Stats-crunching finds a new hero

According to Nate Silver, you should keep a serious eye on the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers in 2009.

And if you've been paying any attention to politics in the tumultuous year of 2008, you probably already know that Silver is a guy worth listening to.

Silver is a household name to the growing sect of baseball fans known as sabermetricians. He is one of the managing partners of the statistic-bible called Baseball Prospectus.

He developed the PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) system of projecting players' future performance, the QERA, a defense-independent pitching statistic, and he writes a well-received Web column urging baseball fans to look beyond conventional statistics that he believes are now far behind the times.

And on Nov. 4, 2008, Silver stunned the political world when his political projection site, FiveThirtyEight.com, nailed Barack Obama's victory over John McCain in the presidential election better than any poll could ever dream of.

FiveThirtyEight.com, named for the total amount of electoral college votes during the presidential election, predicted that Obama would win by 6.1 percentage points (he won by 7.0) and was correct in 49 of the 50 individual states plus the District of Columbia.

Silver says the business of statistical prognostication in baseball and politics aren't as far apart as you might think.

"A lot of what we do at Baseball Prospectus is try and debunk or improve upon conventional wisdom," Silver says. "You see things about clutch hitting or batting average vs. on-base percentage, and we're trying to build a better mousetrap. Discussions in papers or on radio is not as well-informed as to what really goes into winning baseball games.

"And having experienced that for a lot of years, a lot of same conclusions really hold in politics. CNN or Fox or any other networks' discussions are not really that well-informed. Conventional wisdom has people overreacting to randomness in polls. I wanted to create a better-informed discussion."

He did it the same way he calculates baseball stats, through meticulous research of past performance and a few things he learned on the way to Election Day.

"We started out taking average of state polls," Silver says. "But we did one thing differently from other sites. We weighted polls based on which pollsters have been better in the past. All we did at first was take those polls, average the 50 states, and simulate different scenarios.

"But as we got more into it, it got more involved with demographics and started to guess a little more how the polls would go."

Silver has been fascinated by numbers -- and baseball -- for all 30 of his years.

Growing up in Michigan, he fell in love with the Detroit Tigers when they won the 1984 World Series, and he began playing fantasy baseball as a teenager. He graduated with honors in economics from the University of Chicago, and he has been helping revolutionize the statistic-based approach to baseball ever since.

He acknowledges that while many modern baseball minds have embraced new-school work pioneers such as Bill James and the theories that he and his Prospectus colleagues have been working on for decades, many "old-school" baseball minds who rely solely on the reports of scouts in the field have rejected it.

He says it's not quite like that in politics.

"Campaigns are pretty sophisticated," Silver says. "They know how to use data. In the Obama campaign, for example, a quarter of the employees were working on data. It was a quantitatively oriented campaign. And it's not just Democrats. Karl Rove is a big data geek. And that's the one thing winning campaigns share.

"So you don't really have the tension like you've seen in the conflicts between stats and scouts."

But well-run baseball teams have to have a balance, Silver admits.

"You look at the Red Sox or Rays, and they both have scouts and input from stats guys," Silver says. "They're using resources, which is what well-run political campaigns do. The good campaigns understand that to begin with. The poorly run ones don't."

Silver's dead-on projections for the 2008 election have earned him numerous TV appearances, including MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show," Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" and CNN's "American Morning," plus an upcoming multi-book deal with a major publisher.

But he's not resting on his laurels right now.

"I'm working on the PECOTA forecasts for next year," Silver says. "We have to get our book to the publisher by Christmas."

In the meantime, Silver says he's happy to be back talking baseball.

"One thing that's nice about baseball is that you don't run into people who are necessarily ideological," Silver says.

"And I guess baseball is a little more fun than politics, too."

Dan Plesac joins MLB Network

The roster for MLB Network is getting bigger and stronger, with Major League depth at every position.

On Friday, it was announced that veteran Comcast Sportsnet Chicago studio analyst and former Major League pitcher Dan Plesac has been added to the already-star-studded clubhouse full of on-air talent, which includes Matt Vasgersian, Al Leiter, Harold Reynolds, Joe Magrane, Trenni Kusnierek and Hazel Mae.

Plesac will join the of "MLB Tonight," the live, nightly studio show that will be the signature program of the new network, and "Hot Stove," a live, nightly offseason studio show. All of the on-air personalities will appear on both shows, as well as other programming across MLB Network, which will launch on January 1, 2009, in approximately 50 million homes as the largest network debut in cable history.

"With extensive experience in the Major Leagues and at Comcast SportsNet Chicago to draw upon, Dan's thoughtful analysis will be a great addition to our current roster of on-air talent," said Tony Petitti, President and CEO of MLB Network.

Plesac, who previously served as a studio analyst on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago for the Chicago Cubs live pre-game and post-game shows and made weekly appearances on "Chicago Tribune Live," covering the Cubs and White Sox, will now be a part of the MLB Network exclusively.

While in the Major Leagues, Plesac was a three-time American League All-Star reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers. The durable left-hander posted a 3.64 ERA and collected 158 saves in his 18-year Major League career, and his 1,064 games pitched ranks sixth in baseball history.

He also pitched for the Cubs (1993-94), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1995-96), the Toronto Blue Jays (1997-1999, 2001-2002), the Arizona Diamondbacks (1999-2000) and the Philadelphia Phillies (2002-2003).

From Yankees bat boy to best-seller

Ray Negron's life with the New York Yankees started on the magical day in 1973 when he was caught spray-painting the team's famed "NY" insignia onto the outside wall of Yankee Stadium.

The tagline of that occurrence reads like a can't-miss blockbuster movie: Young graffiti artist with heart of gold and untapped potential apprehended by new team owner George Steinbrenner, hired as bat boy, and eventually becomes team executive and one of the closest confidants of "The Boss."

Negron has had plenty of interest for a book and film on that exact concept, but he's got his own Hollywood dreams that are close to coming true.

Negron's three best-selling children's books, all about the Yankees and all published by HarperCollins, have been combined into one film script, the soon-to-be-in-production "Keeper of the Pinstripes."

Negron's got actor Josh Lucas already on board as well as former Yankees players Bernie Williams and Darryl Strawberry. The movie, which will feature scenes at the recently closed old Yankee Stadium, will be directed by former "One On One" actor Robby Benson and could start filming as early as April.

"I feel the books and the movie are something kids can really relate to and love," says Negron, whose stories weave classic kids' lessons of tolerance, good will and education in with fantastic stories of time travel and rare meetings with long-departed Yankee legends.

"That's the key here. That's the importance of it. I don't want anybody ever to forget the real Yankee Stadium.

"The new one is going to be wonderful for the next generation, but at the same time, the spirits of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer, I don't want them to ever forget that."

Negron hasn't forgotten his Yankee roots.

After being plucked by Steinbrenner and put to work, Negron climbed up the baseball ladder, serving as a loyal batboy in the glory years of the late 1970s. He became a good enough shortstop at Springfield Gardens High, in Queens, N.Y., that he was a second-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates and minor leaguer before landing gigs with the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers as team counselor.

These days, Negron works for the Yankees as a personal consultant to Steinbrenner and also serves as director of community relations for the equipment company Spalding.

Negron's also a member of the Screen Actors Guild, having appeared in numerous television commercials and motion pictures, including "The Cotton Club," which starred Richard Gere.

Gere, a New York resident and Yankees fan Negron has been friends with for 25 years, is set to play the voice of Gehrig in an animated movie project Negron's also working on.

"I took my last tour around Yankee Stadium with Richard," Negron says. "I showed him every nook and cranny of that stadium, and to see him shake and have tears in his eyes as he saw parts of the park, that was a thrill for me. To know that today, he's still talking about that, it's very special. Even at the fantasy camp, he was telling all the campers."

Negron has many stories to tell, too, and he says he started doing it in written form after a tragic event hit the Yankees -- and baseball -- community in 1979.

"I started writing when Thurman Munson died," he says. "It was a way to get over the emotion of what we were all going through. And I've always written throughout the years."

But when Negron was offered a major publishing deal for his Steinbrenner-graffiti story -- which was to be called "The Boss and the Batboy," he rejected it.

"Emotionally I didn't want to do a Steinbrenner book," he says. "But I said, 'Hey, I have a children's book that you might like.' The publisher laughed and said, 'OK, let's check it out.' She read it and loved it and I got a three-book deal."

The third and latest book in the series, "One Last Time: Goodbye to Yankee Stadium," is the one Negron says he's the most proud of. It's also going to be a major focus of the upcoming film.

"It's all the spirits coming back for one last game," Negron says.

And don't think for a minute that Steinbrenner won't be a big part of the story.

"I'll always be grateful to him," Negron says. "I idolize the guy because of the personal relationship I've had with him. He took me in and I got to know the real person. I have always been grateful for that and have always enjoyed his support. He showed me in his own way how to be a man and how to be strong."

Negron now passes on the same life lessons to his four children and to the many readers of his books, and, if everything goes as planned, he'll have a much bigger audience "some time between Christmas 2009 and Opening Day 2010," as he says.

"It's all a wonderful thrill, no question about it," Negron says. "The fact that I came out with three books, and to have these dreams and share them with the world and hopefully motivate all people into giving it their best shot, that's the key. Not money or anything like that.

"That's how I live my life."

Celeb chef hits a curveball

It's Thanksgiving, and Michael Schlow just can't give enough gratitude to the shoulder injury over 20 years ago that ruined his once-promising baseball career.

After all, it paved the way for his current gig as a celebrity chef, author, and co-owner of two hugely successful Boston restaurants.

In the mid-1980s, the New York-born and bred Schlow was an up-and-coming right-hander with a fastball that touched the low 90s. He played for a small college in Connecticut and had the time of his life.

