Top News:
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.
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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
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.
MLB.com:
Notes: Floyd wants to return — Delgado primed for '07; Chavez shines in the spotlight — Now that the season is over, Cliff Floyd enters unchartered waters with his second stint of free agency. — "This is kind of different," Floyd said as he gathered his belongings in the Mets' clubhouse …
Discussion:
The Musings and Prophecies …
Sports Illustrated:
Cards a nice story, but will be overmatched by Tigers — Also in this column: — NEW YORK — Go ahead, crown the Tigers. They are more powerful than the Cardinals, better rested and generally better suited for a short series. They rolled through a difficult American League derby …
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.
Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:Molina has a ball — NEW YORK - To tell the story …
Discussion:
Blogging Baseball
Jayson Stark / ESPN:Molina's heroics give Cardinals an unlikely pennant
Discussion:
MLB.com, Cardinals Diaspora, The Crawfish Boxes, Dodger Hill, FIRE JOE MORGAN and Washington Post
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
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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 …
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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.
MLB.com:
Marlins finalize 2007 coaching staff — MIAMI — The Florida Marlins today announced their Major League coaching staff for the 2007 season. Joining first-year manager Fredi Gonzalez will be bench coach Carlos Tosca, pitching coach Rick Kranitz, hitting coach Jim Presley …
Billfer / The Detroit Tiger Weblog:
World Series Preview: Tigers-Cardinals Season Series — Game 1: Tigers 10, Cardinals 6 — The Tigers jumped out to an early lead on homers by Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge before the Cardinals tied the game in the 5th inning. Detroit responded with a 4 run rally to knock out Chris Carpenter and put the game out of reach.
Jim Street / MLB.com:
Francona to replace Macha in Japan — Red Sox skipper will manage MLB All-Star team in Tokyo — For the second time in his managerial career, Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona will manage a Major League All-Star team. — On the eve of the start of the 102nd World Series …
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
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
