SOS Baseball Sunday

A story of two leagues, one chock full of activity, the other completely devoid of it. And breaking news that could be a distraction to one of the teams competing tonight.

According to a story in today's San Francisco Chronicle, Indians pitcher Paul Byrd, who won game four for Cleveland and could end up pitching this evening in game 7 reportedly bought nearly $25,000 worth of human growth hormone and syringes from a Florida anti-aging clinic. The paper said Byrd spent $24,850 to buy more than 1,000 vials of growth hormone as well as hundreds of syringes. This could cause a distraction for the Indians, who play their biggest game in a decade tonight against Boston in game seven of the ALCS. The Red Sox seem loose and brimming with confidence as they got more runs off of the seemingly invincable Fausto Carmona than he got outs. JD Drew went from goat to glory with one swing, propelling Boston to a deciding game and sending the Fenway crows into a frenzy. Cleveland will send Jake Westbrook to the mound, the former Yankees prospect who has fared well this postseason. In my mind, the most pressure will be on Japanese rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka, who will start for all the marbles. Will his huge posting fee and contract be worth it for a franchise desperate to prove that 2004 was no fluke? Cleveland has gone from red hot to reeling, and the club that puts a run on the board first will have a decided advantage, and would immediately apply a great deal of pressure on the opposition.
From so much activity to not nearly enough, the NL Champion Colorado Rockies lurk in the shadows waiting for a World Series opponent. They considered going to their Spring Training facility in Tuscon to get practice in, but there's bad weather there. So for a few days last week, they had batting practice and simulated games, trying to keep up the intensity in front of 50,000 empty seats at Coors Field. But bad weather and a chance of snow have halted those simulated games. I find that weather hard to believe, given the 70 degree temperatures in the Northeast and near disastrous drought conditions in many parts of the southeast. But Aaron Cook threw a simulated game and could be good to go for the World Series roster. Rox GM Dan O'Dowd had a talk with Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski on what to do with such a long layoff. It's admittedly tough from going to games with such high intensity to a week without any game action. The trends definitely play against Denver's Darlings, but that doesn't scare or frighten a team that have bucked every trend put before them the entire year at a historic clip. Go on ESPN.com and read a Jayson Stark article from lastn week that really shows how many things this club has had to overcome. This is just one more hurdle for Clint and co to jump over, and it seems that nothing is out of their grasps.
The Yankees will interview Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi, and Tony Pena for their managerial opening, and reporters are still camped outside of Joe Torre's house. That's absolutely absurd. Scott Boras said that where the other Yankee free agents go will greatly impact A-Rod's decision. At this point, I think that Boras is just trying to keep himself and his client in the news. I think I could work this situation out; I'll reroute the reporters to A-Rod and Boras so that Torre can have peace and Boras and A-Rod can have attention. That's why I'm king. Apparently Hank Steinbrenner has fired back at Torre, playing the opportunity card, saying that Joe's career was nothing before he was hired by the Yankees and that he wasn't trying to insult Torre with his offer.

Rumors
-The Yankees are prepared to make a big extension offer to Rodriguez, says the New York Post. Mike Lowell and Joe Crede would be other New York options.
-The Cubs would defnitely be interested in Mariano Rivera, at least for leverage purposes, according to Newsday.
-The Seattle Times reports that there's no chance that Lou Piniella would leave the Cubs to manage the Yankees.
-Larry Bowa has been offered the 3rd base coaching job in Seattle, according to the New York Times.
-The Phillies are looking to resign Tadahito Iguchi, and Pittsburgh has interviewed AAA manager John Russell for their opening. (Philadelphia Inquirer)