Top News:
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Mets finish in unhappy Endy — Caught looking after Chavez grab — Inside the somber Mets clubhouse, the plastic still covered the flat-screen televisions, protection for a champagne-spraying celebration that never took place. — The resilient Mets had loaded the bases in the ninth inning last night …
Discussion:
Chicks Dig The Pitchers' Duel
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Bob Herzog / Newsday:
Floyd wants to remain a Met, but chances may be slim — Cliff Floyd feels the Mets will be winning for a long time and he wants to be a part of it. — Cliff Floyd doesn't want the called third strike he took in the ninth inning of NLCS Game 7 Thursday night at Shea Stadium to be his final act as a Met.
Paul Doyle / Hartford Courant:
Mets Don't Expect Many Offseason Changes — NEW YORK — The TVs were covered with plastic in anticipation of a champagne celebration in the Mets clubhouse. — Instead, players were forced to look at next year. — "I think it's going to push us in the offseason," third baseman David Wright said.
Brian Gunn / Hardball Times:
Yadi Dodi — I had to rewind my TiVo a couple times to make sure it really happened - and sure enough, each time, there's Yady Molina squeezing a curve ball from Adam Wainwright to clinch the NLCS and send the Cardinals onto the World Series. — Up until that ninth inning, it just didn't seem like the Cards' night.
Steve Keane / The Eddie Kranepool Society:
I'M TORN AND TATERED — I'm numb. I'm drained. I'm angry. I'm proud. I'm shaking my head. I don't know where to begin. — I want to rip the mole off Carlos Beltran's ear with no anaesthesia for taking a called third strike. You know and I know but apparently Beltran …
Newsday:
Wallace Matthews — Throwing game, series away — When the book is written on the final game of the Mets' 2006 season, it will say that the NLCS against the Cardinals was lost when Aaron Heilman surrendered a two-run home run to Yadier Molina in the top of the ninth inning of a Game 7 tied at 1.
Discussion:
Can't Stop The Bleeding
ESPN:
IT'S GAME 7 OF THE NLCS ... RIGHT NOW ON FOX! — I have few rules in life, but this is one of them: Any time the worst Game 7 in the history of baseball is being played, I'm keeping a running diary. Here's what transpired: — 5:00 p.m. (PT) — My buddy Gus (a die-hard Mets fan) calls just to say, "I'm a nervous wreck."
Discussion:
AwfulAnnouncing
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Jayson Stark / ESPN:Molina's heroics give Cardinals an unlikely pennant
Discussion:
MLB.com, Yahoo! Sports, The Crawfish Boxes, Cardinals Diaspora, Dodger Hill and FIRE JOE MORGAN
Murray Chass / New York Times:
It Was Offense, Not Pitching, That Cost Mets in the End — If the Mets had hitting versions of pitchers Oliver Pérez and John Maine, they would probably be in the World Series against the Detroit Tigers tomorrow. — As much as injuries had decimated the Mets' corps of starting pitchers …
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Sam Borden / NY Daily News:
Cerrone's job is Yanked — Bombers ax longtime VP — The Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs 13 days ago and while several substantial events have taken place since then (notably Joe Torre's employment status being clarified and the tragic death of Cory Lidle) …
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Associated Press:
Rookies Verlander, Reyes get Game 1 starts — DETROIT — Even before the first pitch is thrown, the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers are making this World Series memorable. — Game 1 will have a pair of rookie starters for the first time, with Justin Verlander pitching Saturday night …
Discussion:
Baseball Musings
Kelly Thesier / MLB.com:
Twins reward Gardenhire with extension — Skipper signed through '09 after leading impressive turnaround — Ron Gardenhire has had his fair share of tests during his first five years as Twins manager, but none might have been bigger than the one he faced during the 2006 season.
Jason / Faith and Fear in Flushing:
Requiem — Well, damn. — Congratulations to the Cardinals and their fans. It wasn't a classic series by any means, but it was an object lesson that you never, ever quit fighting. They showed that. So did we. — If you'd been told we'd get that pitching performance from Oliver Perez, you'd have taken it.
Joe Sheehan / Baseball Prospectus:
The Two John Maines — Ever since Billy Beane's famous comment in Moneyball—"My [expletive] doesn't work in the playoffs."—there's been a backlash against the idea that short series in the postseason are poor tools for judging the relative strength of teams.
Discussion:
El Lefty Malo
Dak / FIRE JOE MORGAN:
Picks! — I'm not a huge fan of making predictions about who's going to win a given series, or the whole postseason, or what have you. I very much enjoy talking about who has a better chance of winning, and for what reasons, et cetera. But I see little reason in saying anything like "I'm picking Twins in 6."
Baseball America:
Supernatural: Santana Proves Unittable — MINNEAPOLIS—Johan Santana was so good this season he was telling opponents what was coming—and they still couldn't hit him. — Before the Twins played the Cubs on June 23, Santana chatted with former Twins teammates Henry Blanco and Jacque Jones …
Discussion:
Philliesflow
Lee Jenkins / New York Times:
Mets to See Art Howe 19 Times Next Year — As the Mets prepared for the most important game of their season, Art Howe sat in Phoenix International Airport yesterday, waiting for a flight that had been delayed. — Howe is getting ready for his return trip to Major League Baseball.
Discussion:
Can't Stop The Bleeding
Jeff Albert / Baseball Analysts:
Zoomlander: Starting, Relieving and Throwing Hard — When it comes to general sports, I am a fan of watching people perform at the highest levels. This means, for example, that I got into it last week watching a women's college volleyball match because one player from Hawai'i …
Discussion:
The Detroit Tiger Weblog
