Inside The Numbers: 2008 MLB Attendance  —  The 2008 Major League Baseball regular season is the second highest attendance mark in history, drawing 78,624,324, falling just 1.14 percent below last year's record of 79,502,524 in paid attendance, a sign that baseball's popularity remains exceptionally strong.

Mets digging in heels in negotiations with Manuel  —  PHILADELPHIA - As much as the Mets would like Jerry Manuel to return as manager, they want him back on their terms, or not at all.  —  Removing the interim label from Manuel was supposed to be a slam dunk this week, with a Shea Stadium news conference expected any day.

Piniella fed up with Fukudome's play  —  Cubs manager Lou Piniella has all but written off right fielder Kosuke Fukudome for the rest of the playoffs and maybe longer.  —  “From now on, I don't want to hear about Fukudome anymore as far as whether he's going to play or not,” …

Yanks, Mets poised for CC bidding war  —  Brian Cashman and Omar Minaya have always considered themselves friends, despite competing in the same super-charged market.  In fact, when Cashman was rumored to be considering a job with the Mariners, Minaya said to a friend, “tell Brian he can work here anytime.”

Rosenthal's Latest: Vlad, Cano, Peavy, Hardy  —  By Tim Dierkes [October 3 at 8:23am CST]  —  Today we have a fresh column from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  — Vladimir Guerrero's $15MM option for '09 is a lock, but perhaps the Angels will reconsider extending him beyond that.

Derek Lowe on the Yankees?  —  CHICAGO - It's safe to say the Yankees were watching Wednesday night when the Dodgers' Derek Lowe turned in another superlative postseason performance in beating the Cubs in Game 1 of the NL division series.  —  Lowe is just the kind of pitcher the Yankees …

Angels won't walk away with a victory  —  Despite facing Matsuzaka, who walks a lot of hitters, they don't plan to work the count in Game 2.  —  This could be the rare matchup that drives the purists and and the stat-heads nuts.  Live from Anaheim: The team most likely to swing at a bad pitch …

NO TALK ON MCLOUTH TRADE, YET  —  Decision makers in The Bronx and Pittsburgh said yesterday there was nothing to the Yankees acquiring outfielder Nate McLouth from the Pirates - yet.  —  “We haven't talked about it, it's premature,” a Yankees source said.  —  “Haven't heard a word about that,” a Pirates source said.

A Network to Satisfy the Appetite of Baseball-Hungry Fans  —  Major League Baseball does not believe there is enough baseball on television.  —  Not on local and regional TV.  Not on Fox, ESPN, TBS or mlb.com.  —  It wants ubiquity, a 24/7 home, so it is building its own cable channel …

Is Fukudome a dirty word?  —  What's in a name?  Ask Chicago Cubs fan Jill Howe, 15.  —  The Elgin High School sophomore had to remove her Kosuke Fukudome jersey and wear a gym T-shirt to class Wednesday because of a misunderstanding about how to pronounce the All-Star right-fielder's last name.

When Vazquez starts, the winning stops  —  It's Thursday, and I have all the answers ...  The White Sox had to beat three different teams in three days to get to the playoffs, and what happens after they pull off that major-league first?  —  The Sox have to play inside a pachinko machine …

Offseason Outlook: Arizona Diamondbacks  —  By Tim Dierkes [October 2 at 4:58pm CST]  —  The Diamondbacks are next in our Offseason Outlook series.  Their setup for 2009:  —  C - Chris Snyder - $1.85MM+  —  C - Miguel Montero - $401K  —  1B - Chad Tracy - $4.75MM  —  2B -