It's already the most controversial move of the postseason, no matter what happens the rest of the night.
Mike Scioscia taking out John Lackey with the bases loaded, two outs and the Angels still leading 4-0 in the seventh inning has to rank has the most controversial playoff decision since . . . well, since Gene Mauch took out Bobby Wittin Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS.
Turned out about the same way, too. After Lackey could be seen yelling at Scioscia: "You've got to be [bleeping] me. This is mine," the manager calmly took the ball and handed it to reliever Darren Oliver, who's been outstanding in the postseason up to that point.
Oliver quickly gave up a bases-clearing double to Mark Teixeira to make it 4-3, then a base hit to Hideki Matsui to tie the game at 4. Scioscia came out, replaced Oliver with young Kevin Jepsen, who didn't fare much better. Jepsen allowed a triple by Robinson Cano to score two more runs and give the Yankees a 6-4 lead.
The question afterward was this: Even after he'd thrown 104 pitches, do you really take out your No. 1 guy with the game and the season on the line?
Trust me, especially if the Angels lose this game, they'll be asking that one for weeks, months, maybe even years to come.
-- Steve Bisheff