Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward ...
FanHouse's Jay Mariotti proclaimed last week that the Yankees would not be beat. He probably didn't mean every game, though. Yet here we are. The Yankees are 5-0. Not even the 1998 Yankees -- winners of 125 games that year -- started out the playoffs that well.
No one is suggesting that New York will literally run the table, but perhaps the most amazing thing about this run in October is that the Yankees haven't been at their absolute sharpest.
NEW YORK -- Of course it would end this way, in such classic, expected fashion. What, you didn't have Jerry Hairston Jr. scoring the winning run for the Yankees in the bottom of the 13th inning, after the Angel infield completely lost its heads? Join the club with millions of other baseball fans who watched Saturday's American League Championship Series melt into Sunday morning, and still aren't sure how and why this astonishing Game 2 concluded as it did.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games.
Of all the things Ripken discussed Tuesday, the most intriguing subject, not surprisingly, was one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is an oft-maligned regular season superstar, in that he's put up extremely gaudy regular season numbers throughout his career, yet has never played in a World Series and has pretty sub-par numbers in the playoffs overall -- especially of late.
MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)
Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the... Team about to win about 15 less games this season. Teams in their division have closed the gap on the Angels, who are aging in some spots and not yet developed at others. The biggest factor to consider in fantasy is how many less games their starting pitchers will likely win.
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
Michael Young's time with the Texas Rangers has been punctuated by him making personal sacrifices to help better the team. After years as a good second baseman for the team with both the stick and the glove, he didn't have a problem when he was asked to move to shortstop in the wake of the Alex Rodriguez trade and the subsequent arrival of Alfonso Soriano. Sure, Young's offensive numbers didn't quite stand out at short quite like they did at second base, but it was about the team, not Michael Young
Since his move he's won a Gold Glove and has been named to the AL All-Star team five times. Well, now the Rangers would like him to make another sacrifice and move from shortstop to third base so they can make room for prospect Elvis Andrus. Only this time Young isn't down, and he's told the Rangers he's stood all he can stand and that he can't stand no more. He wants to be traded.
Speedy Angels infielder Erick Aybar has made quite a name for himself in the Dominican Winter League thus far. He's rocking a .358 batting average and has hit for the cycle.
Of course, the biggest news came in ugly fashion recently, as he was involved in a brawl. This wasn't just your garden variety baseball brawl, where the player charges the mound and everyone gets separated before any real damage is done. Apparently Aybar was dotted with a pitch and charged the mound. What ensued was quite the fracas:
Aybar answered by charging pitcher Julio de Paula with his bat, and the fans responded by pelting players with expletives as well as cups, bottles and a huge plastic trash can. Video of the incident is of poor quality, but it shows several players who cannot be readily identified repeatedly throwing things into the stands.
Also of note, Timo Perez and Ronnie Belliard are being investigated along with Aybar by the league. The Angels have been advised that there is little evidence connecting Aybar to the object-throwing.
Looking back on game four of the ALDS between the Angels and Red Sox, there's one clear moment during the game that we can blame the Angels loss on. That would be the suicide squeeze Mike Scioscia called for from Erick Aybar in the 9th inning with Reggie Willits on third and one out. As we're all aware of by now, things didn't work out too well, and Scioscia has been catching plenty of heat for it.
Well, after a few days to reflect on the season and think about that game and his decision, Mike wants you all to know that he regrets nothing.
"If you're afraid of the downside of any situation, you're never going to achieve," Scioscia said. "I thought it was our best chance right there to get that run in and get this game to Frankie [Rodriguez] in the bottom of the ninth. . . . There was a very high probability that that ball was going to be put down to where Reggie walks home. That was the basis of my decision.
"It was an extremely high-percentage play given the count, the guy that was on base and the guy that was in the batter's box. And I'll tell you what, if it happens again, we're doing it again and Erick's getting that bunt down. I can guarantee you that."
Man, there's something about being the top team in the AL West that makes a team have to use it's disabled list a lot more often. I already went over the Athletics' problems with keeping people healthy yesterday, but the injury bug isn't limited to Oakland's city limits.
Nope, it's made it's way down to southern California as well. Invading Anaheim, Orange County, Long Beach, Compton, Los Angeles, and whatever else the Angels are putting in their name these days. After already being without Chone Figgins and Howie Kendrick, it looks as though the Halos are going to have to add Erick Aybar to the disabled list as well.
Los Angeles Angels shortstop Erick Aybar left Tuesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning after dislocating his right pinky while fielding a ground ball.
X-rays on Aybar's hand were negative, but he will visit a specialist on Wednesday to determine the extent of the damage.
The Angels finished the game by moving Maicer Izturis over from third to short, and putting Robb Quinlan at third. They're going to await the results of Erick's trip to the specialist today before making any move official, but I'm guessing that if Aybar has to go on the disabled list, that the Angels will call up Brandon Wood to take his spot on the roster.
Earlier this week the Angels added Jon Garland to their already deep rotation by sending Orlando Cabrera to the White Sox. Some speculated this move was a precursor to the team making a trade with the Marlins for Miguel Cabrera.
While we still wait to see where Miguel Cabrera is going to end up, there are rumors that the Angels are thinking of bringing back two former fan favorites: David Eckstein and Darin Erstad.
Before Angels fans get upset with [General Manager Tony] Reagins, let me be the first to report the whispers he is interested in bringing back shortstop David Eckstein and outfielder Darin Erstad, fan favorites from the 2002 World Series champions who are both free agents.
If the Angels did bring the two players back, neither would be expected to start. Erstad would serve as nothing more than a fourth outfielder and a backup first baseman, while Eckstein would back up both Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar in the middle infield.
Personally I don't see why Eckstein would want to come back to Anaheim to take a backup role when he can probably find a starting job somewhere else, but stranger things have happened. As far as Erstad is concerned, I fully expect him to be signed by the Angels because from what I can tell, nobody else has expressed any interest in the oft-injured veteran since he was cut loose by the White Sox.
Of course, neither of these moves would add protection for Vladimir Guerrero, which is what the Angels really need. Not some kind of family reunion.
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the 
MLB Power Rankings
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Speedy Angels infielder 
Looking back on game four of the ALDS between the Angels and Red Sox, there's one clear moment during the game that we can blame the Angels loss on. That would be the suicide squeeze 
Man, there's something about being the top team in the AL West that makes a team have to use it's disabled list a lot more often. I already went over the 
Earlier this week the Angels added 
