Division Series

NEW YORK -- The Texas Rangers stepped out of character and tried to do it with pitching last night, but the New York Yankees seem destined for an American League Championship Series showdown with the Cleveland Indians.Despite a superb performance by Rangers starter Rick Helling, the Yankees stretched their Division Series winning streak against Texas to a record eight games with a 3-1 victory in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium.Promising left fielder Ricky Ledee's seventh-inning double brought home the go-ahead run, propelling left-hander Andy Pettitte to his fifth career postseason victory and pushing the punchless Rangers to the threshold of another quick October exit.

It doesn't seem fair, really. The eight major-league teams that survived the long, hot summer now have to put their impressive seasons on the line in a best-of-five Division Series format that places a premium on the game's most dominant starting pitchers.Not a bad time to be Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams or Arizona Diamondbacks skipper Buck Showalter.The Red Sox slipped into the playoffs as the American League wild-card team, but they don't figure to be a decided underdog when they open the playoffs against the Cleveland Indians tomorrow night at Jacobs Field.

NEW YORK -- If this is October, the New York Yankees must be teaching the ever-hopeful Texas Rangers another hard lesson about life in the big city.If this is October, $87 million outfielder Bernie Williams must be slashing and dashing his way into the postseason record books.It is October, indeed.Williams drove in six runs with a single, a double and a record-tying three-run home run last night as the Yankees dominated the Rangers, 8-0, in Game 1 of the best-of-five Division Series before 57,099 at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles intensified their managerial search yesterday by conducting a group interview with former Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove, the third known candidate and the first from outside the organization to speak with majority owner Peter Angelos or his executives.Hargrove met with Angelos' advisory committee, which includes executive vice president John Angelos, chairman's representative Louis Angelos and director of player personnel Syd Thrift, according to a club source.Coming only a day after the committee granted incumbent third base coach Sam Perlozzo his second interview in 10 days, Hargrove's appearance suggests the Orioles are moving toward a decision on a successor to Ray Miller before finding a director of baseball operations.

The Braves and Yankees meet for a rematch of the 1996 Fall Classic that propelled the Yankees back to prominence and established Joe Torre as one of the best managers in the game. Now, the Yankees are back in the World Series for the third time in four years and the stakes may be higher than ever.The winner likely will be remembered as the team of the 90's, and why not? The Braves have appeared in every postseason since 1991 and would end the decade with two world championships, five National League pennants and eight division titles.

NEW YORK -- Texas Rangers general manager Doug Melvin watched from the stands on Tuesday night as New York Yankees star Bernie Williams turned Game 1 of the Division Series into another personal playoff showcase and proved again that no good deed goes unpunished.Every time Williams stings a game-breaking hit or makes a game-saving catch -- and he did both on Tuesday night against the Rangers -- Melvin remembers the day in September 1985 that he handed the raw Puerto Rican teen-ager a $15,000 bonus to sign with the Yankees.

The World Series has been over for a week, but baseball still is hogging the headlines.Maybe today's should be: "Have MVP trophy, will travel."The Texas Rangers pulled off a blockbuster deal last night, trading two-time American League Most Valuable Player Juan Gonzalez to the Detroit Tigers in a nine-player deal that brought pitcher Justin Thompson, top outfield prospect Gabe Kapler and four other players to the defending American League West champions.If...

NEW YORK -- Texas Rangers general manager Doug Melvin watched from the stands on Tuesday night as New York Yankees star Bernie Williams turned Game 1 of the Division Series into another personal playoff showcase and proved again that no good deed goes unpunished.Every time Williams stings a game-breaking hit or makes a game-saving catch -- and he did both on Tuesday night against the Rangers -- Melvin remembers the day in September 1985 that he handed the raw Puerto Rican teen-ager a $15,000 bonus to sign with the Yankees.

BOSTON -- He has won five straight division titles and two American League pennants, and after tonight he might be a candidate to be the Orioles' next manager.Mike Hargrove, come on down!Work for Peter Angelos! Reunite with Albert Belle!On second thought, maybe Grover would pass.But if the Cleveland Indians fail to defeat the Boston Red Sox in Game 5 of the Division Series tonight at Jacobs Field, Hargrove indeed could be looking for work soon.Rest assured, someone is going to pay if the Indians blow a two-games-to-none lead to a Red Sox team that lost Pedro Martinez and, for one game, Nomar Garciaparra.

