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Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino homered and Ryan Howard extended his streak of postseason games with an RBI to a record seven, but Sunday night was all about Cliff Lee. The left-hander pitched eight shutout innings and struck out 10 in the Phillies’ 11-0 victory. This one was over quickly, as the Phillies scored four…

ALCS Game 1 Live Blog/Chat

NLCS Game 1 live blog/chat

If listening to Chip Caray and Joe Buck just isn’t enough for you, we’ll be blog-chatting throughout the LCS. I’ll be your host for the Game 1s in primetime tonight and on Friday. Also, D.J. Short will take Sunday night’s NLCS Game 3.

Braves acquire OF Carlos Lee from the Astros for RHP Derek Lowe and OF Brandon Jones. Why it works for Atlanta: the Braves would love to bring Tim Hudson back, yet they already have five starters in Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson and Kenshin Kawakami. One of the vets needs to go, and…

Anyone else thinking about Rick Ankiel right now wouldn’t be off base. Manager Joe Torre announced Wednesday that Clayton Kershaw would start Thursday’s Game 1 against the Phillies. He was picked over Randy Wolf, who started Game 1 against the Cardinals last week. Kershaw followed in Game 2 of that series and allowed two runs…

After convincing sweeps in Divisional Series play, the Angels and Yankees will meet in the ALCS. It’ll be the third postseason series in eight years for the teams. They never played in the first 31 years of the Angels’ existence, but they met in the ALDS in 2002 and 2005, with the Angels winning both…

It sure blows Dave O’Brien’s theory out of the water, doesn’t it? Then again, we already knew that O’Brien hadn’t thought this through very well. According to FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal, Hudson is set to decline his half of the $12 million mutual option the Braves hold on his contract and become a free agent. The…

How can you have spent the last 12 years covering the NL and believe that Brad Hawpe is a legitimate center fielder capable of pushing Kosuke Fukudome to right field? I actually think Bruce Miles is one of the Cubs’ best beat writers, but that’s an ugly error. It’s not like Hawpe is a newcomer.…

Ryan Howard had the go-ahead hit in the ninth Sunday. This time he settled for the game-tying two-run double and left it up to Jayson Werth to knock him in. Werth, who hit a solo homer in the sixth, did just that with a single to center and the Phillies won 5-4. The one non-sweep…

It was exactly the kind of move one might expect from a player who had a chance to play basketball at Harvard. Fortunately, Dexter Fowler passed on that opportunity and took a $925,000 bonus to sign with the Rockies after being selected in the 14th round in 2004. On Monday, with the Phillies up 2-1…

Every year, the terribly broken Elias Rankings play a much larger role than most realize in which free agents signs where and when. Fungible relievers and part-time infielders can see their options dwindle because they’re foolishly classified as Type A free agents. Meanwhile, starting pitchers in line for $30 million-$40 million contract can come compensation…

Two future Hall of Fame managers matched up in the NLDS, and the end result was a no contest. Everything Joe Torre touched this week turned to gold. Tony La Russa, who had more options with his flexible roster, opted to stay the course and came up well short. Torre’s biggest successes: 1. Going to…

Saturday’s Game 3 between the Phillies and Rockies was postponed due to cold weather and snow, leaving the remaining three games in the NLDS series to be played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The extra day off would seem to be of clear benefit of the Phillies. They will now bring back Cliff Lee and Cole…

Just because a guy has a lousy postseason reputation, it’s still probably not the best strategy to start grooving fastballs. The Twins had Game 2 of the ALDS in control when they took a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning Saturday. They even picked up the last run after Mariano Rivera entered, and they went…

The Twins and Joe Mauer were the latest victims of atrocious postseason umpiring in Friday’s game against the Yankees, when the likely MVP sliced a liner down the left-field line and had it drop a foot fair, only to see the ball ruled foul by left-field umpire Phil Cuzzi. Cuzzi did have to contend with…

The Angels, who have had three of their last four postseason runs spoiled by the Red Sox, took a big step towards getting the Rally Monkey off their backs with a 5-0 victory in Thursday’s ALDS Game 1. Boston had plenty of reason to gripe after the game. Torii Hunter should have been rung up…

Pedro Martinez has made an impressive late-season comeback, but Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ still looked like the Phillies’ third- and fourth-best starters, if not second- and third-best, entering the postseason. That’s why it was such a surprise to see both pitch in relief in Thursday’s Game 2 loss to the Rockies. It was Cole…

Chris Carpenter hadn’t issued four walks in a game since an NLCS start in 2006. Randy Wolf hadn’t walked five batters since a loss June 27, 2008 against the Mariners. In Wednesday’s Game 1, both fell victim to wildness in combining to pitch just 8 2/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 5-3 win. Fortunately for Los…

Keeping a team controlled by the game’s most tight-fisted owner in contention is no easy feat, and Fredi Gonzalez has a perfectly acceptable .499 winning percentage in his three years at the helm of the Marlins. Still, Florida’s success owes far more to the underrated Larry Beinfest than anyone else in the organization. Gonzalez has…

Twins-Yankees Game 1 Live Blog/Chat

Brian Powell, who went 7-18 with a 5.94 ERA for four teams over five big-league seasons, shot himself Monday in Florida, leaving behind a wife and three children. Powell, an All-American at the University of Georgia, pitched for the U.S. in the World Cup in 2004. He was a second-round pick of the Tigers in…

Apparently satisfied with finishing in fifth place, the Astros have opted to pick up Brian Moehler’s $3 million option rather than exercise a $250,000 buyout. It was actually a mutual option — the kind that never seems to get exercised — but Moehler was quick to jump all over the kindhearted gesture. Certainly, no one…

Here we go again. For the third straight season, the wild-card winning Red Sox and AL West champion Angels will match up in the ALDS. The Red Sox have gone through the Angels on the way to their last three World Series visits in 1986, 2004 and 2007. They also won last year’s series, only…

Though he is a quick learner, apparently. 10 years before replacing J.P. Ricciardi and assuming the title of Blue Jays interim general manager, Alex Anthopoulos took part in Scoresheet fantasy baseball, a game of which I also happen to be a fan. I’m not going to do a full rundown — if you’re interested, click…