ESPN New York | Andrew Marchand: Fans don't often get to see CC Sabathia in vintage Cy Young-winning form anymore, but good CC was back in action on Sunday afternoon. He offered his thoughts on this successful start, hopeful that it will help get his season back on track. Fingers crossed!
New York Times | Billy Witz: Speaking of 2009 playoffs stars, World Series MVP Hideki Matsui has made a comeback! The catch: He's pitching and batting right-handed for a team in New York's Japanese-American Association, which is mostly made up of people with regular day jobs. It's really awesome that the man loves the game so much that he's continuing to play it for fun. Godzilla's the best.
LoHud | Chad Jennings: Although it was unfortunate for Rob Refsnyder to learn that he had been demoted prior to Sunday's game, he took it in stride, understanding that sometimes, baseball rosters are simply numbers games designed to protect the assets. (One could obviously debate whether or not Brendan Ryan is an asset, but I digress.) To his credit, Refsnyder is determined to make it back to the pros in pinstripes and to improve any way that he can.
New York Times | William Rhoden: Prior to Sunday's series finale, Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon was asked about being baseball's only African-American manager, an unfortunate distinction after years of strides made by pioneers like Frank Robinson, Cito Gaston, and others. He noted that it seemed like African-American managers were never given second chances after initial firings, a point which Willie Randolph fans would wholeheartedly agree. I understand that the 30 teams want to hire who they feel is the best man for the job, but it feels gross that they're working around the rule that pretty much mandates interviewing African-American candidates by promoting random white guys in the organization (sometimes with no experience at all), slapping on the interim tag, and simply removing it at the end of the season. C'mon, MLB. Be better than that.
Bergen Record | Bob Klapisch: Yankees fans are still booing Robinson Cano for accepting a contract worth $65 million more than the Yankees' offer, something I'm sure Joe Schmo would simply never do. Nope. No way. NOT GONNA TAKE THAT $65 MILLION, BUB. Excuse me while my eyes roll out of the back of my head.