Baseball Historians

The New York Yankees rode a great outing from free agent signee A.J. Burnett, who tossed 7 dominant innings, leading them to a 3-1 win over the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies Thursday night in the Bronx. DH Hideki Matusi and 1B Mark Teixeira homered for the Yanks while DH Matt Stairs drove in the [...]

Great, great night for the Philadelphia Phillies all around as Cliff Lee pitched a huge complete game while allowing no earned runs, helping the Phils take game 1 and homefield advantage from the New York Yankees, 6-1 Wednesday night at the New Yankee Stadium . Lee was backed by 2 home runs from superstar 2B [...]

In what has to be a nightmare match-up for Mets fans, the 2009 World series features the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies representing the NL and the other team from NY, the Yankees from the American League. Hatred aside, this has the potential to be a great series and should be very entertaining for fans. [...]

It’s hard to believe it’s been over two weeks since the Tigers collapse.  The playoffs are winding down and baseball is less then two weeks away from being finished.  It looks like, barring something crazy out of the Angels, that we’ll see the Phillies against the Yankees, which will make for an interesting dynamic.  The [...]

During an interview on WFAN NY, SI.com and MLB Network insider Jon Heyman reported that the Mets prefer signing free agent OF Matt Holliday over a trade for Toronto Blue Jays SP Roy Halladay. He also thinks they will target innings eater type starters who avoid injuries(Derek Lowe?) .
According to several news sources, the [...]

The Dodgers now find themselves in a 3-1 hole in the NLCS after the Phillies scored two in ninth to beat the Dodgers 5-4.
Randy Wolf had a decent outing, giving up three runs in 5 1/3. His only real mistake was a two-run homerun to Ryan Howard with two out in the first. He then [...]

Hiroki Kuroda made just four outs before being pulled in the second as the Dodgers took a 0-11 shutout loss to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the NLCS.
Ryan Howard drilled a two-RBI triple in the first for the Phillies’ first runs before Jayson Werth made it 4-0 with a two-run homerun. Kuroda was [...]

The Dodgers followed a 6-8 loss in Game 1 on Thursday with a 2-1 win on Friday before heading to Philly for Games 3, 4, and 5.
Clayton Kershaw couldn’t find his usual groove on Thursday, giving up five runs on four hits before leaving with two outs in the fifth. A three-run homerun by Carlos [...]

SS Jose Reyes had the long rumored surgery on his right hamstring Thursday. The procedure, done at the North Central Surgical Center in Dallas, cleaned scar tissue from a torn hamstring tendon  behind his knee. He expected to be able to resme baseball activities “soon after the new year”, according to the Mets.
Great information from [...]

American League Picks
C- Joe Mauer- Minnesota Twins
1B- Mark Teixeira- New York Yankees
2B- Ben Zobrist- Tampa Bay Rays
SS- Derek Jeter- New York Yankees
3B- Evan Longoria- Tampa Bay Rays
OF- Jason Bay- Boston Red Sox
OF- Bobby Abreu- Los Angeles  Angels
OF- Michael Cuddyer- Minnesota Twins
National League Picks
C- Brian McCann- Atlanta Braves
1B-Albert Pujols- St. Louis Cardinals
2B- Chase Utley- Philadelphia [...]

American League
1B- Mark Teixeira- New York Yankees
2B- Placido Polanco-Detroit Tigers
SS- Erick Aybar- Los Angeles Angels
3B- Chone Figgins- Los Angeles Angels
OF-Jacoby Ellsbury-Boston Red Sox
OF- Torii Hunter- Los Angeles Angels
OF- Jason Bay- Boston Red Sox
C- Gerald Laird- Detroit Tigers
P- Felix Herandez- Seattle Mariners
National League
1B – Todd Helton- Colorado Rockies
2B- Brandon Phillips- Cincinnati Reds
SS- Troy Tulowitzki- Colorado [...]

I will post during what should be a busy off-season for the Mets but for daily news & updates, check out metsblog.com and SI.com.  Later this week, I will announce my own gold glove and silver slugger award winners. Enjoy the 2nd round of the playoffs!!!!

The Dodgers and Phillies will be matched in up in the NLCS for the second year in a row. This time around, the Dodgers will have home field advantage.
During the regular season, the Dodgers went 4-3 against the Phillies, but outscored them by  a slim 26-25. Games 1 and 2 will be Thursday and Friday [...]

The Dodgers finished a three game sweep of the Cardinals on Saturday night to move on to the NLCS, but they are still waiting on the Phillies and Rockies series to see who they’ll play.
Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright had a pitcher’s duel in Thursday’s game, with Kershaw going 6 2/3 and holding the Cardinals [...]

