Scranton won the Governor's Cup, destroying the Durham Bulls 20-2. Phil Hughes started and went just five, but struck out (a ridiculous) 12 batters. Only three outs were not strikeouts against him. Juan Miranda was the offensive hero, going 3-5 with a home run and six RBI. They will play either the Oklahoma Red Hawks or the Sacramento River Cats for the Triple-A title in a one game 'Bricktown Showdown' (Tuesday, 8 p.m., ESPN2).
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Instant replay can't and shouldn't be stopped. Hopefully within five years, replay will be available for every out/safe call. And the natural conclusion would be to use a system like ESPN's 'K-Zone' or FOX's 'Pitch Tracker' to determine balls and strikes. They have zero bias with total and complete fairness. No more Greg Maddux getting a larger strike zone or David Ortiz getting the benefit of every close call; and any slowing down of games would be negligible at most.
- YES says it's fine with Yankee announcers openly crticizing the team. Michael Kay gets ripped a lot for being a Yankee homer, but have you ever heard other announcers (Seattle and Chicago spring to mind)? They openly root for their team and against the opponents who, in Chicago's case, are even referred to as 'the bad guys'.
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Jon Heyman thinks CC Sabathia may end up with the Angels (he does have an affinity for SoCal). What could be worse than our toughest opponent getting the best free agent pitcher (since Randy Johnson in 1998) in the prime of his career?
- Carl Bialik takes an in-depth look at the age old question: is Arod clutch? To paraphrase: not at all this year and average for his career. Sounds about right.
- Andy Pettitte will start the last game at Yankee Stadium. Not to be outdone is Bernie Williams, who will make his long awaited return to the Stadium (next Sunday, 9/21). No one else would be fitting. Those two Yankees spent 27 seasons with the Yankees, helping them win four World Series.