Top News:
Steve Buckley / Boston Herald:
The new Mr. October — Beckett again unhittable on big stage … The fallout from the 2003 American League Championship Series was tough on Red Sox [team stats] fans, so much so that most of them sat out the ensuing World Series between the Yankees and Florida Marlins.
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Sports Illustrated:
Elder Matthews rooting for father-son reunion in World Series — PHILADELPHIA (AP) -No one in Philadelphia calls broadcaster Gary Matthews anything but "Sarge.'' In California, he goes by a different name: Dad. — Matthews has a couple of rooting interests in the postseason.
Jeff Jacobs / Hartford Courant:
Even Pedro And Tiant Weren't This Dominant — BOSTON - Chone Figgins, who led the American League in hitting after May 31, led off the Division Series with a single Wednesday night. Figgins worked the count full before smacking a line drive up the middle and off the glove of a diving Dustin Pedroia.
Sports Illustrated:
VERDUCCI: Beckett comes up aces for Sox — BOSTON — To understand the difficulty of what Red Sox ace Josh Beckett did Wednesday night at Fenway Park, first you have to know that his was the 124th shutout in the 104 years of postseason play. Not bad. Beckett has three of those 124 shutouts himself …
Ian Browne / MLB.com:
Complete feat: Ace, offense click — Beckett twirls gem as bats come out swinging in opener — BOSTON — The stage was brighter and the atmosphere was more tense, yet Josh Beckett and the Red Sox never so much as blinked at the added pressure. — Dominant all season long …
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Yanking 'Z' a Lou-sing call — Piniella's decision to remove ace Zambrano backfires — PHOENIX — Looks like the Cubs are going to do the postseason the hard way, too. — Why should this be any different from the last six months — or the last 1,188 months, for that matter?
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Associated Press:
Zambrano yanked after 85 pitches — PHOENIX (AP) — Lou Piniella stuck to his plan and it was a costly one for the Chicago Cubs. — The Cubs manager said he would limit Carlos Zambrano to about 100 pitches against Arizona in Game 1 of the NL playoff series.
Bernie Miklasz / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Jocketty out as Cards' general manager — The Cardinals and general manager Walt Jocketty have "parted ways," according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. — The Cardinals have scheduled a 4 p.m. news conference to discuss Jocketty's departure after 13 seasons as GM.
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Tom Haudricourt / JSOnline:
Cordero tops wish list — Re-signing closer a priority, GM says — What is shaping up to be a weak free-agent market this winter won't help the Milwaukee Brewers in their quest to retain closer Francisco Cordero and set-up man Scott Linebrink. — With so few top-notch relievers available …
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Nate Silver / Baseball Prospectus:
2007 Hitter Projection Roundup — Disclaimer: there are as many ways to evaluate projections as there are to create them. This is a SQuiD (Semi Quick-n-Dirty) method that involves looking at some basic descriptive statistics. — I was able to find access to eight projection systems …
Joe Frisaro / MLB.com:
Ramirez has left shoulder surgery — Marlins' shortstop should be ready for '08 Spring Training — For more than a month, Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez played through a sore left shoulder. — On Wednesday in South Florida, the 23-year-old underwent surgery to repair his labrum.
Discussion:
FishStripes
Josh Kalk / Hardball Times:
A closer look at Jeff Francis' start against the Phillies — Jeff Francis held Phillies batters at bay yesterday afternoon going six innings giving up only four hits and two runs. Both runs were on back to back home runs by Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell. Francis also struck out eight and only walked two.
Jay Jaffe / Baseball Prospectus:
Yankees versus Indians — A repeat of a matchup which produced some thrilling postseason baseball back in 1997 and 1998, this Divisional Series matches the American League's two hottest teams since the All-Star break, two teams that didn't earn their postseason berths until putting together …
ESPN:
Postseason wish: Please, Cubbies, don't win the Series — The Cubs must go down. It must be gruesome, painful and tragic. They must, like Icarus and his wax wings, come tantalizingly close, and then, like Wile E. Coyote and his ubiquitous anvil, plummet to the canyon floor. — Don't get us wrong.