"The only reason I went to college was to play baseball," says Schlow, who helped start Boston hotspots Radius and Via Matta with Christopher Meyers and was named one of Food and Wine magazine's "Best New Chefs" in 1996, the esteemed annual ranking of the top 10 new chefs in America.

"My teammates and I weren't too committed to our classes, to tell you the truth. It was all about playing."

But the fun ended for Schlow at the age of 20 when he blew out the shoulder and lost the zip on his fastball that had scouts noticing him.

"My story was just one of the same stories you hear about 100,000 other kids," Schlow says. "You get hurt and that's that for your baseball career. It's unfortunate, but it's life and you have to find something else to do."

Schlow found it at the Academy of Culinary Arts in southern New Jersey, where he learned the ins and outs of what it takes to be a world-class chef and managed to play a little baseball, too.

"There was a community college connected to the Academy and we were allowed to participate in sports if we wanted to," Schlow says. "I'd lost a solid 10 mph off my fastball, but I could still hit, and I figured I could play first base or left field.

Schlow's friends framed his image in a faux baseball card for fun. (Courtesy Michael Schlow)

"I know the other kids were mocking me behind my back, because I was the first culinary school student to try out. But I ended up batting fourth and hitting around .400."

Schlow has been batting a lot better than that in the restaurant business.

After cutting his teeth in the industry in New York under famed restaurateur Pino Luongo and moving on to chic Manhattan eateries such as Coco Pazzo and Le Madri and Sapore di Mare and 75 Main on Long Island, Schlow scored in Boston by reopening Caf Louis and then starting Radius and Via Matta.

Chef Schlow on the scoreboard. (Courtesy Michale Schlow)

"There's a definite similarity between what I went through in cooking and what baseball players have to go through," Schlow says. "My training was becoming as good as I could be with no money, sleeping on floors and working for the best chefs.

"The funny thing now is that I'm old enough that even if I had made it to the Major Leagues, the reality is my baseball career would be long over by now. But my life as as a chef and restaurateur is just starting to bloom."

Part of his success came with his 2005 cookbook "It's About Time: Great Recipes for Everyday Life," which spawned a cross-country book tour that allowed Schlow to pursue his favorite hobby.

"I tried to go to as many ballparks as I could," Schlow says. "And it's a great way to see America. "I'd never been to Wrigley Field or the old County Stadium in Milwaukee, I went to Camden Yards for the first time, and in Los Angeles, I noticed they were serving high-end Japanese food at Dodger Stadium, which I thought was so fantastic."

And a few years later, after doing a favor for some high-rolling friends in Boston, Schlow was repaid with a surprise gift: throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park.

"Even though I'd grown up loving the Yankees and watching them duke it out with the Red Sox, I'm a baseball fan above all that," Schlow says. "So to throw out the first pitch and have my name on the scoreboard and not throw it in the dirt and actually throw a strike was a huge thrill."

Schlow says he's never far from baseball, even when he's "in the weeds" at Radius, scrambling with his dedicated staff to make things perfect for the customers.

"There's the competition, first of all," Schlow says. "In baseball and in restaurants, you're always trying to perform at your highest level. And there's so many symbiotic lines between sports and cooking, too. In my kitchen, we all wear the same uniform and if one guy goes down, we just don't do as well.

"Just like in baseball, we all sweat together as a team."

THANKSGIVING RECIPES Here's a little baseball-inspired Thanksgiving menu I put together for MLB.com. It's for diehard baseball fans not willing to give up the game, even during the offseason.

Since Thanksgiving is the most American of holidays, what I wanted to do was take the classic American ballpark dining experience and somehow gently meld it with Thanksgiving. Of course, it'll still taste good.

So sit down with your baseball-loving family and friends and try some of these recipes out. And once you're done you can start thinking about Spring Training.

BEER-BASTED TURKEY

You really don't need to change much here, but put 24 ounces of your favorite beer in the bottom of the roasting pan along with a handful of chopped carrots, onion, celery, and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 2 tablespoons of butter.

Cook the bird at 250 degrees for the first 2 hours, basting with the beer mixture every 10-15 minutes or so. Depending on the size of the bird, continue to cook on 250 until the juices run clear when you insert a thin, long meat tester. Keep basting, but for the final minute or so, blast the oven to high or broil to crisp the skin.

HOT DOG BUN STUFFING "CHICAGO STYLE"

A really easy and fun stuffing for those who just can't let baseball rest for a few months.

12 (day-old) hot dog buns (cut into 2-inch pieces)
1 cup of cooked bratwurst, medium diced
1 large cooked onion, medium diced
2 cooked red peppers, medium diced
1 1/2 cups of milk with 2 egg yolks beaten in
Salt, pepper, pinch of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon butter

Place the buns in a large bowl, add the milk and eggs and soak for 10 minutes. Add the cooked bratwurst, onions, and peppers. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Butter a casserole dish, add stuffing to dish and place in 375-degree oven until cooked (about 45 minutes to 1 hour) and crispy brown on top. If stuffing is not golden brown, turn oven to broil for a few minutes, but watch carefully as not to burn.

STRING BEANS WITH CRUSHED BALLPARK PEANUTS

Take your favorite string beans almondine and substitute it with this.

2 pounds of blanched string beans
3 tablespoons of butter
2 shallots, finely diced
Salt, black pepper
1/2 cup of shelled roasted peanuts crushed up in a Cuisinart or by knife. Don't make it into powder.

In a large saute pan, place the butter and shallots and place pan over medium high heat. Allow the butter to melt, add salt and pepper, then toss in the blanched string beans and toss until they are hot.
Remove from pan onto a serving dish, spoon any remaining butter over, then sprinkle with crushed peanuts.

PUMPKIN PIE WITH CRACKER JACK CRUMBLE

First, make the pie shell.

2 cups flour
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vinegar
teaspoon salt
cup cold water

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl with a fork. Roll into a circle and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate.

And here's the filling.

2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup heavy cream
cup whole milk
2 large eggs
cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves
teaspoon salt
teaspoon nutmeg
1 box Cracker Jack

Whisk the mixture of pumpkin, milk, eggs, cream, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg and salt, then pour into your shell. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pie looks done. Crush the Cracker Jack and sprinkle on top as desired. Transfer to a rack and cool.

And have a Happy Thanksgiving!

--Chef Michael Schlow

The story of 'Boo' for a new generation

Just like always, Dave "Boo" Ferriss is humble, even when talking about a book that's been written about him and his extraordinary life.

"Throughout the years, I've had some offers, but I didn't think I merit a book and I still don't," says Ferriss, the 86-year-old former Boston Red Sox phenom and pitching coach, longtime Delta State University baseball coach, and subject of Rick Cleveland's loving new biography, "Boo: A Life in Baseball, Well-Lived" (Pediment Publishing, www.booferrissbook.com), which comes out later this month.

"After some arm-twisting and so forth, Rick got me to agree to it. He's one fine guy and an outstanding writer, and I guess he's pretty persuasive. No doubt about it."

Cleveland, a sports columnist at The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Miss., where Ferriss is a sports icon, isn't the only one who contributed to the book. It also includes an emotional, personal foreword from another Mississippi native, best-selling author John Grisham. Grisham not only knew Ferriss but briefly played for him as well.

"I've known Coach Ferriss -- I call him Coach Ferriss -- since I was a kid," Cleveland says. "My dad introduced him to me in about 1961 or 1962 as the best baseball player in Mississippi history, and that got my attention right there.

"I've come to know him really well over the years, and he also happens to be the best human being I've ever been around. He's the most intrinsically good person I've ever known. And to be that way after all he's gone through, to me, is remarkable."

Detailed nimbly and richly in the pages of "Boo" is one of the great under-publicized stories in the annals of the game.

After being called up to military service during World War II and then discharged from the Army because of asthma, Ferriss began his Major League career in style, firing 22 scoreless innings, a record until it was broken by Oakland's Brad Ziegler last year.

He went 21-10 in 1945, followed it up with a 25-6 season for the American League champion Red Sox in 1946, pitched a shutout in the World Series that year, and then ruined his arm on one pitch in 1947. He pitched again sparingly and mostly in relief until ending his playing career in 1950.

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"To the older people in Boston, he's very, very well known," Cleveland says. "To younger fans, maybe not so much, which is one reason why it needs to be out there. His 46 wins over his first two seasons are the second best in Major League history behind Grover Cleveland Alexander.

"He was certainly a phenom in baseball. He was Nolan Ryan back then, as good as it gets. To a man, older Red Sox fans who know about Boo will tell you that the history of that team would have been different if had he remained healthy. They were always coming up a little bit short, and they think he would have been the difference."

But a bum shoulder wasn't close to the end of Boo.

He became the pitching coach for the Red Sox between 1955 and 1959 and then started his legendary career at the helm of Delta State, compiling a 639-387 record until his retirement in 1988 and taking the Statesmen to three NCAA Division II College World Series.

"It was certainly an unfortunate situation of hurting my arm and never being the same after a wonderful beginning to my career," Ferriss says. "But to get to be pitching coach for five years with so many fine teammates, including Ted Williams, and everything that followed ... I have to say it all worked out.

"And I wouldn't take anything away from coaching 26 years of college baseball. I was blessed to have so many fine young men play for me. And seeing college baseball make the great strides it has over the decades ... it got bigger and better, so I've had a great run here and I look back and think I've been mighty blessed, I sure have."

One of the most charming parts of the book is found in Cleveland's introduction, in which Ferriss and Cleveland visit an orthopedist named Buddy Savoie to see if they can locate the problem in Ferriss' shoulder.

Savoie diagnoses it as a torn labrum, an injury that ended careers before Orel Hershiser had a successful shoulder reconstruction in the early 1990s.

