The Yankees had their money men on the field tonight and the money men did what is expected: Win the big game.

The Yankees would have been in serious trouble if they had lost tonight's game after losing last night to Wakefield and the Red Sox. Going back to Boston for three games starting with Pedro and being down 2-0 in the series would have been a real hole. But the money men came through.

Money men could speak of the millions that Pettitte, Williams, Jeter, Giambi, Contreras and Rivera are making. But money men in this context means the horses that give you a win when a win is critical. Pettitte has always been especially miraculous when the Yankees are behind the eight ball. That distinction goes all the way back to the Braves series of 1996 when the Yankees were down three games to one and Pettitte beat the Braves' ace to prolong the series that the Yankees eventually won.

Tonight, Pettitte gutted out the first two innings when he only gave up one run on six hits. Once through those innings, and thanks to a Nick Johnson homer, Pettitte got into a grove and coasted to the seventh.

Money men also includes Bernie Williams who always seems to get a big RBI when the Yankees need one. His single to drive in Jeter gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead which was psychologically much more comfortable than a 2-1 lead. Williams and Jeter always find a way to get it done.

Money men meant Jose Contreras who pitched the Yankees out of a jam in the seventh by inducing Nomar Garciaparra to pop up with runners in scoring position. Contreras knows what it is to pitch in big games as he brought Cuba victory all those years in amateur baseball. He was nearly unhittable tonight and really for the second night in a row.

And of course, money men is personified in Mariano Rivera, who does indeed look like he is back in the late 90's and unhittable. His rediscovery of the strikeout high in the zone after getting ahead of batters resulted in two strikeouts in the last inning.


So now the series goes back to Boston. No matter how much a Fan I am of Roger Clemens, the advantage goes to Pedro Martinez in their head to head matchup. The Red Sox will need to get Roger to throw strikes and elevate his pitch count to get Clemens in trouble by the fifth or sixth inning.

Boston hits Clemens well, especially Trot Nixon, who has nailed Clemens on a couple of occasions, most notably in the famous Clemens-Pedro matchup a couple of years ago when the two pitched nine scoreless innings each only to see Trot Nixon hit the game winning homer in the top of the tenth off of Roger.

The Cubs jumped all over Brad (bad) Penny, Nate Bump (and runs) and Rick Helling tonight to score twelve runs and Mark Prior pitched well enough on an empty tank to even the NLCS at one game a piece. The series is now a five game series with three of those games featuring Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. The Marlins are in good shape and bad shape all at the same time.

An extended series works in the favor of the Cubs who have home field advantage and two dominant pitchers. The Diamondbacks showed two years ago how two dominant pitchers can win you a series. The Marlins have to have that cold chill when considering the situation. Yet, at the same time, every road team hopes to split the games in the other team's ballpark.

Another concern for the Marlins is the sudden offensive juggernaut of the Cubs offense. The Cubs only averaged four runs a game all year. The first two games featured twenty runs scored for the Cubbies. A Florida pitcher has to plug the dyke and give the Florida pitching staff some confidence.

And one more concern for the Marlins--as if I haven't pointed out enough already--is that Sammy Sosa has awoken from his slumber and has hit two homers in two days. His 495 shot to centerfield tonight sealed the game and electrified the fans and his teammates. Sosa will feed off of that and should stay hot the rest of the series.


Meanwhile, the Red Sox took it to the Yankees tonight in the first game of their series. Wakefield danced through six innings and the Yankees managed only three hits the whole night. Their offensive effort was reminiscent of their first game against the Twins. The offense seemed okay after that, but time will tell in this series.

To have someone other than Martinez or Lowe win a game had to be a big lift to the Bosox. They also got a lift by some great relief pitching.

On the other side of the field, the Yankees have to be concerned about Mussina's second bad performance in the post season. Mussina's post season ERA is 4.97. Not good.

Today inched forward the hopes of all who dreamed about a Cubs/Red Sox World Series.

Mike Lowell is a pretty good insurance policy sitting on your bench. Having the Marlins leading homerun hitter available for extra inning pinch hitting duty is like trumping an ace with your Rook card. His homer in the top of the eleventh has put the Marlins on top of what has been an extremely good game.

Sammy Sosa put the game into extra innings with a monster, two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. But neither team could score until the eleventh when Lowell came up against Antonio Alfonseca. The Marlins may not be done as they have runners on first and second with one out.

The Marlins had to feel good to see Antonio Alfonseca on the mound. After all, Alfonseca gave up 117 baserunners in 66.1 innings of pitching this year. You would almost need all six of his fingers on one of his hands to represent his ERA. In other words, running Antonio Alfonseca out there is like throwing up the white flag. Now it's bases loaded with one out. Ugh! He's awful. A line drive...caught! Double-play! Cubs fans are thankful for atom balls.


While I wait for the bottom of the eleventh, I'll tackle the Red Sox/Yankee series:
In the Yankee's favor:
- More rested.
- Their starters are in place and not overworked.
- Relief pitching is rested.
- They have had very timely hitting and look like they are brimming with quiet confidence.

In the Red Sox' favor:
- More of an emotional team that is tight as a unit.
- Two great pitchers that can win at least three games in the series.
- The best hitting in baseball with no fear of the Yankee starters.

I really don't know how this series will play out. I do know the fans in both parks will be rocking the house.

The Florida Marlins have won game one. This is going to be a great series.

Oh man! The Fan is near hyperventilation. Those Red Sox never do it the easy way. First they are down to the A's 1-0 and Zito looks absolutely unhittable. Then Varitek hits a homer to tie the game. Manny Ramirez then hits a three run homer for his first RBI of the series. The Red Sox squander several more rallies and the A's close it to 4-3. Now it's the last of the ninth and the Red Sox Nation have to deal with Scott Williamson closing the game. Scott Williamson??

