Yes, that right, I would consider starting Paul Byrd in game one of the playoffs. Why, do you ask, would I consider starting Paul Byrd in game one of the playoffs?

Answer, Because Paul Byrd is the wild card on the staff. Sometimes Byrd comes out and throws a stunningly good game and other times he battles and keeps us in the game, and every now and then he gets lit up big time.

I would start Paul Byrd in game one, but I would keep a really tight rope on him. The moment he gives more than two consecutive hits or two runs, he would get pulled and I would go to plan B and put either CC or Carmona in.

Before you gawk at how crazy this sounds, The Red Sox did this exact thing to us the year Pedro came in and shut us down by pitching the final 6 painful innings and he won the game and sealed the series for the Red Sox.

Remember, Byrd may pitch a whale of a game in game one, in which case we still have CC and Carmona ready to go in games two and three anyways.

Here's the scenario I don't like. Cleveland starts CC and Carmona back to back in games one and two and split the first two games of the playoff series, now for game three we are relying on Paul Byrd to save us.

In other words, I'd like to give Byrd a couple of chances to have a good start and in the process we can stop a Byrd outing in which he begins giving up a ton of hits all in a row. It's possible that if Paul Byrd gets lit up early in game one but we stop the bleeding early on, that he could pitch again in game three and get a second chance to pitch well.

Starting Paul Byrd for the first time in game three and going to Westbrook early in the game if Byrd falters is another option. However, the reason I don't like that plan is Westbrook can give up just as many hits just as quickly as Byrd can, so to put them back to back in the same game may not be the best of ideas.

As solid as the pitching is that the Indians do have, we are a question mark in the five spot. Both Paul Byrd and Jake Westbrook pitch well at times and at other times they haven't, so the moment either CC or Carmona lose a game early in the series, we suddenly may be at a big disadvantage.

Now, imagine that we pitch Byrd in game one and Byrd pitches well for 7 innings and we win the game.

Now we have CC, Carmona and Jake coming up for the next three games. Suddenly, it looks like the series momentum is completely in our favor if we can sneak Byrd in in the opening game of the series and get a win. If we wait until game three to pitch Byrd for the first time we will have to wait longer before removing him from the game even if Byrd isn't pitching well, and that is the scenario I would like to see us avoid in the playoffs.

The biggest danger to my idea is Byrd gets lit up early, he is pulled with the score at perhaps 1-0 but two runners on base, CC comes in and gives up those two runs and then settles down and pitches well but we lose 3-2. Whereas if CC had come in from the beginning of the game, maybe we win 2-1.

So it comes down to, are you willing to go with Byrd for a much longer duration in game three, or try and sneak Byrd in game one and maybe surprise the other team and throw off their preparation.