1.   Another pitching ace had joined the manager in battling a debilitating illness.

2.   Both managers took huge gambles with their pitching aces.

3.   Both managers saved their pitching aces for the playoffs this week, and many players on both teams broke a sweat only when yawning.

4.   Former pitching ace Nolan Ryan benched himself Thursday in the Republican race for Texas agriculture commissioner rather than give up his lucrative commercial endorsements.

5.   General manager Bill Bavasi could stop shopping his veteran pitching aces.

6.   His favorite baseball team was the Yankees, but this year, he began rooting for Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners pitching ace.

7.   Pitching ace Kevin Brown, making his much-anticipated Dodgers debut, retired the Diamondbacks in order in the first, though it would require a dozen pitches.

8.   Pitching aces are not like basketball stars, though.

9.   Rolando Paulino pitching ace Danny Almonte is involved in a controversy over whether he was too old to compete in the Little League World Series.

10.   So is Cleveland outfielder Manny Ramirez, another AL starter, and Boston pitching ace Pedro Martinez.