It happens every year.  One of the teams in the post-season comes up with some goofy gimmick that garners national attention that fans can't help but want to emulate.

In 2008, it was the Tampa Bay Rays rocking the "Rayhawk."

In 2009, the Yankees literally rubbed it in everyone's face with the old fashioned "shaving cream pie in the face" gag.

In 2010, the Rangers sported "antler" all the way to the AL pennant.

This year, the new fad sweeping the baseball landscape is the Milwaukee Brewers going "Beast Mode!"  It is a trend so darn awesome that even Hall of Famer Robin Yount couldn't help but strike the Beast Mode pose after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Sure, it is nothing more than a ridiculous display of frat-boy, jock mentality, but I'll be damned if it isn't something I wish I had cause to do myself (turns out there aren't many opportunities to switch into Beast Mode while blogging, unless you totally nail proper use of the past participle, of course).  It also just might be the kind of gimmick that leads the Brewers to the World Series.

Look at that list of teams up above.  Notice anything in common?  All three of them went to the World Series.  Turns out this stupid Beast Mode pose might be the smartest thing the Brewers have done all season.

And it isn't just the last few years that this kind of tomfoolery has paid big-time dividends.  Surely none of us have forgotten the 2002 Angels coming out of nowhere to win it all on the back of the infamous Rally Monkey.  The "Idiot" Red Sox of 2004 are probably the most famous example of the unity through abject boyish behavior working out in a team's favor.  Heck, even the 2007 Colorado Rockies used the trite "Rocktober" tagline to make the Cinderalla run to the National League pennant.

If you really want to turn back the clock, we can come up with countless examples of team gimmicks.  Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine."  The "We Are Family" Pirates.  The "Amazin'" Mets of 1969.  Who knew making it to the World Series wasn't about building a deep and balanced roster or having elite starting pitching or seamless team defense or an overpowering lineup.  You just need a dumb team theme.

How did the Moneyballers not figure this out sooner?  To think of all that time they spent conjuring up UZR and reviewing Pitch f/x data.  Forget about hiring more Ivy League nerds to crunch mountains of data, teams need to be out there hiring the Don Drapers of the 21st century to come in and create some catchy team-specific meme, then all they need to do is sit back and enjoy the playoff victories.

This past Friday, Angels (now former) GM Tony Reagins resigned, stepping down after four seasons at the helm. The Angels failed to make the postseason for the second straight season, something they had not done since 2000-2001. Reagins’ time as GM will likely be viewed as a failure, but he certainly shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame.

As Mike Napoli rounded the bases Monday night in St. Petersburg, having hit a go-ahead two-run home run, Twitter began lighting up with news that the Halos’ house cleaning had continued. Long time employees Ken Forcsh and Gary Sutherland were told that they would not be returning to their posts in the front office for the 2012 season.

The news of the Angels’ new direction is not surprising. They’ve made some really bad personnel decisions over the last few years that have aided their postseason vacancy. But then there is Mike Scioscia, the leader of the on-field talent and some say the leader of the organization itself. After all, it was Scioscia that wanted Mike Napoli gone, a sentiment that grew stronger as the 2010 season progressed and Napoli continued to ride the pine in favor the ever so inept Jeff Mathis. What choice did Reagins really have? Now, one could certainly argue that Reagins could have found a different player, with a much more manageable contract, than Vernon Wells – let’s face it, he definitely should have.

During his time as GM, Reagins made a few bold moves that didn’t pan out: The Scott Kazmir trade, the Fernando Rodney signing, the Brian Fuentes signing and, of course, the Vernon Wells trade. He did, however, make some very good deals: Brinigng in Mark Teixeira for the stretch run in 2008, trading for Dan Haren, with a reasonable contract through 2013, and more recently signing staff ace Jered Weaver to a below market value contract extension.

Mike Napoli might haunt Tony Reagins’ dreams for a long-long time. Napoli had an incredible season, and for a division rival, hitting .320/.414/.631 with 30 home runs in only 432 plate appearances, putting up 5.6 wins above replacement, or, 6.6 more wins above Jeff Mathis, who has played at a below replacement level for two seasons now. Mathis, in 426 games with the Angels, has posted –1.8 wins above replacement.

The Mike Napoli trade may be the deal that finally did Reagins in, but keep in mind that Mike Scioscia had a heavy hand in the process.