Williamson hadn't saved a game for the Red Sox all year. Williamson has only 54 saves in his career. Williamson's ERA for the Red Sox was 6.20. And he's closing the game? So the Red Sox Nation starts sweating. Williamson's first three pitches aren't close--all high. After a strike, he walks the first batter of the inning. "Okay," says the Nation, "Here we go."

Williamson then looks worse on the second batter and now it's first and second and no outs. Grady Little then does the smartest thing he's done all year. He brought in Derek Lowe. Three years ago, Lowe saved over forty games for the Sox. Since then, Lowe's won 38 starts in his two years as a starter. "Okay," says the Nation, "That's better." Was it ever!

But it wasn't easy. Lowe's first batter bunted and got the runners over. Now it's second and third with one out. Yeesh. Do you walk the next guy? Nope. Pitch to him with the infield in. Oh no! Thoughts of Luis Gonzalez come to mind with the Yankee infield drawn in. Bloop. Series over. "Okay," says Red Sox Nation, "Here comes the heartbreak."

But the heartbreak didn't come for the Red Sox. On a 2-2 count, Lowe threw a Greg Maddux type fastball that crashed into the inside corner. Two outs. But it still doesn't come easy as Lowe walked the next batter. Bases loaded, two out. "Okay," says Red Sox Nation, "I'm still hoping but I know I'm going to get crushed again."

Lowe didn't fool around with Terrence Long. First pitch strike. Second pitch ball down low. Third pitch fouled off. Fourth pitch...another Maddux-like inside corner job and the game is over. "Okay," says Red Sox Nation, "It really happened."

You can't take away from the Red Sox what they accomplished. To be two games down and facing elimination for three straight games, and then to win three is remarkable. But just as remarkable is the Oakland streak of the last four post seasons. This loss was their ninth straight loss when trying to close out a post season series. The Red Sox Nation can no longer feel the most abused. Neither can the Cubs fans. The Oakland fans have to be the most disheartened of them all.

So now the Red Sox will travel to New York for the series everyone wanted. The Red Sox against the Yankees. And it doesn't matter what happens. The Red Sox have an a fairy tale season and have been more fun to watch than any team of them all.

"Okay," says the Red Sox Nation, "I bet we lose to the Yankees."

With the exception of the Yankees' workman-like dissection of the Twins, the division playoff series has been as exciting and unpredictable as the regular season. As stated many times before, unless you are a Braves, Giants or Twins fan, this has been the best season ever.

What a day! It started with an exciting come from behind win from the Red Sox to tie their series with Oakland after being down two games to none. The A's were five outs from moving on to the next series. But first David Ortiz, who was oh for the series, got his latest big hit of the season to put the Sox ahead. Scott Williamson held the lead and now they head back to Oakland and the pressure is all on the A's.

The series will boil down to Barry Zito against Pedro Martinez. You can't get a better pitching matchup than that.

Following the Red Sox win was the final board on the Twins' coffin as they had no chance against David Wells and the Yankees. A year ago, the Yankee starters had an ERA over ten in a disastrous series against eventual Series winner, Anaheim Angels. This year, Mussina was fine with a 3-1 loss. Pettitte was remarkable in the second game. Clemens was not to be denied in game three and Wells gave up only one run in the clincher.

If the Yankees continue to pitch like that, there is no chance for any of their opponents--especially when you add in four unhittable innings from Mariano Rivera. I continue to believe that the Yankees match up better against Boston than they do Oakland. But Boston has proved that good pitching will stop Oakland and now that Hudson is hurt to go along with Mulder, Oakland's situation gets grimmer.

And then tonight, in one of the most remarkable achievements of the year, the Chicago Cubs beat the dominant Braves to again send the Braves home early in the post-season. It's unthinkable to believe that this has happened. A year ago, the Cubs lost 95 games. They had not won a post season series since 1908. And here they go out and beat the highly favored Atlanta Braves. Amazing.

Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have arrived as the most dominant duo in baseball. It's almost guaranteed that they will win two games in every series the Cubs play for the rest of the year. Wood was unhittable on only three days rest to win his second game of the series.

The Cubs won! Can you believe it!? A Cubs/Marlins NLCS! You can't beat that for fun to think about.

It really is a shame that the unbelievable run of the Braves will always be remembered for their post-season failures. This has been a team for the ages but they just couldn't seem to get it done in the playoffs. There will always be two statements concerning the team: "They won their division twelve years in a row." And: "They only won the World Championship once." I predict that this was their last hurrah and they don't even make the playoffs next year.

And now we wait for the Red Sox and Oakland Athletics to see who will complete the winning foursome that continues on to the quest for the World Championship.

I distinctly remember when Ivan Rodriguez signed with the Florida Marlins. His signing seemed odd at the time and my feeling was that it was strange that Rodriguez didn't sign for a contender. Perhaps Rodriguez was more prophetic than any of us were.

Today, Rodriguez drove in all four runs of an eleven inning marathon that featured a comeback rally from a run down after the Giants scored a run in the top of the eleventh. Rodriguez base hit was even more clutch than normal.

The Marlins had loaded the bases with one out and Luis Castillo at the plate. Castillo is one of the best hitters in baseball at putting the ball in play and there was a great chance that he could drive in at least a run with a fly ball to tie the game. True to form, Castillo sent a bullet on the ground right up the middle. Tim Worrell had fallen off to the third base side of the mound but made an unbelievable leap back to stab the ball and get Conine at the plate.

A play like that could deflate a lot of teams and a lot of batter. But not Rodriguez. He lined a single to right and just like that, the Marlins have the Giants on the ropes and need only to win one more game to go on to the NLCS.


One observation made before this series was that, except for Bonds, this Giant club was not a good hitting club. That observation proved true today as the Giants could not plate a run for six straight innings that they had a runner in scoring position. Their total of eighteen runners left on base in the game set a new record.


