Joe Sheehan: "This kind of lying [about the Diamondbacks' finances] occurs against the backdrop of contraction, which is a bad idea on its face, but even worse when you consider the timing of the story. Does baseball even have anyone with a marketing background smart enough to say, 'Hey, shut the hell up about this and let the World Series be the story!'" (Baseball Prospectus)

Peter Gammons: "Contraction would begin to reverse the damage done by two dumb and dumber expansions that cost nearsighted owners many times more than the relatively few pennies they pocketed." If you watch closely, you can see a baseball owner (an anonymous owner, of course) pulling strings as Gammons's mouth moves. (ESPN)

Gary Huckabay on the real reasons behind the contraction threats. (Baseball Prospectus)

Rany Jazayerli: "[H]as any playoff team been so reliant on their top two starters as these Diamondbacks are? And having carried the D'backs this far, can Johnson and Schilling finish the job and pull the team all the way to the summit?" (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer wonders whether Schilling will be effective on three days' rest. (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "The Yankees should be able to beat the aces at least once, and in the games they don't start, Brenly is going to be out of his depth. Yankees in seven." (Baseball Prospectus)

Bill Simmons on Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. "I don't have enough space to defend Billy Buck right now, but let the record show that, along with Baylor, he was the heart and soul of this team, he had 110 RBI that season [actually 102], he deserved to be out there, he couldn't have beaten Mookie to the first base bag and the Mets would have won the damn game, anyway. Give him a break. Please. I will not argue about this." True, Buckner's error is overemphasized. But I dispute the common wisdom that Buckner "deserved to be out there" because he was so important to the team. First of all, there's no shame in coming out for a defensive replacement, especially with the friggin' World Series on the line. But more to the point, Buckner sucked in 1986. 102 RBI? So what? He was batting behind Dwight Evans and Wade Boggs, with pre-600-Club Fenway as his home field. Rey Quinones could have come close to 102 RBI under those conditions. For the record, Buckner had a .311 OBP and a .421 SLG. Barely respectable for a shortstop who bats 9th; awful for a first baseman who bats 3rd. (ESPN)

Joe Posnanski interviews Bill James. "There is absolutely no question," James says, "that any way you look at it, Mike Macfarlane is one of the 100 best catchers of all time." (Kansas City Star)

Joe Sheehan: "Bob Brenly has avoided using Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson on short rest so far, but I believe that he will--he should, anyway--use them five times in a seven-game World Series." (Baseball Prospectus)

Anderson back in D'Backs rotation as World Series starter. ...meaning that Schilling and Johnson will only start twice each. Maybe Brenly will change his mind if the Snakes are down 2-1 after the first three games. (Yahoo!)

Gonzalez, Burba won't be back with Indians. "Very clearly, the lineage of Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Juan Gonzalez is over," says new GM Mark Shapiro. Gee, I bet that makes Indians fans want to rush out and renew their season tickets. (ESPN)

A's no longer opposed to Giambi no-trade. Too late? Gary Santerre had a good point, in Clutch Hits: "I think Oakland was silly to let this issue be a deal breaker with their best player. They way I look at it, if the A's begin to stink, which is unlikely, Giambi would waive the clause anyway. If they remain contenders, they wouldn't trade him then either." (ESPN)

Yankees dismiss Mariners in ALCS, will meet D-Backs in Series. Welcome to Buck Showalter's personal Hell... (Arizona Republic)

...which he correctly predicted in April. Buck was the only one of ESPN's analysts who foresaw a Yankees/Snakes World Series.

Bill Simmons praises Joe Torre. "For some reason, some baseball managers mistakenly believe that they're playing chess, when they're really playing checkers most of the time. That's the Tony LaRussa Syndrome, when a manager tries too many things in an effort to remind everyone that, 'Hey, I'm a very important man performing a very important job here!'" (ESPN)

Jay Jaffe previews the ALCS. (Futility Infielder)

So you think you know Cincinnati baseball? Try the Weekly Reds Quiz.

Next scheduled post: October 22.

