Top News:
Bill Chastain / MLB.com:
Rays clinch, punch ticket to ALCS — Upton powers early lead with pair of solo shots vs. White Sox — CHICAGO — Next on the Rays' agenda: The American League Championship Series. — The Rays bleached the blackout at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday night by taking a 6-2 win over the White Sox …
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Jordan Bastian / MLB.com:
Another first, another Rays celebration — After clinching in Chicago, Tampa Bay rocks visitors' clubhouse — CHICAGO — Evan Longoria wasn't sure what to do. The final out of the American League Division Series had been recorded, clinching a victory for the Rays, but the young third baseman hesitated …
Pat Borzi / New York Times:
A First for the Rays After Years in Last — CHICAGO — Cliff Floyd thought he was safe. He found a spot in a hallway, several feet removed from the Champagne- and beer-soaked mayhem of the Tampa Bay Rays' clubhouse, to speak with a small group of reporters. — But another Rays veteran, Eric Hinske, found him.
David Just / MLB.com:
Guillen quick to give Rays their due — White Sox management praises upstart franchise for success — CHICAGO — There's no bigger fan of the Rays organization than White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. — After playing the final season of his career with Tampa Bay in 2000, Guillen watched the club's development with great interest.
Duk / Yahoo! Sports:
The surging Rays stage another clubhouse party for the ages — I've never heard of anyone becoming drunk by osmosis, but if such a thing were possible, the Rays clubhouse is the place you'd want to start. I just floated to the surface from the soaked-with-suds visitor's clubhouse …
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Bugs & Cranks
David Leon Moore / USA Today:
Notes: Ramirez says he's pulling for his ‘boys’ in Boston — LOS ANGELES — Listening to the Boston Red Sox, it doesn't sound as if Manny Ramirez left a lot of friends in the organization when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. — Listening to the Boston Red Sox …
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Gary Dzen / Boston Globe:
Sox replace Lowell on ALDS roster — From the Red Sox, with more to come on this from our Globe baseball crew at Fenway Park (Update: Bob Ryan tonight wrote about Lowell, and Tony Massarotti checked in earlier today with this piece on Lowell.) — BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox today replaced …
Howard Ulman / Associated Press:
Lowell off Red Sox's postseason roster — BOSTON (AP)—Third baseman Mike Lowell was removed from Boston's division series roster on Monday because of a right hip strain. — He would be ineligible to play in the AL championship series if the Red Sox advance past their first-round opponent, the Los Angeles Angels.
Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:Wobbly Beckett grits it out
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Washington Post, Red Sox Monster, Baseball Musings, SOX1FAN, DRaysBay, Athletics Nation, Chicago Tribune, Bats, Cursed To First and New York Times
Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:
Sox vs. Angels, ALDS Game 4 — WALK-OFF FOR LOWRIE (11:31, END 9, 3-2 SOX) — Jed Lowrie rolled the first pitch he saw through the right side for a game-winning single, bringing the Red Sox out of the dugout and the series to a close. Lowrie, who strugglied mightily down the stretch in the regular season, is the hero.
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Baseball Musings
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Adam Kilgore / Boston Globe:Lester's newest moment
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Unfiltered, LA Times Sports Blog, The Bottom Line, Angels blog, Walkoff Walk and Center Field
David Lefort / Boston Globe:Amalie Benjamin Q&A — The Globe's Amalie Benjamin checked …
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ESPN, SOX & Dawgs, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated and Fire Brand of the …
Jack O'Connell / MLB.com:
Ten Frick Award finalists announced — Nuxhall leads fan voting for baseball broadcasting honors — For the second consecutive year, baseball fans voted overwhelmingly for Joe Nuxhall to be on the ballot for the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence that was announced Monday by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Batter's Box Interactive …
Fox Sports:
With Brewers out, CC sweepstakes can begin — Now that the Brewers' season is over, let the CC sweepstakes begin. Ken Rosenthal sets the stage with a jam-packed odds board.
Joe Pawlikowski / MLB Rumors:
Where Will Atlanta Find A Bat? — By Joe Pawlikowski [October 6 at 10:25am CST] — Mark Bowman of MLB.com has a new mailbag up. The first question leads to a discussion of the Braves adding a bat this off-season. The Braves have $45MM to spend this winter, and could use every penny to fortify their team.
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Michael Vega / Boston Globe:
Scioscia: 'We're going to win,' Part Deux — If it worked for him in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, why would he deviate now? Baseball managers, after all, are creatures of habit. And so, Angels manager Mike Scioscia, wasn't about to back down from what worked …
Keith Law / ESPN:
Addition of cutter has made Danks an elite arm — I've seen a lot of revisionist thinking in the last week regarding the Rangers' trade of the new White Sox ace, John Danks, a deal that two years later has left Texas with almost no return in exchange for one of the 10 best starters in the American League this year.
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Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:A-Rod: Ace recruiter for the Yankees
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WasWatching.com
Paul Sullivan / Chicago Tribune:
Soriano blames flop in postseason on Cubs' make-up — A team of psychiatrists, theologians, numerologists and seamheads could convene at a secret location on the North Side in search of an explanation for the Cubs' latest October meltdown. — But Ryan Dempster said the reason is obvious to anyone paying attention.
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