If you need any more evidence that it is Scioscia, not anyone in the front office that truly runs the Angels, look no further to the fact that, while axes are dropping left and right, Scioscia’s contract keeps him in Anaheim through the 2018 season.

Only seven more years to right the ship, Mike.

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The pitchers duel between Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia didn't totally live up to it's hype, as both starters allowed four runs, with Sabathia leaving after just 5 1/3 innings. But Verlander went eight, and a late Delmon Young home run propelled the Tigers to a 5-4 victory, and gives them a 2-1 lead in the series.

Sabathia didn't look right all night, He walked six batters during his time in the game, and only struck out three. Four of those walks came in the first two innings of the came, and Sabathia escaped unscathed due to a pair of double plays. He wouldn't be as lucky in the third, with Detroit putting the first four runners of the inning on and plating a run to cut their deficit to 2-1. They'd tie the game on a double play by Miguel Cabrera.

Detroit would take the lead in the fifth, with Ramon Santiago doubling in Brandon Inge, who led the inning off with a single. They would strike again in the sixth, as Jhonny Peralta doubled in Don Kelly to end Sabathia's evening. 

But the Yankees would not die. After Verlander allowed a pair in the first inning on a Curtis Granderson RBI triple and an Alex Rodriguez ground out, he settled into a groove. Despite allowing one hitter to reach base in each of the second, third, fourth and sixth innings, no runs crossed the plate for New York. Things changed in the seventh, when Verlander walked Jorge Posada, who he had down 0-2, with two outs in the inning. Then he hit Russell Martin. Then Brett Gardner, who has had a couple of big hits in the series, doubled in both of them to tie the game at four. 

Detroit's answer was swift in the bottom of the inning. After a pop out by Santiago, Young stepped in and homered to right on the first pitch he saw from Rafael Soriano. Verlander would allow another runner to reach in the eighth before getting out of the inning with no more runs on the board. That led to Jose Valverde in the ninth, who made it interesting with a pair of walks. But with the go ahead run on first, Valverde struck out Derek Jeter to end the game and give the Tigers their lead in the series.

Verlander's overall line was typical of him. He went eight innings, allowed four runs, walked three, and struck out 11. It wasn't bone-shatteringly dominant, as he got touched for a few runs. But it was how he did it: Verlander was still touching triple digits in the eighth inning. 

Jim Leyland's decision to play Santiago at second base instead of Ryan Raburn paid off, as he went 2/4 with a double and a pair of RBI. Even starting the much-maligned Inge paid off, as he had a pair of hits and scored two of Detroit's five runs. Midseason acquistion Young also had two hits, including the game-winning homer. For the Yankees, Posada continued his hot postseason, walking twice in addition to a single. Gardner also reached base three times in the ninth spot in the order. Oh, and for the record....Rodiguez and Mark Teixeira have combined for one hit in these playoffs.

Detroit is looking to slam the door on the Yankees season tomorrow, and they'll send Rick Porcello to the mound to do it. The only thing standing between the Yankees and elmination is....AJ Burnett. No pressure or anything, AJ. Game time is 8:37.

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Through six innings in St. Petersburg tonight, it looked like the Tampa Bay Rays had a chance to seize control of things with a typical Rays win. Even though they only had one hit against Colby Lewis, that hit was a solo homer from Desmond Jennings and they held a 1-0 lead. It wasn't ideal, but when has anything been ideal for this Rays team in 2011? 

Maybe as a reminder of how tenuous the Rays' lead -- both in the game and the series -- was, the wheels fell off quickly in the top of the seventh. Adrian Beltre singled and Mike Napoli homered and within eight pitches 1-0 Rays was 2-1 Rangers. Price almost got out of the inning by recording two quick outs, but Joe Maddon pulled him after a Chris Gentry single. That may have been Maddon's biggest mistake of the season. Brandon Gomes came in and walked Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus on nine pitches, then was replaced with JP Howell. Howell served up a two-run single to Josh Hamilton to run the score to 4-1. Juan Cruz finally got the last out of the inning when Hamilton tried to swipe second and John Jaso faked the throw and fooled Elvis Andrus. 

The Rays tried to mount a comeback by loading the bases against Darren Oliver in the bottom of the seventh, but Alexi Ogando put the fire out by only allowing one run. The Rays drew even closer when Desmond Jennings took Mike Adams deep in the eighth. A second solo shot just wasn't quite enough to even things up and Neftali Feliz nailed things down in the ninth to get the Rangers their 4-3 lead. 

There will be a lot made of Maddon's decision to pull Price (perhaps justified given Price's late season struggles this year) and his decision to go to Howell to face Hamilton (Howell has been fantastic against lefties this year and great since August 1st, but he gave up quite a few hits in high-leverage situations during the Rays' mad dash to the playoffs), but the big story from this one is Napoli. As is well documented by now, Napoli was unwanted by both a bad GM (Tony Reagins, since fired by the Angels) and a good one (Alex Anthopolous, who's seemingly fleeced everyone in the last two years) this winter, which is why he ended up in Texas. Napoli mashed his way to a 1.046 OPS during the season and his tear has now extended into the playoffs. Getting Mike Napoli for Frank Francisco is one of the reasons that Jon Daniels has his team on the verge of their second straight ALCS. 

Of course, nothing is over until the lights are officially out, especially when the Rays are involved. For tomorrow afternoon's Game 4, the Rays are planning on sending Jeremy Hellickson out to face Matt Harrison, who's likely the weakest starter the Rangers will send to the mound in this series. A win gets them a Game 5, where they can choose between the electric Matt Moore and steady James Shields to face CJ Wilson, who they shelled in Game 1. 

It's hard to deny that the Rangers are in awfully good shape, though. Hellickson has a lot of innings on his 24-year old arm in 2011 and no matter what, the Rangers have home field advantage in Game 5. The Rays probably won't go down quietly, but they've got another big mountain to climb if they want to get out of the two games to one hole that they're in right now. 

Baseball really hasn’t been a purely American sport for over 140 years. In the 1860s, the sugar trade brought the game to Cuba, and after the Ten Years’ War in Cuba sent its citizens fleeing across the Caribbean, the game spread. When the United States won the Spanish-American War, baseball became a key mode of communication between the US soldiers in the area and the inhabitants of the area. Soon after the turn of the 20^th century, the Caribbean had its own leagues.

Those first leagues were held during the summer, and as the players got better, major-league teams began quietly signing talent away from the area, but when they came to the US, the teams had the players change their name (Victor Felipe Pellot became Vic Power, for instance) to fit more easily into the American fabric. As the decades followed, more talent came from those leagues, and the MLB began looking more to the area. The Latin American leagues, however, weren’t thrilled about this and pursued a better relationship that didn’t involve the MLB relentlessly stealing talent from their league. Eventually, leagues began playing in the winter. The MLB agreed to send some players there, and they agreed to not directly stop the region’s legends from returning for an off-season appearance. The new Winter Leagues agreed to allow MLB teams to scout the area with a more official relationship.

This lasted for a few decades before MLB teams began to seek an alternative. Sending players overseas was expensive, and the players were far away. It would be preferable to have league in the US where prospects could play against other prospects instead of the inconsistent talent of the Latin American Winter Leagues. In 1992, the MLB established the Arizona Fall League. This gave the MLB a domestic winter league, and players could be cared for and monitored easier and with all the luxuries of the modern game.

The Arizona Fall League often becomes home to many of the top prospects in baseball. While most of the players are from AA or AAA, each team can send one A-ball player. Teams utilize the league for several reasons. One, the league gives the prospect experience against other top prospects. Two, it gives players that may have been injured or signed late a chance to gain more experience or innings. Three, it’s a chance for MLB teams to move players around to a different position, be coached on the position, and get to play that position against good competition. Fourth and finally, it’s a final audition as teams ask whether or not they need to go get another player to bridge the gap for that player.

The AFL features six, 35-man rosters, and each MLB team sends 7 players. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a look at each roster, and we’ll look at a brief scouting report on them as well as a quick examination of why they might be there.

Temperatures in the Phoenix metropolitan area are expected to reach the low-90s.

But it seems the city's case of Diamondbacks fever isn't nearly as high. Tickets for tomorrow's crucial Game 3 between the Diamondbacks and Brewers are reportedly still available and plentiful, going for as cheap as $12. 

The team can't blame this on the start time they received from MLB. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30, giving Phoenix residents plenty of time to get to Chase Field in time to get a playoff baseball. Rather it seems the case is a lack of fan interest in any playoff games played at Chase Field that aren't the World Series.

On the heels of yesterday's 5-3 win to tie the series at one game apiece, I said that the Tigers had the edge. Now, I'm here to explain why. 

The next two games are in Detroit. So it's a best of three series (essentially), and the home field advantage goes to the Tigers. That's a big edge, especially considering the Tigers are 50-31 at Comerica Park this season, 19-7 over the final two months of the season. 

The pitching matchups for the rest of the series heavily skew in favor of the Tigers as well. Today, it'll be the game one rematch that barely happened: Verlander vs Sabathia. These two guys are the top contenders for the Cy Young award this year, with Verlander likely to win the award (and deservedly so). And while I hate quoting wins....the Tigers are 25-9 when Verlander starts this year, and they've won 12 of the last 13. Verlander has faced the Yankees twice this season, and had nearly identical lines in each: 6 innings, 3 runs, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts. Both of those starts came in the season's first few weeks, before Verlander transformed into beast mode. Sabathia has also faced the Tigers twice, in the first few weeks of the season. He's allowed six runs in 13 innings, striking out 13 and walking five. We can't really draw anything from the success of either pitcher against their adversary.

But what we can look at is the matchup for game four, Starting for the Yankees is the man despised by nearly every fan of the franchise, AJ Burnett. The original plan was to pitch Sabathia in game four, but the rainout screwed their plans up. That results in Burnett needing to be used. September was a month were Burnett bounced back, as he had a 4.30 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings during the month. But this comes a month removed from an 11.91 ERA in 22 2/3 August innings. And now, he's getting thrust into the spotlight against a fearsome Tigers offense. The Tigers don't have anything near as automatic as Verlander going in game four, with young Rick Porcello and his 4.75 ERA on the hill. But the winning factor comes into play again, and Detroit has won seven out of Porcello's last eight starts. He's also thrown five straight quality starts, so he may be coming around.

The final reason that I believe the Tigers have the edge for the remainder of this series. When returning to Comerica Park, their offense turns into a total juggernaut. They have an .811 OPS in Detroit, with Miguel Cabrera leading the lineup with a 1.011 mark. Alex Avila is right behind him at .949, followed by Jhonny Peralta at .898. Away from Yankee Stadium, New York's offense turns pedestrian, with a .751 OPS. Their team OPS leader is former Tiger Curtis Granderson, at .911, followed by Robinson Cano at .880. 

I firmly believe that the Tigers are going to win this series now. Seeing Sabathia for just one full start helps them immensely. Replacing one Sabathia start with a Burnett start is just some damn good luck for them. Considering that the Tigers didn't plan on using Verlander on short rest, the postponement doesn't necessarily kill their gameplan.

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Tony LaRussa complained about it. Fans on Twitter complained about it. But was there really an inconsistent strike zone last night between Chris Carpenter and Cliff Lee? Jerry Meals is no stranger to controversy this season. I took a look at the PitchF/X charts for both pitchers, and let me tell you this....don't let your eyes deceive you.

Here's Carpenter's chart.

The green dots were pitched that were called balls. I count maybe....four dots that were in the strike zone. I also see one dot outside of the strike zone that was a called strike. Nothing looks too out of the ordinary here.

Now, here's Lee's chart.

Again...I see maybe three green dots in teh strike zone, and maybe one or two of the called strike dots out of the strike zone.

What does this prove? The umpiring tonight wasn't egregiously bad, nor inconsistent. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

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It says here in my MLB post-season manual (oh, I'm sorry, #postseason according to all the signage and TV ads, apparently MLB only cares about Twitter now) that teams are not supposed to fall behind one of Philadelphia's many aces by four runs, especially the heretofore unbeatable Cliff Lee, have their own ace get pulled after three innings and still win the game.  I guess that manual never counted on Tony La Russa going out and LaRussa-ing all over the place to somehow micromanage the Cardinals to a much-needed series-tying victory.

As painful as it was to watch LaRussa use four (FOUR!) pitchers in the eighth inning, you have to hand it to him, he pulled all the right strings tonight.  His penchant for having a hair trigger when it comes to yanking a pitcher worked out exactly like he always thinks it is going to.  A lesser manager might've clung tightly to his staff ace, Chris Carpenter, hoping that he could right the ship and keep the team in the game despite a very rough three innings of work.  No, not LaRussa.  Sensing the urgency of the game and the rare opportunity to score some rare early runs off Cliff Lee, LaRussa lifted Carpenter for a pinch-hitter, even though Carpenter was coming off a 1-2-3 inning and looked like he might be able to settle in.  Granted, the pinch-hitter struck out, but LaRussa wasn't about to risk letting Lee off the hook when there was blood in the water.

