EVIL~! alkeiper

Now if the Rockies can come back and tie the Padres for the wild card, the Pads will have to burn Jake Peavy in a play-in game instead of game one of the NLDS.

And the greatest comeback in divisional history is complete. The Phillies are YOUR National League East champions. Next time Jimmy Rollins says his team is the team to beat, try beating them in September.

Three outs from a division championship. Unreal.

I really want the Marlins to seal this first so the Phillies can celebrate with their win.

And the meltdown is ON~!

One more bit, the Atlanta/Houston game on TBS is Craig Biggio's final MLB game.

Live chat today as well. If someone wants to chat NFL I'll set up an additional room to accommodate that.

I'm not sure what kind of options television stations have when it comes to today. I'm sure some stations would show games if they could. TBS is showing the Braves' outing. Edit: Also, today is traditionally more of a day for local baseball, since there is not always a playoff spot at stake.

HQ, James Loney is not rookie eligible. He spent more than 45 days on an active roster last season.

It does count in the standings, but it doesn't count in terms of the wild card playoff. Any statistics accumulated in such games count as regular season statistics. Important Games today: Florida Marlins (Dontrelle Willis) @ New York Mets (Tom Glavine), 1:10pm Washington Nationals (Jason Bergmann) @ Philadelphia Phillies, 1:35pm San Diego Padres (Brett Tomko) @ Milwaukee Brewers (Jeff Suppan), 2:05pm Arizona Diamondbacks (Doug Davis) @ Colorado Rockies (Ubaldo Jimenez), 3:05pm San Diego can clinch the wild card today with a victory. The Mets and Phillies are tied, you can do the math on that one. Colorado needs a win and San Diego loss to force a wild card playoff.

-Patterson/Slaughter boot camp match. Patterson repeatedly rams Slaughter into the ring post, drawing more blood each time before the Grand Wizard runs to ringside and throws in the towel on behalf of Slaughter. Wizard then has to hold Slaughter back from the ring. -Santana/Valentine cage match. Santana climbs over the cage and kicks the door in Greg Valentine's face.

If Michael Buffer allows them to have his footage gratis in order to present accurate history, that's great. If you want to charge money, then WWE has no obligation.

You make an excellent point. The manager of the year award often goes to either a first place team, or the most surprising good team. Managers of the year over the last decade have included Dusty Baker, Larry Bowa, Ozzie Guillen, Jimy Williams and Jerry Manuel. You don't get the impression as with the MVP voting that these men represent the cream of their field. I think like players, a manager's skills and performance from year to year should be relatively static. Yet the award bounces all over the place. Managers are almost certainly evaluated by the on-field personnel they are given. It makes it a silly award overall. If you give the award to say, Joe Torre, what skills are you exactly praising him for, besides winning? Most of us can't answer that when we make our awards picks.

Kept a clearly understaffed Cardinals squad in the race until the final two weeks.

AL Most Valuable Player 1. Alex Rodriguez, NYY 2. Magglio Ordonez, Det 3. Vladimir Guerrero, LAA 4. David Ortiz, Bos 5. Curtis Granderson, Det 6. Jorge Posada, NYY 7. Carlos Pena, TB 8. B.J. Upton, TB 9. Mike Lowell, Bos 10. Jim Thome, CWS NL Most Valuable Player 1. Matt Holliday, Col 2. Prince Fielder, Mil 3. Albert Pujols, StL 4. Jimmy Rollins, Phi 5. David Wright, NYY 6. Miguel Cabrera, Fla 7. Chase Utley, Phi 8. Hanley Ramirez, Fla 9. Chipper Jones, Atl 10. Pat Burrell, Phi AL Cy Young 1. C.C. Sabathia, Cle 2. Josh Beckett, Bos 3. John Lackey, LAA Where the hell did Lackey come from? 19 wins and the league leader in ERA?! NL Cy Young 1. Jake Peavy, SD 2. Brandon Webb, Ari 3. John Smoltz, Atl AL Rookie of the Year 1. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos 2. Brian Bannister, KC 3. Jeremy Guthrie, Bal NL Rookie of the Year 1. Ryan Braun, Mil 2. Troy Tulowitzki, Col 3. Chris Young, Ari AL Manager of the Year 1. Jim Leyland, Det 2. Mike Scioscia, LAA 3. John McLaren, Sea NL Manager of the Year 1. Tony LaRussa, StL 2. Manny Acta, Was 3. Lou Piniella, ChC

Real simple here. Just fill out the ballot, and we'll count the votes in about a week. We use the same categories used by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. In the case of the MVP, points are awarded on a 14-9-8-7 etc. system. Points are 5-3-1 for the other categories. What follows is the MVP instructions sent to the voters, followed by the ballots. Dear Voter: There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier. The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931: 1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense. 2. Number of games played. 3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort. 4. Former winners are eligible. 5. Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team. You are also urged to give serious consideration to all your selections, from 1 to 10. A 10th-place vote can influence the outcome of an election. You must fill in all 10 places on your ballot. Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, and that includes pitchers and designated hitters. Only regular-season performances are to be taken into consideration. AL Most Valuable Player 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. NL Most Valuable Player 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. AL Cy Young 1. 2. 3. NL Cy Young 1. 2. 3. AL Rookie of the Year 1. 2. 3. NL Rookie of the Year 1. 2. 3. AL Manager of the Year 1. 2. 3. NL Manager of the Year 1. 2. 3.

One more day for it all. No more prognostications or predictions, you really can't predict what's going to happen in a single day. It is going to be nerve-racking, that is for sure. The Mets and Phillies are once again tied. The big story however might be San Diego's blown save. They could have clinched a playoff spot today. Instead they remain with 89 wins, and if they lose tomorrow any of three teams could equal their record. The Rockies' miracle run lives for the 162nd game.

Correct. I believe it would be Cubs @ D'backs, Padres @ Phillies. I'm leaving in a few minutes for the game. I'm stoked to see probably the biggest game in the history of Citizens Bank Park thus far. Marlins/Mets is at 1pm so we'll have a good idea if the Phils have a chance to clinch by gametime. Despite being a game up I'm a little anxious. Baseball really is a funny game sometimes. What people forget about 1964 is that after the Phils blew the lead, the Cardinals needed to take just one game from the Mets in a three game series to clinch. The Cards lost the first two. The Reds just needed one win in two games against the reeling Phils to force a tie and they couldn't do it. The Mets could still win the division by 5pm tomorrow.

Josh Anderson's non-production will certainly be a welcome sight to the rest of the league as well.

Under the radar but important move. The Tigers announced Carlos Guillen is moving to first base next season.

On a side note, again I'll hold court in TSM's chat room for the game.

Crisis averted, Blue Ridge picked up the game and put it on another channel.

Here's a real kick in the balls. The Phillies game is not televised in my area tonight.

And that's why Camden Yards is the best ballpark in Major League Baseball. I went down for three games in April of '05 (one against Detroit and a two game series against Boston) and when I found that out, I was overjoyed. It's too bad though that the two best parks in the majors (PNC Park and the aforementioned Camden) are inhabited by two teams that are the drizzling shit. Honestly, for an out-of-towner like myself it makes it easier if the team sucks. I've driven two hours for Low A baseball so obviously team quality isn't a concern. A smaller crowd makes the experience easier.

I can't put Peter Angelos at the top of the list solely because you can bring food and drink into Camden Yards.