THE END IS NEAR

Actually, for the Yankees, the end is here. They faked us out a few times into thinking they could make the post-season, but reality has reared it's ugly head. The veterans were too old, the rookies were too young and the injuries were too numerous. Especially, the injuries. Some teams make use of a bullpen car, the Yankees used an ambulance.
I'll probably need a scorecard to figure out the lineup next year. There will be massive changes:
Gone
Pettitte - thanks for the memories
Rivera - the end of an era
Wells - Started fine, ended badly
Overbay - If it wasn't for Teixeira's injury, he would have been playing in the Texas League
Chamberlain - a 95+ fastball that hitters can't wait to see
Hughes - If he had hit as many home runs as he allowed (24, so far), he wouldn't be on this list
Granderson - 115 home runs against 542 strikeouts, you do the math
Youkilis - 35 years old with a bad back
A-Rod - MLB may solve the Yanks salary problems for next year anyway.
...and then there's Cano
He's looking for $305 million dollars over 10 years. He might as well ask for a part ownership of the team, but, as Scott Boras knows, it only takes One Dumb Owner.
Jeter - Who knows? He will certainly try to come back, but what kind of player will he be? My suggestion is to move him to third base. He'll most likely be able to hit well enough and playing third will save his legs.

***AROUND THE HORN***
## Carlos Gomez of the Brewers turned a home run trot into a base-brawl. Nothing like a little trash talking to get every ones juices flowing. I loved watching Braves catcher Brian McCann block home plate so Gomez couldn't touch it.
It reminds me of a play I saw in a Triple A game in Syracuse. The Syracuse center fielder, a fellow name d Angel Scull, tried to score on an inside-the-park home run and saw the only way to do it was to knock over the catcher. Unfortunately, the catcher was 6 ft 2 inch, 220 lb Harry Chiti and Angel was only 5'8" 162 lbs.
It was like Angel ran into a wall and ended up sprawled on the ground, out cold, whereas Harry Chiti had to be told that Angel had hit him.

## The Pittsburgh Pirates have made the playoffs and have become Annie-O's darlings. There are two   ex-Yankees on the team - Russel Martin and AJ Burnett - which is good and bad.  She doesn't care.
## The Indians will likely get in.  You have to root for Nick Swisher. Don't make him do it all alone.
## If Miguel Cabrera can walk, I have to think the Tigers are the best bet to get to the World Series, Boston's MLB best record notwithstanding.

Let's finish up with a good story - back when baseball was fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdl6ABq6E3w

***THEY SAID IT***
"The Astros are on pace to have the most profitable season in baseball history. I've watched Houston play; I guess crime really does pay."  -- RJ Currie
" The N.Y. Yankees failed to make the MLB playoffs and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in. This is sort of like Daniel Day-Lewis being snubbed by the motion picture academy and Pauly Shore getting the nod." -- Brad Dickson
"Tuesday, in case you missed it, was National Punctuation Day. So why wasn’t Bartolo Colon pitching?"  -- Dwight Perry
"Police arrested two men who allegedly tried to rob a group of people playing Bingo in New Hampshire: “Cops became suspicious when they saw a car driving away from the Bingo hall going more than 10 miles an hour.”  -- Jimmy Fallon
"The Nationals have been officially eliminated from any possible postseason berth in 2013. Washington fans must be thrilled they shut down Stephen Strasburg last year for this."  -- Janice Hough
"An Italian soccer coach used a full camouflage disguise to spy on his rival at practice. This is when sports cheating has reached a new low. You’re at practice and someone says: “Hey, did that tree just move?”  -- Brad Dickson
"Philadelphia fans cheered ex-coach Andy Reid in the first quarter, then booed him in the second. Not exactly unexpected; he was a fat guy dressed in red."  -- RJ Currie
"With this new two wild card system teams can be out of the MLB playoffs before the screen printing is dry on the postseason t-shirts."  -- Janice Hough

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