"He'd have a 95 percent chance of complete recovery," Savoie tells Cleveland. "He'd be as good as new in six to nine months."

To which Boo chuckles and says, "Now my wife Miriam says we ought to get Buddy to fix me up. She says she'd roll me out to the mound. With the millions they're paying these days, she thinks I could still go five innings."

On a more poignant note, "Boo" includes actual letters Ferriss wrote home to his mother in 1945 and 1946 while he was taking the big leagues by storm.

"That's the best part of the book, including Grisham's foreword and any writing I did," Cleveland says. "They're just amazing. Here's a kid out of the Mississippi Delta, he's never been anywhere like this, he wins his first eight games, and all the while he's writing letters home to his mother."

And through all the stories, anecdotes and heartfelt remembrances of the man, who was inducted to the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002 and still receives fan mail from Red Sox fans all over the world almost every day, Ferriss never expresses any regrets.

"I can't complain, but it would have been nice to not hurt my arm when I did," Ferriss says.

"Maybe we would have beaten those old Yankees."

Evans busts out for Indios

Puerto Rican Winter League

Mayaguez 7, Arecibo 6
Mets outfielder Nick Evans picked up his first two hits of the season and drove in four runs as the Indios snapped the Lobos' four-game winning streak. Twins farmhand Andres Torres drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Box score

Carolina 6, Santurce 5
Edgard Clemente scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Gigantes rallied past the Cangrejeros. Former Reds catcher Javier Valentin had two RBIs for Santurce, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Box score

Caguas 4, Ponce 3
Mets prospect Brahiam Maldonado hit a walk-off single in the ninth inning as the Criollos roared past the last-place Leones. Cubs Minor Leaguer Jovan Rosa had two hits and an RBI for Caguas. Box score

Venezuelan Winter League

Caracas 9, Zulia 5,
Astros infielder Jose Castillo homered twice and drove in three runs as the first-place Leones extended their lead over the second-place Aguilas. Free agent Josh Kroeger added a two-run shot for Caracas. Box score

La Guaira 6, Lara 4
Orioles infielder Oscar Salazar homered and drove in four runs to power the Tiburones to their fourth straight win. Angels farmhand Henry Bonilla allowed five hits over six shutout innings for La Guaira. Box score

Magallanes 11, Margarita 8, 6 innings
Giants prospect Pablo Sandoval cranked two homers, plated four runs and scored three times as the Navegantes outslugged the Bravos in a rain-shortened game. Former Major Leaguer Edgardo Alfonzo went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Magallanes. Box score

Aragua 6, Caribes 4
Twins prospect Luke Hughes went 3-for-4 with two runs scored as the Tigres topped the Caribes. Luis Maza plated three runs and Hector Gimenez had two RBIs for Aragua. Pirates farmhand Jose Tabata drove in a pair of runs in a losing effort. Box score

Mexican Pacific League

Guasave 10, Mexicali 1
Eduardo Arredondo and Cristhian Presichi both homered and drove in three runs as the Algodoneros snapped a three-game losing streak. Emil Kamar and Adrian Ramirez combined on a two-hitter for Guasave. Box score

Hermosillo 7, Obregon 5
Juan Canizalez hit a pair of homers and drove in three runs as the Naranjeros erased an early three-run deficit and won their fourth straight. Reds farmhand Kevin Barker had three hits, including a homer, and three RBIs for the Yaquis. Box score

Mazatlan 3, Navojoa 1, 11 innings
Hector Paez's two-run double in the 11th inning sent the Venados to their third consecutive win. Walter Silva tossed six scoreless frames but did not figure in the decision for Mazatlan. Box score

Culiacan 13, Mochis 7
Brewers farmhand Casey McGehee homered twice to grab a share of the league lead, drove in three runs and scored three times as the Tomateros outslugged the Caneros. Jorge Alberto Vazquez went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs for Culiacan. Box score

Dominican Winter League

Aguilas 12, Azucareros 0
Yankees outfield prospect Matt Carson cranked a homer, plated five runs and scored twice as the Aguilas clobbered the Azucareros. Major Leaguer Julian Tavarez struck out eight in seven scoreless innings for Cibaenas. Box score

Gigantes at Escogido, postponed

Licey at Estrellas, postponed

Lincecum nabs MLB 2K9 cover

For Tim Lincecum, winning the National League Cy Young Award was just half of the good news he got Tuesday.

The young San Francisco Giants right-hander did indeed get the prestigious honor as the NL's premier pitcher in the 2008 season, but he also was announced as the cover athlete for the upcoming Major League Baseball 2K9 video game from 2K Sports.

As a video game fanatic, Lincecum said he couldn't be happier.

"Winning the Cy Young Award is truly an amazing honor, and now having the opportunity to be on the cover of Major League Baseball 2K9 is another dream come true and an absolutely surreal experience," said Lincecum, a 2008 All-Star who went 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA, led the Major Leagues with 265 strikeouts (an NL-best 10.51 per nine innings) and limited opponents to an NL-low .221 batting average.

"Whenever I'm hanging out at home or traveling on the road, you can find me playing video games, and I'm definitely the best gamer in the clubhouse by far. I'm incredibly stoked that 2K Sports picked me to represent Major League Baseball 2K9, and I look forward to lending my baseball knowledge to the development process."

Lincecum wasn't the only one "stoked" to be involved in the ongoing creation of MLB 2K9. Chris Snyder, the director of marketing for 2K Sports, and MLB 2K9's senior product manager, Mike Rhinehart, work in Novato, Calif., about a 45-minute drive from AT&T Park, the home of the Giants. They've seen Lincecum pitch plenty of times and are ecstatic that he's the chosen player for 2009.

"Our boy won," Snyder said. "After having Jose Reyes on the cover last year, it was time to show the West Coast some love."

Rhinehart explained that the choice of the cover player is always a political one at 2K Sports, whose corporate offices are in New York City.

"Basically, everybody in the company is a baseball fan and everybody wants to weigh in with their opinion on the cover athlete," Rhinehart said. "It goes all the way to the top, to the CEO and corporate. And the decision this year was that we really wanted to align with somebody that was unique, that was a (video) gamer, and personified our game this year."

Lincecum fit for all those reasons and more, and perhaps the most significant reason he was chosen was because of the "Signature Style" feature that MLB 2K9 is known for and is improving year after year.

"We're pushing hard with our ability to capture the unique motions players have, whether it's a walkup or a delivery on the mound," Rhinehart said. "We mimic them to a point of being spot-on, and a good example is (Detroit left-hander) Dontrelle Willis. He has that unique delivery, and when he came down to our studios and saw how we had captured it, he flipped out.

"So Tim, to us, was perfect. He's so unique with his delivery and mechanics that he personifies that 100 percent. And during some of his interviews, he talked about gaming, which always perks our ears. In fact, in one of his last interviews of the season, he actually said he was going to put down the glove and pick up a controller. That was music to our ears."

And hearing he would grace the cover of a game that will be available in early 2009 for the Xbox 360 entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation3 and PlayStation2 computer entertainment systems, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Wii home video game system from Nintendo was music to Lincecum's ears.

"We're always looking for guys that are invested, and Tim very early on seemed invested in the product," Snyder said. "We're bringing him out here in a couple weeks to meet the development team, do a motion-capture session and really get this thing rolling. He's really excited and we are, too."

And according to Rhinehart, Lincecum wouldn't have been chosen if he didn't have the personality to match his pitching ability.

"From the first day he showed up to practice and they wouldn't let him into the park because they thought he was a kid, we've always felt as if he is exactly like our audience," Rhinehart said. "He's a normal kid that plays video games, but when he's on the mound he's a totally different beast throwing crazy heat.

"You look at him and you think, 'How does this guy throw heat like that?' It's perfect for our audience."

MLB Network partners with Verizon

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball and Verizon Communications Inc. are teaming up for the first-ever television arrangement between the two major companies. Starting January 1, 2009, MLB Network will be available to all Verizon FiOS TV customers, projected to be the largest debut in cable TV history.

MLB Network will be offered as part of Verizon FiOS TV's Essentials and Extreme HD packages on channel 86, along with a high-definition simulcast of MLB Network on channel 586. In addition to live games, MLB Network will broadcast original programming, highlights, baseball-related news coverage and classic games. The channel's 2009 launch is expected to reach approximately 50 million cable and satellite homes.

The MLB and Verizon agreement will also kick off a new, multi-year deal to provide the MLB Extra Innings package on FiOS TV. Viewers will be able to enjoy up to 80 nationwide Major League Baseball games every week.

"We are looking forward to launching MLB Network on Verizon FiOS TV, which is the fastest growing television provider in the country," said MLB Network President and CEO Tony Petitti. "MLB Network will offer baseball fans an insider's perspective on the sport that has never been seen before. This partnership further expands on our ability to bring the ultimate coverage of the national pastime to fans on a 24/7 basis."

"The MLB Extra Innings package plays a key role in our continuing effort to provide fans around the country with access to as many MLB game telecasts as possible," stated MLB Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Chris Tully. "Adding Verizon FiOS TV to our roster of MLB Extra Innings distributors provides our fans with more choice in accessing the package."

For more information, visit MLBNetwork.com.

MLB Network signs Vasgersian

Matt Vasgersian is happy to report that he's hitting leadoff for MLB Network.

The veteran baseball broadcaster was announced as the first on-air personality for MLB Network, which will launch Jan. 1, 2009 in approximately 50 million homes as the largest network debut in cable history.

For Vasgersian, the lead play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres since 2002 and a regular contributor to FOX Sports as a play-by-play announcer with FOX Baseball Saturday and FOX NFL Sunday, it's the ideal job.

"As a huge baseball fan, I'm excited about how MLB Network will change the way we enjoy baseball on TV," Vasgersian said. "These live shows will be a dream come true for baseball fans and I can't wait to get started."