It is inconcievable that Jose Cruz dropped a routine fly ball to start the Marlins rally. His drop gave fodder to all little league coaches in the world to insist that all pop ups be caught with two hands. Cruz is a very good fielder and for that to happen in such a big game is mystifying.

Yesterday, the Fan questioned Dusty Baker's choices that delivered the game to the Braves. Last night, Grady Little, who has faced over-managing charges here before, made a major mistake of lifting Byung-Hyun Kim with two out in the ninth inning with the Red Sox holding on to a slim one run lead. The decision to bring in Alan Embree led to a single to tie the game and ultimately to an extra inning loss. So instead of the series heading back to Boston with the Red Sox tied in the series 1-1, they go back with down in a bad hole 2-0.

Granted, Kim, as he is prone to do, inexplicably hit a batter and then walked the next batter. What matchup would you rather have: Kim, you're closer with two outs or journeyman, Alan Embree, with his 4.55 ERA? Kim is erratic, especially with left-handed batters. But I would have rather taken my chances with him than Embree.

In either case, whether you make Embree the goat, the manager or Kim, the Red Sox lost a major opportunity to set the tone for the series. Instead, they need a miracle. And it's really too bad as the Red Sox are the feel good team of the year and really had a shot at beating this team. Well...miracles have happened before.


It seemed early in the second game of the Yankees/Twins series that the Yankees were playing extremely tight. The faces of Nick Johnson and Aaron Boone. But leave it to Alfonso Soriano, who doesn't have a tight bone in his body to put the Yankees on top for good with a big hit. Several weird happenings later, the Yankees were up 4-1 and went on to tie the series one game a piece.

Clearly, the post game experience of Andy Pettitte came through tonight as he had a tremendous game and Mariano Rivera looked like the post-season Rivera of old and was unhittable. The win was huge for the Yankees to stay in the series. But the now travel to the dangerous baggy dome for two games and the Yankees must win one game there thanks to their opening loss to the Twins Tuesday night.

Clemens finished the season very strong and will go for another post-season win at the dome. The Twins play with a lot of confidence there and have a great chance to take the series if they get two good pitching performances.


For the record, the Fan is not a favor of the opening playoff series being only five games. Five games gives a great team like the Red Sox only one game to play with when they are down two games to none. A longer series allows more time for each team to show their true character, their strengths and weaknesses. A five game series means that one team can win on a fluke.

There is much to be said for a short series if it stays close and goes back and forth. That is the case for three out of the four series. It is the series when one team takes the first two that makes it nearly impossible to for the team that is down to get anything accomplished. A team like the Oakland A's, with three former Cy Young award winners are not going to lose three games in a row.

I still don't believe that either the Twins or the Yankees can beat the A's. Only Boston had the kind of team to do it. But miracles don't happen that often.

It's amazing how many times good managers over-manage in tight games. The Fan has pointed out several times during the season when Joe Torre cost the Yankees a game with poor choices. Tonight was Dusty Baker's turn to lose the game for the Cubs who had a solid opportunity to put the Braves on the ropes.

Baker's first mistake was to bring in one of his least effective relievers (Veres) into a tie game. Veres got old man, Julio Franco to ground out and then got to 0-2 on Castillo. Veres did not trust his stuff and went from 0-2 to walking Castillo. That brought Smoltz up and he was able to get the sacrifice bunt down with two strikes. Here is where Baker made his second mistake.

Rafael Furcal was the batter and Baker decided to walk Furcal to get to Mark DeRosa. Why would you put an extra runner on base in a tie game? I can see it if Sheffield was up, but not Furcal. After making the mistake of pitching Veres in the first place, Baker elected to walk Furcal instead of the obvious move of bringing in a lefty to pitch to Furcal.

Sure, Furcal is a switch hitter, but he is much less effective batting right handed. Pitch to Furcal and you have a good chance of getting him out with Remlinger. And then unbelievably, Baker left Veres in the game to pitch to DeRosa. DeRosa is not a good hitter and you are better off bringing in someone with good stuff and not the junk of Veres which gives a poor hitter plenty of time to get the hit. Of course, he got the hit and the game is over.

If you can get out of that inning still tied, then Smoltz is only going to pitch one more inning and then you can get into the soft side of the Atlanta bullpen. Bad managing loses ball games.

And how many times do you see a walk lead to a run. Hey, if you are beat by a strike, tip your cap. But if you are beat by not even having a chance to get the guy out, bend over, because it's going to kick you in the cabuckus.


But how about those Marlins! They were down in their game 4-1 and facing a 2-0 series deficit against the previous National League champs. But the Marlins came back and pulled away for a 9-5 victory.

Now the series goes back to Florida with Redmon pitching and it's the Giants who are in trouble. Jack McKean is a brilliant game manager. I've watched him all year and he manages a game better than anyone in baseball.


The Red Sox have a 1-0 lead early against Oakland. Pedro is pitching for the Red Sox. Game over? Could be.

It's amazing how much more tension is involved in a playoff game. The Fan has watched thousands of baseball games over the course of forty years, but there is something about a playoff game that makes the stomach tight and breathing shallow. Right now the Braves are threatening with the bases loaded and the Cubs up 4-1. Oops...make that 4-2 as the Braves scored on a ground out where the umpire blew the call at first base, costing the Cubs a run.

Now there is no surprise there. Bruce Froeming, umpiring behind home plate, has called at least 15 pitches off the plate by inches as strikes. It's so disheartening that we can't even get good umpiring in the playoffs.

It's been a tense day as this is the third playoff game today. The Giants won a nail-biter against the Marlins who couldn't get close to a run against the Giants' ace.

Earlier, the Twins beat the Yankees 3-1 as the Yankees couldn't score off of three Twins pitchers.

It's going to be a wild ride, baseball fans. So hold on to your seats.

Ack! Bases loaded for the Braves again. Looks like they will probably pull it out. We'll know in a minute...

