Giants decide not to renew Felipe Alou's contract  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants have decided to not renew manager Felipe Alou's contract for the 2007 season, team Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Sabean announced today.  The club has extended an offer …

Prosecutor cites "inaccuracies" in steroids story  —  The federal prosecutor overseeing an investigation of steroids in baseball said Monday a newspaper report that five players, including Roger Clemens, had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs contained "significant inaccuracies."

Looking at the Division Series matchups  —  Two weeks ago, a Subway Series appeared all but inevitable.  —  No longer.  —  The Mets are less threatening without injured right-hander Pedro Martinez.  The Yankees, unsure of left-hander Randy Johnson's ability to pitch with a herniated disk …

Dodgers?  Whatever, say Mets  —  WASHINGTON — For the Mets, the playoffs have been all but a certainty seemingly since opening day.  But as they finished off the final day of the regular season, they found themselves still unaware of whom they were going to be playing.  —  But they didn't really care.

Where My Team Stands: Minnesota Twins  —  If we've learned anything about Octobers the last few years, it's that the month tests, stretches and hones every aspect of loyalty fandom.  Typically, we pretty much just tell our friends that we'll see them sometime in November.  It's a stressful time.

Tigers versus Yankees  —  On the morning of August 8th, the Detroit Tigers were the toast of baseball, a full 40 games over .500 at 76-36, leading the AL Central by ten games, leading the Twins by 10.5 games, leading every other team in the majors by at least eight games.

Bright Weekend, Dark Day  —  Notes from the last weekend of the regular season, from one very depressed man, idly hitting buttons looking for some baseball...  - The best story, to me, was the disparity among managers in the importance placed on the difference between winning the division or the wild card.

Dejan Kovacevic Chat Transcript 10/02/06  —  Pedro_Cerrano: Should I order my 2007 playoff tickets now?  —  Dejan Kovacevic: As long as they come fully refundable, and as long as you have that kind of disposable cash, yeah, go nuts. ...  Welcome, one and all, to our final chat of the season.

Notes: Johnson in line for Game 3  —  Feels no abnormal stiffness on day after bullpen session  —  NEW YORK — Yankees left-hander Randy Johnson continues to pass tests in his quest to pitch with a herniated disc in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

Milledge, two others, left off Mets roster  —  Rookie outfielder one of three players not included for NLDS  —  NEW YORK — As part of the only Division Series that will not begin play until Wednesday, the Mets have a little more time to set their 25-man roster for the series against the Dodgers.

Baseball Analysts - Most Valuable Players  —  With the regular season behind us, it is time to focus on the playoffs.  I will have a preview of the ALDS and NLDS on Tuesday.  In the meantime, I wanted to fill out my (make believe) ballot for each league's Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year.

Yanks are turbocharged this October … The last time the New York Yankees won a World Series — way back in the dark ages of October 2000 — there had never been a major league player named Melky, Johnny Damon was still a Royal and Chien-Ming Wang was a man with a dream that some day there might actually be a big leaguer from Taiwan.