Vasgersian, 41, will join MLB Network as a studio host and anchor for MLB Tonight, the live, nightly studio show that will be the signature program of the new network. He will also handle duties for Hot Stove, a live, nightly off-season studio show.

Prior to San Diego, Vasgersian worked in the Milwaukee Brewers broadcast booth for five seasons after spending six years in the Minor Leagues.

Vasgersian has also been a part of NBC's broadcast team for the last three Olympic cycles, and has lent his voice to the "MLB: The Show" series of video games since 2005.

MLB Tonight will air live from 6 p.m. ET until the final MLB game of the night, Monday to Saturday. It will be based out of MLB Network's headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.

The program will feature live look-ins of games in progress, updates, highlights, reporting and analysis. Hot Stove will air during the offseason at 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and feature news, reports, and analysis of the moves clubs are making and planning in preparation for the upcoming season.

"Matt's experience behind the mic, his ability to carry a broadcast and his enthusiasm for baseball make him ideally suited to serve as the 'voice of MLB Network,'" said Tony Petitti, president and chief executive officer of MLB Network.

"MLB Tonight and Hot Stove will be an important source of MLB coverage for baseball fans, and Matt's presence will help ensure that the programs have an authoritative and experienced voice from day one."

Agent: Junior open to Seattle reunion

Ken Griffey Jr. will file for free agency early next week, opening the door to his possible return to the Mariners.

Contacted at his home late Friday night, where he was hosting a Halloween party, Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, said Griffey would be "open-minded" about returning to the team that made him the first overall pick in the 1987 First-Year Player Draft, a selection that helped turn the franchise into a perennial playoff contender in the 1990s.

Griffey, who spent the first 11 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Mariners before being traded to the Reds, had an option year remaining on the nine-year contract he signed with Cincinnati prior to the 2000 season. But the White Sox, who acquired Junior late last season, declined the $16.5 million option.

Griffey will be 39 years old on Nov. 21 and has said he wants to end his career where it started -- with the Mariners.

"Junior has always had a special relationship with the people in Seattle, including the fans and people still in the organization when he left," Goldberg said. "He would be open to going back."

New Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik, who is in Dana Point, Calif., for next week's General Managers Meetings, said Saturday, "I will not comment on any free agent."

Griffey made a triumphant return to Seattle during the 2007 season, when the Reds visited Safeco Field for an Interleague series against the Mariners. Junior hit four home runs in the three games, was cheered wildly every time he came to bat and said after the series that he missed Seattle more than he ever could have imagined.

It has been nine years since he left and he still ranks first or second in 10 of the franchise's career offensive categories. He ranks first in home runs with 398.

The off-injured Griffey recently underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair a partially torn meniscus and cartilage, but he is expected to be completely recovered prior to Spring Training.

"Junior won't be hitting 56 home runs again," Goldberg said. "But he could get back to his form in '07 and hit 30 home runs."

Beloved Manuel makes Series special

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies' celebration was in full bloom as midnight ET approached Wednesday. Players and fans were giddy with excitement out on the cold Citizens Bank Park field, embracing each other, screaming and yelling, and celebrating the team's first World Series championship in 28 years.

The usual champagne squirting and dousing was picking up momentum in the players' sanctuary. In a more sane hallway leading to the clubhouse, Charlie Manuel was telling friends how happy he was to finally win a World Series. He hadn't yet walked into the clubhouse to join the party.

Just as a TV camera's light flashed on, virtually blinding the skipper for a second or two, closer Brad Lidge -- with a baseball in his hand and followed closely by catcher Carlos Ruiz -- pushed his way through a rapidly growing media mob to get at Manuel.

Lidge stuck his hand between me and a couple other reporters to reach the manager.

"It's for you," a hoarse Lidge said. "Carlos and I have been fighting over it. We decided you should have it."

There was a trace of tearing in Charlie's bright blue eyes as he took the ball.

"That's Mr. Perfect," Manuel said to me, referring to Lidge's 48-for-48 saves docket for the season.

"How about that?" he added, staring at the precious gift and visibly moved.

It was the ball Lidge threw past the Tampa Bay Rays' Eric Hinske, sealing the 4-3 victory and igniting a Philadelphia celebration that will continue until we're all knee-deep in snow. Lidge thought Ruiz, his catcher, should have it. Ruiz said Lidge, the relief ace, should keep it.

And it could be just as important to 64-year-old Manuel as the long-coveted World Series ring he'll soon wear -- or the $300,000 winning share that will be in the mail before Christmas.

There could never be a more obvious gesture that shows the respect and love the players have for "Chuck."

I watched the Phillies lose the 1950 World Series to the Yankees in four games. I lived through the Great Collapse of '64, which I thought was exorcised when the Phillies became champions in the '80 Series.

I chronicled their loss to Baltimore in 1983 and Joe Carter's devastating home run in '93 that gave the Toronto Blue Jays a second consecutive World Series trophy.

But of all the 44 World Series that I've covered as a reporter, 2008 is special. Charlie Manuel made it special.

The National League Manager of the Year Award will be announced on Nov. 12, and I doubt Manuel will get it -- which is the ultimate injustice.

The Phillies wouldn't be poised for Friday's parade down Broad Street if it weren't for Good Ole' Charlie.

"He was so important for us," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins. "No question, the players have great respect for him."

On the golf course one afternoon late in the season, Charlie seemed concerned his players weren't showing the same determination that carried them to the 2007 National League East title.

Maybe it was time to send them a not-so-subtle message.

"When I get mad, I have a tremendous temper," Manuel said. "People say they haven't seen it, and it's good they don't see it. I can get my message across. At the same time, I think my players see my love for the game and my passion -- how much I pull for them. I want to give them comfort to play and succeed."

Rollins is one of Charlie's favorite players because of how the shortstop approaches the game. But on two occasions during the season, Manuel benched the 2007 NL MVP. Charlie's dugout confrontation with an unhappy Brett Myers in front of TV cameras is legendary.

So, just when it looked like his Phillies were going to falter down the stretch, they played their best baseball of the season. They won 25 of their last 30 games, including 11 of 14 in the postseason.

Manuel has a knack for getting the most out of his players. He has an uncanny ability to make sometimes questionable moves that make him look like a genius.

When Game 5 was resumed Wednesday night after the 46-hour "rain delay," he chose slumping Geoff Jenkins to pinch-hit for pitcher Cole Hamels. Jenkins, hitless in the World Series, smashed a double to right field and eventually scored to give the Phillies a quick 3-2 lead.

"I had faith in Jenkins against Grant Balfour," Manuel said. "They both played for Milwaukee last year."

Charlie is especially adroit at handling his bullpen, which led the NL during the regular season with a 3.22 ERA and a .589 winning percentage. The bullpen hasn't lost a game since Sept. 3.

He'll never admit it, but I have a hunch Charlie had an inner feeling the Phillies were going to give him his first World Series championship after his 46 years in the baseball.

At dinner one night as the postseason was about to get under way, Manuel remarked about his confidence in the team.

"I think we're going to be OK," he said. "I'm not worried about this team."

On the eve of the NL Championship Series against Los Angeles, Manuel's 87-year-old mother, June, suffered a massive heart attack. She died three days later.

"I talked to her all the time on the phone," he said. "I'd be sitting in my office before a game and she would call. The day before she died, she called me. 'Pray for me,' she said. I told her, 'I will. And you pray for us.' She said, 'Don't worry, son.'"

When Manuel walked onto the field for Wednesday's postgame ceremony, fans waved red-and-white towels and chanted "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie," a tribute to Philadelphia's newest folk hero.

"That really made me feel good," he said modestly. "It means everything to me."

When somebody asked what he thought his mother would have said after the greatest victory of his life, there was little hesitation.

"I think she'd be hollering and laughing," he said. "And I think she'd be telling us how good a team I had and all that stuff."

He rambled, as he can do, about when you wear a World Series ring "everybody always wants to see the ring." Once you win a World Series, you become a winner.

"And you know, when somebody asks me what I want to be known as, I want to be known as a winner," Manuel said. "That kind of tells the whole story."

Which is what Charlie Manuel is -- and was long before Wednesday night.

All that victory did was make more people aware.

Best 'pen will write ending to Game 5

PHILADELPHIA -- It's strange, it's weird, it's unprecedented. But it's also baseball.

Game 5 of the World Series was suspended by rain and has been postponed again by rain. We're in territory here that is both uncharted and extremely wet. But when Game 5 is resumed -- and it eventually will be resumed -- it will come down to something as basic as a battle of the bullpens.

When we last left the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, they were very damp and tied at 2-2 after the top of the sixth inning on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. The suspension at that point meant that Phillies starter Cole Hamels, at 4-0 the best pitcher of this postseason, would be unavailable for the resumption of Game 5.

The people looking at that as a positive turn of events were the Rays.

"That's a pretty good feeling, obviously," Rays manager Joe Maddon said in a teleconference on Tuesday. "He has been so good, and to scratch out the runs that we've had has been very difficult. Of course, their bullpen has been magnificent, also. So it's not going to be an easy task by any means. But we have a lot of our bullpen fresh, now, too. So getting him out is important.

"I think us coming back like we did and sitting on it for a day or two possibly could weigh in our favor a little bit. I'm not sure yet. But I think the most important part of it is that both bullpens are rested. There's no telling what's going to happen at this point."

Hamels had given up two runs in six innings on Monday night. This was well above his postseason norm because he had a 1.55 ERA in the playoffs. But he was still working efficiently, with 75 pitches through six innings.

"I felt like he definitely was on course to go like at least seven innings, more like eight," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said in his own teleconference. "He was our best pitcher, and we were going to try to get the most out of him, of course."

