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On September 7, Brett Gardner was activated from the disabled list, after spending nearly a month and a half there. Since then, Gardner has appeared in a majority of games, but it is evident Girardi views Melky Cabrera as the Yankees' starting center fielder.

Now, there are very few ways to quantify the influence a manager has. One sure thing a manager can do to help his team is to have his best options on the field more frequently than lesser options. Is Melky Cabrera the Yankees' best option in center field, with Gardner on the bench?

Joba Chamberlain is just 25 years old and is about to turn 26 and he's in his third year in the Major Leauges. In his rookie year he appeared in 19 games and looked like the answer to become the eigth inning guy and possibly the closer of the future for the Yankees.

Yet, in 2008 George Steinbrenner had different ideas about Chamberlain. Instead of being the eighth inning guy, he wanted him as a starter.

Chamberlain did appear in 42 games and made 12 starts which meant he had 30 relief appearances.

In a comment I read recently, someone attempted to explain the reason why Ichiro hits a lot of home runs. Basically, the premise of the argument was that Ichiro felt that if he tried to hit home runs, his batting average would suffer.

Well it's comparison time now because I found a player who has the same career high in average as Ichiro and did exactly what Ichiro said he could not do.

In 2004, Ichiro had his best season in the Major Leagues; it was the year he set the record for most hits in a season.

Here's a look at the numbers for Ichiro:

On Sept. 16, 2009, the New York Yankees and several other Major League teams released their preliminary 2010 season schedules. When looking at the Yankees' schedule there are several series that stand out.

Two of those are the season-opening and closing series against the rivaled Red Sox. Series against the Red Sox are always highly anticipated because of the long grudge that these two teams hold for each other.

But the countdown has begun for the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With the exception of the last three contests, the San Francisco Giants have failed all year long to sustain quality offense from one game to the next.

But during two of the three latest offensive outbursts (seven runs, nine runs, ten runs), catcher Bengie Molina has hit in the fifth spot in the order. Prior to the drop in the order, Molina hadn't hit anywhere but cleanup for the Giants since 2007 when Barry Bonds was still with the team.

The sarcastic comment to make as a Giants fan is: "It's about goddamn time!!"

I anticipate a lot of hand-wringing by Tiger fans over the next couple days. There is going to be a lot of talk about how they could essentially blow their current lead over the Twins by the end of the weekend and fumble their shot at the postseason. I'd like to offer up some facts that will attempt to show just how unlikely that is.

Depending on whom you talk to in the blogosphere, Jorge Posada's actions last night were deserving of the highest honors of douchebaggery, or he was simply standing up for himself. As a Blue Jays fan, I'm having a tough time defending the latter.

First of all, Jesse Carlson didn't even hit Posada...didn't even come close. Just like most of this season, Carlson missed his location by a mile. I'm sure he was aiming for Jorge.

The St. Louis Cardinals could lock up the Trifecta of Major League Baseball awards MVP, CY Young, and Rookie of the Year. That is until the Braves Tommy Hanson has pitched his way into the Rookie of the year favorite. The Cardinals and fans were hoping Colby Rasmus would end up with the ROY award.

As the Philadelphia Phillies inch closer to finishing off their third straight National League East title, playoff thoughts are not far behind.

If I am not mistaken, heading into Wednesday's game with the Nationals, the Phillies magic number is 13 games.  After the Phils finish the Nationals series, they travel to Atlanta and Florida.  Talk about taking care of business.

Think about last year's playoff rotation: Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer.

This year: Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton/J.A. Happ and Pedro Martinez.