In case you were in a cave, this happened last night. (A handy timeline.)
Lots more below.
- Joe Girardi has some tough roster decisions to make before Friday's game against the Tigers. Who makes the bullpen? Colon? What about the bench?
- Two decisions Girardi has already made are that Rookie of the Year contender Ivan Nova will start game 2 and that Freddy Garcia will start game 3. (Come back at 11 a.m. for my take on Garcia vs. Burnett.)
- The Tigers beat the Indians, 5-4, but finished a game behind the Rangers and will therefore have to travel to New York for the ALDS. Their top hitter, Miguel Cabrera, won the batting title (.344) and will surely receive some MVP votes.
- Bob Nightengale looked back at a rare trade that helped all the teams involved: the December 2009 deal that sent Ian Kennedy to Arizona, Austin Jackson to Detroit, and Curtis Granderson to the Yanks. All three have had seasons ranging from nice to MVP-caliber, and all are postseason bound.
- I feel kind of dirty writing this, but I think it's newsworthy: Did Brian Cashman have an extra-marital affair? Hard to tell from the grainy photos.
- Talk about die hard. Steve Melia attended every Yankee game this season. And not just the home games, but all 162 games. Impressive. The cost? About $60K.
- Joba Chamberlain helped finance the building of a walking track in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.
- The Mets denied the Yankees the right to move their Triple-A club to Newark for the 2012 season while their home park is renovated. The Mets used their "territorial rights" to terminate the deal. No wonder Scranton wants to renovate their park when Stadium Journey awarded them 2/5 stars.
- Fox Sports sued the Dodgers over a proposed television rights sale. Hey, anything that can get FOX to stop broadcasting sports is fine by me, so I hope the Dodgers win.
- Missed it, but Monday was a day of several historic Yankee milestones.
- Gravel at Yankee Stadium inspired a memorial for a 9/11 victim.
- Harvesting Opinion talked about the catching situation and the Killer B's.
- A clever Yankees song (with surprisingly good production value).
- On a personal note, I want to apologize for the lag around SBN last night. It hasn't been confirmed, but I believe it was due to a surge in traffic caused by the craziness of the Rays-Yanks, Sox-O's, Cards-Stros and Braves-Phils.