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4 core holdovers help Yankees win crown (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 04 November 2009 07:13:14 PM. © MLB News Blog

Jorge Posada tapped Andy Pettitte on the chest when it was time to leave. Derek Jeter watched from the mound, knowing exactly what it meant. Along with Mariano Rivera who was waiting in the bullpen, they have been the heart of the New York Yankees for 14 seasons. And now after the Yankees beat the [...]

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Yankees are 2009 World Series Champions!

post from lenNY's Yankees - A Bronx Bombers Blog on 04 November 2009 07:10:00 PM. © lenNY's Yankees - A Bronx Bombers Blog

New York Yankees players celebrate after they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 to win the 2009 Major League Baseball World Series in New York, November 4, 2009. I?m speechless.

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http://www.lennysyankees.com/2009/11/yankees-are-2009-world-series-champions.html

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Astros Complete Coaching Hires with Quirk

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 04 November 2009 07:09:00 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

Astros Complete Coaching Hires with Quirk

The Astros completed their coaching staff with the hiring of Jamie Quirk as bullpen coach. Quirk has a lot of coaching experience for the bullpen coach position. He was the Rockies' bench coach from 2002-2008. He is a former big league catcher for eight organizations.

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http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2009/11/4/1115271/astros-complete-coaching-hires

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Phillies bid for repeat falls short (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 04 November 2009 07:07:41 PM. © MLB News Blog

Ryan Howard kept striking out. Cole Hamels had a meltdown on the mound. Brad Lidge imploded in a crucial spot. With their slugger, former ace and closer struggling on the big stage, the Philadelphia Phillies had no chance to repeat. Their bid to become the first NL team in 33 years to win consecutive World [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/phillies-bid-for-repeat-falls-short-ap/

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A-Rod earns long-awaited championship (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 04 November 2009 07:04:23 PM. © MLB News Blog

The final out landed in Mark Teixeira's glove, and Alex Rodriguez raised both arms in triumph before running across the infield to hug the first baseman as the rest of the New York Yankees piled on. He had piled up money in the bank and MVP awards on his mantle. Now he has the one [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/a-rod-earns-long-awaited-championship-ap/

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Yankees give Steinbrenner seventh title (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 04 November 2009 07:01:30 PM. © MLB News Blog

Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees said throughout the postseason they wanted to win another title for George Steinbrenner. The frail owner wasn't around when New York beat Philadelphia 7-3 on Wednesday night to win the World Series, but there's no doubt the outcome brought a smile to his face.

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/11/05/yankees-give-steinbrenner-seventh-title-ap/

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The Importance of Foresight

post from Nick's Twins Blog on 04 November 2009 07:00:00 PM. © Nick's Twins Blog

The Twins have enjoyed an impressive run of sustained success over the past nine years. Only once during that span (2007) have they posted a losing record. And if there's one lesson to be taken from the '07 team, it relates to the pitfalls of complacency.

In 2006, the Twins boasted a rather impressive offense. Joe Mauer won his first batting title, Justin Morneau captured the AL MVP award, Michael Cuddyer enjoyed a career year, Luis Castillo excelled at the top of the lineup in his first season as a Twin, and Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto delivered strong offensive contributions after taking over the left side of the infield midway through the season. All told, the Twins led the American League in batting average and surpassed the 800-run threshold that team officials seem to consider the bar for a successful offensive season.

Content in his lineup's quality production, Terry Ryan remained relatively inactive on the offensive side during the following offseason. This proved highly detrimental, as the Twins' offense suffered a massive slide the next year. The team's OPS+ dropped from 103 to 93, pushing them from above average to solidly below, and their average run output dropped from 4.94 to 4.43.

One could hardly have expected Ryan to predict that the production of Morneau would drop so significantly, or that both Mauer and Cuddyer would battle injuries for much of the year, or even that Punto and Bartlett would regress so dramatically after seemingly putting together breakout campaigns in '06. Yet, with a little foresight, Ryan could have better prepared the team for these types of circumstances. Entering the season with a useless Rondell White as a starter and with the offensively challenged Lew Ford and Jason Tyner as the team's top backup options in the outfield was pretty clearly a recipe disaster, leaving little margin for error amongst the offense's core. Ryan certainly had the right idea in signing Jeff Cirillo as a backup option for Punto at third base, but the aging Cirillo proved incapable of filling in at third on a regular basis and Ron Gardenhire seemed unwilling to pull the struggling Punto out of the lineup for prolonged periods of time anyway.