Joe Sheehan: "I've said this before, and I'll say it again, I'm sure, but attributing character traits to individuals based on their performance in baseball games is short-sighted nonsense." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl previews the NLCS. "Luis Gonzalez, Jay Bell, Mark Grace, and Matt Williams have all enjoyed the privilege of losing to the Braves in a postseason series, while Curt Schilling and Steve Finley are among the happy non-Yankee few who can remember beating them. When you assemble a team out of the famous and the ex-famous, those kinds of campfire stories are a fringe benefit." (Baseball Prospectus)

Robert Dudek previews the NLCS. (Mostly Baseball)

Bill Simmons: "If the Yanks and D-Backs end up playing in the World Series, I hope someone promotes it with the catch phrase, 'Welcome to Buck Showalter's Personal Hell!'" (ESPN)

Rob Neyer: "I ain't much for absolutes, but I hereby pronounce, with the authority vested in me, that if you're reading this and you're not excited at the prospect of Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson pitching against each other in October, well then by gosh there's probably something wrong with you, to the extent that I would advise a complete neurological workup." (ESPN)

King Kaufman: "[L]et's take a look at the League Championship Series, and I don't mean a look through the MasterCard Fan Cam, about which: What the heck is that about? Does the MasterCard Fan Cam purposely seek out nondescript-looking people who are staring into space?" (Salon)

Joe Sheehan: "Anyway you slice it, the Astros have run into some vicious pitching in October." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "One great play doesn't make Derek Jeter a greater player than Alex Rodriguez any more than one great play made Ron Swoboda a greater player than Roberto Clemente. That said, what Jeter did Saturday ranks among the greatest defensive plays in the history of game, due to the mental and physical difficulty of it and its importance. I certainly won't ever forget it." (ESPN)

Sean Forman keeps adding cool features to Baseball-Reference.com. You can now look up players by place of birth. For example, here is a list of the 10 major leaguers born in Wyoming. The best one: Tom Browning.

Gary Huckabay: "I hate the freakin' Yankees, but I understand and appreciate the magic. I don't understand the whole Dallas Cowboys thing, and ascribe it to some kind of genetic disorder or chemical imbalance, but I understand how people can be Yankee fans. Not that that forgives them or anything." (Baseball Prospectus)

Joe Sheehan: "[A]m I the only one who is curious as to how the Indians/Mariners game might have developed had Charlie Manuel sent up some left-handed hitter to bat for Travis Fryman or Marty Cordova in the seventh inning yesterday against Jeff Nelson?… [Russ] Branyan's main value is his ability to go yard off a right-hander; if he's not going to be sent up down five runs against Jeff Nelson, you might as well let Ryan Drese have the roster spot." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chat wrap with Rob Neyer. Sharon in Seattle asks: "If you had to choose just one to sign, would you resign Sele or Boone?" Rob answers: "This may sound crazy, but I wouldn't re-sign either of them, unless Boone's willing to sign for cheap. Sele's solid and he's from the Seattle area, but the M's are loaded with young pitchers. And Boone's unlikely to play so well again, though of course we might have said the same about Luis Gonzalez two years ago." (ESPN)

Joe Dimino: "After 5 years of pushing the magic buttons, Torre is finally screwing up everything he touches. Let me recap:
1 - Decision to start O'Neill and Justice Wednesday awful.
2 - Decision to start Clemens Wednesday.
3 - Calling on Hitchcock instead of Mendoza Wednesday.
4 - Batting O'Neill 3rd and Posada 6th yesterday. This borders on the ludicrous.
Looks like we're finally paying the piper. The same things that made Torre great three years ago are starting to bring him down now. He has to adjust." (Mostly Baseball)

Another good weblog, this one written by a Padres fan: Geoff's Baseball Weblog. "Hard to get into [the playoffs] too much when your team doesn't make it...On the (somewhat) bright side, it was like watching the Padres back in June. Woody Williams (gotta love him) shut down the Diamondbacks and outpitched Randy Johnson to steal a game in Arizona and even the series. How sweet was that? Then it was Sterling Hitchcock and Jay Witasick helping the Yankees lose to Oakland. Awesome."

Geoff's site also includes some feature-length articles, primarily about Padres prospects. Here's an article from August called Where Do Aces Come From?

Rob Neyer writes "a few notes on the game that almost certainly spells the end of the Yankee dynasty in its current manifestation." (ESPN)

The Internet Baseball Awards are here. You have until October 22 to cast your votes. Proofread your ballots carefully. Don't be like me. I just gave JEREMY Giambi a second-place MVP vote.

