Top News:
ESPN:
Simulations say ... Rays likely to advance — Last week, we ran our Diamond Mind simulation on behalf of ESPN and predicted the Tampa Bay Rays would easily defeat the Chicago White Sox, most likely in three or four games, and the Los Angeles Angels would upend the defending world champion Boston Red Sox …
RELATED:
Patrick Sullivan / Baseball Analysts:
Sox/Rays — The Tampa Bay Rays had a tremendous season and are very much capable of taking Boston out in the 2008 ALCS. Let me explain, however, why these two teams might not be as evenly matched as they appear. The important measures, as far as I am concerned, are how a team performed …
Sean McAdam / Boston Herald:Five keys for the Red Sox
Discussion:
Boston Globe, Baseball Prospectus, Over the Monster, DRaysBay, MLB Interviews.com and Associated Press
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
Torre's brother: What Yanks did to Joe ‘was not right’ — PHILADELPHIA — Frank Torre, the 76-year-old brother of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, walked onto the field Thursday at Citizens Bank Park, and had one question: — “I wonder what the (New York) Yankees are thinking …
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Cliff Corcoran / Sports Illustrated:
A closer look at Game 1 in the ALCS, NLCS Game 2 — Breaking down today's two League Championship Series games. All times are Eastern; all stats for starting pitchers are for this postseason only. — Dodgers at Phillies — Series: NLCS, Game 2; Phillies lead 1-0 — TV: FOX
ESPN:
Manuel's mom dies; he'll manage Phils in Game 2 — June Manuel, the mother of Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, died Friday morning, the Phillies announced. — Manuel, who watched batting practice from his usual spot behind the cage on Friday afternoon, will manage Game 2 …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Out of Left Field: The Errors In Counting Black Ballplayers — For 61 years, ever since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier and won the National League's Rookie of the Year Award in the same season, African-American players have starred in the majors.
SofaKing / Toronto Star:
A.J. Burnett in no hurry to talk to Blue Jays — A.J. Burnett, in possibly his last game as a Jay, salutes the home crowd. “It was storybook,” Burnett said of the sendoff on Sept. 24, 2008. — CATHAL KELLY — The Toronto Blue Jays may have to wait well into November …
Awful Announcing:
AA Interview With Curtis Granderson — I don't know what it is, but I'm kind of anti website interviews. Don't get me wrong, I think other sites do it well, but there just aren't enough people that I like to do them on a regular basis. I've of course interviewed Gus Johnson …
Discussion:
Detroit Tigers Thoughts
Sam Donnellon / Philly.com:
Burrell turning jeers to cheers — THERE IS a guy who sits 12 rows back in the leftfield bleachers who has, over the years, embraced Pat Burrell like a brother, kicked him around like a dog, and now loves him like an old army buddy again. Anyone who has sat back there on Sunday afternoons has heard him …
JSOnline:
Conspicuous by absence — Viewers of baseball on television, sometimes for good reason, have complained over the years about having to watch so many national telecasts involving the New York Yankees. — Pinstripes here, pinstripes there, pinstripes everywhere, has been known to grind …
Discussion:
Sliding Into Home
Rick Morrissey / Chicago Tribune:
Cuban: Financial crisis will slow Cubs sale — What, you expected the Cubs' sale to go smoothly? — After the club's torturous playoff loss to the Dodgers, which brought on a great depression? — While the U.S. financial system is in convulsions? — No.
Discussion:
GoatRiders of the Apocalypse
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Rays' numbers game — ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Nine equals eight. It's true. — Mathematics professors at Michigan State University say so. They can prove it. — So can the Tampa Bay Rays. All season they've worn T-shirts with what seemed a mathematically impossible message: 9 = 8.
