Posts by Tom Fornelli at FanHouse

On Sunday afternoon the Yankees lost to the lowly Seattle Mariners, and it dropped them to fourth place in the AL East with only a few weeks left to go in the season. This basically assures the Yankees that they will not be playing any baseball come October.

Of course, the real reason the Yankees have fallen to fourth place is the surging Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays have won their last 8 games, but are still nine and a half games behind the Rays for first, and eight games behind the Red Sox for the wild card. In other words, it's too little, too late. Still, that didn't stop Alex Rodriguez from heaping praise upon them after the Yankees loss yesterday, and he accidentally proclaimed the Bombers dead in the process.

"Toronto's playing really well," he said. "I'll tell you what, a lot of people should be happy they're not in the playoff race, because they'd be the scariest team, with the 1-2 punch they've got over there with [Roy] Halladay and [A.J.] Burnett."

Is that so? Well, Alex, if the Jays are out of the race, and they're ahead of the Yankees in the standings, what does that say about you guys?

When the question was repeated, pointing out that the Yankees can't be in the playoff race if the Blue Jays -- ahead of them in the standings -- are not, A-Rod tried to backtrack. "What I'm saying is if Toronto was to get in the playoffs, they would be the scariest team to face, by far, with those two," he said. "I'm not saying anything else."

No, Alex, you're just saying what everybody's already thinking.

Just not anything in the past we care to talk about.

Mark McGwire has basically kept himself out of the limelight ever since leaving baseball in 2001, with his infamous appearance at the Congressional hearings on steroids being the lone exception. Well this coming Monday will be the ten year anniversary of the night that Big Mac hit his 62nd home run of the 1998 season, and broke Roger Maris' longstanding home run record.

So, with that in mind, the man who wasn't here to talk about the past talked about the past with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"That day, Sept. 8," he said, "I had a real calmness about me. It was a very eerie feeling that I didn't ever experience again or hadn't experienced before. I remember driving to the ballpark and, even with all the hoopla going on, it probably was the only day I felt so peaceful. It was a premonition that 'tonight is going to be the night.'

"The whole year was so spiritual, so universal, with so many things that happened," he said. "I don't know if people believe this stuff, but I think that when the stars are aligned right, things happen.

Back in spring training, Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez looked around the Angels training complex and said that it would probably be the last time he'd be there as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Then after racking up 38 saves in the first half, K-Rod reiterated the fact that the Angels have had six years to try and lock him up to a long-term deal, and didn't do it, so he still expected to leave after the season.

Well, now it seems that Francisco has changed his mind. He is still intent on testing the market this winter, but that doesn't mean he's not open to returning to the Halos in 2009.

"I want to clarify something," Rodriguez said before Friday night's game against the White Sox. "Just because I want to explore the market, it doesn't mean I don't want to be here.

"As a player, I worked hard for six years, and I earned that right to go out there and see what there is. That doesn't mean I don't want to be here. I want to see what's out there, and it would be stupid on my part if I didn't."

K-Rod will be looking for a five-year deal in the $15 million a year range, and given the season he's had and the amount of teams who will probably be looking for a closer this offseason, he's probably going to get it. Still, he did say that he would consider a four-year offer from the Angels with the option for a fifth year.

Of course, considering the bidding war that may ensue for his services, and the money the Angels already have invested in other areas of the team, I still don't think he'll be an Angel in 2009.

Following their 10-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last night, the Chicago Cubs have now lost six games in a row. Not exactly a great thing for a team holding onto a division lead in September, but at the same time, it's the Cubs first real losing streak of the season. It was bound to happen at some point.

Things almost got a lot worse for the Cubs on Friday, because before they lost the game, they nearly lost their manager. Lou Piniella and first-base coach Matt Sinatro decided to make the drive together from Chicago to Cincinnati, but apparently all that time spent coaching baseball doesn't help a man's sense of direction.

Lou and Matty's Excellent Adventure ended up in the right place Friday -- albeit, three hours after they planned to get to the ballpark on their drive from Chicago and only after overshooting that right turn at Toledo by 90 miles and buying a map.

''I don't know what happened,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''I probably shouldn't have taken the nap. Anyway, we're here."

Unfortunately for Cubs fans, Bob Howry has a GPS system in his car, and made it to the stadium on time. Maybe Lou should take him on one of those rides where he'll mysteriously disappear.

Since it's September, that means it's a time of panic in Chicago. Cubs fans are dealing with a five-game losing streak, and the thoughts of another late season collapse have entered their fragile psyches. Evidence of this can be seen in the fan's reactions to the recent fears that Carlos Zambrano might be lost for the year.

Well, while that fear has been put to bed, there's another one that's all ready to take it's place. Except this time, it's located on the south side of the city. White Sox fans are preparing for the worst as it's looking like the team may lose Carlos Quentin for the rest of the season.

Carlos Quentin's season appears to be in jeopardy after the White Sox received MRI results on his injured right forearm and wrist Friday morning, according to sources close to the situation.

It's unclear how he suffered the injury, but he was a late scratch Monday and hasn't played since.

This would obviously be horrible news for the White Sox. In a season that has seen a lot more downs than ups offensively, Quentin has been the lone constant in the White Sox lineup. He's gone from somebody nobody in Chicago had ever heard of, to being a legit AL MVP candidate.

