By Jim Molony / MLB.com
Cliff Lee, who was the American League leader in wins and ERA, and Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, who converted 41 of 41 save opportunities to help the Phillies win a second consecutive National League East crown, are MLB.com's Comeback Player of the Year Award winners for their respective leagues.
Lee, Cleveland's first 20-game winner since 1974, landed on 26 of the 30 ballots -- one for each MLB.com team reporter -- with 24 first-place votes and two seconds for 76 points. He easily outdistanced runner-up Mike Mussina of the Yankees and third-place finisher Milton Bradley of the Rangers.
Lidge finished with 53 points and was followed by Kerry Wood of the Cubs (34), Ryan Ludwick of the Cardinals (27) and Jorge Cantu of the Marlins (23).
Lee, Lidge earn Comeback Awards....
The Milwaukee Brewers won the NL Wild Card Sunday when they won and the Mets lost; Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies are in the playoffs, as are the Red Sox, Angels and Rays in the AL, where the Central Division champ has yet to be decided.
By Mel Antonen, USA TODAY
Seven of baseball's eight postseason teams are set.
The other might not be determined until Tuesday.
It depends on what happens this afternoon when the Chicago White Sox host the Detroit Tigers when they make up a game that was rained out earlier this season.
The White Sox, after beating the Cleveland Indians 5-1 Sunday, are a half-game behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. If the White Sox beat Detroit, they'll force a one-game playoff vs. the Twins Tuesday in Chicago.
Extra innings for baseball's regular season....
By Barry M. Bloom
The days are dwindling to a precious few at Shea Stadium, and looming just beyond the center-field fence is the 2009 home of the Mets with its red-brick façade and Ebbets Field-like rotunda, nearing completion.
The Citi Field sign has been hung above the great Jackie Robinson Rotunda, along with other similar signage throughout the new ballpark.
"There's one that crowns the big scoreboard that looms over center field," said Richard Browne, the project manager of the ballpark construction site, during a telephone conversation on Thursday. "And when it's illuminated at night, you can see it for miles all over the place."
The new ballpark is about 85 percent complete with 80 percent of the dark green seats already installed. The rotunda may be an homage to the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the green seats pay tribute to the Polo Grounds, the home of the New York Giants until 1957 and where the Mets played their first two seasons in 1962 and 1963.
Citi Field nearing completion....
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Shea Stadium was never a beautiful place. It lacked signature features like the Yankee Stadium frieze, the Green Monster of Fenway Park, the overhanging upper deck of Tiger Stadium or the ivy of Wrigley Field.
But it was part of the 1964 World’s Fair and it was home: the circular design; blue and orange exterior panels; movable seats that rotated on an underground track and that could turn it into a home for the Jets; and an outfield without bleachers that let home runs land in bullpens, slam off the scoreboard or surge into the flight pattern beyond its boundaries.
“What struck me as a kid was it was so colorful and so enormous,” the Mets announcer Gary Cohen said. “The height and the size of it; nobody had seen anything like it. When you came up through the tunnels and into your seats, you saw into infinity.”
Stadium’s Appeal Lay in Futuristic Functionality....
With one day left in the Major League Baseball season, two playoff spots are still up for grabs. But the Phillies booked their ticket to thepostseason, clinching the NL East.
By Ed Sherman
WATERTOWN, Wis. -- Fred Merkle was born in Watertown, Wis. in 1888, but he spent only one year there before his family moved to Toledo.
Still, that didn't prevent Watertown resident David Stalker from claiming Merkle as the town's very own. He spearheaded an effort to erect a monument in Merkle's honor.
Set in black marble with a baseball perched on top, the monument notes that Merkle was a "potent line-drive hitter and agile first-baseman." It says he was a member of six World Series teams.
However, there is no mention on the monument of the play that earned Merkle a spot in baseball infamy. The inscription boasts of Merkle's "intelligence" on the field, seemingly a contradiction for a player whose nickname was "Bonehead."
"We want the average person to see Fred Merkle for who he really was," Stalker said. "There was much more to his career than just one play."
Yet as Bill Buckner discovered in the cruelest way possible, one play can define a career. Prior to Buckner and the ball-between-the-legs grounder that ended Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, there was Merkle, the goat of goats.
Sadly, one play defined Merkle's career, life....
By Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays are going to the playoffs.
Saturday's emotionally-driven 7-2 win over the Twins in front of a home sellout crowd of 36,048, clinched the Rays' franchise-first postseason appearance. Additionally, the win -- coupled with Boston's loss to Toronto -- extends Tampa Bay's lead atop the American League East to 2 1/2 games.
The Rays' Division Series playoff destination will shake out in the final week of the season. Assuming the Rays win the AL East and Boston wins the Wild Card, the Rays will open at home against the Central winner, either the White Sox or Twins, while the Red Sox would open at the Angels, who have the AL's best record. Should Boston win the East and the Rays get the Wild Card, the Rays would open at Anaheim, while the Red Sox would host the Central Division champion. The Division Series is a best-of-five set.
Carlos Pena's two-out double in the third inning wasn't just clutch -- it had some luck involved, as well. Initially, it appeared the Tampa Bay first baseman popped up to Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, but the ball hit Tropicana Field's catwalk in foul territory and per the dome's ground rules, was a dead ball. After working the count full, Pena laced a double hit into center field to plate the Rays' first pair of runs.
The offense padded starter Scott Kazmir's cushion with three runs in the fifth inning and a pair of solo homers from Fernando Perez and Cliff Floyd in the sixth and seventh frames, respectively.
Rays clinch club's first playoff spot....