The regular season just ended and that usually means a rash of managers get fired. The first two casualties happened today. The Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles fired their managers. The Fan expected one of those decisions but not the other.

There was an obvious flaw in the makeup of the Chicago White Sox. Their sub-standard play early and the way the team tanked at the end showed a fundamental lack of character. Ultimately, Jerry Manual was the fall guy for that lack of character. It's difficult to say if that blame is placed in the correct pigeon hole. The manager is ultimately responsible for the outcome and the White Sox had some of the best talent in the league and couldn't get it done.

The question remains if anyone could have motivated that team and unless the makeup of the team is changed, the same problems may exist next year as well. The easy finger to point is toward Frank Thomas. David Wells caught a lot of flack two years ago when he pointed fingers at Thomas when it was later determined that Thomas had a serious injury.

Let's concede that Wells opens his mouth far too often. But the man has been on championship teams. Wells might have picked the wrong time to point fingers at Thomas, but his overall assessment may have been correct too. And what Wells said has been rumored before. There is no way to definitively say that Thomas is the problem in Chicago, but he may be one. He is certainly not the only one.

Bertolo Colon has the best stuff of any starting pitcher in the American League. Yet he only 15-13 this year with an ERA of 3.87. While I cringe at pointing this out, the pitcher is definitely overweight and seems to be able to turn it on or off at will. Colon has Roger Clemens stuff but not Clemens' heart.

Any regular reader here will already know the Fan's opinion of Carl Everett so we won't bother to tread that water again, but what is the true story behind Roberto Alomar? For nine out of ten years between 1992 and 2001, Alomar batted over .300. He batted .266 for the Mets last year and started at .262 this year for the Mets and finished at .253 for the White Sox.

But his batting isn't the only story. Playing second base, Alomar always had over 425 assists a year. Last year he had 349 and this year, 342 so he clearly isn't getting to as many balls. Has Alomar's skills eroded that much at 35 years of age, or has the fire gone out of his baseball heart?

These facts indicate that whomever succeeds Manual will inherit the same kinds of problems that Manual faced himself. Good luck!


What is more surprising is the firing of Mike Hargrove. The manager who was known as the "human rain delay" when he was a player seemed a good fit in Baltimore. The Orioles were at rock bottom when Hargrove started and the entire organization needed to be rebuilt. That is happening now but how can you blame the results of a bad organization on the manager who had to endure the results?

And what is sad is that the Orioles seemed to make strides this year. Usually when a manager gets the axe, his coaching staff will too and the batting methods instituted in Baltimore have made great strides. It's a shame that those strides may be sacrificed in what is probably a cost cutting move.

I agree with Hargrove when he said today: "There's no doubt in my mind the job we did this year was a good job,'' Hargrove said. "I think we were able to lay a foundation of winning players with winning attitudes.'' http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-orioles-hargrovefired&prov=ap&type=lgns

The Orioles finished tenth in the majors in batting and eighth in base hits. If Mora and Surhoff hadn't been hurt and Conine traded, this would have continued to be a pesky and difficult team to play. Hargrove did a good job with this club.


So who will replace these managers? Cito Gaston should be considered for one of the positions. How could a man who won back to back World Series still be unemployed?


The Red Sox match up better against the Oakland A's than any team in the American League because their strong right-hand batters offset the A's lefty starters. Every other team has strong lefty batters that can be negated by the A's big lefties. The Red Sox have a good shot at beating Oakland whose team batting is still very suspect. Red Sox take the series 3-1. Nomar Garciaparra wins MVP.

I don't see the Yankees losing to the Twins. The Yankees have always hit Radke well and I'll take Messina, Clemens and Pettitte against the Twins starting three. The Yankees play small ball as well as the Twins so the crazy turf won't be as much an advantage as it would have been against the White Sox. The Yankees in a sweep 3-0. Mariano Rivera wins MVP.

The Florida Marlins have a decent shot at defeating the Giants. The Giants do not have much hitting besides Bonds and the Marlins have the arms to shut the Giants down in a short series. I pick the Marlins in an upset 3-2. Miguel Cabrera wins MVP.

It's too bad the Cubs drew the Braves in the first series. Of all the teams in the NL playoffs, the Cubs probably match up worse than the others against the Braves. However, if the Cubs fireballers can get and stay hot, they can carry the series, but that's a big if. The Braves' pitching isn't what it once was, but they should still win the series, 3 games to 1. Giles will be the MVP.

Let us share a quiet moment as we put to rest one of the most exciting regular seasons in MLB history. We had great pennant races. We had record breaking performances. We had milestones reached. And we had it all available to us on television, internet and highlight shows. It was a great ride but it's not over yet. Now we look forward to what hopefully will be memory-making post season games that eventually lead to the big show itself. It's been fun MLB. Thanks for a labor free season. Now find a home for the Expos and give us umpiring befitting professional baseball and we'll be good.

The Fan wants to take a final look at his favorite boxscore players and what kind of seasons they put together:
- Nick Johnson. Johnson is the most important cog in the Yankee lineup. The Yankees were hot early, cooled off when he was injured, and then revived when he returned. He ended the season 0 for 13 and finished the season at his lowest season average of .284. But that isn't the story. The story is his 70 walks in only 95 games to give him an OBP of .422. Because of that, he scored sixty runs in those 95 games. When you have someone who can get on base like that from the second spot in the lineup, it makes all the other hitters better. His 14 homers and 47 RBI helped too.

- Rocco Baldelli. Baldelli finished the season with a .308 average his last seven games. His final season average of .289 was remarkably consistent. He had 185 hits of which 51 were for extra bases. Baldelli scored 89 runs and drove in 78. He also had 27 stolen bases. Baldelli will only get better as he learns to hit for more power and to be more selective at the plate. If he can improve on his paltry 30 walks, he will be as superstar. I rate him third in rookie of the year standings behind Matsui and Teixeira.

