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....