GAME 5 SUSPENSIONCommissioner Selig cited rule 4.12(a)(6) in explaining the suspension of Game 5. According to the rule, enacted for the 2007 season, any official game halted with the score tied "shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date."

In this scenario, rule 4.12(c) for suspended games is enacted: "A suspended game shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension of the original game. The completion of a suspended game is a continuation of the original game. The lineup and batting order of both teams shall be exactly the same as the lineup and batting order at the moment of suspension, subject to the rules governing substitution. Any player may be replaced by a player who had not been in the game prior to the suspension. No player removed before the suspension may be returned to the lineup."

Prior to 1980, a game called due to inclement weather would have reverted back to the beginning of the inning, with the Phillies leading, 2-1, since Philadelphia did not bat in the bottom of the inning. In 1980, the "reverting back" was discontinued and the game was henceforth declared a suspended game. Rule 4.12(a)(6) was added after the 2006 season so that any game suspended after becoming official would be declared a suspended game. Therefore, Game 5 will resume with the score tied at 2.

With Rays starter Scott Kazmir out of the game, the scene will shift to the two bullpens. With any luck, this will happen on Wednesday night, the date tentatively set for the resumption of Game 5.

This is where the Phillies have an edge on anybody. Setup man Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge have a combined postseason ERA of 1.33, and Lidge remains perfect in save opportunities for the calendar year, converting 47 of 47. Tampa Bay's bullpen has also been a strength, even more so now with the arrival of rookie David Price, but the Philadelphia bullpen has been peerless.

"I think the way it sets up right now is we've got a good bullpen," Manuel said. "And I feel like we feel like we're strong, and we can win and we're going to be ready to play the game. And I think it definitely looks like for us it's going to be a bullpen game."

Also in the Phillies' favor is the math, the very simple math, of a game suspended after 5 1/2 innings.

"We get to bat four times, they get to bat three," Manuel said. "We get 12 outs, they get nine."

On the Rays' side of the issue, two middle-of-the-order mainstays in their lineup seem to have awakened. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria were a combined 0-for-29 in the Series coming into this game, but Longoria had a hit and an RBI in Game 5 and Pena had two hits and the RBI that tied the score at 2. If these two are truly back at anything like their usual level, that's a huge lift for the Rays.

Everybody guesses about the effects that this first suspended World Series game will have. But nobody really knows. Will the players be rested and refreshed and at perfect competitive pitch when the series resumes? Or will they be out of sorts with the whole deal? Or will one team be rested and refreshed and the other team out of sorts? We just have to wait for the rain to stop so that we can see for sure.

The resumption of Game 5 will not be like any other World Series game you have seen, because no other World Series game you have seen has started in the bottom of the sixth inning. It should be one of the most dramatic chapters in World Series history. Now, if we can just get the rain to make some room for the drama.

"You know, it's kind of like overtime in a sense, I guess," Maddon said. "Or 'sudden victory,' as Curt Gowdy would say."

This will be a brand new October experience for baseball. But it will be the same as ever in another way. This Fall Classic outcome will depend on the pitching. But because it will begin in the bottom of the sixth, it will depend on the relievers, rather than the starters.

Gillick's method produced success

The success of the Philadelphia Phillies this season is a story that is being saluted by veteran baseball scouts in every Major League organization.

The reason is rather basic -- no general manager has been a bigger booster of scouting through the years than Phillies general manager Pat Gillick.

Through 51 years in professional baseball and 27 seasons as a general manager, Gillick has relied heavily on individual scouts and his scouting departments.

During a period when he is rightfully proclaimed as a Hall of Fame candidate, Gillick shuns the spotlight and praises his scouts and other baseball development people.

That's the reason why Pat Gillick has been one of the most successful and respected general managers in history.

If you were to use a Gillick method to get a scouting report on Gillick himself, you would turn to the people who know him best.

That's why I asked two long-time Gillick associates, Gordon Lakey and Don Welke, to give me a report on the man behind the success of this year's Phillies.

"When you are a part of an organization where Pat is the general manager, the first thing you realize is that it's not really about Pat, it's about the organization and the goals of the organization," said Lakey. "You never have the feeling of working for Pat; you work with Pat. He creates that type of environment."

Lakey was a trusted scout for Gillick with the Blue Jays from 1985 until 1996 and has been with the Phillies since 1998. You can be assured before Gillick took the GM job with the Phillies in November of 2005 he got a full rundown on the team and the organization from Lakey. Gillick simply doesn't do anything without having the best possible information at hand.

The first scout and one of the few that Gillick added to the Phillies' staff when he took the GM job was Welke. No surprise here. Welke was with Toronto during all of Gillick's 17 years with the Blue Jays from 1978-1994 and then spent three seasons with him in Baltimore from 1996-98.

After helping Gillick get under way with the Phillies in 2006, Welke moved on to the Texas Rangers.

"The interesting thing about Pat is that he has never taken a lot of people with him when he has moved from Toronto to Baltimore to Seattle and now to Philadelphia," said Welke.

"The thing he has done is to work well with the people who have already been in the organization. He understands there are good and hard-working people in every organization and he has the ability to bring them together with a common goal and focus," said Welke.

Welke's point is very well taken when one considers that a number of general managers come into a new situation and begin to make significant changes as opposed to tapping into the talent that already is present.

"Pat is a very humble man and he really relies on the people around him," said Welke. "Even though he is a great evaluator of talent he seldom makes a statement about a player in a meeting with his scouts. What he does do is to listen very well. He always is seeking information and asking for opinions."

The scouts who know Gillick best say there are three areas that are of great interest to the veteran general manager when he is considering acquiring a player -- how has the player been performing; what is the makeup of the player; and what is the health of the player.

If all of that seems rather basic, it really strikes to the philosophy of Gillick. He believes in his scouts and he believes in hard work and dedication. He believes in supporting his scouts and giving credit to his scouts while preferring to stand in the background.

In an era when some general managers are half the age of the 71-year-old Gillick and rely heavily on computers, the man leading the Phillies has struck a note in favor of experience and great scouting values.

It's about time we hear a cheer for the "old guys" who have dedicated their lives to the game they both understand and love.

Alvarez showcases talent for Bucs

PITTSBURGH -- Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates' now-storied first-round Draft pick, recently finished his introductory taste of professional baseball. And needless to say, he left encouraging signs behind.

"He is as advertised," said farm director Kyle Stark, who headed the organization's one-month instructional league workouts in Bradenton, Fla. "[Scouting director] Greg [Smith] always says you should be able to tell who the first-round Draft picks are, and when you see [Alvarez] play, that's the case. He has a very business-like approach. He wants to get after things."

After agreeing to a four-year Major League contract on Sept. 24, Alvarez joined other players from the June First-Year Player Draft to participate in supervised workouts and game play. His short time in Bradenton gave the organization its first opportunity to work hands-on with the former Vanderbilt third baseman.

Alvarez had been working out primarily on his own during the interim period between leaving college and signing with the club.

"It was his first taste of professional ball, so he had to adjust to it," Stark said. "He had to work to get back into playing shape, but the bat speed was there, quickness was there and the tools were there like we expected."

While relatively informal in structure, the instructional league offered Stark and other coaches the opportunity to assess Alvarez's physical conditioning following the layoff. Stark said that Alvarez did arrive in satisfactory playing shape, but that the focus this offseason will be for Alvarez to continue to improve on that conditioning.

"His goal now is to be ready to go for Spring Training," Stark said. "He's got a specific routine and specific strength and conditioning program until then."

Between now and February, Alvarez will spend most of the winter at Vanderbilt, where he will have the equipment and facilities necessary to conduct his conditioning program. While the Pirates had held onto an outside possibility of Alvarez playing organized winter ball somewhere, that is now out of the question.

The No. 2 overall pick will be invited to the Pirates' Major League camp in February, though he is expected to start the year at one of Pittsburgh's two Class A clubs. Alvarez's instructional league showing wasn't used to determine his exact placement, as that will come this spring.

"We haven't had enough time to spend with him to be able to identify areas that we need to specifically target yet," Stark said. "The focus with Pedro is physically that he is ready to go the start of next year. This was a crash course, and next spring is really when we'll delve into the evaluation process."

Weather leaves Series fit to be tied

PHILADELPHIA -- Like much of the rest of life, what happened at Game 5 of the 2008 World Series can be summed up by a Bob Dylan lyric:

You don't need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows.

For those of you keeping score at home, that was from "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Admittedly, "Rainin' in My Heart," as sung by Slim Harpo, would also have worked in this context, but in life, you have to make tough choices.

Major League Baseball employs three weather services. For what happened at Citizens Bank Park on Monday night, the meteorologists went 0-for-3.

Relatively benign conditions were forecast: light rains, the kind of thing that would allow a potentially decisive Game 5 of the World Series to be played to its natural conclusion. Instead, heavier rains moved in and stayed in, eventually making the field unplayable.

With the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays tied at 2 after the top of the sixth, the game was suspended. It will be resumed, well, whenever the weather gets better. Much better.

The forecast for Tuesday and Tuesday night calls for equally crummy conditions: continuing rain accompanied by lower temperatures. Nice.

"We'll stay here if we have to celebrate Thanksgiving here," said Commissioner Bud Selig.

The game, he said, "will be resumed when I believe that the weather conditions are appropriate. We are not going to resume until we have decent weather conditions."

Taken literally, anyone familiar with the Philadelphia climate might believe that statement means that the game will be resumed next May. But that's not what the Commissioner meant. The short-term local forecasts are not at all good, but no one is calling for rainfall of Biblical proportions. We can get this game in before winter.

Nobody wanted it to end like this, or more precisely, be suspended like this. The World Series is supposed to be baseball's finest hour. What we had here was merely baseball's soggiest hour.

