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 …

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.

Tender wrist likely won't stop Zumaya  —  The Tigers might have Joel Zumaya's heat even in the Midwest chill.  —  Detroit hopes the hard-throwing Zumaya will be ready for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series despite a tender wrist.  —  The rookie reliever injured …

Bringing in the Lefty  —  One facet that I highlighted in my NLCS preview at Baseball Prospectus was the vulnerability of the Mets' two big sluggers, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, to lefthanded pitching.  Last night, with Jeff Weaver beginning to falter in the sixth inning …

Starting Harden is not worth risk  —  DETROIT - Ask any baseball man what he hates most about his job, and he'll tell you it's a five-game series in Cleveland.  But right after that, he'll tell you it's being second-guessed.  —  "Why did you bring in the left-hander?"  "Why didn't you pinch-hit for the right-hander?"

The 6th Question w/ Michael Kay  —  Every Friday in NYP TV Sports, our sports television pullout that appears in the middle of the print edition and online, we present "Five Questions for ..."  —  When I conduct the interviews, I always precede them with a monologue about how we ask more than five, but only use the best five.

Q&A with Rockies GM O'Dowd  —  Colorado's decision maker talks about future goals for the club  —  DENVER — On a recent afternoon, Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd acknowledged that he's keeping up with the playoffs.  —  But enjoying them?  —  "Not really," O'Dowd said …

Rogers Changed Stripes to Beat Yanks  —  Kenny Rogers told himself he had to be a different pitcher against the Yankees last Friday.  He needed to be an intimidator, an enforcer and a bully.  Rogers had a monumental game to pitch for the Detroit Tigers, and he had about three hours to become a bad dude.

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.

Replacing the Wild Card: The "Challenge Round"  —  There seems to be a pretty general consensus among sabermetric folks that baseball's current system of post-season eligibility and play is seriously flawed.  Rich Lederer's post here the other day is one indication, an on-going discussion …

Point is, the GM is in charge  —  For Jon Daniels, the free ride is over.  —  In a troubled season for the Rangers, the youngest general manager in the majors never had to walk point through the minefields and the media ambushes.  —  Buck Showalter was out there in front, taking the heat as the logical and easy target.

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.