- Coco Crisp. Coco wilted at the end of the year as he went hitless in seven of his last ten games. But his first year in the majors showed enough promise to see what will happen. Crisp managed 414 at bats in just 98 games and batted .264. He scored 55 runs while only making one error in the outfield all season. It will be interesting to see where Crisp fits in the Indians' plans next year. You have to love the name.

- Hank Blalock. Blalock also faded at the end but still ended his second season (first as a starter) with a solid .300 average. His OBP was .350 and his slugging percentage was .522. All good numbers. Blalock had 65 extra base hits including 29 homers and drove in 90 runs. Blalock is going to be a star for a long time. He needs to cut down on his strikeouts and find a permanent slot in the lineup. I love his manager, but the man makes too many lineup changes.

- Mark Teixeira. Teixeira finished strong and in many ways, found more favorable lineup spots at the end of the season than Blalock. The Fan's Rookie of the Year finished with 26 homers and 84 RBI. He only batted .259 but his OBP was .331. This is going to be a star for years to come.

- Michael Young. The Texas Rangers' leadoff batter had a very good year. With 204 hits and 106 runs scored to go along with his 56 extra base hits and 72 RBI, Young really arrived as a player. He also had a great year in the field, making only 10 errors. Young will also be a superstar if he gets more patient at the plate and improves his 36 walks in 700 plate appearances. He can be a batting champion if he can do so.

The previous three boxscore players will form a great nucleus for the Rangers along with A-Rod and I believe this team will be a contender. My only question is why you would let Rafael Palmeiro go? He got his homers and drove in over 100 runs again. Why would you let him walk? Okay, let's continue:

- Miguel Cabrera. The twenty year old had a big impact in his first major league season as 36 of his 84 hits were for extra bases. His 62 RBI in 86 games were huge for the Marlins in their playoff run. He also had a great first year in the field as he made only three errors in left field, a foreign position for him and only one error in 32 games at third base. This kid is going to be a big star.

- Jose Reyes. Reyes unfortunately got hurt in his debut season, but the other twenty year old in the majors finished with a .307 average with 13 stolen bases. Reyes scored 47 runs in his 69 games and drove in 32. His fielding was acceptable and this is another future star.

- Pat Burrell. Oh well. Burrell never did put it together although his last twenty games were passable. At least he ended above the dreaded Mendoza Line. His final average of .209 is embarrassing. He did walk quite a bit and at least his OBP was over .300. The other positive is that 56 of his 109 hits were for extra bases. Hopefully Bowa will be fired and Burrell can get a coach that can figure out how to put him back on the star track he was on last year.

- Scott Podsednik. Podsednik became a late season favorite and became only the fourth rookie in MLB history to hit .300 (.314), steal 40 bases (43) and score a hundred runs (100 even). He also had a very respectable .379 OBP as a leadoff batter. This is another future star who has already arrived. My man, Dontrelle Willis and even Brandon Webb had great seasons, but Podsednik has to be the Rookie of the Year.

- Sean Burroughs. Burroughs had a solid, if unspectacular second season. He batted .286 with a .352 OBP. He has to improve his pop as his percentage of hits to extra base hits is not impressive. But you just get the feeling that he will get better and better.

They were fun to watch and there were many others like Sosa, Jeter, Sexson, Bonds, and many, many others who make following the boxscores such a joy. It was a great season and this post-season will be terrific too. The Fan's post-season analysis will be featured in tomorrow's post. See you then.

It was as good a day in MLB as a day can get in the regular season. Of course, Astros fans will disagree and who can blame them. But the Cubs won the pennant and Roger Clemens pitched his last regular season game and won his 310th game of his historic career. There is one more day in the regular season, but everything is settled now so let's reflect on the Cubs and Roger Clemens.

Let's start with the Cubs. The Cubs lost a lot of ballgames last year. If they didn't lose a hundred, they came close to it. And this year, they were in a dead heat with the Astros with three games to play. But the Cubs couldn't play the first of those three because of a rain out (boy, weren't the Cub fans happy about that!). If you have followed baseball as long as I have, you would know how hard it is to win two games of a double-header. But that's just what the Cubs did.

The Astros didn't have their best pitchers available for the games that were on the line (that's hard to figure) and lost two games to the pesky Brewers and it's over. The Cubs win the pennant. Somewhere, Harry Carey and Leo Durocher are smiling.

Sammy Sosa hit his fortieth homer in the second game. That gives both him and A-Rod six straight forty homer seasons. Of course, Sammy's included three years in the sixties! Sosa has played fourteen years now and has 1450 RBI. The 103 per season would be impressive enough, but Sammy has packed that into ten years as he wasn't a starter in four of his first five seasons. Consider Sosa's run of RBI from 1998 to 2001: 158, 141, 138 and 160. And now he's off to the playoffs. Good luck Cubs!


Roger Clemens pitched his last regular season game today and pitched six strong innings with only a run given up. The win gave the 41 year old 17 for the season (!) and 310 as his final career tally. The reaction he got from Yankee Stadium upon leaving the game was very touching and in a class act, Mike Hargrove and the entire Orioles bench were standing and clapping too.

I have tried in the past to put Clemens' career in perspective and here are some more numbers that may help. In MLB, a quality start is considered six or more innings and three or less runs. Clemens CAREER was a quality start as he averaged 7.01 innings per game and three runs a game.

Roger Clemens pitched thirteen seasons with more than 200 innings. Only eight of those seasons featured Clemens giving up more than 200 hits. In 18 years, Clemens never gave up more than a hundred earned runs in a season. In 18 seasons, Clemens only needed to intentionally walk 52 batters. Think about that one for a while.

Roger Clemens struck out more than three times as many batters as he walked in his career. And he averaged 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings lifetime. He had fifteen seasons where his winning percentage was over .600 and five where it was over .700 (two over .800!).

