Top News:
Rebecca / This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes:
It's all about the leverage (or why Mariano should have pitched the 7th) — Leverage is a funny word. A loaded word, if you will. — For one thing, it's more or less responsible for the financial collapse of America. — In baseball parlance, leverage refers to an on-field situation …
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Dan Rosenheck / Bats:
Scioscia Will Need a Quick Hook in Game 6 — After rallying for three runs in the seventh inning against the apparently mortal Phil Hughes and holding on by a thread in the ninth, the Angels will head back to New York for Game 6. The Yankees will start Andy Pettitte, a reliable veteran …
Joseph Pawlikowski / River Avenue Blues:
If a closer is a team's best reliever, then why isn't he used in the highest leverage situations? — If you're still in the mood to think about baseball and haven't read Rebecca's article on leverage, I'd suggest you give it a look. She makes the case that we've been making here forever.
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Bottom9 Baseball
NY Daily News:
Harper: Yankee failure starts with A.J. — ANAHEIM - A.J. Burnett was at his dazzling best Thursday night as long as he was losing by four runs. When it really mattered, however, he didn't look at all like the guy the Yankees saw as a big-game pitcher when they gambled $82.5 million on him last winter.
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Jim Caple / ESPN:
Yankees miss chance to close out series — A two-run lead with nine outs to go wasn't enough as Angels rally to force a Game 6 … ANAHEIM, Calif. — Stacks of unopened champagne bottles and a growling media waited for the Yankees outside their clubhouse following Game 5.
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New York Times
Tom Verducci / Sports Illustrated:Tom Verducci: ALCS Game 6 is critical for Yankees' World Series rotation
Discussion:
Sliding Into Home
Bridget Wentworth / New Jersey Online:NY Yankees can't afford to give struggling Nick Swisher another at-bat
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ESPN, It's About The Money, The Pinstriper, The Bronx View Yankees Podcast … and Deadspin
Melissa Segura / Sports Illustrated:
Padres to hire Hoyer as GM … The San Diego Padres will name Jed Hoyer as their new general manager later today, a front office source tells SI.com. — Hoyer, 35, most recently served as the Boston Red Sox's senior vice president and assistant general manager.
Mark Bowman / MLB.com:
Hudson, Braves talking about extension — Right-hander optimistic that he can stay in Atlanta — ATLANTA — Tim Hudson and the Braves have started negotiating the contract extension that could enable the right-hander the opportunity to continue pitching in Atlanta.
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Dodgers outline offseason needs — Colletti, Torre list starting pitching depth, second baseman — LOS ANGELES — Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti and manager Joe Torre got an early start on the managing of offseason expectations Friday when they said an acquisition of an ace starting pitcher is unlikely.
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MLB Rumors
Adam McCalvy / MLB.com:
Sheets planning big return in 2010 — Former Brewers righty has high school number retired — MILWAUKEE — Former Brewers right-hander Ben Sheets returned to his Louisiana high school last week and saw his No. 15 uniform retired. Sheets intends to be wearing it again in 2010.
David Brown / Yahoo! Sports:
Giddy Halos fan takes a dive into the waterfall at Angel Stadium — Why is this guy all wet? Not because Angel Stadium has a pool. No, he's dripping with “holy” water because he went for a frolic in the ballpark's rocky waterfall. — Because an Angels' four-run lead over the Yankees …
Jose De Jesus Ortiz / Houston Chronicle:
Astros close to making decision on manager — As owner Drayton McLane heads into the weekend, Phil Garner, Manny Acta and Brad Mills remain the lone finalists to replace Cecil Cooper, and the Astros' owner expects to have a decision by early next week. — “We're just trying to think through this,” McLane said.
Tony Massarotti / Boston Globe:
All about the money — The most promising aspect, going forward, is that the Red Sox have money to spend again. And even if the Red Sox elect to spend it all this winter, the even better news is that they project to have just as much financial flexibility during the winter of 2010.
Chico Harlan / Nationals Journal:
Strasburg hit hard in second AFL start — Stephen Strasburg, making his second professional experience, dealt for the first time in years with the experience of getting rocked. In Thursday's Arizona Fall League game between Strasburg's Phoenix Desert Dogs and Phoenix Javelinas …
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