GAME 5 SUSPENSIONCommissioner Bud Selig cited rule 4.12a, section 6, in explaining the suspension of Game 5. According to the rule, "a game shall become a suspended game that must be completed at a future date" for a number of reasons, with section 6 specifying "a regulation game that is called with the score tied."

In this scenario, the rule (4.12c) for suspended games is enacted: "A suspended game shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension of the original game. The completion of a suspended game is a continuation of the original game. The lineup and batting order of both teams shall be exactly the same as the lineup and batting order at the moment of suspension, subject to the rules governing substitution. Any player may be replaced by a player who had not been in the game prior to the suspension. No player removed before the suspension may be returned to the lineup."

Prior to the introduction of this rule following the 2006 season, the suspended game would have reverted back to the beginning of the inning, with the Phillies leading 2-1, since Philadelphia did not bat in the bottom of the inning. But that is no longer the case and therefore Game 5 will resume with the score tied at 2. You can blame the fates when something like this occurs. Or you can blame the meteorologists. The decision to play, Selig said, was based on a forecast for very light rain. "Had the forecast held, we would have been OK," he said.

"If I told you tonight what I think of meteorologists, and what they tell me may happen tomorrow -- " Selig said, choosing not to complete that thought in public.

Later, asked to name the three weather services used by Major League Baseball, the Commissioner declined. But even in his refusal to name names, Selig managed to work in another criticism.

"The interesting part is that they were all three optimistic tonight," he said. "I don't want to get into a discussion of weather services. I used to bang them enough when I ran the Brewers, so I'm not going to do that tonight."

Those of us who reported on Selig when he was president of the Milwaukee club, can testify that, yes, vehement complaints about incorrect weather forecasts were indeed a staple of Selig's presidency. It was subsequently no accident that Selig campaigned for more than a decade to get a retractable-roof ballpark for Milwaukee. What Selig wanted was a ballpark that was not only weather-proof, but weather-forecast-proof. Today, Miller Park stands in part as a tribute to Selig's distrust of weather forecasts.

As the evening wore on, it became apparent that the outcome of the World Series should not be decided in a quagmire. There were safety issues, and, as umpire Tim Tschida put it, "the game runs the risk of being comical. We never reached that point."

The best thing about Monday night, in retrospect, was that no one was seriously injured. The second best thing was that the 2-2 score meant that neither team had gained a substantial edge in the saturated conditions.

The Phillies got a bad break, because, unless we wait until Saturday for the Series to be resumed, their ace, Cole Hamels, will not be available. Hamels has been the best pitcher of this postseason, but he put in six innings on Monday night. Phillies general manager Pat Gillick was generous enough to point out that "one of the strengths of our club is the bullpen."

Game 5 paused as a tie, but the entire thing was sort of Mother Nature defeating the Phillies, the Rays, MLB and, of course, the weather persons.

As far as a Dylan reference wrapping up this whole thing, hardcore fans would suggest "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." True, that was the first Dylan song that came to mind. But I just didn't think that visions of civilization ending in nuclear fallout were needed for a game suspended by rain. True, it was a really big game suspended by rain, but this was not the end of the world. It was just another valid reminder of the thing about the weatherman and the wind.

Music video highlights: WS Game 4

The Phillies dominated the Rays in Game 4 of the 2008 World Series on Sunday night, winning 10-2 on the strength of big games from Joe Blanton on the mound and off (the first homer of his career) and Ryan Howard (two homers).

The Phillies took a 3-1 lead in the Fall Classic and can close out the Rays on Monday if Cole Hamels does what he did in Game 1. Meanwhile, the Rays will try to pull off a stunning comeback by winning the final game in Philly to take it back for two more at their home of Tropicana Field.

The Phillie-laden highlights from Sunday's rout are all right here for you to recall. Check them out while listening to the sounds of "I'm Amazed" by My Morning Jacket.

MLB.com/Entertainment is all over Rocktober, with daily videos featuring the best baseball highlights of October set to music by stars including Santana, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Wayne, and more. Keep checking back for your daily dose of Rocktober.

WORLD SERIES
• WS Game 4, feat. My Morning Jacket
Blanton, Howard dominate in 10-2 win
• WS Game 3, feat. Calendar for Preston
Back home Phillies outlast Rays
• WS Game 2, featuring Pillar
Rays sting Phillies, tie series
• WS Game 1, featuring Jimmy Wayne
Hamels helps Phils capture first Series win

WORLD SERIES PREVIEW
• Phillies vs. Rays, featuring Jimmy Wayne
Youth carries the day in 2008

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
• ALCS Game 7, featuring Jet Black Stare
The Rays make it to the Fall Classic
• ALCS Game 6, featuring Santana
Boston rides veterans to victory
• ALCS Game 5, featuring Santana
BoSox strike back, series will go to Game 6
• NLCS Game 5, feat. Graham Colton
Hamels and friends head to World Series
• ALCS Game 4, feat. Calendar for Preston
Rays inch closer to Fall Classic
• NLCS Game 4, feat. My Morning Jacket
Phillies take control of series
• ALCS Game 3, feat. My Morning Jacket
Rays sting BoSox with crushing win
• NLCS Game 3, featuring Santana
Dodgers win their first game of the series
• ALCS Game 2, featuring Dave Barnes
Upton helps tie Rays, BoSox series
• ALCS Game 1, featuring Seguida
BoSox win kicks off another ACLS
• NLCS Game 2, featuring Seguida
Myers backs up Phillies A-list hitting
• NLCS Game 1, featuring Graham Colton
Burrell, Utley homer Phils to victory

For more postseason highlights, click here.

Music video highlights: WS Game 2

Game 2 of the 2008 World Series is in the books, and we've got a true Fall Classic in the making. The Tampa Bay Rays held serve at home and evened the Series at a game apiece after beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, on Thursday night. They now travel to Philly for Game 3 on Saturday.

In the meantime, we'll revisit the highlights of Game 3 to the sounds of Pillar's "For the Love of the Game," and there was plenty to love for Rays fans on Thursday. Tampa Bay starter "Big Game" James Shields threw over five innings of shutout ball, repeatedly killing Phillie rallies.

B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria drove in runs, and young David Price gave up a few runs but still slammed the door on Philadelphia when it counted.

MLB.com/Entertainment is all over Rocktober, with daily videos featuring the best baseball highlights of October set to music by stars including Santana, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Wayne, and more. Keep checking back for your daily dose of Rocktober.

WORLD SERIES
• WS Game 2, featuring Pillar
Rays sting Phillies, tie series
• WS Game 1, featuring Jimmy Wayne
Hamels helps Phils capture first Series win

WORLD SERIES PREVIEW
• Phillies vs. Rays, featuring Jimmy Wayne
Youth carries the day in 2008

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
• ALCS Game 7, featuring Jet Black Stare
The Rays make it to the Fall Classic
• ALCS Game 6, featuring Santana
Boston rides veterans to victory
• ALCS Game 5, featuring Santana
BoSox strike back, series will go to Game 6
• NLCS Game 5, feat. Graham Colton
Hamels and friends head to World Series
• ALCS Game 4, feat. Calendar for Preston
Rays inch closer to Fall Classic
• NLCS Game 4, feat. My Morning Jacket
Phillies take control of series
• ALCS Game 3, feat. My Morning Jacket
Rays sting BoSox with crushing win
• NLCS Game 3, featuring Santana
Dodgers win their first game of the series
• ALCS Game 2, featuring Dave Barnes
Upton helps tie Rays, BoSox series
• ALCS Game 1, featuring Seguida
BoSox win kicks off another ACLS
• NLCS Game 2, featuring Seguida
Myers backs up Phillies A-list hitting
• NLCS Game 1, featuring Graham Colton
Burrell, Utley homer Phils to victory

For more postseason highlights, click here.

Culture shock just what Rays needed

PHILADELPHIA -- The numbers explain everything in baseball, except when they don't.

To understand the soaring, stratospheric rise of the Tampa Bay Rays, the numbers don't quite suffice. To go from 10 consecutive seasons that never rose much above the level of dismal, to losing 96 games in 2007 and winning 97 this year and to now be in Game 3 of the World Series with no worse than an even chance of winning it all, there is more going on than runs, hits, errors and on-base percentage.

The catchphrase for the fundamental alteration of a baseball team's intangibles is "changing the culture." This is a job as large as the phrase suggests.

The primary architect in the case of the Rays' culture change is manager Joe Maddon. He has already won some American League Manager of the Year Awards. He will win more. Other skippers will vote for him. Baseball writers will vote for him. Members of the American electorate at large might write him in for the presidential election if they don't like the major-party candidates. He doesn't seek out accolades, but they are finding him anyway. Three more victories for the Rays this week, and there should be a definitive biography, a movie, at least a miniseries, dealing with Maddon, a blend of working-class values and the tireless pursuit of better information.

Maddon knew when he took over the Rays that there had to be more at work than just the obvious physical improvements.

"First of all, for me to change the culture, again, it goes so much further than, 'Well, we played a good game last night, a nice defensive game, we caught the ball and threw to the right bases primarily and good at-bats,'" Maddon said. "But it comes down, when you've been so bad for so long, that if you just try to become better physically, I think, is absolutely insane.

"We needed to change the way we think, period. And for me, that is the accountability. That is about trust. Nothing, nothing, no group or organization works without trust. So I thought we totally were a low-trust organization. There was no accountability whatsoever. There was no consistency from what I can gather. So for me, if I wanted to create a mission statement, it would be about accountability, consistency, trust, and those are the factors that permit you in a relationship ... permit you to take something to turn it into something good.

"I kept talking about fundamentals, which I totally believe in, you know that. I really knew that to get it to change, you had to change people and the way people thought. So that was our biggest challenge, I thought."