Roger Clemens was one of the best pitchers of all time. He isn't quite done yet. He has to win some playoff games before he quits.


Javy Lopez, the catcher for the Braves set a new Major League record for homers by a catcher when he hit is forty-second of the year today. He broke the record set by Randy Hundley. Forty-two homers for a catcher is unbelievable. What a great season.


Here are the Fan's post-season awards for the 2003 season:
- AL Cy Young - easy. Roy Halliday. Estaban Loiza had a terrific year, but he lost four in a row down the stretch when the White Sox needed the wins for the pennant drive. Andy Pettitte had a nice year but his ERA is too high for the award.

- NL Cy Young - also easy. Eric Gagne. I don't like the award to go to relief pitchers, but the man has been totally amazing.

- AL MVP - I have to go with David Ortiz. A-Rod and Delgado were the players of the year, but Ortiz win a lot of big games for the Red Sox and I can't see them where they are without him.

- NL MVP - Javy Lopez. His game calling and bat made a so-so Braves team special.

- AL Rookie of the Year - Mark Teixeira. Teixeira started slow but had a great second half with a lot of homers and RBI.

- NL Rookie of the Year - Mark Podsednik. The Brewers leadoff man stole the award from others (Webb, Willis).

- AL Manager of the Year - Everyone will say Tony Pena. But the Royals didn't get there. The Twins did and Rod Gardenshire gets my vote.

- NL Manager of the Year - Jack McKean. The Marlins were flipping in shallow water until McKean came along and finally got that "potential" word off of the young pitchers heads.

Before we get to the important stuff, the Fan has to get something off his chest. I have watched a ton of games this year and even more highlights. The lack of basic fundamentals in MLB is alarming. The players are the most talented, strongest, best conditioned athletes in the games history. Just don't ask one of them to bunt.

The latest manifestation of the degradation (two long words in one sentence!) of fundamentals (three) occurred in the second game of a Yankee double-header. I know that the Yankees have already clinched the division, but there is still the matter of home field advantage for having the best record. Here is what happened:

After winning the first game by a wide margin, giving Andy Pettitte his twenty-first win, the Yankees were in a nail-biter in the second game. Rookie pitcher, Jorge De Paula pitched no-hit ball for the first six innings of his first major league start. A single in the seventh off De Paula's glove cost him the no-hitter in the seventh. The suddenly lost Jeff Nelson then cost him the win with shoddy relief. The Yankees found themselves tied 2-2 as they batted in the bottom of the ninth.

Bernie Williams began the inning with a double. Rookie, Fernando Seguignol, then hit a little dribbler that couldn't be handled and it was first and second with no outs. All Karim Garcia had to do was move the runners to second and third and a fly ball would win the game. Garcia got the bunt sign and looked so foolish on his first two attempts that he had to swing away and did so for strike three. The Yankees were done in the inning and would lose the game in the tenth.

How can a twenty-eight year old Garcia grow up playing baseball his whole life and not know how to bunt? Phil Rizzuto had it right when he said there is to a bunt is to catch the ball with your bat. It's not a difficult thing to do. After all, every pitcher in the National League can do it. Heck, I can do it. But Garcia is not alone in the inability to lay the ball down.

And bunting isn't the only example of poor fundamentals. The Astros tonight had a golden opportunity to put pressure on the rained out Cubs. Instead they had a starting pitcher who couldn't throw strikes (only seven of his eighteen pitches were strikes) and the Astros made four errors and lost the game. Four errors!!

How many highlights to you see where outfielders are vaulting themselves in the air to throw the ball home in an attempt to prevent the run from scoring. That is terrible fundamentals. Where is Dwight Evans when we need him? To make a good throw from the outfield, you get behind the ball, take a step to plant and rifle the ball overhand on a low line drive. But instead, the current MLB outfielders end up on their bellies throwing up the lines or over everyone's head. Ugh!

How many players do you see rounding third to go home so wide that they are in danger of falling into the dugout? The Red Sox lost a big game the other day because their starting pitcher didn't cover first in time.

Obviously, MLB needs to start buying the instructional video you see on TV all the time about learning the fundamentals to the game. Perhaps with the emphasis on so many sports in youth, it is difficult to teach the fundamentals. Perhaps most youngsters see the long ball and focus on offense without learning the things we learned as kids on how to play the game.

But baseball isn't the only sport where sloppiness is rampant. Travel is a regular occurrence in the NBA as is palming. The fact that it's never called indicates just how rampant it is. And the NFL is no better. It seems that every play incurs a penalty. All this clumsy play is the reason why someone like Derek Jeter is extolled for his great fundamental base running and play. Twenty years ago, what Jeter does was the norm, not the exception.

I guess will talk tomorrow about the playoffs and the year Richie Sexson is having, or Bonds being two behind Mays or how the Phillies quit the season and how it showed tonight against the Braves. The flagrant rant of this Fan went longer than expected.

Oh no! The Fan had all his ducks in a row. The Red Sox won the wildcard. The Marlins swept the Phillies (a team I also love, but I can't stand Larry Bowa and he should be fired). The Yankees clinched. All the Fan needed was the Cubs. But they lost 9-6 to a team they had shut out two games in a row AND despite two homers by Sammy Sosa.

And of course the dratted Astros won (there is a lot of heart on that team) to force the NL Central Division into a tie with three games left. The loss gives the Fan a sinking feeling. The Cubs aren't going to make it. There will be no Cubs/Red Sox World Series. I'm a glass-half-empty kind of guy and I bet a lot of Cubs fans are too.


And to top even the playoff chase, Carlos Delgado hit four homeruns tonight in four consecutive at bats. The four homers in a game has only been accomplished fifteen times in the entire history of MLB. The feat is as rare as a pitching perfect game. Delgado now has 41 homers and (staggeringly enough) 141 RBI.


Congratulations to the Marlins and Red Sox for coming through when they were supposed to.

