Flat Albert  —  Rips Glavine, despite taking 0-fer  —  Albert Pujols was less than impressive in last night's NLCS opener.  He was even less impressed with Mets starter Tom Glavine.  —  A peeved Pujols snapped at reporters following his -for-3 outing that included a costly baserunning blunder …

Bochy enters Cubs mix  —  Padres manager may be front-runner  —  Cubs' general manager Jim Hendry has met with all five managerial candidates on his original list, but his final choice may be "none of the above."  —  In what could be a fast-moving chain of events, San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy …

Nats' Kasten Denies Credibility of Soriano Report  —  Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten said yesterday that he didn't give credence to a wire report saying left fielder Alfonso Soriano, a free agent to be, turned down a five-year, $70 million offer to stay in Washington.

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.

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.

Pujols left hitless and unimpressed with Glavine  —  With an expression of scorn and words of disdain, Albert Pujols was defiant in defeat last night.  —  The Cardinals' slugger, who went 0-for-3 with a walk, flipped his chair into the leg of a reporter gathered at his locker, turned his back …

5 QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL KAY  —  This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with Michael Kay.  Kay, 45, is the voice of the Yankees on YES and hosts his own 1050-ESPN radio show.  —  Q: You have been outspoken about Joe Torre.  What was your biggest beef?  —  A: I don't think he did a bad job at all during the season.

Cliff hurt, but catch makes for happy Endy  —  The Mets' decision to keep Cliff Floyd on their NLCS roster with his sore left Achilles proved to be a risky gamble last night, as the left fielder came up lame in his only at-bat and had to leave the game in the second inning.

A meeting of the minds  —  Belichick hits it off with La Russa  —  NEW YORK — I was shelling peanuts and hardly paying attention as Tony La Russa delivered a rambling answer to a pregame question regarding the expanded format of today's baseball playoffs.

Tom may take 5th vs. St. Louis  —  The Mets asked Major League Baseball to let them resubmit their NLCS roster yesterday morning, after a Game 1 rainout resulted in games scheduled on five straight days.  MLB stood firm with its 10 a.m. Wednesday deadline, despite the series' first pitch being delayed by 24 hours.

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.

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.

I Love Lamp  —  Posted on Fri Oct 13, 2006 at 12:14:25 AM EST  —  I just posted an article over at MetsGeek called Dissecting Carpenter, which basically just lays out his some dramatic platoon splits, specifically Home vs Away and RHB vs LHB.  Both splits seem to favor the Mets …

Coliseum lease deal is ready for signing  —  ALAMEDA COUNTY: Terms of the agreement extend Athletics' contract to 2010, possibly 2013  —  Less than a month after team officials broke off talks to extend the Oakland Athletics' lease at McAfee Coliseum, a new deal seems all but complete.

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 …