Sorry it's late, folks -- I just got in from the New Pornographers concert (which was fantastic, thanks for asking). Without further ado, heeeerrrrrrrrrre's Pudge:

According to reports I've been hearing on the FAN, the plane that hit an apartment building today in New York City was registered to ex-Jay and current Yankee Cory Lidle.

There has been a report that Lidle was the pilot of the plane. I'm going to look for links now, and will add them to the body of the article as I find them. Please contribute links to anything you can find out about this breaking story.

Maybe the game will still be going when this goes live -- did MLB extend the commercial breaks in the post-season last year?  Because they sure as hell have this year, and it's making the games unpleasantly long.

Anyways, on to today's featured playoff ballplayer, Eric Chavez:

Julio Lugo is interested in joining the Blue Jays according to a Blair article in the Globe.

For the next week or so, we'll alternate Athletics and Tigers for the PotD:PE.  Today's Tiger is Carlos Guillen -- make sure to keep track of his performance and continue to measure the Photo of the Day mojo.  I think the biggest indicatior of the sheer power of Photo of the Day is that I had no Yankees photographs, and the Yankees were unceremoniously ejected from the playoffs in the first round, despite having possibly the scariest lineup of bats in the history of scariness.

Today on ESPN.com, Jim Caple -- one of the top five baseball writers alive today -- has a story on "Page 2" that encourages the Yankees to trade, not Alex Rodriguez, but Derek Jeter. Of course, this will never happen, but as always, Caple makes good sense.

Anyway, here's the question ... don't be the manager, be the General Manager, of any team -- your choice! -- except the Yankees. Make an offer for Jeter, your (likely) 2006 American League MVP. And be for real -- who needs a shortstop, can afford Jeter's contract, and has enough to offer?

The Little League World Series (LLWS) was held this summer, as usual, in Williamsport Pennsylvania.  The LLWS gets full coverage on ESPN and ended happily for the network with a team from Georgia winning the title.  Charles Euchner’s new book  “Little League, Big Dreams, the Hope, the Hype and the Glory of the greatest World Series ever played” examines the LLWS from the perspective of the teams in the 2005 series, and provides an in depth look behind the scenes of the biggest show in kids baseball.

The A's beat the Twins in three quick games.  Here's gigantic A's slugger Frank Thomas, getting out of the path of an inside pitch:

According to the occasionally-reputable New York Daily News, Joe Torre is about to be removed, by his choice of resigning or being fired, as manager of the Yankees. This would not be the first in a series of off-season managerial changes, but would certainly be the most noteworthy so far. Reportedly, Lou Piniella would return for another go-round as manager in the Bronx.

So, if this is in fact what happens, what does that mean ...

Yeah, I said I was going to post a Twin today... but then Joel Zumaya had such a kickass game against the Yankees that I had to put him up.  Here he is:

A's 5 - Twins 2 (A's lead series 2 - 0)

Mets 6 - Dodgers 5 (Mets lead series 1 - 0)

I know, the Twins aren't playing today -- I just figured I should get at least one Twin player in today and another in tomorrow, in case their series is as short as it looks like it could be.  But perhaps this off-day mojo will carry over for Justin Morneau to tomorrow:

Hi Gary,

Off the top, I want to say a couple of things. First, the timing of this letter is not designed to disrupt opening day for the NHL -- I decided not to wait a few days before writing and posting it because I think that this is a really urgent issue that needs to be dealt with right away. Second, I'm not sending this to you privately because I'm pretty certain that you'd never see it. I'm hoping that by putting it out here on the internet it draws enough attention for this matter to be dealt with immediately.

What's the issue? I went to NHL.com yesterday and I saw something that thoroughly disgusted me:

The incomparable Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference.com has released the 2006 statistics.  Remarkable speed!

This link will take you to the 2006 Blue Jays statistics.  A few things that jump out at me...