Top News:
Associated Press:
La Russa's Moves Pay Off, Cards Win Series Opener — ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nobody plays a hunch like Tony La Russa. Not this October, anyway. — The St. Louis manager once again looked like a genius, especially when Allen Craig pinch-hit for ace Chris Carpenter and delivered a go-ahead single …
Discussion:
Associated Press, baseballmusings.com, Yahoo! Sports and HardballTalk
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Associated Press:
Rangers Have Power Outage in World Series Opener — ST. LOUIS (AP) — Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz and the homer-happy Texas Rangers experienced another power outage in the opening game of the World Series. — This time, they hope the juice gets flowing again before it's too late.
Discussion:
Associated Press and TSN.ca
Yahoo! Sports:
Rhodes gets a World Series ring, win or lose — ST. LOUIS - Arthur Rhodes(notes) shakes his head and allows a wry smile. Nearly 20 years of deprivation and all of a sudden he's showered in blessings. Less than a week shy of his 42nd birthday, the left-handed relief pitcher is in his first World Series …
Discussion:
Red Hot Mama
Ben Walker / Globe and Mail:
Cardinals draw first blood — Pinch-hitter Allen Craig singled in the go-ahead run off reliever Alexi Ogando in the sixth inning with a sinking line drive that dropped just in front of right fielder Nelson Cruz, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night in a chilly World Series opener.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
Mike Fitzpatrick / Associated Press:
Rhodes makes World Series debut, Cardinals win 3-2 — After 20 years in the majors and 900 games on the mound, Arthur Rhodes finally got his first chance to pitch in the World Series. — He did his job, too. Brought in to face left-handed slugger Josh Hamilton, Rhodes retired …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Anthony DiComo / MLB.com:
Finally in World Series, Rhodes guaranteed ring
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com, Red Reporter and HardballTalk
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TSN.ca:
Rangers visit Cardinals in opening game of World Series
Discussion:
Amazin' Avenue and The Crawfish Boxes
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
McGwire getting well-deserved credit as hitting coach
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Henry Schulman / San Francisco Giants:
It's time for the World Series designated-hitter and ratings-talk drinking game — Please understand, I am not advocating alcohol abuse. In my drinking game, you take shots of cranberry juice, which is very tasty and extremely good for you. As for you kids, stay in school!
Discussion:
Gaslamp Ball
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Bruce Olson / Reuters:
Occupy St. Louis to show commercial-free World Series
Discussion:
Halos Heaven, BBTF's Baseball Primer … and HardballTalk
Craig Calcaterra / HardballTalk:
Yu Darvish to formally ask to be posted — It's been long suspected that Japan's best pitcher — Yu Darvish — would be posted by his NPB team this winter, thereby allowing Major League teams to bid on him. Kyodo News in Japan has now confirmed through several sources that, yes …
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball and Patrick Flood
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host.madison.com:
RSS Local Selig to retire to Madison to write memoirs on UW campus — IMAGE (8) — As the World Series begins, the most powerful man in baseball readies a nest in Madison for retirement. It contains bubble gum, pretzels, a basket of baseballs and a cable connection to Major League Baseball's TV channel.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Sports Illustrated:
Six pressing Rangers-Cardinals questions … ST. LOUIS — It's not the Yankees, it's not the Phillies and it certainly isn't the Red Sox here in the World Series. FOX will fret. And MLB has to worry. But of course, the Rangers and Cardinals know they deserve to be here, and they figure they're going to put on a pretty good show.
Discussion:
Bronx Baseball Daily
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Baseball America:
2011 Draft Report Card Chat With Jim Callis and John Manuel — Moderator: Jim Callis and John Manuel will answer your draft questions as well as other baseball questions beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET. — Jim Callis: Hi, everyone. I wrote the NL Draft Report Cards (minus Houston) and also did Boston in the AL.
ESPN:
Molina's late HR powers Cards into World Series — NEW YORK — The first long drive to left field wound up in the webbing of Endy Chavez's glove as he crashed against the wall. — The second one sailed clear over his head. — And that's what sent Yadier Molina and the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series.
David Laurila / FanGraphs Baseball:
Q&A: Kelly Johnson, Sabermetrically Savvy FA — Kelly Johnson may or may not be a Toronto Blue Jay next season, but wherever he ends up, he promises to have a better year with the bat — regardless of how many times he strikes out. The free-agent-to-be second baseman hit a respectable .270/.364/.417 …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com and THE BOOK
ESPN:
Gooden missed Mets' 1986 parade to do drugs — While his 1986 New York Mets teammates basked in the glory of millions during a ticker tape parade to celebrate their World Series title, Dwight Gooden sat in a drug dealer's apartment, too high and paranoid to join them.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports and New Jersey Online
Andrew Marchand / ESPN:
Notes: Scouting meetings, Kuroda & Soriano — Here are a few notes that have come up in the phone calls we have made the past few days. — * The Yankees will begin their scouting meetings on Wednesday. They are scheduled to go three days. When asked what they are like …
Discussion:
River Avenue Blues, Bronx Baseball Daily, HardballTalk and Yankees Fans Unite
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
A few thoughts on the clubhouse — The Red Sox played just shy of 1,500 innings this season spread out over 181 days. In an ideal world, all 25 players would pay rapt attention to all 1,500 of those innings and be at their best all 181 days. But that's not the case for any team.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and SawxBlog
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