Baseball

Two different teams oppose each other today in game 163 of this regular season.

The Detroit Tigers have been leading the Central Division for nearly the entire season. The Twins have been playing catch up to the Tigers almost the entire season. They have finally caught them and the two teams will now fight today at 5 P.M. for the right to call themselves AL Central Champions.

Sure, the Yankees have the most stacked lineup since Woodstock.

Yeah, the Angels seem to have destiny on their side.

Of course, Dodgers have been the best team in the National League all season long.

And, true, the Phillies are the defending champs.

But... what about the Colorado Rockies?

Take that finger off the panic button, Dodger fans.  The division race is over.

Finally.

After dragging their victory champagne from Pittsburgh to San Diego, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to pop bottles on the second-to-last day of the season.

Now that the Milwaukee Brewers have officially completed their 2009 season, news of more and more players with minor injuries continue to come to light.

Casey McGehee will undergo surgery this afternoon to clean out some "loose bodies" from his right knee.  The potential NL Rookie of the Year has been playing through the pain since the All-Star Break, but the knee problems significantly lessened his range at third and his speed on the basepaths.  With a .301 average and 16 home runs, it did not seem to affect him much at the plate.

Ok, New York Yankees, you have the best record in baseball. You have 50 come-from-behind victories, you have a clubhouse full of likable players, who seem to enjoy playing with and for each other, and beginning next week what does it all mean? Absolutely nothing.

"What took so long?"

"About time!"

"Good, now Shapiro must go!"

"Not shocked at all."

All common responses from Cleveland Indians fans at the news that Eric Wedge has been let go as the manager.

After seven seasons as the skipper for the Tribe, Wedge departs with the club that gave him his first managerial job back in 1998 with Low-A Columbus.

He takes with him good memories, such as the success of a 2007 ALCS run and the rough and many lessons learned.

Reality can really be a drag at times. Especially when your reality is that of a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. For almost two decades now they have suffered at the hands of mismanagement, cheap ownership and doing whatever they can to pass off a group of Quadruple-A players (some not even that advanced) as a major league ball club.

That’s not what any organization’s fan base deserves. Especially one with as rich a history as Pittsburgh’s.

The baseball wonks liked the Twins' chances of taking three of four against the Tigers for couple of reasons.

The Tigers assigned Eddie Bonine and Nate Robertson to pitch in the final two games of the series, and the Tigers struggled against Twins starter Carl Pavano.

Tonight's game proved that trends and predictions are useless.

With two outs in the top of the 9th, Charlie Manuel emerged from the top step of the dugout.

The Phillies, sporting a 10-3 lead over the Houston Astros, stood poised to claim their third straight division title.

Scott Eyre, returning from the disabled list, had quickly recorded the first two outs, getting former Phillie Michael Bourne and Miguel Tejada.

But here comes Uncle Charlie, waving for the bullpen.

There goes the Philadelphia faithful, waving the white rally towels.

And out comes Brad Lidge to collect the final out.

The fans loved it.

To think, Braves fans had it all two days ago.

The Braves were on fire, the Rox were, to an extent, scuffling, and they sat only two games back.

An unlikely series of events would still have to occur. But, hey, we were believers.

Then, Cameron Maybin, Dan Uggla, Josh Johnson, and Jorge Cantu happened.

Later that night, Chris Iannetta happened.

No biggie. Still only three games.

It'll be a little harder, but it's still possible.

We have to believe...right?

Then tonight happened.