Top News:
Jim Banks / MLB.com:
ALCS Game 3 start time moved up — Friday's contest in Detroit scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET — Due to the rainout of Game 1 in the National League Championship Series on Wednesday, Game 3 of the American League Championship Series in Detroit has been moved to a 4:30 p.m. ET start on Friday.
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Brian / TigerBlog:
Alexis Gomez Powers Tigers to Game Two Win — Alright, the Fox announcers made a big deal about this, but the Tigers became the ninth team in league championship history to win their first two games on the road. The other eight all went on to win their series, so things are definitely looking good for Detroit.
MLB.com:
Guillen: Comfortable at first — With our first baseman, Sean Casey, out of the lineup because of a torn muscle in his left leg, I moved from shortstop to first base, and will probably play there a lot in the American League Championship Series. It's not a new position to me.
Management:
A Detroit Tiger Lesson in Competitive Aikido — "The more your predictable your behavior is, the higher the returns on significantly — changing your behavior" — Angus' Fourth Law of Competition — The Detroit Tigers have the reputation of being a team that's "aggressive" in their hitting style.
Scott Miller / CBS SportsLine.com:Gomez goes from waiver-wire fodder to Game 2 star
Discussion:
Royals Review
Steve Henson / Los Angeles Times:
Dodgers' VP of Scouting Quits — Hired by a previous general manager and uncertain of his role in the new regime, Roy Smith resigned Thursday as Dodgers vice president of scouting and player development. — Smith, who had another year on his contract, made the decision during a meeting with General Manager Ned Colletti.
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Thomas Harding / MLB.com:
Rockies, Jennings talking extension — Right-hander posted second-lowest ERA in club history — DENVER — The Rockies are discussing a contract extension with right-handed pitcher Jason Jennings, who posted the second-lowest ERA in club history in 2006. — The Rockies hold …
Discussion:
Purple Row
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Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Nationals dismiss Soriano report — Rijo: Not privy to latest negotiations between club, outfielder — NEW YORK — Nationals president Stan Kasten and Jose Rijo, the team's assistant to general manager Jim Bowden, denied a report that quoted Rijo saying that left fielder Alfonso Soriano turned …
Associated Press:
Youth coach sentenced to prison — Downs offered kid money to bean autistic player — UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A youth baseball coach accused of offering an 8-year-old money to bean an autistic teammate so he couldn't play was sentenced Thursday to one to six years in prison.
Daniel Brown / Contra Costa Times:
Conditions turn frigid for ALCS — Detroit forecast calls for temperatures in upper 30s and possible snow flurries for Game 3 today — Robert Peary was such a celebrity in the fall of 1909, having completed an expedition to the North Pole, that the Detroit Tigers invited him to a World Series game.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Andrew Baggarly / Mercury News:
Piniella unlikely to wait for offer from Giants — NATIONALS, CUBS IN HUNT FOR HIM? — The Giants are lagging behind the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals in their search for a manager, and a source close to prime candidate Lou Piniella said he wouldn't wait around to consider all offers.
Discussion:
Ben Maller's Sports …
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Melissa Lockard / Athletic Supporters:
Thud — It had a Hollywood-ending written all over it. A two-out rally that did just enough to bring up team MVP Frank Thomas to the plate as the winning run. I could even see his homerun trot in my mind. But it was not to be and now the A's have to be focusing on just trying to avoid being swept.
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Lee Jenkins / New York Times:
In Battle of Sluggers, Beltrán Draws First Blood — Carlos Beltrán and Albert Pujols would meet behind the batting cage before every game of the 2004 National League Championship Series, a daily summit featuring two of the world's leading sluggers. — They talked about hitting.
Discussion:
The Feeding the Monster Blog
Baseball America:
International League Top 20 Prospects List — Subscribers can read scouting reports on all 20 players (Click here to subscribe) — Just two of the International League's top 10 prospects had played at the Triple-A level for any substantial amount of time prior to this season …
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Clocking Pitches, Give or Take 3 M.P.H. — In George Plimpton's fantastical hoax in Sports Illustrated about a reclusive yogi and pitcher named Sidd Finch, he concocted a scene at spring training in 1985 in which the Mets measured the speed of the mystery man's fastball.
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
A-Rod could enhance trade value by playing SS — Can Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez still play shortstop? — If so, it would increase the number of teams that would be interested in trading for him this off-season. — Equally important, the prospect of returning to short could help persuade Rodriguez to approve a trade.
Discussion:
AZ Snakepit
Rick Hummel / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Now Kinney hunts for a pennant — NEW YORK — On a night where there weren't many feel-good stories in baseball, starting with the tragic death of New York Yankees righthander Cory Lidle and descending to a comparatively insignificant rainout of Game 1 in the National League Championship Series …
Jonah Keri / ESPN:
The replacement killers — A team with one of the worst offenses in playoff history loses the league MVP to injury as it enters the World Series. It's facing one of the most talented ballclubs ever assembled. With its biggest threat on the shelf, the team subs in a 33-year-old bench-warmer …
Discussion:
The Futility Infielder
