AL Central

I like Joe Nathan. I really do.

In fact, next to Michael Cuddyer, he's probably my favorite member of the Minnesota Twins.

However, he's part of the problem when it comes to having any sort of success in big games, particularly in the playoffs.

Now I know, 10th inning aside in the one-game playoff, which saw Nathan get out of a no-outs first and third situation, he's essentially a member of the "I'm Scared of the Big Bad Yankees" club, a small clique that infests the Minnesota Twins whenever they play New York.

The Minnesota Twins magical run is over.

After falling to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, the players can now head home for the winter and the front-office—lead by General Manager Bill Smith—can begin the work of ensuring the Twins are a contender again in 2010.

The pieces are already in place for a very good ballclub next season.

Perennial All-Stars Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan should all be healthy and ready to contribute.

Something caught my eye the other day while surfing the Internet—an interesting piece of sports gossip I had yet to come across.

This article said Boston Red Sox All-Star left fielder Jason Bay currently lives about 15 minutes from Safeco Field.

On the record, let me say that Bay is most likely staying with the Sox, who have a better record and a pair of recent titles compared to the Mariners' lack of a World Series appearance.

The Minnesota Twins begged the New York Yankees to win Game Two of their American League Division Series last night at Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees took them up on their offer.

The Yankees beat the Twins last night, 4-3 in 11 innings, on a walk-off home run by Mark Teixeira to give the Bronx Bombers a two-games-to-none advantage in their best-of-five series.

After a season of massive underachieving and general hopelessness, the Cleveland Indians have fired manager Eric Wedge.

Wedge, who came to helm of the Tribe in 2003, led the team to within one win of a World Series appearance in 2007.

That year's squad held a three games to one lead over the eventual world champion Boston Red Sox before collapsing and losing three in a row (a meltdown that, to this writer, is strangely not grouped with the other infamous Cleveland sports disasters), ending Wedge's most successful year as manager of the Indians.

Over the next few seasons, some of baseball's brightest young stars will become free agents for the first time.

And while baseball fans like myself are excited to see how much money these young stars will get on the open market, simply thinking about a new contract must be a scary thought for the mid-level teams who simply do not have the salary structure to take on huge contracts.

The Mariners made a necessary move this week sending struggling pitcher Brandon Morrow down to AAA Tacoma after his disappointing start in the 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers.