World Series

Mark Teixeira, the pride of Severna Park and the world's highest-paid first baseman, was the recipient of a little home cooking when he took his bows Monday afternoon in the Orioles opener against the New York Yankees. More than any other player on the hated team from the Bronx, Teixeira was singled out for a roasting worthy of a Weber grill. Just four months ago, Baltimore fans envisioned a team revival built around a local boy with a .290 lifetime average who professed his love for the orange and black.

Tommy Byrne, a Baltimore-born southpaw who pitched in four World Series as a member of the New York Yankees, died of congestive heart failure Thursday in Wake Forest, N.C. He was 87. A 1979 inductee into the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame, Mr. Byrne was a star athlete at City College from 1935 to 1937 - leading the school to state baseball championships in his last two years. As a major leaguer, he was an All-Star whose reputation for wildness on the mound led to several years of exile from Yankee Stadium and had hitters ducking for most of his career.

BOSTON -- There is supposed to be little drama remaining now that the Boston Red Sox have disposed of their American League rivals and are ready to take on a little-known, small-market club in the 103rd World Series, which starts in Boston tonight. That was the feeling last year, too, when the Detroit Tigers survived the ultra-competitive AL and were so certain to be World Series champions that one major newspaper jokingly predicted Detroit would win the best-of-seven matchup in three games.

Joe Torre, one of the most successful managers in the long history of the New York Yankees, walked away from the job yesterday, spurning an unconventional offer from the team's owners that was likely designed to prompt him to do just that. "We respect Joe's decision," said team president Randy Levine, who gave the Yankees' side of talks with Torre in a conference call with reporters. Torre will hold a news conference today in Rye Brook, N.Y. Torre, 67, managed the Yankees for 12 seasons, the longest stint in the job since Hall of Famer Casey Stengel in 1949- 1960.

Good morning -- Brooks Robinson -- Hearing you were the top vote-getter on the all-time Gold Glove team stoked memories of the '70 World Series.

Mike Hargrove quit as manager of the Seattle Mariners the other day. You remember Hargrove. He was here once. He used to manage the Orioles. No, really. Same guy. I looked it up. He was here for four consecutive seasons, between 2000 and 2003. Don't feel bad, if your memory is fuzzy on this. Hargrove's record as Orioles manager was 275-372. In three of his four seasons, the Orioles finished 30 or more games out of first place. So, if you can't remember the details of the Hargrove years, it's probably because you only paid attention to the Orioles out of the corner of your eye. Let's face it: Losing is part of life.

There used to be a solid formula for figuring out which playoff teams had the best chance to get to the World Series. It wasn't foolproof, but it was as good as any. The teams that got hot in September were penciled in for the October Classic. And if there were several playing well down the stretch, go with the clubs with the best pitching and defense. Then 2006 came, and convention was scrapped. The Detroit Tigers, who lost their final five regular-season games and had to settle for the wild card, won the American League crown.

NEW YORK -- The Atlanta Braves have one more game to lose, but whatever realistic hope they had of winning the 95th World Series disappeared over the left-field fence at 11: 37 last night.New York Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis launched a fly ball into the left-field bullpen to lead off the 10th inning and carry the defending world champions to a 6-5 comeback victory that put the 1999 baseball season on 24 hours notice.The moonshot off reliever Mike Remlinger was Curtis' second home run of the game and the fourth for the Yankees, who took a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic.

NEW YORK -- In a perfect world, the Yankees and the Red Sox would get to settle this thing of theirs in the World Series. Playing for the pennant for the first time in the American League Championship Series is as close as the two storied rivals are destined to get."This will do," contends the Yankees' David Cone, the Game 2 pitcher. "If you're a student of history you have to be into this rivalry."Forget the Mets. This is the Sox and the Yankees. This is war, the only one that will actually cause at least half of a baseball-frenzied city to momentarily stop hyperventilating over the possibility of a Mets-Yankees Subway Series.