Rob Neyer writes a simulated Baseball Dynasties chapter for the 2001 Mariners. (ESPN)

Now that the playoffs have begun and their teams didn't make it, Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds are old news. But here's Allen Barra on Bonds and Allen St. John on Henderson anyway. (Salon)

Greg Hall interviews the last remaining Royals fan. OK, not really. He's just an 81-year-old guy who has missed only a few games since 1976. He's willing to give Tony Muser one more year (but just one). (Pitch Weekly)

Mostly Baseball is a very interesting new site centering on sabermetric analysis.

Cleveland-Seattle preview from Mostly Baseball. I had speculated in Clutch Hits yesterday that the Indians might stack up well against the Mariners in Bill James's postseason prediction system. It turns out that it's a huge mismatch in Seattle's favor, despite the Indians' big edge in home run power.

Rob Neyer on postseason shortstop swapping. (ESPN)

Williams outduels Big Unit as Cards even series. Williams was a great mid-season pickup for St. Louis, and it looks like Ray Lankford will fit right into the Padres' plans, making it a good trade for both teams. Randy Johnson has now lost 7 straight postseason games. (ESPN)

Bernie Miklasz: "If you expected Williams to do this, then you also knew that Kurt Warner would lead the Rams to the Super Bowl championship in 1999. This is why we love sports. Every now and then, a Warner or a Williams wanders in, producing an instant fairy tale." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Braves send Astros to brink with 1-0 win. Can't blame Mlicki (5 IP, 1 R, 0 ER), or the bullpen (4 IP, 0 R), or Bagwell (2 for 2, 2 walks). (ESPN)

Royals shake up coaching staff as White is reassigned. Congratulations to the Royals for attacking their problems. Baird is doing a bang-up job, Muser is a Manager of the Year candidate, but those coaches sure cost them a lot of games. (ESPN)

Joe Sheehan: "I expect the Mariners' pitchers to do their usual good job, at least in the first two games. But I expect that either Colon or Sabathia is going to have one of those ridiculous starts we seem to see every year in the Division Series, some 80ish game score that steals a game for the Tribe in Seattle and changes the entire nature of the series. I think it'll be Colon in Game 1." He wrote this yesterday, in his Indians/Mariners series preview. Good call. (Baseball Prospectus)

Bud Shaw: "Mariners' baseball is an amazing thing to watch, especially when it's played by the Indians." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Hugo Lindgren on how to beat the Mariners. (Slate)

Joe Sheehan on the other three series. "I think the A's are the better team, but the Yankees could do what they've done in so many postseasons: ride the pitching staff to a victory." (Baseball Prospectus)

Fran Blinebury on Larry Dierker's decision to bring in Mike Jackson instead of Octavio Dotel to protect an 8th-inning lead: "Dotel-to-Wagner is a big part of what got the Astros to this point, and we hear all the time that baseball is the game that reveals itself over the long haul of the season...What Dierker did was employ advanced calculus instead of simply adding two-plus-two." (Houston Chronicle)

Ryan Wilkins on the Division Series matchups. (Baseball Junkie)

Clemens: The Greatest of All Time. Allen Barra tells why. (Village Voice)

Joe Sheehan's ballots for MVP, Cy and Rookie. Giambi, Bonds, Mussina, Johnson, Ichiro, Pujols. (Baseball Prospectus)

Keith Law on the Cardinals/Diamondbacks series. "Facing Johnson twice and Schilling once or twice should be enough to do in the Cardinals, although all of the games should be close as neither team seems likely to score many runs. Diamondbacks in four." (Baseball Prospectus)

Chris Kahrl on the Braves/Astros series. "Sadly, somebody's going to have to lose this series, which means that either the Braves or the Astros will continue to be labeled postseason losers despite the accomplishment of getting there." (Baseball Prospectus)

Clay Davenport: "I'm having trouble deciding which of Barry Bonds's new records is the most astounding. I'm pretty sure it is not the 73 home runs." (Baseball Prospectus)

Derek Zumsteg on being an A's fan: "The Athletics don't make excuses. They acknowledge their limitations, but instead of whining that they don't have any money, they talk about how important it is to spend what they have in the right way. And having said that, they follow through, making investments in long-term contracts to young players, their farm system, and their draft picks, instead of finding an available, aging stiff with recognizable fame to spend their money." (Baseball Prospectus)

Division Series Roundtable from Baseball Prospectus. Gary Huckabay: "This series is going to be highly umpire dependent. A big strike zone means the Yankees win, a small strike zone means the Yankees are butchered in three grisly games. If Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, and Terrence Long are all convinced they need to swing at borderline pitches, the A's offense will pull a shriveling act not often seen outside of Barrow."