To lose him now would be a devastating blow in the team's battle with the Twins. Now, if you don't mind me, I'm going to go get a head start on my drinking this weekend.

They haven't been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but after losing six of their last eight games, the Cardinals are quickly falling out of it. They have no real hope of winning their division, as they currently trail the Cubs by ten games, and their wild card hopes are fading as well with Milwaukee sporting a nice five-game cushion.

So if members of the Cardinals start looking toward next season, you can't really blame them. One of the big questions about the Cardinals in 2009 has been Tony LaRussa, and whether or not he's going to return to the bench and manage the team next season. Well, while he doesn't want to talk about it right now, Tony's not denying that he may leave the Cardinals organization, though it won't be for a managerial position somewhere else.

"If I'm managing next year, I'm managing here," he said.

However, La Russa does not discount growing speculation that he could eventually go elsewhere as general manager. A crush of GM jobs is expected to become available shortly after this season, including in Seattle, Toronto and potentially Washington and San Francisco.

La Russa said any question about a future front office move was "not absurd; but right now it's just not pertinent."

A move to the front office could be an interesting, and no doubt appealing, option for LaRussa. He really doesn't have too much more to prove as a manager, and he might enjoy the challenge of building a team from scratch. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Tony end up as a general manager next season.

When the Yankees are officially eliminated from the playoffs in a few weeks, there's going to be a lot of blame going around. Fans will blame Alex Rodriguez for never coming through in the clutch, Brian Cashman for never making the deal for Johan Santana, and Hank Steinbrenner for forcing Joe Girardi to move Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation.

They'll also be blaming the Rays and Red Sox for having superior teams. Still, there's one person who probably deserves more credit for the Yankees demise than anybody else, it's just that most Yankees fans probably don't even realize it. That man is President of the United States, George Bush.

Are Yankees fans also Barack Obama supporters? The Yankees have won eight world championships during Democratic administrations in the past 50 years but haven't won a title with a Republican in office since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958. Since then, the Yankees have won titles during the terms of John F. Kennedy (1961-62), Jimmy Carter (1977-78) and Bill Clinton (1996, 1998-2000).

The Rocky Mountain News' Tracy Ringolsby also digs a little further and notices that the Red Sox haven't won a World Series with a Democrat in office since Woodrow Wilson in 1918. So it looks like Yankees fans will have a lot easier time figuring out who to vote for this November than I am.

With baseball using instant replay for the first time on Wednesday night to give Alex Rodriguez his latest pointless home run (Alex also homered last night to help the Yankees only lose by two), it's obvious we've entered a new age in the sport. Of course, all the opponents of instant replay were against it because they weren't sure where it would end.

Yeah, it only starts with home runs, but soon it will be safe or out, fair or foul, and ultimately, balls and strikes. Well, while it looks like umpires can still judge a pitch's location, we may end up needing robot umpires anyway. The human ones the game utilizes now can't count.

In the fourth inning Thursday, [Sean] Rodriguez struck out on what the scoreboard said was a full-count pitch. But a pitch-by-pitch replay of the at-bat confirmed that Rodriguez actually struck out on a 4-and-2 pitch.

Neither plate umpire Tim Welke nor Angels Manager Mike Scioscia noticed the mistake. At 2-2, Rodriguez said Welke asked Tigers catcher Brandon Inge what the count was.

"He said he thought it was 1-2, and I said I thought it was 1-2 also," Rodriguez said. "He thanked me for my honesty."

See, this is what happens to a sport when they draft players straight out of high school and let them skip college. Their math and counting skills just deteriorate.

From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there are some things going on in this country right now that are far more important than whether or not the Cubs will win the World Series, or whether New York will collapse on itself should the Yankees miss the playoffs.

No, I'm not talking about the new Beverly Hills 90210 - though it's nice to see Lori Loughlin getting work - I'm talking about the upcoming election for President of the United States. Yeah, you've probably noticed in the last few weeks that all your favorite crappy sitcoms and celebrity dancing shows haven't been on in favor of a bunch of people giving speeches in front of sycophants. We call these the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

For the first time in my life, I've paid pretty close attention to both of these conventions this year. You see, even though I've never been shy about my feelings about this country of ours, and those who have been chosen to run it, I've never actually exercised my right to be a factor in the decision.

That's right, at 27 years of age, I have never voted in a single election. Not for President, not for Governor, not even for Student Council President in high school. So when November 4th rolls around in two months, I will be stepping into a voting booth for the first time, and though I'm somewhat excited about it, I still face a pretty tough question.

Just who am I voting for?

It's been a hard week for baseball fans, as collectively we've all held our breath waiting for an answer to a very important question. Did CC Sabathia throw a no-hitter on Sunday in Pittsburgh? The box score said he didn't, but Sabathia and the Brewers felt that Andy LaRoche's single in the fifth inning was an error, and appealed the decision to MLB.

After a few days of Ned Yost whining about it, the Brewers and Sabathia finally heard MLB's decision on Wednesday night (apparently it takes three days to look at a replay), and MLB let them know that they won't be changing anything. It was a hit, deal with it.

Major League Baseball's scoring review committee ruled Wednesday that official scorer Bob Webb did not err when he decided that Pittsburgh's Andy LaRoche singled against Brewers pitcher CC Sabathia in the bottom of the fifth inning of Milwaukee's 7-0 win on Sunday.

On Wednesday, the committee viewed footage of the play in question and considered the documentation presented by the Brewers.