NEW YORK -- Time is running short for the National League's "Team of the Decade," but Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox is losing patience with the notion that his team's consistent performance in the '90s is tarnished because it includes only one world title."

A fourth-inning, opposite-field home run by Alex Rodriguez, which was awarded when umpires used video replay to reverse a call for the first time in a World Series game, helps New York rally from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and take a two-games-to-one lead. For coverage, see PG 6 and go to baltimoresun.com/baseball.

* Mark Teixeira, right, and Hideki Matsui homer off Pedro Martinez, helping New York to a 3-1 victory, tying the World Series at one game apiece heading into Saturday's matchup in Philadelphia. Yankees starting pitcher A.J. Burnett gave up four hits in seven innings, and Mariano Rivera earned a two-inning save. PG 7

The New York Yankees advance to the World Series by defeating the Los Angeles Angels, 5-2, in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. Andy Pettitte pitched into the seventh inning for his record 16th postseason victory, and Johnny Damon drove in two runs (including Nick Swisher, above) with a fourth-inning single. The Philadelphia Phillies' Cliff Lee is expected to face Yankees ace CC Sabathia in the Series opener Wednesday night in New York. PG 12

Has it really been 15 years since the baseball work stoppage to end all baseball work stoppages caused the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and threatened the sport's reverential status as the national pastime? The reason I ask that question is that we're in the midst of another postseason in which the chasm between the small-revenue and big-revenue teams is very much on display. The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who appear destined to face each other in the World Series next week, represent the hugely populated Northeast corridor that generates more media-related revenue than any other section of the country.

Mark Teixeira, the pride of Severna Park and the world's highest-paid first baseman, was the recipient of a little home cooking when he took his bows Monday afternoon in the Orioles opener against the New York Yankees. More than any other player on the hated team from the Bronx, Teixeira was singled out for a roasting worthy of a Weber grill. Just four months ago, Baltimore fans envisioned a team revival built around a local boy with a .290 lifetime average who professed his love for the orange and black.

For the first time since 1995, the New York Yankees head into a season without having played postseason baseball the year before. And they enter April without perennial Most Valuable Player candidate Alex Rodriguez, whose dizzying offseason included criticism from a past manager, admittance that he used steroids, and hip surgery in March that will sideline him until at least mid-May. Yet several national prognosticators are picking the Yankees to win their first World Series since 2000.

2001 World Series 8 p.m. [MLB Network] Game 7: Mariano Rivera on the mound to lock down another World Series triumph for the Yankees. But somehow the Diamondbacks win.

George Steinbrenner's 35-year reign as boss of the New York Yankees ended yesterday when he passed control of baseball's most famous team to his youngest son, Hal. The elder Steinbrenner has gradually withdrawn from the Yankees' day-to-day operations in recent years, and Hal and his brother Hank were appointed co-chairmen in April. "I realize it's a great responsibility," said Hal Steinbrenner, who turns 40 on Dec. 3. "My dad is, needless to say, a tough act to follow." George Steinbrenner, now 78, headed a group that bought the club in January 1973 for an $8.7 million net price and became one of the most high-profile owners in all of sports.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and until last night I was petrified with fear, scared almost out of my wits ... of an asterisk. The one on the World Series schedule. * Game 7, if necessary, on Halloween night. It was possible if the Philadelphia Phillies hadn't won the World Series in five games. And had the storms stayed in the Northeast one more day, we would have moved that asterisk back to November. The only other time that has happened, it took the 2001 terrorist attacks. This time, though, it might only have taken an extended bout of bad weather.

Here's another example of why the Rays' home fans don't deserve a team in the World Series: Game 5's rating Monday in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market was 28.1, with a 40 share. (In Philadelphia, the numbers were 45.2/60.) So with its team facing Series elimination, not even half of the home market that was watching television could be bothered to flip the channel to check out the game. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/mediumwell)