Baseball

I wanted to thank the Metrodome for its many great memories for the past few decades.  One can only hope those made at Target Field will be more memorable. 'Tis time to deflate the Dome and have the spirits of great Twins teams of the past move across the street, and yes, those for Metropolitan Stadium are also welcome.

LET'S GO YANKEES!

Just chanting that in my head in the same monotone sound that can be heard from the bleacher bums in Yankee Stadium.

Typing this makes me feel a bit dirty. I'm going to need a shower after writing this article.

Unfortunately, I'll probably be showering quite a bit during this postseason, as I, a huge Mets fan and self-proclaimed Yankee hater, will be rooting for the Evil Empire of the Bronx during the 2009 baseball playoffs.

How bad were these predictions? Out of the six writers everyone already failed to pick the two correct teams that will be in the World Series.

If you are a New York Yankees fan, you have to start feeling like there is a lot of late '90s magic going on with this team.

When I say magic, I am not talking the clutch hitting from Alex Rodriguez or the brilliant pitching by Andy Pettitte.

I am talking the egregious umpiring that always benefits the Yankees (Joe Mauer call in Game Two), teams and players making bonehead plays they would normally not make (Nick Punto last night), and even when the Yankees make a bad play, it somehow working out in their favor (Robinson Cano misplay leads to an out last night).

I saw and heard the strangest thing early Monday morning.

At about 2 a.m. EDT Monday, I saw a stadium full of about 50,000 people strangely quiet. No, I did not wake out of a sound sleep. It was not a religious function and the preacher was giving a sermon.

Nope.

It was a freakin' baseball game.

Much of the East coast was asleep, my wife was asleep, my daughter, who didn't have school the next day, went to bed in the fifth innning and my cat was asleep.

During the 2009 regular season, Alex Rodriguez posted up good numbers overall. Unlike previous seasons, he did not head the team in home-runs and runs batted in. The 2009 campaign was Alex Rodriguez's way to say that he was now a team player.

After admitting to using steroids in the past, while with the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez began to preach the fact that he was now focused on winning more as a team than just for himself.

This Article Originally Published at GetOutofMyBallpark.com.

There is no real fall in New England.

From Opening Day in April until the last out is made on the Boys of Summer, we have six (sometimes seven) glorious months of sunny days and warm temperatures. After that, it's all dark, cold, gray winter.

Headhunter Vincente Padilla picked up his forst postseason win with seven scoreless innings for the NL West champions.  Padilla was added to the Torre's roster on Aug. 20, a few weeks after he was released from Texas.

The Los Angeles Angels were forced to watch helplessly as the Philadelphia Phillies rushed onto the field at the end of Game Seven to celebrate their second consecutive World Series championship, knowing the Phillies weren’t really the champions; they were.