World Series Analysis Game 1: Phillies at Rays  —  Welcome to the first Daily News World Series blog/analysis, where we hope to answer burning baseball questions such as whether the Phillies are sunk if they don't win when their ace, Cole Hamels, starts tonight.  —  The answer to that one, dear readers, is yes.

Jack Zduriencik named Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations for the Seattle Mariners  —  SEATTLE — Seattle Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln and President Chuck Armstrong announced today that Jack Zduriencik has been named the Mariners new Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations.

PADRES: Cooling off period for Peavy talks  —  The World Series arrived Wednesday, just in time to give Jake Peavy and the Padres a breather from two-plus weeks of trade chatter.  —  With teams barred from making personnel announcements during the Fall Classic, general manager Kevin Towers …

Red Sox' Luis Alicea out at first  —  Rest of staff to return  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Red Sox [team stats] coaching staff will return mostly intact next season, with the exception of first base coach Luis Alicea.  —  The club announced yesterday that pitching coach John Farrell …

Schilling blasts Manny  —  Curt Schilling's latest entry on his blog, 38pitches.com, was very, very interesting.  It has been removed from 38pitches.com (unsurprisingly), but the text still comes through on my RSS reader.  I have quoted a few relevant excerpts...

Dodgers eyeing shorter Manny offer … ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Dodgers appear willing to meet or come close to superstar free agent Manny Ramirez's annual salary target but are strongly disinclined from acceding to his wish for a deal of five or six years, people familiar with the club's thinking tell SI.com.

Injuries a problem in Fall League  —  Jeffress, Green, Gartrell all go down in battle of Peoria  —  PEORIA, Ariz. — Milwaukee Brewers trainer Tommy Craig was the hardest-working man in town on Tuesday.  —  In the Arizona Fall League battle of Peoria teams, three players left …

The Man Behind the MLB Logo  —  Jerry Dior Designed the Oft-Imitated Silhouette  —  Every night when Jerry Dior sits down to watch the baseball playoffs in his Edison, N.J., home, the television reflects his life's most enduring handiwork.  —  Forty years ago, Mr. Dior worked as a graphic designer …

Former Cubs GM Green sympathizes with Piniella, not his old team  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - In the fall of 1981, only one year after managing Philadelphia to its only World Series championship, Dallas Green arrived in Chicago with a mission to change the culture of Cubs baseball and move the organization into the 20th Century.

MLB: New park for AL champion Rays a must have  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Even before Tropicana Field hosted its first World Series game, Major League Baseball insisted the Tampa Bay Rays must get a new stadium.  —  “I think they need a new ballpark here.  Absolutely,” said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

Cubs may help open new Yankee Stadium  —  Will Lou Piniella be managing the Cubs in the first game in the new Yankee Stadium?  —  Piniella indeed may be returning to the Bronx, as the Associated Press is reporting the Cubs and Yankees are in negotiations for either one or two exhibition games at the $1.6 billion ballpark in April.