managers know each others moves, these two teams could meet in the ALCS.

Jarrod Washburn dodged a bullet when the DA decided not to pursue charges against the lefty. THe A’s will see him next week in Oakland when he faces Zito on Wednesday.

It looks like Ted Lilly will get another start on Sunday against Joel Pineiro, why not use him out of the pen instead? His arm strength is not there as a starter, but he could help as the second reliever from the left side since the A’s seem to trust him.

Just a suggestion.

Cory Lidle threw like the first half Cory Lidle last night ( long pauses between pitches), now he must be watched in his next start against the Angels on Monday night. I still wouldn’t have him start a ALDS game unless it was an emergency.

Good baseball tonight.