Rick Hummel: "At least two points stand out in the Cardinals' best-of-five first-round playoff series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which begins Tuesday night. One is that the Cardinals are the only team that hasn't lost this season to either Curt Schilling or Randy Johnson, the Arizona Diamondbacks aces who will pitch the first two games of the series. The other is that the Cardinals are the only major-league team not to have lost in the first round of the playoff system now in use." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Bill Livingston: "As near as I can figure it, John Rocker is on the Indians' playoff roster as a parting gift to John Hart, a dribble glass or whoopie cushion being unavailable." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Sox' big three are a huge flop when it comes to leadership. Bill Reynolds reveals the reason the Red Sox had a bad year. It wasn't the injuries to Garciaparra, Martinez and Varitek. It wasn't the anemic offense. It wasn't the bullpen. It wasn't the inability of any starting pitcher besides Hideo Nomo to stay healthy and pitch well for any length of time. It wasn't the Duquette/Williams/Kerrigan sideshow. It wasn't Carl Everett. It was lack of leadership on the part of Martinez, Ramirez and Garciaparra. This column reeks of the rip-the-superstars mentality that has always ruled the Globe, the Herald and WEEI. I'm disappointed to see it in the Providence Journal. (Whatever happened to Art Martone, anyway? Does he still work there? His last column was a glowing review of Joe Kerrigan's introductory press conference in mid-August.) (Providence Journal)

Lots of interesting stuff happened yesterday: Bonds hit homer #70; Henderson passed Cobb; the Mariners got win #114; the A's got win #99; the Braves pushed the Phillies to the brink; the Astros continued to falter; the Giants kept pace with the Diamondbacks, and pulled closer to the Astros, but they're running out of time. (ESPN)

Mike Lupica: "This was a joke series in Houston until No. 70. The Astros looked like a joke team. Dierker was a joke manager. It would be sensational if the Astros keep losing now and the Giants beat them out for the wild card in the National League even if the Giants can't catch the Arizona Diamondbacks." Sure, Mike. Heaven forbid the Astros try their best to win. Allowing an opponent to break a record is much more important. (New York Daily News)

Chris Karhl's Transaction Analysis for September 26 - October 3. "I hope I'm not alone in remembering [Alex] Fernandez as one of the game's best pitchers in the 1990s. Like Gary Nolan or Dan Petry or Vic Raschi or Moose Earnshaw, he's never going to be confused with a Hall of Famer, but he's in the hall of 'man, he was good for a while there.'" (Baseball Prospectus)

BONDS BREAKS THE RECORD! The single-season walks record, that is (172). The home run record is still out there. The Astros have lost five straight, but they're still 3 games ahead of the Giants for the wild card. (ESPN)

D-Backs maintain two-game lead with Schilling's 22nd win. Every time the Giants win, the Snakes win. Every time the Giants lose, the Snakes lose. (ESPN)

Henderson ties Cobb with 2,245th run. He's also the career walks leader, with 2140, and, of course, the career stolen base leader (he broke that record in 1991 and just keeps adding to it). (ESPN)

Breathing room: Braves rebuild two-game lead over Phillies. But the Phillies can stay very much alive if they win tonight (Duckworth (3-1) vs. Burkett (11-12) at 7:35 on TBS). (ESPN)

Joe Sheehan on the Braves/Phillies race. "I'm not a big fan of [Larry] Bowa; he seems to be a 'boy, I sure managed good; they just played bad' guy, someone willing, even eager, to blame his players in public for their failings." (Baseball Prospectus)

Rob Neyer: "It certainly was odd to see so many empty seats -- approximately 20,000 of them -- at Turner Field last night…[O]ne can't help but think that if Braves fans can't be bothered to show up for the climax of a great pennant race, perhaps it's time for some other team's fans to have a shot." (ESPN)

Boston 10, Tampa Bay 3. In his three starts, Derek Lowe has allowed two runs in 16 innings. He should be in the rotation next year. All three games in this series had a final score of 10-3. (ESPN)

Clutch Hits discussion of Randy Johnson's place in history. Better than Koufax? Better than Ryan? (Baseball Primer)

Baseball Junkie is a weblog written by an 18-year-old A's fan who "can name every World Series winner from 1949 to the present day."

