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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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
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 — A flawless bullpen, an immaculate defense and a manager on a gambler's rush brought the Cardinals to Busch Stadium on Sunday night in control of the New York Mets and their National League Championship Series. — Then the fifth inning happened, and then the sixth.
Discussion:
Viva El Birdos
Ronald Blum / sports.yahoo.com:
NY Mets 12, St. Louis 5 — ST. LOUIS (AP) — Carlos Beltran sent the ball soaring over the wall. — So did David Wright. And Carlos Delgado. And then Beltran did it a second time. — With four home runs, the Mets tied the NL championship series, making sure it will end back home in New York.
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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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 …
Ben Walker / Associated Press:Detroit 6, Oakland 3 — DETROIT (AP) — All those people …
Discussion:
Blogging Baseball
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.
Discussion:
Brew Crew Ball
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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
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune
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
Discussion:
Betty's No Good Clothes Shop …
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.
Discussion:
Brew Crew Ball
Ken Davidoff / Newsday:
If A-Rod must go, some possibilities — There is, of course, a logical landing point for Alex Rodriguez this winter: a team that needs a shortstop and that can take on a big salary. A club that Rodriguez previously expressed an interest in joining. — Think the Yankees would trade him to the Red Sox?
Discussion:
Boston Globe
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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
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 …
Discussion:
Archie Bunker's Army
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Mike Berardino / Sun-Sentinel:
Who's waiting in the wings? — Girardi could be Yanks manager after Torre — So in the end, after several days of uncertainty and the threat of sweeping change, Joe Torre received a midnight pardon. — All right, Gov. George Pataki didn't need to intervene to help Torre retain his job …
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 …
