Yankees need uptight Girardi to lighten up  —  Tweet  —  Joe Girardi and the Yankees have no place else to turn, so they will return to each other.  —  Sometime in the next week, I suspect, Girardi will re-up for something in the neighborhood of three years at $10 million.  —  What alternative does Girardi have?

Duncan to return as coach through 2012  —  The Cardinals and pitching coach Dave Duncan have agreed upon a two-year contract with a mutual option for 2013.  The deal represents a departure from the front office's initial sentiment to award only one-year deals to manager Tony La Russa's coaching staff.

Keeping Score: How Good Are the Giants' Starters?  —  The San Francisco Giants have so far proved the old adage that pitching wins in the postseason.  Despite finishing ninth in the National League in offense, they squeaked into the tournament on the back of a vaunted starting rotation of Tim Lincecum …

GM finalists best news for Mets fans  —  Mets on Twitter  —  Tweet  —  Lately it's been difficult to define “good news” for the Mets.  Mostly, it's meant the absence of bad news, or the minimization of dreadful news.  If you are an especially optimistic Mets fan — and, let's face it …

The Myth of the Small-Market Series  —  Even when the current World Series match-up of Giants versus Rangers was just a possibility, I began to hear chatter to the effect of “Bud Selig and Fox are going to hate having two small-market clubs in the World Series.”

Amaro says Phils want Werth and can re-sign him  —  Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. knew as soon as he sat down for his season-ending news conference where the initial questions were headed.  “Shoot, ask whatever Werth questions.”  —  Amaro said the Phillies want Jayson Werth …

Pat Burrell, revived with San Francisco Giants, doesn't want to address time spent with Tampa Bay Rays  —  Friends and teammates say the Giants' Pat Burrell, who started in leftfield in all 10 playoff games, never was cut out to be a DH.  —  PHILADELPHIA — Maybe for Pat Burrell this is best …

Laird Returns To AFL  —  Yankees farmhand adds corner outfield to positions list  —  PHOENIX—Yankees prospect Brandon Laird followed a strong 2009 Arizona Fall League stint with an MVP season with Double-A Trenton of the Eastern League in 2010.  The righthanded hitting corner infielder hit .291/.355/.523 …

Black buddies with Jays' skip  —  PHILADELPHIA - John Farrell is following in Buddy Black's footsteps.  —  He's just taking longer strides to get to the same destination: Big-league manager.  —  The Blue Jays offered Farrell a contract Friday to replace outgoing manager Cito Gaston.

Daughter of former Mets coach Eddie Yost suing team after security guard's radio falls on her  —  One-time Mets coach Eddie Yost's daughter is suing the team after she got plunked by a security guard's radio that fell from from an upper deck.  —  Alexis Yost Fougere, 45 …