His task was helped immeasurably, Maddon said, by the arrival this year of two veterans -- Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd -- who came on board practicing exactly what the manager was preaching. They had automatic standing, they had notable careers, and they were about the same kind of accountability and professionalism that the manager wanted.

"I didn't envision 2008. I'm not going to sit here and pretend. I knew we'd be better this year, but to be here today was not a part of my original thought of what we could do." -- Manager Joe Maddon, on Rays' quick success

"So all of a sudden you have these two guys with great pedigrees that walk into your clubhouse and validate most everything you're attempting to do," Maddon said.

For the players who were with the Rays last season, the change in attitude was already occurring in 2007, but it wasn't translating into results.

"Even though we were not doing so well in the standings, I saw that there were many good things going on as far as that was concerned," first baseman Carlos Pena said on Friday before the Rays' workout at Citizens Bank Park. "But it started last year, just the way we got along, the way we played together, how much fun we had and the young energy of this ballclub. And that's where it all started.

"And it's only a matter of time before it actually materializes on the field as wins. And this year is proof of that. So it's very satisfying to actually see it come into being."

After the culture of the Rays was changed, with accountability and trust replacing a built-in defeatism, the tangible improvements could make their presence felt. And they made their presence felt more rapidly and more completely than anybody could have anticipated.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was going to happen this quickly," Maddon said in his Citizens Bank Park session with the media on Friday. "I thought, maybe by 2009, you'd see some really significant changes, and hopefully by 2010, I'd be here, I'd be talking to you like this.

"It came a lot more quickly. The pitching really took off. I mean, the pitching really got a lot better, a lot sooner. The bullpen was phenomenal this year. You know about the athletes offensively and on defense, etc., but the pitching side of the game really came along a lot more quickly and effectively. And that's why we're sitting here today, because of the starting and the bullpen and, of course, the defense, which you saw the other day. We scored runs and we played good defense and pitched.

"I didn't envision 2008. I'm not going to sit here and pretend. I knew we'd be better this year, but to be here today was not a part of my original thought of what we could do."

And yet, this is what the 2008 Rays can do. There is no doubt that they are better in every tangible category than they used to be, particularly in the most important one, pitching.

But they are also three victories away from a World Series championship, because they changed the way they thought of themselves as a unit. They found the trust, the accountability, the collective will -- the characteristics that separate winners from wannabes, just as surely as pitching, hitting and defense.

Now, with all of this positive movement being generated, Maddon, with a transformed team on his hands, can, as he suggests, largely stay out of the way.

"It was a matter of identifying what needed to be changed, and going about attempting to change it, from our perspective -- manager, coaching staff, front office. But then you need the guys within the [locker] room," Maddon said. "I'm a big believer in letting that room function as it wants to in a positive direction. You've got to keep grounded as you're spinning the right way. But you need the right kind of people to make it happen.

"I truly try to stay out of their way as much as I possibly can. I don't want to impact the clubhouse when it's running this well. I attempted to impact it when it was running poorly, but when it's running well, it's because of the people in that group and the impact they have.

"And that's where we're at. It's no big secret. It's not brain surgery, brain science, rocket science. It's just about some good old-fashioned, I think, work ethic and values, and being cognizant of it and then getting the right people to make it turn."

It may sound simple, but this can be one of the most difficult aspects of any team undertaking. What puts the Rays on the doorstep of a World Series championship, what makes "Joe Maddon, Manager of the Year," is the shared understanding that having the right intangible qualities are as important to a baseball team as having the necessary tangible talent.

Maddon had great mentor in Mauch

ST. PETERSBURG -- Gene Mauch was a thinking man's manager -- bright, alert, tremendously schooled in baseball's most minute details. When Mauch spoke, you listened.

Joe Maddon first met Mauch in the 1980s during Gene's first tour as manager of the California Angels.

Mauch obviously saw something special in the young Maddon, a struggling Minor League catcher who would never make it to the Major Leagues. As a player.

Now, as Maddon manages the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series he often recalls many of the lessons Mauch, who died in August 2005, instilled in him.

You can't find a better mentor.

I was a young, green-as-could-be reporter in the 1960s, and it was Mauch who went out of his way to teach me the nuances of baseball, the sport I thought I knew a lot about but really didn't.

You never walked away from Mauch knowing less about baseball than you did before. He made certain of that because he was baseball 24 hours a day.

He taught me to appreciate the cerebral part of managing.

I see a lot of Gene Mauch in Joe Maddon -- sometimes the unorthodox moves which are difficult to explain, the demanding, almost coaxing ability to get the most out of the young, enormously talented Rays, and his ability to reduce the most complicated issue to simplistic terms.

An hour after the Rays lost their first World Series game to the Phillies, 3-2, on Wednesday, I sat alone with Maddon in his Tropicana Field office and talked about the influence Mauch had on him.

It was well after midnight and maybe this wasn't the best time to look back to the early years that molded Maddon as one of baseball's best managers, but after we were deep into the conversation, I believe it helped soothe the excruciating loss.

"In 1981, 1982, I'd go to Spring Training with the Angels as a grunt. I'd throw batting practice and catch pitchers," Maddon said. "Gene would always want me to throw to the better hitters and really took care of me."

Outside his office, the Rays were going through their post-mortems engulfed by the huge media contingent.

Maddon glanced out through the door, content the situation was in hand.

My guess is he wondered how Mauch, who endured huge setbacks and never guided any of his four teams (Phillies, Expos, Twins, Angels) to the World Series, would handle this.

Maddon, out of Hazleton, Pa., was signed as a free agent catcher by the Angels in 1975. He bounced around the Minors for nearly five years before refocusing his career on scouting and ultimately managing.

Between 1984-93, he was the Angels' coordinator of the Arizona Instructional League.

"On occasion, Gene would throw little thoughts at me that stuck," said Maddon. "For example, and this one really stands out and has probably helped me the most here, he told me I had created a great atmosphere in the Instructional League in 1984. I had no idea what he was talking about, but he made me stop and think about it. He was talking about relationship building, organizational skills -- all the other outside peripheral things I was doing but didn't realize how important they were."

Strategy was another subject.

"The way I describe him is that he was dripping with common sense," said Maddon. "He saw the most simple things that most people missed. He would haphazardly tell me different items."

Tapping on his head, Maddon adds, "I can't remember them all, but I know they're in here and part of what I do. Primarily, he was a guy who reduced complexities into simple matters."

Early in his career, Mauch had the bullpens switched at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium. Instead of having the Phillies bullpen down the foul line from their dugout, he wanted it down the other foul line.

"So I can look out from the dugout and see the pitchers warming up," he said.

It was Mauch who perfected the double-switch when he replaced a pitcher. If the pitcher was due up to bat in the next half-inning, he'd put a hitter in that spot so he could bat in the normal spot for the pitcher and not waste the pitcher if a pinch-hitter was needed.

"The thing that was misconstrued about Gene was that he had such a rough exterior," said Maddon. "People thought he was real gruff and not approachable. For me, he was just the opposite. He actually liked my sense of humor. He'd let me in his office all the time and we'd just talk about stuff."

Maddon spent 12 years in the Minor Leagues as a manager and instructor before he was promoted to the Angels as their bullpen coach in 1994. A year later, he became first-base coach, was interim manager three times, and was bench coach for 10 seasons before Tampa Bay hired him prior to the 2006 season.

He fine-tuned his skills under Angels skipper Mike Scioscia, another excellent mentor, the last six years there.

As this World Series picks up steam, I know before it's over I'll see moves that'll remind me of Gene Mauch.

Mauch would often become irritated if his pitchers threw strikes with an 0-2 count.

"Something else he loved was first-pitch breaking balls," remembered Maddon. "I've always liked that because it can pretty much set up an at-bat in favor of the pitcher.

"I just know the influence he had on me. The best way I can describe Gene Mauch for me is if he ever said anything I would never challenge the validity of it. You knew it was right."

Music video highlights: WS Preview

It's the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies, and it's beginning Wednesday night in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. It's the World Series, and it's the ultimate Rocktober showdown.

After battling their way through two tense playoff rounds, the Rays and Phillies have won the American and National League pennants and earned tickets to the seven-game Fall Classic.

We've put together a video that captures the highlights of both LCS classics as a preview for the World Series, and we've set it to the sounds of "Where You're Going" by Jimmy Wayne.

MLB.com/Entertainment is all over Rocktober, with daily videos featuring the best baseball highlights of October set to music by stars including Santana, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Wayne, and more. Keep checking back for your daily dose of Rocktober

WORLD SERIES PREVIEW
• Phillies vs. Rays, featuring Jimmy Wayne
Youth carries the day in 2008

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
• ALCS Game 7, featuring Jet Black Stare
The Rays make it to the Fall Classic
• ALCS Game 6, featuring Santana
Boston rides veterans to victory
• ALCS Game 5, featuring Santana
BoSox strike back, series will go to Game 6
• NLCS Game 5, feat. Graham Colton
Hamels and friends head to World Series
• ALCS Game 4, feat. Calendar for Preston
Rays inch closer to Fall Classic
• NLCS Game 4, feat. My Morning Jacket
Phillies take control of series
• ALCS Game 3, feat. My Morning Jacket
Rays sting BoSox with crushing win
• NLCS Game 3, featuring Santana
Dodgers win their first game of the series
• ALCS Game 2, featuring Dave Barnes
Upton helps tie Rays, BoSox series
• ALCS Game 1, featuring Seguida
BoSox win kicks off another ACLS
• NLCS Game 2, featuring Seguida
Myers backs up Phillies A-list hitting
• NLCS Game 1, featuring Graham Colton
Burrell, Utley homer Phils to victory

For more postseason highlights, click here.

Fresh matchup offers must-see baseball

ST. PETERSBURG -- This World Series may not be the best thing for the business of baseball. But it should be very good for the game of baseball.