The Marlins! The Florida MARLINS! What an exciting development to see this young team--that has played all year to empty stands--come to the wire and, by force of will, take on the Phillies with the wildcard on the line and take two out of two. The Marlins are now three games up with four games to play. The MARLINS!

I discovered south Florida seven years ago and have returned for a couple of weeks every summer since then. That first year (1996), I went to a Marlins game with a friend. It was the first time that I had seen a MLB game in a park other than Yankee Stadium or Fenway. I remember the ballpark being cozy and friendly. The parking lot was very accessible right off the highway.

I kept score that day and taught a new friend how to do so as well. The Marlins were a decent team in the middle of the pack in their division with a .500 record. The team was a diversion for the locals as the area's hockey team made a run to the Stanley Cup that year and of course, the Dolphins were number one. After the day was over, the Marlins had another fan: After all, the game was on my birthday.

The Marlins beat the Cubs that day and the hero was a man named Jeff Conine, who hit the game winning homer. After asking around down there, I found out that Conine was a local hero who did a lot for the community and was loved by all. I became his fan as well.

Seven years later, the same Conine, after a side trip to Baltimore (where he was a good player), has killed the Phillies with great defense and timely homers. The Marlins...the last team anyone expected...are a game closer to the playoffs.


The only close race is the Cubs/Astros for the NL Central pennant. Both teams won today in impressive fashion. The Astros' Billy Wagner smoked a 100 MPH fastball past Barry Bonds to clinch the game. The Cubs got a big performance from Shawn Estes who enjoyed the Cubs six-run third inning to cruise to a victory. All the Cubs have to do is keep winning and their one game lead will hold up. I still dream of a Cubs/Red Sox World Series with one of those two teams having to break their eighty year droughts.

Sammy Sosa hit his 37th homer and knocked in his 98th run which are both amazing numbers considering where he was at the start of July. Sammy also got beaned tonight for the second time this season. Scary!

In past posts, the Fan has labeled Kerry Wood a .500 pitcher. And the claim wasn't incorrect. Despite the stuff, despite the hype, Wood was only a game over .500 last year and has hovered around .500 most of this year. But pennant races have a way of defining careers and Wood has defined himself as special.

Tonight, with the season on the line, with the Cubs in a dead heat with the Astros, Wood pitched lights out--seven innings, one hit and twelve strikeouts. The performance capped a spectacular September after a mediocre August. In the month of September, Wood's line looks like this:

36 innings, 22 hits, 5 runs, 9 walks and 47 strikeouts. That's a 1.25 ERA.

When the Cubs needed big performances coming down the stretch, Wood and Prior have been huge. The Cubbies are now a game up with five to play.

Dontrelle Willis pitched tonight for the Marlins against the Phillies as the Marlins tried to hold on to their slim one game wildcard lead. The highlights stated that he didn't have his best stuff. Indeed, when he left the game in the seventh inning, he was down 3-0 and compared to Kerry Wood, you could say that Willis didn't come through. But the key is that he held the Phillies to the three early runs and kept it there.

All you can ask of a pitcher is to keep your team in a big game and in this case, the Marlins asked a rookie to do so. And that's what Dontrelle Willis did. By doing so, he allowed Jeff Conine (welcome home, Jeff!) to come up with a big three run homer off of Phillies ace, Kevin Millwood and then Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo to dink the Phillies to their possible death. The Marlins are now two games up with five to play.


And in the league's most exciting finish, the never-say-die Boston Red Sox came back from the dead (a three run deficit with two outs in the ninth) as oft-maligned, Todd Walker, hit a two out, three run homer to tie the game. Team MVP, David Ortiz, then hit the game winner in the bottom of the tenth to ice the game.

The Red Sox are the most fun team to watch in baseball. I've never seen a team play harder together, root harder for each other and celebrate so exuberantly. These Sox deserve to win and if they make it to the World Series over my favorite Yankees, then I'll still smile and cheer them on. The Fan has been won over by this wonderful team.


And speaking of my favorite team, the Yankees put a five spot on the board in the top of the ninth that should clinch the game (it's currently a 7-0 game as Jose Contreras pitched another great game--or the White Sox rolled over - you make the call). The game was a tight one until Jason Giambi broke it open with a grand slam. Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera also homered in the game and Hideki Matsui drove in his 106th run. A win will clinch the division win for the Yankees.


We are one game closer to the resolution of the regular season and things couldn't be more exciting. The finish of the season has not disappointed what has been the most exciting season in this fan's lifetime.

The Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox did what they had to do tonight. They both won their must win games tonight. The Marlins beat the Braves 6-3 behind Mark Redman. The Red Sox beat the Orioles behind a strong performance by Jeff Suppon. The Red Sox are in full control of the AL Wildcard Race while the Marlins head to their big series with the Phillies with a positive frame of mind after splitting their four game series with the Braves.

Mark Redman should be a serious candidate as the Marlins most valuable player. He has won big games all year including three wins over the Braves, three over the Phillies and two over Arizona. Add a win against the Expos, and Redman has won nine of his thirteen wins against the Marlins' direct competitors.

Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera had the big hits tonight as Lee drove in four and Cabrera, two. Cabrera now has 59 RBI in only 80 games. Double that amount in a full season and Cabrera would have 42 doubles, 24 homers and 114 RBI!

Jeff Suppon pitched six innings tonight and only gave up one run. He has gotten better and better with each Boston start and seems to be settling in now that he has exorcised his early Red Sox career memories.

Manny Ramirez, Todd Walker and David Ortiz were the Sox hitting stars. Walker seems to be back from a terrible slump and is hitting well lately. Ortiz should get MVP consideration as his 28 homers and 96 RBI in just 428 at bats. There is no way the Red Sox would be where they are without him.


How good must it have been for the Cubs tonight as they watched what was going on during their day off. The Astros just lost to the Giants and the Dodgers are losing big to San Diego. The Cubs are now a half a game behind the Astros without having to do anything but watch.

