As this is written, Cardinals rookie lefthanded pitcher Rick Ankiel is less than one hour away from his first major league post-season appearance.

Will Ankiel dominate the Braves the way he has dominated the rest of the National League in the last half of August and September?

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is out on a long limb here because Ankiel did not make an appearance against Atlanta in 2000...and had only three starts all year against the three NL playoff teams.

Talk about throwing away the book!

Contrast Ankiel's appearances vs. the NL's best teams with Garrett Stephenson, who had a total of seven starts vs. the Braves, Mets and Giants. And Stephenson had two highly successful starts against ATL, including one complete-game shutout.

Or Darryl Kile and Pat Hentgen, who together recorded eleven starts vs. the three NL playoff clubs.

So, by limiting Ankiel's appearances against the NL's best squads, there is no question that La Russa and Duncan followed through on their spring training promise to bring Ankiel along slowly during the 2000 season.

La Russa's decision to start Ankiel in Game 1 is therefore surprising: the young man is being asked to grow up in a hurry.

On the other hand, if Ankiel fails, don't be surprised if La Russa calls on one of his veterans to start Game 4, relegating Ankiel to what is surely to be an important role for STL: the bullpen.

As to Ankiel's performance later today, one question that includes one action word sums things up quite nicely: intimidation. The young man likes to intimidate the opposition, whether that opposition is a reporter or a hapless banjo hitter in a spring training simulated game.

In this way, Ankiel is very much like Roger Clemens...

Simply put--will Rick Ankiel, and Ankiel's pitches, intimidate the Braves, or will Ankiel be intimidated by the Braves and the circumstances surrounding his first career post-season appearance?

That is the question surrounding Tony La Russa's decision to start Rick Ankiel in Game 1 of the Cards-Braves series. The answer follows soon...