Baseball

A gutsy, heads-up play by Brett Gardner set up a stunning five run eighth inning for the New York Yankees, who came back from four runs down to beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5, and take Game 1 of the ALCS last night in Arlington. Gardner beat Rangers' starting picther, C.J. Wilson, to the bag with a headfirst slide after pulling a groundball to first in the top of the eighth.

The League Championship Series are under way between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers in the American League and the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants in the National League.

It has become customary to see Latino players every year excel in a single moment or throughout a whole series.

The Arizona Fall League is where a lot of top prospects are sent to get some experience, but it also is a place where guys who have struggled can try and regain some confidence.  Only a handful of games have been played, but let’s take a look at two hitters who have already begun to rebuild their value for 2011:

The other day you might have noticed a post on the Yankees Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance that announced our vote for the winner of the Manager of the Year Award, or the Connie Mack Award. Today we are presenting the Rookie of the Year, or Willie Mays Award.

Well ladies and gentlemen, the 2010 Major League season has reached its very own Final Four in the form of the two League Championship Series.

The American League will pit the defending champion New York Yankees against the first-time winners Texas Rangers, while the National League will feature the back-to-back National League champion Philadelphia Phillies against the upstart San Francisco Giants.

In the 1999 movie Unbreakable, the character played by Samuel L. Jackson explained that the incredible fragility of his bone structure, the reason he was derisively known as Mr. Glass, was directly tied to the fact that Bruce Willis' character was seemingly invincible.

Mr. Glass reasoned that if there's someone in the world who represents the extreme on one end, then the universe must have a person somewhere who represents the opposite end of the spectrum.

Now that the Braves' 2010 season has come to a close, it's time to take a look at what we should do this offseason.

First off, let's look at who's currently on the Braves and may or may not be back next year.

Retirees

Wagner: $6.5 million saved

Non-Tenured Players

Melky: $3.1 million saved

Diaz: $2.55 million saved

Free Agent Departures

Saito: $3.2 million saved

Glaus: $2.35 million saved

It all makes sense. There should never have been any doubt in anyone’s mind that in The Year of the Pitcher, some of the better arms in the American League will be fighting for the Pennant beginning with Game One on Friday night.

Three years ago, I couldn't watch a single pitch of playoff baseball. The sting of the Mets collapse was too much for me. Observing other teams pursue a world championship (especially the Phillies), caused me to think about all of the "what ifs".

What if Tom Glavine didn't blow up in the final game?

What if the Mets won just one or two more games during season?

What if, what if, what if..........

This morning we were talking Rangers with The Newberg Report and this evening we will be talking with a Rangers blogger.