This is not the World Series matchup that anyone anticipated? Good. It proves that the possibilities of the game are expanding.

What we have here are the two teams, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies, which played the best October baseball in the two leagues, American and National. They deserve to be here. That is all that matters. The rest is gibberish.

You hear a lot of talk about "ratings," as though the game is played primarily to provide successful television programming. This is also definitely not about that and it can be proven.

Ratings took a hit when the Yankees did not reach the postseason. The departure of the Cubs after three games of a Division Series did not help the ratings. The departure of the Dodgers after the NL Championship Series will not help the ratings. The departure of the Red Sox after the AL Championship Series will not help the ratings.

A pattern has emerged here. The biggest-market clubs are not winning. This is not a crisis. This is growing parity. This is increased competitive balance. This is baseball in the new millennium. It is better than it used to be.

For business purposes, nobody liked the 1991 Atlanta/Minnesota World Series at first blush, either. Then it turned out to be one of the most exciting Fall Classics in history, and its viewership grew in proportion to its quality.

The fact that the Phillies have not won a World Series for 28 years and the Rays never won anything, period, until this year, also does not detract one iota from the caliber of this matchup.

The fact that the Rays never won more than 70 games in a single season until this year makes them much more like astounding than suspect. They won 97 games in the regular season. Their home record of 57-25 was the best in the AL. And they are not about to weighed down by the shortcomings of a brief franchise history.

"You know what? The history is history," reliever Grant Balfour said on Tuesday before the Rays workout at Tropicana Field. "And that's the good thing about it. It's history. It's in the past. It's done with.

"We moved on. We even have new uniforms. We like the blue, obviously. We don't like the green so much, or the purple, I guess. Blue's our color, blue and white. And we changed the name, taking the 'Devil' out of there. Maybe it was the name. Who knows? Maybe they should have done it 10 years ago. Maybe we would have won the World Series then. I can't tell.

"There were a lot of people this year who said that if this team won more than 70 games it would be unbelievable. So that's fine, all the talk. We don't mind. We don't worry about anything else. We've got a tight-knit team in here, we know what each individual can do, and we're out to win ballgames."

This is a Tampa Bay team that, if it did not have anybody putting up Manny Ramirez offensive numbers in the regular season, was built around the surest baseball commodities, pitching and defense. As a bonus, the Rays led the AL in steals. They are a fundamentally strong group, period.

The Phillies won the NL East, and led the NL in home runs, but it could easily be argued that improved pitching has led them to their current lofty level. They went a combined 7-2 against Milwaukee and Los Angeles in the two postseason rounds. At this level of competition, that's basically a dominant performance. There is no reason for the Fightin' Phils to change now, particularly since manager Charlie Manuel has supplied them with rubber ducks. The ducks are a code for staying relaxed.

"Before they go out on the field, they look up in their lockers and they see a duck, it means for them to play like they always have," Manuel said on Tuesday. "And we play as hard as we possibly can, and we play for that moment and we take it one day at a time and we plan on coming out winners."

The Phillies can plan on winning in part because they have the single best starting pitcher of the postseason to date, NLCS MVP Cole Hamels. Hamels was 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in the first two rounds.

What Hamels sees, he said on Tuesday, is a very evenly matched World Series.

"I know it's all other people's speculations, but I guess when you look at matchups or just the way that we've played, I think we're very even," Hamels said. "I just think we're very equal. I can't say who to favor. I'm going to pick my side, no doubt. But I think it is going to bring a good, competitive level to this World Series.

It's also a human World Series. The figures here are not larger-than-life. Maybe some of them will become that way over the next week or 10 days, but for now, no, they're humans. And that's a plus, too. We're dealing with people rather than myths.

For instance, Rays manager Joe Maddon, asked on Tuesday about staying relaxed at this most stressful of times, said that "the most difficult part is all this," meaning the media sessions. Maddon figures he has an obligation to keep producing fresh answers to repetitive questions. What a concept. This man is going to be the AL Manager of the Year, that much is absolutely clear, but there ought to be a Nobel Prize in here for trying this hard.

"The other worst part is getting tickets and rooms for your kids in Philadelphia and making sure that your mom is OK," Maddon said. "Those are the tough parts."

This is no time to try to become somebody else, Maddon believes. "Everybody wanted me to make kind of a Knute Rockne speech prior to some of these games with the Red Sox, but that would have been a departure from what I do," Maddon said. "Routine is important to me, being able to have my same workout and staying on the same kind of diet and stuff like that matters. I've been trying to stick with the routine."

The Phillies and the Rays are not the routine World Series clubs. But that is the beauty of this Fall Classic. This is not about reputation, name recognition, familiarity or potential for commercial endorsements. This is about getting here on merit, which the Phillies and the Rays have clearly done.

Far from being some kind of weird historical twist, this is what contemporary baseball can and should be about.

Rollins brings devotion to grand stage

ST. PETERSBURG -- Jimmy Rollins dances to his right a few steps, scoops up the ball and rifles a throw to first base. He repeats the routine with effortless precision two, three, maybe four times.

"It's pretty bouncy," Rollins mutters, describing the artificial turf infield. "The ball never stops bouncing when its gets to the dirt. Hey, sometimes it doesn't bounce at all."

As the Phillies' shortstop goes through a workout ritual the other day at Tropicana Field, it's a mundane drill he's executed thousands and thousands of times. On all types of fields, good and bad.

This time, it's different. Rollins, defending National League MVP, is in the World Series against Tampa Bay, a lifelong dream, if not fantasy, that reaches reality Wednesday night.

Another ball bounces his way, he gloves it and throws a bullet. There's a trace of a smile on his face.

I'd be very surprised if Rollins, 29, isn't thinking back to his childhood in Oakland maybe 20-some years ago when he'd field hundreds of ground balls his dad hit him until he got it right. It was usually dark when father and son finally would call it quits and go home.

"Jimmy's always wanted to be the best at what he does," Gigi Rollins, his mom, says over the phone from the family home in Alameda, Calif., the other day. "He drives himself to be the best."

If the Phillies are going to stall favored Tampa Bay's unbelievable journey to a World Series championship, Rollins will have to be on his game.

As J-Roll goes, so go the Phillies. As their leadoff batter, if he's able to get on base, get key hits, steal a base, play flawless defense, teammates most often follow his lead.

He had just nine hits in 37 at-bats in the Division and League Championship Series, but in each of the deciding games he was instrumental in getting the Phillies off to a fast start. Against the Dodgers, in the clincher last Wednesday, he led off with a homer, setting the stage for a hard-fought victory.

James Rollins Sr. knew his talented son would never become a great fielder by taking ground balls on smooth, well-manicured fields.

So the father would go out of his way to find the roughest fields available in the Oakland area.

"We'd go to the roughest fields because it was a challenge," remembers Jimmy. "He'd always try to find a field that was beat up and let the ball jump around. You catch that ball, and you've got some good hands."

The elder Rollins says there was method to his madness.

"We'd go to places where there were roots in the ground and the ball would take crazy hops," he told me once. "Then, I'd take him to a smooth field to show him the difference. Then, we'd go back to the rough field, and I'd hit it to him pretty hard so he'd be able to take different spins."

Rollins won his first Gold Glove at shortstop during his MVP season. He also took home the coveted Silver Slugger Award.

It was Jimmy's father who also taught him to be a switch-hitter when he was 9.

"I had him hit from the left side only for a year. That's how I started him out," said James Rollins. "One day he came home crying. He said he couldn't hit from his natural [right] side anymore. He thought he'd lost it, but I told him not to worry. I told him he had just converted himself over to a switch-hitter."

But both father and son insist Jimmy's athletic ability comes from his mom, Gigi, who was an outstanding semi-pro softball player in the Oakland area. Like her son, she was an infielder and leadoff hitter.

"She had all the tools and taught him the right way and the wrong way to play the game," said the father.

Often, after he got to the Phillies, Gigi would watch Jimmy on TV, then call him to critique his performance.

Several years ago she kept telling him to take more pitches, be more selective at the plate. Jimmy would argue "that you cannot take away my aggressiveness."

Rollins says, laughing, "after I won the MVP, I think she gave me a pass. Although I'll get a text message now and then."

Mention this to Gigi and her only response over the phone is a long laugh. "Is that what he said?" she asks.

Composing herself, she relates an anecdote about her son, showing how proud she is of him.

"What's so wonderful is he hasn't changed at all," she says. "He's still the same ol' Jimmy, even with all the things that have come his way -- the MVP, the Silver Slugger, the Gold Glove and now he's going to the World Series.

"This is how wonderful he is, and I'm not saying it because he's my son: He has been in contact with a young man in Northern California who has cancer, but is in remission. Jimmy made a video for him, urging him to keep his courage.

"When my husband and I were out on the field [at Dodger Stadium] helping Jimmy celebrate the victory that put the Phillies in the World Series, he stopped right in the middle, turned around to his father and asked if he'd heard from the little boy. Right in the middle of the celebration! We were just blown away; he looked at his father and just asked that. That's an example of how humble he is."

Gigi adds: "This is a moment he's been waiting almost his entire life for, to get to the World Series. It's what he's dreamt of. But to take a moment out of his celebration ..."

Jimmy is one of three children. He has a sister and a younger brother, Antwon, who was in the Texas Rangers Minor League system, but never made it to the Majors.

Gigi once told me she knew early on Jimmy had a special talent.

"He was maybe only a year old when I first started rolling the ball to him," she said. "I'd sit on the stairs in front of the house, and I would roll it. He'd pick it up and roll it back to me."

The Rollins clan will be in the stands for the World Series.

And it goes without saying they'll have a hard time not remembering the skinny little boy who took ground balls by the hour so he'd be the best he could be.

Which for Jimmy Rollins is about as good as it gets.