Top News:
Mark Feinsand / NY Daily News:
Indians hammer Wang, Yankees in Game 1 — CLEVELAND - So the Indians can beat the Yankees after all. — After getting kicked around in all six regular-season meetings with the Bombers, the Tribe pounded Chien-Ming Wang and belted the bullpen, handing the Yankees an embarrassing 12-3 beating on Thursday night at Jacobs Field.
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New York Post
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Bill Madden / NY Daily News:
Yanks fail to KO Sabathia when they have chance — CLEVELAND - It's hard to believe the Yankees could be looking so very vulnerable after a night in which they wore out the Indians' imposing monster lefty C.C. Sabathia for 114 pitches and six walks in just five innings.
Tom Withers / Associated Press:
Indians hit 4 HRs, rout Yankees 12-3 — CLEVELAND (AP) — At times, it looked like 1995 again. Or 1997. Or 1954. Or 1948. — Back in the playoffs after a six-year absence, the Cleveland Indians came out swinging like Octobers past. — C.C. Sabathia recovered after giving up a homer …
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Yanks already in fight for playoff lives — LIKE THIS STORY? — It feels almost like checkmate. — Yankees right-hander Chien-Ming Wang again pitched poorly on the road Thursday night in Game 1 of the AL Divisional Series, losing to the Indians 12-3. — Left-hander Andy Pettitte faces …
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6-4-2
Peter Botte / NY Daily News:
Fausto Carmona is starting right — CLEVELAND - In 2006, the Indians - like the Yankees of 2007 - force-fed a young power pitcher with electric stuff into a relief role to aid their flailing bullpen. — Suffice to say, Fausto Carmona's brief time as Cleveland's closer last season didn't work …
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New York Post
Nick Piecoro / Arizona Republic:
Diamondbacks take Game 2 — If you saw just one moment, one play, from this game or this series, the full-count pitch from Ted Lilly to Chris Young in the second inning Thursday night would satisfy outcome and circumstance, pathos and bravado. — It was a snapshot moment in a series …
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Bob Baum / Associated Press:
Young, Arizona take 2-0 lead over Cubs — PHOENIX (AP) — These Arizona Diamondbacks are no desert mirage, and the Chicago Cubs are one loss from another season of despair. — Rookie Chris Young hit a three-run homer and Stephen Drew tripled in two more in an 8-4 victory Thursday night …
ESPN:
BASEBALL TONIGHT MINUTE — Karl Ravech and John Kruk preview Thursday's Game 1 of the Division Series between the Yankees and the Indians. — IN THE ZONE — Travis Hafner enters the Division Series against the Yankees as the Indians' hottest hitter. Hafner, who struggled for much of the season …
Rocky Mountain News:
LITTWIN: Even the nuns can't believe this odyssey — PHILADELPHIA — The following account, I swear, is true. Two nuns — wearing Phillies' jerseys over their regulation gear — were stalking out of Citizens Bank Park as the eighth inning ended Thursday. — "Can you believe this?" one of them said.
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Baseball Musings
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Rocky Mountain News:
LINCICOME: Phillies are phinished — PHILADELPHIA — It's always sunny in . . . Well, that's what the TV show says anyhow, and it has been nice here, a little warm for the season, causing a bit of a kerfuffle over how the Rockies choose to keep cool. But more on that later.
Steve Buckley / Boston Herald:
Monster mash — After excessive hype, Dice-K focused on task … When Daisuke Matsuzaka arrived in Boston last winter, the Red Sox [team stats] staged an elaborate event that was part press conference, part celebration, part coronation. Such was the interest in the Sox' new right-hander …
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John C. Drake / Boston Globe:
Red Sox fan assaulted in New York — A 25-year-old carpenter from Quincy is in serious condition after he was assaulted outside a Yonkers, N.Y. hotel last night by a group of men he said had earlier asked about his allegiance to the Red Sox. — Two men were arrested in the assault, authorities said.
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Torre turns to his Game 2 favorite Pettitte — CLEVELAND - Andy Pettitte flashed an aw-shucks grin when he was asked why, of all pitchers, he keeps getting picked to start a Game 2 of a division series, something that's happened in every division series he's ever pitched for the Yankees.
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New York Post
Richie Rich / Home Run Derby:
Cub fans are getting desperate. Or they're just into Santeria. — This is a sure sign that Cub fans are taking this 99 years without a World Series Championship thing a little too far. Or they've crossed the line from praying for their beloved Cubbies to sacrificing animals for them a la Santeria.
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.
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