Top News:
Murray Chass / New York Times:
Shadow From a Miserable Night Still Hangs Over Trachsel — From anguish to elation, from disgust to delight, from Steve Trachsel to Oliver Pérez. — The Mets are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals at two games each in the National League Championship Series because Pérez unexpectedly …
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Ben Shpigel / New York Times:
Pérez Helps Mets and Gets Plenty in Return — As his teammates poured onto the field before Sunday's game, Oliver Pérez stood alone in the corridor leading into the Mets' dugout. He peeked his head out and glanced at the conga line of television cameras and the Cardinals taking batting practice.
Lyle Spencer / MLB.com:
Swagger returns with powerful display — Mets set or tie several offensive franchise records in rout — ST. LOUIS — A baseball sat perched atop Oliver Perez's locker in the Mets' clubhouse Sunday night, commemorating his first postseason victory. — What distinguished this ball …
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cards' bullpen suffers meltdown in 12-5 loss to Mets
Cards' bullpen suffers meltdown in 12-5 loss to Mets
Discussion:
Viva El Birdos
Chris De Luca / Chicago Sun Times:
Tuesday is Lou's day: Announcement near — Cubs ready to introduce Piniella as manager — Negotiations between the Cubs and their top managerial candidate advanced so quickly Sunday, the team expects to complete talks today and introduce Lou Piniella as their new manager by Tuesday, according to team and industry sources.
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Paul Sullivan / Chicago Tribune:
Piniella appears to be choice of GM Hendry — Lou Piniella's name surfaced as a candidate to manage the Cubs in Houston about the Fourth of July, when Dusty Baker was rumored to be on the firing line. — Nearly 31/2 months later, Piniella finally appears ready to step in.
Barry Svrluga / Washington Post:
With Piniella, Cubs Close, Girardi Emerges as Nats' Front-Runner
With Piniella, Cubs Close, Girardi Emerges as Nats' Front-Runner
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune
Benjamin Hoffman / New York Times:
Beyond the Tumult, Rodriguez Is a Key Contributor — In the wake of the Yankees' failure to win the American League division series against Detroit — topping a six-year streak without a World Series title — no player has felt the fans' ire more than Alex Rodriguez.
Discussion:
BBTF's Baseball Primer …
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Jan Hubbard / TwinCities.com:
Tigers show how it's done — Key ingredients: money management, good health, a smart GM and a new manager — DETROIT — If any would-be World Series contenders are looking for a franchise role model, there are none better than the Detroit Tigers, who are a testament to good management — and a good manager.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
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Ben Walker / Associated Press:
Detroit 6, Oakland 3 — DETROIT (AP) — All those people …
Detroit 6, Oakland 3 — DETROIT (AP) — All those people …
Discussion:
Blogging Baseball
Boston Globe:
Lyons fired by Fox — Hispanic remarks called insensitive — Former Red Sox utilityman Steve Lyons was fired by Fox after he made what the network deemed insensitive racial remarks Friday during the telecast of Game 3 of the ALCS. — Lyons directed the remarks at Lou Piniella …
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Chris Constancio / Hardball Times:
Hughes, Bailey, and Gallardo — In another ten years, we might look back on the 2006 season as the season when a new generation of exciting young pitchers made their major league debut. Today, I would like to take a closer look at three young pitchers who are still in the minor leagues.
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Belliard runs into rally Endy — ST. LOUIS - Buried behind the flurry of Met homers, David Wright's emergence from an October slump and Oliver Perez's pitching performance last night was a small, but vital, play that happened long before Game 4 became all about slugging.
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Hope rests with Glavine — ST. LOUIS - If Albert Pujols didn't think Tom Glavine pitched well in Game 1, "then I hope I do something (tonight) to really impress him," Glavine said. — "That would be a good thing." — Duplicating that effort - seven scoreless innings …
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Ben Shpigel / New York Times:
Weather Report For Game 5 May Benefit the Mets
Weather Report For Game 5 May Benefit the Mets
Discussion:
Betty's No Good Clothes Shop …
New York Post:
TRACH STOCK DROPS — STEVE PULLED SELF FROM GAME 3 — Steve Trachsel missed time at the end of the regular season due to personal reasons, so the Mets were already down on him. Now his stock with the team has dropped further. — In his horrible Game 3 start against the Cardinals on Saturday …
Discussion:
Metsblog.com
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Contra Costa Times:
More of same is not a bad thing — The A's weren't even an hour into their offseason Saturday night when general manager Billy Beane was cornered outside the locker room for a quick state-of-the-what comes next address. — Barry Zito's hair still hadn't dried from his postgame shower.
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Contra Costa Times:
Street improvement on closer's list — He says he'll work on his entire repertoire during the offseason — Notebook — OAKLAND — Huston Street's season included 37 saves and several memorable moments. — It also included 11 blown saves and some tense times for A's fans even when he did manage to nail down the victory.
Discussion:
Ben Maller's Sports …