The 2009 season bears some similarity to that '06 campaign. Several members of the lineup's core -- Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Denard Span and Jason Kubel -- enjoyed absolutely phenomenal offensive campaigns, and the team's impressive late run at a playoff spot was once again boosted by unexpected late contributions from infielders who took over new spots and rose to the occasion. Smith must now learn from the past and avoid the complacency that led to the 2007 club's demise, because if just one or two of the lineup's core players battle significant regression or injury problems next year, the holes that surround them in the lineup could be magnified significantly.

Fortunately, Smith doesn't have to deal with deciphering the illusions present on that 2006 team. Despite his strong finish, Punto's overall numbers were terrible, and one would have to be out of their mind to think that Tolbert looks like a legitimate full-time major-league third baseman. There's also a clear hole in the outfield and no obvious candidate to start at shortstop unless Orlando Cabrera is re-signed (which in itself is an unsafe bet considering his age and declining production).

Given that the Twins ranked fourth in the league in offense this past season while averaging over five runs per game and ranked fourth-to-last in team ERA, one could logically conclude that improving the pitching staff should be Smith's chief focus during this offseason. I'm not sure that's the case. With guys like Kevin Slowey, Pat Neshek and Boof Bonser returning from injury next year, and with the defense hopefully taking some steps forward, I think the team's run prevention is bound to improve even without significant outside reinforcements (particularly if Carl Pavano is brought back). Meanwhile, I see lots of room for regression on the offensive side of the ball, because it's tough to expect all five of the aforementioned "core" offensive players to repeat what they did during the 2009 season -- especially considering that three of those players have somewhat troubling injury histories.

Adding solid depth and filling lineup holes with adequate supporting players could go a long way toward protecting the Twins against the type of drop-off that struck that 2007 team. If the 2009 unit enters the season with a starting infield that consists of Tolbert, Cabrera and Punto, this lineup could be in serious trouble should Mauer's back act up or Kubel's knee give out.

***

Oh, and congrats (I guess) to the Yankees, who won the World Series in six games. Who could have seen that coming? :-)

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http://www.nickstwinsblog.com/2009/11/importance-of-foresight.html

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DMB World Series-Game #3

Ted Lewis vs Jerry Hops 10/7/1897, @Oriole Park III UNCLE ROBBIE COMES THROUGH FOR THE ORIOLESWilbert Robinson had a 7 hit game on June 10, 1892. A record that still stands.Wilbert Robinson doubled in Jake Stenzel with the winning run in the 8th, giving the Orioles the 4-3 victory and a one game lead in this [...]

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http://dmbworldseriesreplay.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/dmb-world-series-game-3/

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Yankees win 2009 World Series

The Yankees beat the Phillies 7 to 3 tonight, to win the 2009 World Series.
The star of the game was Hideki Matsui, who had 3 hits with 6 runs batted in. Matsui fell just a triple short of a cycle. Andy Pettitte was solid, but not spectacular on three days rest. Pettitte pitched into the 6th inning, but did not finish it. Pettitte finished the night giving up three runs, he walked five batters and struck out three. Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte pitched well in relief, getting the ball to Mariano Rivera. The games all-time best closer didn't disappoint, going one and two thirds innings without surrendering a run.

Being a Met fan, I thought I would be disgusted over this. Strangely, I'm okay with it though. Hats off to the Yankees. They came into the season knowing that nothing other than a championship would suffice, and they accomplished their goal. A lot of teams would have buckled under that kind of pressure, but they didn't. No matter who you root for, you have to respect that. You also have to respect an owner that pours all his profits back into his organization. Many will say they "bought" this World Series, and maybe they're right, but secretly we all wish our favorite team would "buy" a championship.
Congratulations to the New York Yankees and all their loyal fans.

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http://www.first2third.com/2009/11/yankees-win-2009-world-series.html

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CHAMPS!

With tonight's 7-3 victory over the Phillies the Yankees have finally captured their 27th World Series championship. It's been nine long years, but finally the Yanks are back on top of the baseball world. Hideki Matsui had a huge game with a single, a double, a homer, and six RBI, and Andy Pettitte was good enough on three-days rest to pick up his record 18th postseason victory. I'll have a lot more on this game and the post game celebrations later tonight, but for now I must head off to the city to celebrate.

GO YANKEES!

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SlidingIntoHome/~3/gzYFXNfUee4/champs.html