Opinion

As a follow-up to my recent article about Alex Rodriguez's productivity in the playoffs as a Mariner, here are some portions of an interview I did early this year with Kevin Kalal of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners' AAA affiliate, in 1995. The excerpts deal with Kalal's impressions of A-Rod back then.

Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez provided the heroics for the Yankees in their 8-5 win Sunday night in Game Four of the 2009 World Series, but when there are heroes in the game of baseball, there also must be goats.

Unlike other sports, baseball is mostly a zero sum game.

As the World Series winds down and baseball gets ready for its winter break, all eyes will soon turn to 2010. Mine will too, as I'll be watching to see how Mark McGwire will be welcomed back into baseball.

Let me state for the record right now, I am NOT a Cardinals fan, never have and never will. I just had my half-century birthday and as for long as I can remember I have, and will always be a Chicago Cubs fan.

“Brad Lidge and Cole Hamels have cost us the Series.”

Those are the words coming out of many of the Philly Phaithful’s mouths just a day after the Yankees put the Phillies in a 3-1 World Series hole.

Is that REALLY the reason?  Can you blame Lidge and Hamels for the hole?  After all Lidge did give up 3-runs in the ninth inning of a game four loss after Pedro Feliz tied the game at four in the eighth inning.  Plus Cole Hamels gave up five runs in the Phillies game three loss.

The only thing I could think of after watching Game Four of the 2009 World Series last night, was something so obvious, that I'm surprised no one brought it up.

Haven't we seen this before from the Bronx Bombers?

Who is a White Sox fan supposed to root for during this World Series?

Do I root for the Yankees because they represent the overall strength of the American league? Or do I root against them because they’re the “Evil Empire” and represent what’s wrong with salary cap-less baseball?

On the other side there’s the Phillies. Do I root for the defending champions and their fan friendly trio of Rollins, Utley, and Howard? Or do I root against the National league purely out of spite for their brand of baseball.

With the Yankees on the doorstep of another championship, it appears the end of the World Series will once again be reason to celebrate for those dressed in pinstripes.

For the Red Sox and their fans, though, it simply sets the clock in motion.

Any Cleveland fan with a decent short-term memory knows that, for the past several seasons, the Tribe has experienced consistent inconsistency at third base.

Since Travis Fryman hung up his cap, the Indians have had a revolving door at the hot corner. The Indians have had four different Opening Day third basemen in the last seven seasons, none of them for more than two years in a row.

The San Diego Padre fans are done losing, they're done with empty promises that have yet to be fulfilled. Could things possibly be changing with a new regime coming into their first official off season?

As the baseball season wraps up, with the New York Yankees just one game away from walking away with yet another World Series championship to add to their trophy case, Padre fans watch and wonder when that's going to be their team.

Every Yankees championship season in recent memory has had a signature moment that defined that particular postseason run.

Let's take a look back, shall we?

1996: The One With Jim Leyritz (World Series, Game Four)

The Yanks were down two-games-to-one against the defending world champion Braves and trailing by three runs in the eighth when Leyritz stepped into the box with two on against closer Mark Wohlers.