ATLANTA -- There were moments in the third inning yesterday, Kevin Millwood said, when he slipped a couple of sliders and curveballs past Houston hitters and knew he was in complete control of those tricky pitches. He felt buoyed by the way they veered across the plate."From then on," Millwood said, "I knew if I threw the right pitch and kept them guessing a little bit, it was going to be a pretty good ballgame."Try great. In his first postseason appearance, Millwood threw a one-hitter, facing just two batters over the minimum as the Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-1, to even their National League Division Series at one game apiece.

News item: The Ravens face what might be the pivotal challenge of the season Sunday when they visit the noisy Metrodome to take on Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. My take: Before you go all wobbly about the Vikings and their high-decibel home-field advantage, you might want to consider that the Ravens have a significantly better home record (31-12) than the Vikings (27-15) during the past five seasons (plus 2009). Bonus take: In case you're wondering whether there was a huge competitive disparity to account for that, the Ravens and Vikings each have one division title and two playoff appearances since the start of the 2004 season.

It has been 63 years since local tavern owner William Sianis and his pet billy goat were asked to leave Wrigley Field during the last World Series to grace its Friendly Confines, but the legend it spawned refuses to die. The "Curse of the Billy Goat" is as much a part of Chicago Cubs history as Tinker to Evers to Chance, the double-play combination that played such a large part in the most recent Cubs world championship, which - at last count - was...

News item: Track star Marion Jones has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the BALCO steroid scandal and admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs before winning three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. My take: My gosh. Am I the only one who got this perfectly cut, 240-pound body without the use of some prohibited substance? News item: Orioles vice president of baseball operations Jim Duquette resigned Friday. His departure is widely viewed as the first step in a major front office realignment.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo acknowledged yesterday that it remains a possibility that injured catcher Ramon Hernandez could go on the disabled list. The initial hope was that Hernandez, who has missed the first three games with a strained left oblique muscle, would be able to play in tomorrow's series opener in New York. However, the catcher has still yet to take batting practice, making him doubtful for at least part - if not all - of the Orioles' three-game series with the New York Yankees.

What a strange baseball world we live in, when the Yankees can ponder major management changes after their 12th straight appearance in the playoffs, and the owner of the Orioles is convinced that he is making all the right moves after nine straight losing seasons. Well, at least our ticket prices are lower. The first whispers in the aftermath of the Detroit Tigers' uplifting American League Division Series victory over the Yankees on Saturday night were about Lou Piniella, a favorite of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who has been recharging his batteries after a frustrating attempt to inject life into the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Did I really take the Colts, giving 18 points, against the Titans? This isn't Ohio State-Bowie State. That's a lot of points in the NFL. I lived to regret it. Then again, I took the Bills getting 10 points. Let's say you're Brian Billick - which automatically makes you smarter than the rest of us. Do you play B.J. Sams tonight after his DUI? Sams hasn't been suspended by the NFL, but it would be a strong statement from Billick if he benched the guy after two arrests in 14 months. Even for one game.

DETROIT -- Joe Torre fought back the urge to cry in the interview room when asked about the future. Brian Cashman was straining for words through the emotion in the hallway outside the locker room. Another New York Yankees season is over, another team proved at the end that it didn't have what it was going to take, and this time the general manager who put it together and the manager in charge of holding it together were taking it harder than most of the players. "Well, it's certainly disappointing," Torre said.

NATIONAL Hastert fights to keep his post House Speaker Dennis Hastert said last night that he had no thoughts of resigning despite allegations by a former aide to Mark Foley that he had warned Hastert more than two years ago about Foley's inappropriate behavior toward underage pages. pg 1a Spinach investigation widens Federal agents searched two California produce companies in connection with the nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least 191 others, the U.S. attorney's office for Northern California said.

An American League general manager has a theory. If the Minnesota Twins had been the American League wild-card representative, they'd be World Series favorites. Instead, the Twins captured the American League Central Division on the final day of the season and secured home-field advantage in the first round. And now the same GM predicts the Twins won't make it to the World Series. Confused? Here's the reasoning: As the wild card, the Twins would have had to play the New York Yankees in the first round.

St. Louis -- Once the 2005 National League Championship Series is decided, the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros will have gone head-to-head no less than 45 times over the past two seasons. Should this NLCS go the distance and mirror last year's edition, make it 48 games between the two clubs in a 19-month span. Yet as the series opens tonight at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals and Astros this season were more like perfect strangers than renewed rivals. This is the first NLCS rematch since 1991-1992, when the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves vied for World Series appearances in consecutive years.