Top News:
Jack Curry / New York Times:
A Piniella Return Could Benefit Rodriguez Most — Alex Rodriguez was still a young, sensitive and impressionable shortstop when he struck out against Dennis Eckersley in a tie game on Aug. 4, 1995. Rodriguez, 20 at the time, remembered his atrocious swings against Eckersley as "breakfast, lunch, dinner and good night."
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NY Daily News:
Yanks' captain abandons ship — Refusal to help Alex hurt club — If George Steinbrenner thinks that bringing in Lou Piniella is going to solve his Alex Rodriguez problem, and all of the bad karma it has wrought, he clearly isn't in touch with his ballclub.
Newsday:
Wallace Matthews — Hey Willie, enjoy it while it lasts — LOS ANGELES — The names are forever linked in our town like New and York. Joe and Willie. Joe Torre, Willie Randolph. Mentor and pupil. Now, manager and soon-to-be ex-manager. — At about the same time that Randolph's jubilant players …
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
Newsday:
Boss: No vote of confidence — Steinbrenner declines to endorse Torre, likely to replace him with Lou — George Steinbrenner is so livid at Joe Torre after the Yankees' embarrassing postseason collapse, he'd like to fire him. — And The Boss won't even deny it.
Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Harsh Words From Steinbrenner, but No Word Yet on His Manager — At his darkest moments, George Steinbrenner has longed in recent years to replace Joe Torre with Lou Piniella as the manager of the Yankees. The question now dominating the organization is whether that impulse will prevail after careful consideration.
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Carpenter gets a timely visitor — As his ace's pitch count climbed and dire trouble threatened in the first inning Sunday, Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan plotted how the game could go from there. Chris Carpenter was capable of finding his gear, Duncan thought. Carpenter would settle in.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
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Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Rolen's shoulder inflamed; so is La Russa — For much of September his manager had asked Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen the same question and received the same answer. — Saturday afternoon, after a distressing Game 3 performance in a 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres, Rolen's answer changed.
Fox Sports:
Cards playing role of underdog this postseason — The St. Louis Cardinals, despite a middling 83 wins in the regular season and a thoroughly uninspiring stretch drive, are headed to the National League Championship Series for the third straight year. — FOX Bite — Videos — St. Louis celebration
Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com:
Cardinals-Mets: Quick hits — Reasons the Mets will win: — 1. Power. The Mets hit a lot of big homers, having ripped 200 during the regular season. Shut down Albert Pujols, and the Cards may have a hard time generating runs. — 2. Home-field advantage.
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Mets' pen off to fine start — Willie-style relief may sweep majors — The White Sox rode their starting pitching to a championship last season, getting seven innings apiece from Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia in the World Series en route to a sweep of the Astros.
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Ben Shpigel / New York Times:
Mettle, More Than Muscle, Fueled Mets' Series Sweep — Someday, fathers and sons may gather 'round The Baseball Encyclopedia or, more likely, a Web site, to reminisce about a team that defied all conventions in winning a world championship. In completing the first step of their journey …
Discussion:
NY Daily News
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Mets take time preparing for NLCS — NLDS sweep allows Randolph to mull options going forward — LOS ANGELES — It happened so quickly, the series already was a blur for some of the Mets by the time they boarded the buses outside Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
NY Daily News:
One team plays games, other plays baseball — LOS ANGELES - As a car pool of reporters navigated its way out of Chavez Ravine early yesterday morning, someone's phone began chirping. A high-ranking Mets official was on the other line, begging to hear the gossip. — Was it true?
Fox Sports:
Report: Injured Floyd to miss rest of playoffs — Veteran New York Mets' outfielder Cliff Floyd will miss the rest of his team's playoff run due to an Achilles tendon injury, according to a report in the New York Daily News. — Floyd, who has been on and off the disabled list …
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Bob Herzog / Newsday:
The Met in the middle — Lo Duca's hard play puts him in the center of sweep of Dodgers — Two bloops and a blast. — That sums up Paul Lo Duca's Saturday night in Los Angeles. His well-placed — if not well-struck — hits each drove in an important run in the Mets' 9-5 clincher …
