MLB

Sometime around the sixth inning, I think it was the exact moment Ryan Howard asked home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson if he could hit off a tee, I realized who the guy pitching for the Yankees reminded me of.

The wirey build, the ink, the lizard-like features, that insane curve ball. This guy was just like A.J. Burnett, the Toronto Blue Jays star.

By keeping Cliff Lee in the game in the ninth inning after losing his shutout bid, Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel may have hurt the Philadelphia Phillies chances of winning a second straight World Series. 

Top of the eighth, Yankees lead 3-1. Jimmy Rollins at first, Shane Victorino at second, and one out. The legendary Mariano Rivera toes the rubber, then delivers the payoff pitch to Chase Utley.

In a move so bad that even the Fox broadcasters lampooned it, Charlie Manuel did not send the runners on the pitch. The Yankees turned an easy, inning-ending double play, and Ryan Howard was left hanging in the on-deck circle.

But that wasn’t the stupidest decision Manuel made last night.

Los Angeles Angels pitcher, John Lackey stands to make a lot of money this winter.

Lackey, who won one game and posted an ERA just a shade above 2.30 in L.A.'s playoff run, will enter the free agent market as the top starting pitcher available.

I am so sick of ESPN telling me how football is better than baseball. Recently I read Bob Costas' book, Fair Ball . I have to say, it made me ill.

All anybody’s talking about in the New York area is the Islanders’ first regulation win over the Rangers (though Jimmy Rollins predicted it on Monday). You can’t walk down the street without somebody stopping you and asking all about the hockey team from Long Island.

Will they get on a roll? Is John Tavares the real deal? Islanders, Islanders, Islanders!

No, that would have been that of Paul DePodesta, in 2005. As a Moneyball fan, I was sorry to see DePodesta go. And in fact, it may have cost the Dodgers the 2009 World Series, as discussed below.

Shortly after taking the reins, DePodesta angered Dodgers fans with a trade that at its heart was Paul Lo Duca for a pitcher, Brad Penny.

Despite being a catcher, Lo Duca was a "league average" hitter, that is to say, one of the better batters on a light-hitting Dodgers team.

All the bright spots and the warts have been exposed after two games in the 2009 World Series.

Mariano Rivera, perhaps the brightest of all stars, pitched a two-inning save to preserve a 3-1 Yankees victory over the Phillies on Thursday night in New York.

The World Series is now tied, at one win a piece.

Hideki Matsui hit the go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Yankees their first lead of the series, 2-1.