The Fan has been on record of not being a member of the Greg Maddux Fan Club. I have never liked him as he has always seemed like an arrogant SOB. But...I really am a fan of Roger Clemens...who is an arrogant SOB. I have scoffed and scorned when Maddux has given the home plate umpire an evil eye or worse. But...I have seen Clemens do the same thing. But like Clemens, Maddux is at the top of the heap of pitchers of this generation and possibly for all generations.

Compare the string of wins for the two pitchers:

Maddux - 18, 19, 15, 15, 20, 20, 16, 19, 15, 19, 18, 19, 19, 17, 16 and 15
Clemens - 24, 20, 18, 17, 21, 18, 18, 11, 9, 10, 10, 21, 20, 14, 13, 20, 13 and 16

Clemens has had more spectacular years while Maddux has been more consistent. Maddux didn't have to reinvent himself as many times as Clemens has since Maddux wasn't a power pitcher. Clemens put the ball in the zone and relied on his arm to win the battle. Maddux out-thought his opponents and lived on the corners.

Another big difference in their approach has been that Clemens is an emotional pitcher. His emotions fueled his will and sometimes got him into trouble. But it's always easier to identify with the emotional than it is to the tactical, stoic way Maddux has always gone about his business.

No, the Fan has never liked Greg Maddux, but he's been a helluva pitcher--one of the two best I've ever seen.

A week ago, several races in MLB were too close to call. Like political coverage, this news station reserved calling the "election" until all the precincts were closed. A week later, several of those races are all but decided and only two real races remain: The NL Wildcard and the NL Central Division. And the Cubs are in the thick of both of those races.

Remember Spahn and Sain and then pray for rain? With the Cubs it's: "Wood and Prior and then pray with the friar." When Prior and Wood pitch, there is a good chance the Cubs will do something positive in the race. When Zambrano pitches, there are good times and bad. When Clement pitches, there are too many bad for what is a great talent and arm.

But even with this mixture, the Cubs have inched closer to the leaders in both the wildcard and division. As the Phillies and Marlins spin around and lose big games, the Cubs have climbed up to a game within the Astros (who will not give in and win and win) and a game and a half behind in the wildcard.

The other races are all but over. The White Sox stunning and sudden collapse along with the Twins inspired play has insured the Twins a division title and will be a scary team for any playoff contender to play. The White Sox collapse has been so sudden that it is morbid. The game is over for them this season.

With six games to play, the valiant but out powered Mariners will not overtake the Red Sox as the wildcard team. Between Joel Pineiro's sudden struggles and Ichiro down to mortal earth, the Mariners will be out of the playoffs as the wildcard is out of reach and so is the division.

The Yankees kept it close for a while, but now will not let Boston even come close. I have to find the schedule for the playoffs depending on who the final teams are. The only known is that the Yankees can't play the Red Sox in the opening round of the playoffs. Who they play will depend on some final tie breaker type things.


And finally, three of MLB's best pitchers were on the mound tonight. Greg Maddux pitched only five innings, giving up only one hit, but that five inning stint earned him his fifteenth win. That is sixteen consecutive seasons that Maddux has done that, passing a record long held by Cy Young.

Pedro Martinez handcuffed the Indians for seven innings in a clutch performance that all but buries the Mariners. Martinez is now 14-4 for the year and has looked very strong in his last two outings and is setting up nicely for the playoff run.

And once again, hat's off Roger Clemens as he won his 309th game. Can he get to 310? Time will tell.

The Florida Marlins came back strong tonight after last nights drubbing at the hand of wildcard rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. There was a log of commentary after last night's game on how that was such a devastating loss for the Marlins. The truth seems much different.

A come from behind win in the bottom of the ninth is a much harder pill to swallow than a blowout drubbing. After all, blowouts are common and it was one of those nights. Any player can forget those kinds of games. The bigger struggle was not the loss, but the wildcard lead shrinking from a game and a half to a game.

The Marlins answered that concern in a big way and in a way that they have answered every challenge so far this season. The team that turned around as soon as Jack McKean became the manager, came back and beat the Phillies 11-4. The game wasn't as much of a blowout as it seemed.

Early in the game, both starting pitchers were shaky and the game was close. The difference was the relief pitching. Mike Redman gave up four runs in five innings but was good enough to keep the Marlins in the game. Chad Fox, who was run out of Boston, pitched two critical scoreless innings. Urbina, another Red Sox castoff, pitched a scoreless inning and then the Marlins scored four in the top of the ninth to break the game open. Neal Bump finished up, giving the Marlins four scoreless innings of relief.

Fox was the focal point of the Red Sox experiment with a bullpen by committee. After several bad blown saves and cascades of boos, the Red Sox reworked their entire bullpen. Fox landed in South Florida and has pitched in fourteen games for the Marlins and has a 2-0 record with 21 strikeouts in 17 plus innings. His ERA with Florida is 2.55 and his base runners per inning is a very good 1.17. With the Red Sox, that figure was 2.00.

Urbina has been spectacular with two wins against no losses. He also has two saves and his ERA with Florida is 1.15! Put Urbina together with Fox and you have two pitchers who are performing better than any Boston reliever.

The Marlins are a wonderful story. But so are the Cubs. The Cubs lost 95 games last year. After a big performance by Mark Prior last night, Kerry Wood had his own dominating performance. If the Rockies hold on to their 5-3 lead against the Astros, the Cubs could be only down a half a game.

On the other end is the Kansas City Royals. The Royals lost to the Indians, 9-1. With that loss, it's time to count the Royals out. If the two teams ahead of the Royals finish the last twelve games at 6-6, the Royals would have to win 10 of their last 12 just to tie. The Royals were a great story all year. But they ran out of steam and the fat lady is getting ready to sing.

What a great season!