Top News:
Sean McAdam / Boston Herald:
Jon Lester will start it off — Sources: Red Sox go with lefty in ALDS opener — KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In 2003, he won Game 5 for the Florida Marlins in Yankee Stadium on three days' rest and was named World Series MVP. — Four years later, he won all four of his postseason starts for the Red Sox [team stats].
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Mark Feinsand / NY Daily News:
Yanks want to clinch against Sox — The Yankees and Red Sox are both headed for October, but the two rivals would love to make a statement to assert themselves as the favorites in the American League. — With only 10 days to go until the end of the regular season, the two AL East contenders …
Benjamin Kabak / River Avenue Blues:
Joba Joba Joba — Three months ago, I would have been excited about a mid-season match-up between Jon Lester and Joba Chamberlain. After all, these two young pitchers - one a lefty, one a righty - could be the faces of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry for years to come.
Mike Puma / New York Post:
AL East title within weekend reach — Uncork the champagne and use red socks to mop up spills on the clubhouse carpet. That would be quite a Yankee Stadium party. — Lights, camera, AL East title. The Yankees can make it official this weekend, appropriately enough with the Red Sox across the field to witness the celebration.
Chicago Sun Times:
Three takes on the White Sox — Octavio Dotel said he approached the club about his immediate future and a contract extension last month and was told he wasn't in the plans. The reliever at least appreciated the Sox being upfront with him. As he turns his attention to free agency, New York is atop his wish list.
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Associated Press:
Dodgers one win away from playoffs; Nats hit 100 losses — WASHINGTON (AP) — Rafael Furcal (FSY) hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Thursday night, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Washington 7-6 to hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season.
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Elizabeth Doran / Syracuse Post-Standard:
Baldwinsville family says teacher told fourth-grader to turn Yankee shirt inside out — Van Buren Elementary fourth-grader Nathan Johns thought his teacher was kidding when he instructed him to go to the bathroom and turn his Yankees T-shirt inside out. — The blue shirt read “New York No. 52” …
Corey Brock / MLB.com:
Padres create affordability for 2010 tix — All pricing plans to be either reduced or remain same — DENVER — Holding true to a mantra that they want to “create affordability,” the Padres announced on Thursday that a majority of their tickets for 2010 will either be reduced or remain at the pricing level they were this season.
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Joe Posnanski:
What Our Eyes See — This is not — repeat NOT — that angry 20,000 word diatribe about Hall of Famer Jim Rice that I originally proposed after reading his Sullivan Tire blog post about Zack Greinke, the appropriately titled “Greinke is a Good Pitcher — Not Dominant.”
RELATED:
Jim Rice / Ask 14:Greinke is a Good Pitcher - Not Dominant
Discussion:
The Sporting Blog, Circling The Bases, Amazin' Avenue, Can't Stop The Bleeding and Yawkey Way Academy
Canadian Press:
RICCIARDI SAYS HIS SUCCESSORS WILL FACE SAME CHALLENGES — TORONTO - The calls for J.P. Ricciardi's dismissal as general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays have been coming fast and furious of late. In some corners there's a belief that his firing is already a done deal.
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Matt Eddy / Baseball America:
Appalachian League Top 20 Prospects With Scouting Reports — Electric stuff earns Braves' Julio Teheran the No. 1 spot — BURLINGTON, N.C.—Order was restored in the Rookie-level Appalachian League when Danville dispatched Elizabethton in two games to win the title.
Discussion:
Talking Chop
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:
Can the Cardinals really lock up both Pujols and Holliday? … The St. Louis Cardinals managed to go an almost unprecedented 4-for-4 with their acquisitions this summer, helping them to run away from their archrival Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. Their hot streak might also have raised …
Mike Puma / New York Post:
Hairston has tendinitis in wrist — Considering the list of possible alternatives, tendinitis to Jerry Hairston Jr.'s left wrist doesn't sound like such a bad thing to general manager Brian Cashman. — The Yankees received that diagnosis yesterday, a day after Hairston left a game against the Angels in obvious pain.
Discussion:
River Avenue Blues
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Tyler Kepner / New York Times:
After a Disappointing First Season, Girardi Adjusts — Joe Girardi's hair is the color of steel, buzzed close to his scalp, suited for the military. The reason is that anything else would look frizzy. But the haircut, it seems, has always informed the narrative.
Discussion:
NY Daily News, River Avenue Blues, The Yankee Universe, The LoHud Yankees Blog, Bats and It's About The Money
David Brown / Yahoo! Sports:
Answer Man: Denard Span talks beaning, OBP, Target and Spam — About 48 hours after getting hit in the head with a pitch against the White Sox on Monday, Minnesota Twins outfielder Denard Span — was still feeling the effects. So what better way to test his mental faculties and ease …
Dan Connolly / Baltimore Sun:
Mora preparing to leave Orioles ‘with my head up’ — Third baseman's career with team likely to end with season; he says he still loves the city — When he joined the Orioles in July 2000, Melvin Mora was one of 14 unfamiliar commodities received in the club's now infamous trade-deadline fire sale …
