I’m going to start today’s blog with some Daily Numbers, which usually come at the end. That’s because I have a bunch of numbers going through my head right now, but two in particular.

9:37 and 10:07.

Those aren’t the jackpots in the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots.

Those are the starting times for this weekend’s Phillies games in Denver on Saturday and Sunday nights.

I already was trying to make plans for the kind of problems the 9:37 start Saturday night was going to cause when I awoke this morning to be slapped in the face with that 10:07 time.

For a newspaper editor, it’s something only Charles Dickens could understand. It’s the best of times, and the worst of times.

When the Phillies get into the post-season, it’s good for newspapers, especially when they’re winning.

But that assumes the paper you pick up in the morning will actually have the score of the game in it. This weekend we will be challenged to do just that.

We got fooled a bit on Wednesday, with Cliff Lee working very quickly in winning Game 1 of the NLDS. Wednesday’s game was played in 2 hours, 48 minutes. That’s pretty quick by today’s Major League standards.

Yesterday was more like it. Lots of pitching changes and lineup changes led to a game that spanned 3 hours, 41 minutes.

Tack on the fact that the weekend games are being played in Denver, where long games, featuring a ton of offense in that mile-high thin air, are the norm. I’m guessing that 3 hours, 41 minutes is more like what we will see, if not worse.

So take 3 hours and 41 minutes and tack it onto a first pitch at 9:37.
You’re close to 1 a.m. Our normal deadline at night is 11:40. Yep, that’s a problem.

If that’s a problem, Sunday night is just a flat-out nightmare. Three hours and 41 minutes tacked onto a first pitch at 10:07 is approaching 2 a.m.

The last thing we want to do is print newspapers without the score in them. And if you’re like me, you know how aggravating that little box is that informs you that “last night’s game ended too late for this edition.” Then we twist the knife a bit by telling print readers they can get full coverage by going to our Web site.

Let’s just say it’s going to be a long, late weekend.