A few screams and one tirade about the strike zone later (a wildly overrated argument on his part, as we will explain tomorrow in a lengthier post), and the Cards managed to scratch away at Cliff Lee to take the lead, in large part thanks to LaRussa mixing and matching six relievers over six innings, all of whom combined to allow one base hit, one hit batsmen and nothing more.  It may have driven baseball fans crazy to watch so many calls to the pen, but for one night, it made LaRussa look like a genius.  It also made Jake Westbrook look terribly lonely sitting all by himself in as the lone reliever left in the Cardinal bullpen.

Ironically, the Phillies were seemingly undone by Charlie Manuel's relative reluctance to go to his relievers.  Coming off an inning in which Lee had just allowed three base hits and the game-tying run, Charlie Manuel elected to send Lee back out for the seventh inning to face the heart of the Cardinal order.  St. Louis took full advantage by finally figuring out how not to waste a leadoff triple.  As great as Lee can be, he just wasn't sharp tonight and letting him try and muddle through another inning of work is something everyone will second-guess Manuel for.

Now Philadelphia has to find a way to re-group after blowing a winnable game and losing homefield advantage in the process.  If there is good news for the Phillies, it is that they were the best road team in baseball (50-31) while the Cardinals had the worst home record (45-36) out of any playoff qualifiers.

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Despite three home runs off of starter Zack Greinke, Milwaukee used small ball in the later innings to hold back the Diamondbacks and win 9-4 to take a two games to none lead in their series.

Greinke had a start like many others that have plagued him this year: minimal walks, lots of strikeouts, and runs still on the board. He struck out seven without a walk and allowed four runs in five innings, all coming off of those three Diamondback homers. Milwaukee pitching ended up putting 15 Diamondbacks on base, but ten of them were stranded. Arizona went 0/10 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 13 times.

The Brewers started the game on a high note, with a two run home run by Ryan Braun in the first inning. Arizona answered with their first homer, coming off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt, in the second. Milwaukee would respond, getting a pair in the third thanks to a RBI single by Prince Fielder (scoring Braun, who had doubled) and a RBI triple by Rickie Weeks to score Fielder. Arizona's response was homers in the fourth and fifth innings - a solo shot by Chris Young, and a long two run blast by Justin Upton to tie the game at four.

Then, Milwaukee went off on Brad Ziegler. Arizona starter Daniel Hudson was pulled after allowing a double to Jerry Hairston Jr in the six. Ziegler relieved him, and after a balk, immediately walked Yuniesky Betancourt (no small feat). Ron Roenicke reached into his bag of tricks, and called for a perfectly executed squeeze by catcher Matthew Lucroy to score Hairston. Lucroy and Betancourt moved up on an error on the play, and Arizona intentionally walked Mark Kotsay to load the bases for the top of Milwaukee's order.

The Brewers made Arizona pay for the walk, as Corey Hart and Nyjer Morgan both singled up the middle on the first pitch to score three runs. Braun followed with a single on the second pitch to make it 9-4, and to kill all of the momentum the Diamondbacks had built up with their home runs. That would be all that Milwaukee needed.

The back end of the Brewers bullpen made it interesting, with each of their final three relievers allowing two men to reach base. But they all got out of their innings with no damage. After Ziegler exited the game, the Diamondbacks bullpen didn't allow a run. But by then, it was too little, too late. The damage had already been done.

The big star of the game for the Brewers was their superstar, Braun. He had three hits, three RBI, and scored two runs to lead Milwaukee's offensive outburst. For Arizona, August pickup Aaron Hill reached base five times to continue his resurgence, and Young added three hits of his own, but the struggles with runners in scoring position doomed the D-Backs. Cleanup hitter Miguel Montero went 0/4 with a walk, and doesn't have a hit in the series. He needs to get going if the Diamondbacks want to have a prayer at advancing.

The Brewers hold a 2-0 series lead, and will look to finish Arizona off on Tuesday in Phoenix. It'll be the late game, starting at 9:37 PM, and it'll pit rookie Josh Collmenter against Shaun Marcum. It'll be the 29 year old Marcum's playoff debut.

[foilow]