Greg Hall: "Tony Muser not only hasn't been able to put together a winning season; this sad sack hasn't managed to pilot the Royals to a winning month in his four and a half years. Incredibly, David Glass staunchly stands behind Muser, telling the Kansas City Star Sunday, 'Tony Muser is coming back (to manage the Royals in 2002).' Trade Johnny Damon, trade Jermaine Dye, but keep Tony Muser? Thank God Glass' Wal Mart stores don't have bakeries: He'd stock the bins with hard, moldy loaves and throw out the cake." (Pitch Weekly)

Rob Neyer announces the end of Rob and Rany on the Royals: "And so I'm done, my friends. I am grateful for your time and your encouraging words over the last two-plus years, but I simply can't spend another minute writing "for fun" about a team that's owned by David Glass, another year trying to figure out a team that somehow employs Allard Baird and Tony Muser, incompetent fools both of them, in its two most important positions."

Johnson won't chase record if West is won. The Big Unit needs 11 K's to tie Nolan Ryan's single-season mark. The Diamondbacks remain 2 games ahead of the Giants. (ESPN)

Cool Wolf keeps fire lit for Bowa. Randy does it again. The Phillies trail the Braves by only one game. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Thomas Boswell: "Based purely on statistics -- such as homers, slugging average and on-base percentage -- Bonds is probably having the third-best season in baseball history. And those are normally fabulously useful stats. However, in terms of actual value to his team, which is the measure that virtually every GM, manager and player would use, Bonds is having perhaps the fourth-best season in his league in '01." (Washington Post)

Rob Neyer: "[Boswell's] column reached its nadir near the end, where we read, 'At the moment, there's no way a knowledgeable baseball writer could vote for Bonds over Sosa for MVP if neither's team makes the playoffs.' Gosh, I guess this might make me the least knowledgeable baseball writer in the history of the profession. But considering the source of the accusation, I think I'll consider it a compliment." (ESPN)

Joe Sheehan looks at the AL MVP race. It comes down to Alomar, Boone, Giambi and A-Rod. (Baseball Prospectus)

Jeff Gordon: "Back in July…[t]his correspondent - despite being the most fervent La Russa supporter in this media market - had finally abandoned hope for 2001. Idiot!" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Bruce Markusen on the Washington Senators' final game, 30 years ago this week. The Senators forfeited when fans swarmed the field with two outs in the ninth. (Baseball Primer)

Rob Neyer on the greatest pennant races of all time. (ESPN Classic)

Faltering Astros face make-or-break week. Not really. Even if they don't win the Central, they've got the inside track for the wild card. If they win at least one game against the Giants this week, they're in. (Houston Chronicle)

Paul Hoynes: "The unbalanced schedule has been [the Indians'] friend. They won the division by going 14-5 against the Twins." True. If the Twins had managed to win just 9 of the 19 games, the Indians would be clinging to a half-game lead. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Bill Bias: “I don’t even know why they play these games. Wouldn’t the Orioles be happier at home fishing or something else? When a team gets 25 games ahead of another team those games should be automatic forfeits because there’s no way the team with the worse record is going to win. It’s a waste of everyone’s time to play them. If you’re laughing -- don’t, because I’m serious about this. If people need to see the end of Cal Ripken’s career so badly, just have him finish out the year with the Yankees. He can pinch hit and such. My pick on this one is Yankees 7 Orioles 3 and it’s that close only because el Dukey is going for my Yanks and he’s still all rusty and what have you. Put it in the ledger.” (Jim Baker's Baseball Preview)

Orioles 7, NY Yankees 2. (ESPN)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for September 19-25. "Like Dan Duquette or Kevin Malone or Bill Bavasi or Randy Smith or Cam Bonifay, [Jim] Beattie is someone who shouldn't come under consideration for a GM job any time in the future. He didn't learn from his mistakes, and appeared to be a far too willing handmaiden to the machinations to make Felipe Alou leave through the slow replacement of his coaches." (Baseball Prospectus)