Lots of great information in Jon Heyman’s SI.com baseball columns regarding the Mets. Jon, one of the more respected writers in the game , is a regular on MLB network and Sports radio WFAN. Some hi-lights:
1- The Mets front office prefers Free agent Matt Holliday(St. Louis Cardinals) over Jason Bay(Boston Red Sox) in the battle [...]

Despite leaving 16 men on base, the Dodgers came out with a 5-3 win over the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLDS.
Randy Wolf went 3 2/3 innings and earned the no-decision. He ran into trouble in the first, loading the bases with no outs and a run scored when some miscommunication between Matt Kemp [...]

NL
Rd 1 winners:
National League:
Rockies— Unstable closer situation ends Phillies chance to repeat, an amazing series that goes 5
Cardinals-St. Louis has the better pitching, the best player on the planet and I just want to stop talking about Joe Torre! St. Louis in 4!
American League:
Yankees- Tougher series than most think but the Twins [...]

2009 National League Postseason teams
NL East Champions: Philadelphia Phillies
Good: Devastating team power with an amazing 4 players totaling 30 plus homers… Defending World Series champions…. 3 players with 20+ steals… Great team D… Solid rotation, led by LH Cole Hamels, midseason acquisition Cliff Lee and Rookie of the Year candidate J.A Happ
Bad: 4 players [...]

“Now his failure is complete”
кому отсосать

Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi
So ends the Tigers season.  It was a heck of a game tonight and one that probably would have been more fun if not for the emotional investment.  When the dust settled, the Tigers sat as the losers and now their season [...]

Mets COO Jeff Wilpon used the term “unacceptable” numerous times during his presser Monday. Funny, sounds like his speech after 07 and 08. Did anyone not named Willie Randolph lose their jobs off that? Wilpon created a stir by saying he thinks the 2009 campaign was a “one-year thing”, meaning the year was caused by [...]

Mets have announced the medical plan for SS Jose Reyes this offseason. He will rehab the hamstring tear in right leg while having surgery to remove the scar tissue around the hamstring tendon behind his right knee.  The Mets believe Reyes will be ready for Spring Training. Dallas Cowboys team doctor Dr. Daniel E. Cooper [...]

Mets just announced via  press release they  have kept the following coaches: 3B Coach Razor Shines and Catching instructor Sandy Alomar Jr. However, their roles have yet to be determined. Hitting coach Howard Johnson, Pitching coach Dan Warthen and Bullpen coach Randy Niemann have also  been retained in the same positions for 2010. 1B coach [...]

The Tigers did their job last night, unfortunately, because they didn’t do it the past few days, all they did was force a one game playoff tomorrow against the Twins.  There were some great individual performances but the Tigers almost let this one get away as well.
Let’s start with Justin Verlander.  He won his 19th [...]

The Dodgers found themselves in danger of losing the NL West race as they took a 3-4 loss on Friday, but came back to win two straight and are now set to move on as NL West champs in the NLDS.
Randy Wolf suffered his first loss in two months, though he held the Rockies to [...]

Starter Nelson Figueroa tossed a 4 hitter for his first complete game shutout while LF Angel Pagan went 4 for 4 leading the host New York Mets over the Houston Astros 4-0 Sunday afternoon at Citi-Field in Queens. The win, which allowed NY to sweep the 3 game set, ended the catastrophically disappointing 2009 campaign [...]

Lefty Pat Misch(3-4, 4.48) pitched 5 strong innings and was backed by 2 hits and rbi from 3B Fernando Tatis, leading The host New York Mets(69-92) to a 5-1 victory over the Houston Astros(74-87) in a contest that was delayed almost 2 hours and 20 minutes in the 6th inning.  1B Daniel Murphy and C [...]

Like the Spartans this afternoon, the Tigers are taking the hard way to their first division title since 1987.  Their loss tonight puts them in a tie with the Twins with one to go.  They need a win and then a Twins loss to win the division outright, and it also forces the Tigers to [...]

Starting pitcher John Maine pitched 7 outstanding innings while the Mets backed him with 14 hits, helping New York(68-92) defeat the Houston Astros(74-86) 7-1 Friday night at Citi-Field in Queens. RF Jeff Francoeur and 1B Daniel Murphy had 2 run home runs for NY while 3B David Wright and Francoeur had 3 hits to pace [...]

Not only are the Tigers losing 8-0 to the White Sox, but the Twins are beating the Royals 8-0.  Not a good night so we’ll have to wait for tomorrow.  Maybe we can get a trifecta, with the Tigers winning, the Twins losing and the Spartan trouncing the Wolverines.  I’ll be in E. Lansing tomorrow. [...]

The Tigers started the week with a two game lead and now after four games with their division rival, they still sit two games ahead of the pack.  The good news is, we have a two game lead with three to play instead of a two game lead with seven to play so at the [...]