Top News:
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Pedro tips his cap to Mets fans — In what could be his final Shea start, righty solid against Cubs — NEW YORK — If the Mets' season ends this weekend or in a tiebreaker game on Monday, Shea Stadium probably had its final glimpse of Pedro Martinez pitching in a home white uniform.
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Mike Fitzpatrick / Associated Press:
Mets rally, gain ground in NL East — NEW YORK (AP)—With a desperate rally in the rain, Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets kept their playoff destiny in their own hands. — Beltran singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning and New York beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 …
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Mark Herrmann / Newsday:
Rain could scramble Mets' schedule — If there is anything harder to predict than how the National League wild-card race will end, it is when it will end. An ominous forecast for New York for Friday night could mean a doubleheader Saturday — and another rainout then could bring a new meaning to “wild.”
Joe Capozzi / Palm Beach Post:
Marlins relish spoiler role — WASHINGTON — The Marlins didn't plan on missing the playoffs again this season, but they're at least hoping their season ends like it did in 2007 - by going to New York and eliminating the Mets. — “Anytime you have a chance to knock a big team …
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Mets show cool under pressure — Beltran delivers game-winner, Mets now one back in NL East — NEW YORK — It was merely a slam they had witnessed, nothing grand about it. The baseball left the bat of Ryan Braun and instantly tightened the race for the National League Wild Card.
Peter Abraham / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Cranky, cranky, everybody is cranky — I'll try to explain this as simply as I can. — Before the game, Joe Girardi told us that Mariano Rivera went back to New York to get his standard end-of-the-season physical. He wasn't going to pitch anyway, the manager said, because he had a “cranky body.”
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Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
Rivera Is Aching, but Yankees Can't Agree Where It Hurts — TORONTO — Mariano Rivera pitched four times in five days before the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention this week. On Thursday, he left the team to return to New York for a magnetic resonance imaging exam on his right shoulder.
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com:
Yanks send Rivera back to New York — Closer to complete physical, return to club for series in Boston — TORONTO — Yankees manager Joe Girardi engaged in a contentious postgame session with reporters on Thursday, debating the validity of information concerning Mariano Rivera's pitching shoulder.
Jordan Bastian / MLB.com:
Halladay goes distance for No. 20 — Ace gives vintage performance in Jays' final home game — TORONTO — It seemed fitting that Roy Halladay would be on the mound for the Blue Jays' final home game this season. With Rogers Centre's dome open to welcome in the warm Toronto night on Thursday …
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BBTF's Baseball Primer …
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Richard Griffin / Toronto Star:Jays might be better off without Burnett
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Drunk Jays Fans
Joe Cowley / Chicago Sun Times:
Ozzie fires back at Cabrera — MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen wouldn't fault Orlando Cabrera for the shortstop's latest finger-pointing. — As Guillen said Thursday, that's what happens when a player “thinks he's better than what he really is.”
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Kelly Thesier / MLB.com:
Twins take first on Casilla's walk-off hit — Second baseman singles in 10th to complete sweep of Sox — MINNEAPOLIS — The jubilant way that the Twins jumped into a pile following Alexi Casilla's game-winning single on Thursday night made them look like a team that had just clinched a playoff spot.
Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com:
Wet weather could impact races — Mets' farewell to Shea Stadium festivities in jeopardy — As if the National League East race and the Wild Card picture were not fuzzy enough, Mother Nature may deal Major League Baseball another dastardly card before the postseason begins on Wednesday.
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Paul White / USA Today:
Baseball's playoff teams start to map strategies — For the five teams already in the playoffs, this final weekend of the regular season is about preparation, strategy and auditions. — Managers of the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox …
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Nick Piecoro / Arizona Republic:
D-Backs eliminated from playoff bid — ST. LOUIS - Amid hushed tones in the visitors' clubhouse on Thursday afternoon, catcher Chris Snyder could imagine the scene on the other side of the country, and he could spell out the sequence of events that led to the Diamondbacks' elimination …
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Los Angeles Times