CHICAGO -- The Cubs can't make up for 100 years without a world championship just by winning the National League Central, but it's a start.
Alfonso Soriano drove in two runs and Ted Lilly executed a perfect suicide squeeze to lead the Cubs to a 5-4 victory Saturday over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinch the division for the second consecutive year. It was time to party in Wrigleyville.
Saturday's sunshine-splashed crowd of 41,597 pushed the season home total to a club record 3,259,649. And that's just a fraction of the championship-starved Cubs fans Lou Piniella has encountered in his second season in Chicago. He's tried to harness the expectations. Yes, this is the longest drought in professional sports, but Piniella wants the 2008 Cubs to be judged on what they've done this year, not carry the burden of what they haven't done in the last century.
Lilly (16-9) set a personal high for wins, giving up four runs, six hits, and two walks over seven innings. Carlos Marmol pitched the eighth, and Wood handled the ninth for his 32nd save.
The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the second, ignited by Jim Edmonds' leadoff double, and one out later, Soriano hit a single off Joel Pineiro (6-7) that left fielder Brian Barton overran for an error, allowing all three runs to score.
Geovany Soto reached on an error by third baseman Troy Glaus in the fourth and scored on Mark DeRosa's double off the left-field wall to make it 4-0. DeRosa advanced on a groundout and scored on a suicide squeeze by Lilly.
But the Cardinals rallied with a four-run sixth, highlighted by Glaus' three-run homer, his 25th.
By Christian Wiessner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Say it ain't so. An era ends on Sunday when the curtain comes down on baseball in storied Yankee Stadium, scene of more moments that will live in sporting history than any other place in America.
Strangely, in Sunday night's final contest between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, nothing more than pride is at stake. The Yankees have had a rare down season and will not be adding to their championship record this year.
Wrecking balls and sledgehammers, not baseballs and bats, will soon be the equipment of choice as the stadium is demolished in coming months, although there may yet be a "closing ceremony" featuring big name rock stars before the wrecking crews move in.
Next season, the Yankees will take their bats, balls and fabled pinstriped uniforms to a brand new Yankee Stadium nearing completion across the street from the current one.
Americans have always been wistful about their National Pastime. Many cherish memories of playing catch with their fathers and of their first childhood visits to ballparks.
"This field, this game. It's a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again," James Earl Jones's character said in the film "Field of Dreams."
Through baseball history, no venue came closer to capturing that mystical quality than Yankee Stadium.
Yankee Stadium to host last game before demolition....
The 2009 Major League Baseball season: A late start and the probability of November baseball; two grand openings in New York, one grand re-opening in Kansas City and one farewell season in Minnesota; the Rays and Red Sox picking up where they left off as an Opening Day matchup; sellouts and ballpark dogs galore; the first All-Star Game for St. Louis in 44 years; and a master schedule that is now available for your perusal earlier than ever.
MLB has just released the tentative 2009 regular-season schedule, for those already looking ahead -- and those engrossed in the 2008 finish but wanting to be ahead of the game for another blockbuster year. Individual clubs are handling season-ticket opportunities in their own ways, with some now accepting deposits.
The next-year schedule traditionally was released in bits and pieces, a club schedule here and a club schedule there. Then in January, the master schedule typically was released. Times have changed in Major League Baseball, though. Baseball is headed for yet another overall season attendance record, and fans schedule their desired ballpark dates earlier than ever due to so many large crowds, competitive balance and collective zeal.
The annual Sunday night opener will be announced later pending a matchup for the ESPN audience, but everything else is pretty much set. The Monday openers will be on April 6, highlighted by the traditional opener that day in Cincinnati vs. the Mets, and that will be one week later than usual. Because the season starts a week into April, there exists the possibility for a World Series Game 7 on Nov. 5, 2009 -- if the postseason schedule follows the 2007-08 procedures.
MLB reveals 2009 schedule....
By Thor Nystrom / MLB.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins' new home has a name: Target Field.
The club announced on Monday morning that they have reached an agreement in principle on a 25-year deal that includes the naming rights for Target Field. The ballpark is scheduled to open in 2010.
Financial terms of the pact were not released.
"We took what we think is a non-traditional approach -- a lot of teams would have had an auction; that was never what it was about for the Twins," Twins president Dave St. Peter said. "When we considered corporate names, it was clear that one, it needed to be a Minnesota-based brand, and two, it had to be involved in the community and consistent with our brand, which is very family focused. There was a small list of companies that we felt fit those criteria. Target was at the top of that list."
The Twins and Target will also collaborate on the design of Target Plaza, a pedestrian bridge and public gathering space connecting Target Field to downtown Minneapolis
Twins name new ballpark Target Field....
Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - The Milwaukee Brewers have fired manager Ned Yost and named Dale Sveum interim manager for the final two weeks of the season.
The Brewers are 83-67 and tied for the top spot in the National League wild card race with Philadelphia. The Phillies, though, just completed a four-game sweep of the Brewers.
Milwaukee, just 3-11 in September, is also 7 1/2 games behind Chicago in the NL Central race.
Brewers fire manager Ned Yost....
Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - Robb Quinlan's two-run single in the fifth inning proved to be the difference as the LA Angels of Anaheim downed the New York Yankees, 4-2, and cliched the American League West title.
The Angels' earned a share of the crown with the win and then wrapped up their fourth division title in five years outright when second-place Texas fell in Seattle, 8-7.
Garret Anderson finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Angels, who have won three of their past four contests. Vladimir Guerrero was also 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Angels top Yankees, clinch AL West crown....
