One reason I wanted to get into sports journalism was the fact that the events you covered were games. Right or wrong, I didn’t want to be a reporter who covers war, crime, or the "real" news that happens on an everyday basis. I have a ton of respect for those journalists who do encounter tragedy and have to write about it. Heading to someone’s house or picking up a phone to talk to someone about losing a loved one just wasn’t for me, though — I’d rather head to a clubhouse after a team’s loss. Thank God there are reporters who chose the other side of news than I did, though. We need them.

I’ve been fortunate enough — from my perspective — to never have had to work in news, either. From my first days at the Lansing State Journal during college, I was put right into the sports department, covering high schools, college sports, and Minor League baseball, among other things. When I moved to another paper in Michigan, I was a sports writer and a part-time news copy editor. I had to lay out news pages, including the Obituaries page a couple times a week, but that was the extent of my life in news coverage.

Why am I writing about this? Well, news doesn’t always stay on it’s side of the tracks. Sometimes it does head into the sports department — it’s an inevitable part of the job that we have to deal with from time to time. When news started to spread that Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was in the plane that crashed into the 50-story building in New York, us sports reporters were thrust into a world we weren’t used to.

My part in the coverage wasn’t big. Lord knows how hard some of the leg work must have been for writers in New York or Philadelphia, who had the bulk of the calling and interviewing to do. It’s our job to get reaction, and sometimes we feel like jerks calling people to ask them about someone who just died. We are jerks for calling so soon after something like that happens, but it’s part of the job. It’s what we have to do — not necessarily what we want to do.

In my case, I had to call a few players who knew Lidle from his time with the Blue Jays. I got in touch with a handful of players, some who were willing to talk about it, and others who chose not to, which was perfectly fine. It was definitely tough, though, to think about what I should say on the phone, trying to find a way to see if the person on the other line had heard the news already — and if not, how was I going to break it to them? I didn’t run in to anyone who hadn’t heard, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a difficult subject to bring up.

When a few of us reporters were trying to figure out how to approach the issue, one writer said to me, "I don’t know how to handle a story like this." That’s the reality of being a sports writer, but the truth is we do have to deal with such stories from time to time. It definitely helps put our job into perspective — how lucky we are to simply cover a game. It shows you how unimportant some of the things we write about really are — even if we blow them up to be of some huge significance.

Anyway, I know this isn’t really a blog post about the Blue Jays — it’s more about part of the life of being a reporter. When I started this blog, I mentioned that I may delve into such topics on occasion. Being a young reporter, I’m still learning different things about the job as I go (not that older reporters don’t learn knew things every year, either).

Today I read about the runway mishap by Alex Rodriguez’s plane, too. One thing that I also found interesting was an article that appeared in the Toronto Sun. Apparently, Roy Halladay wanted to add a clause into his contract in 2004 that allowed him to fly a small plane, but the Jays wouldn’t allow it. After Lidle’s accident, Toronto’s caution is understandable.

That’s all for now. Hopefully you all didn’t mind my rambling on this subject. On another note, picking the A’s isn’t looking so smart right now, huh. All my Tigers fans friends from Michigan are going to let me have it for sure. Well, if Detroit does indeed make the World Series, I’ll be picking St. Louis or New York to win it all. For some reason, I can’t pick the Tigers. It’s worked for Detroit up to this point for me to go against them, so I know my friends will be glad to hear I’m still picking their opponent in the next round.

Lyle Overbay is one of 24 players on the Japan tour roster, which was released on Tuesday. Overbay might not get a TON of playing time, though, considering he will be backing up Ryan Howard at first base.

CLICK HERE to read about the rest of the roster

I’ll admit it, I didn’t see this one coming. I thought if the Tigers escaped the first round with one win over the Yankees that’d be a success. I really didn’t see how any team could shut down New York’s offense. But as the old saying goes, good pitching beats good hitting. That’s even more true in a short playoff series.

So here we are, looking at a Detroit-Oakland ALCS. It only took a few minutes after the Tigers beat the Yankees in Game 4 for my wife’s phone to ring — one of her friends from Michigan calling to talk to me, to rub it in that the Tigers won. Good for them. It’s a great story — I just wouldn’t have predicted it, and I doubt many people did.

As far as the next round, I’m going to adjust my picks (I guess I have to with the Yankees bring out ) and I’m going to still go against Detroit. I like Oakland to go to the World Series. I’m sure all my friends in Michigan won’t mind me picking them, since picking the Yanks worked out so well for me.

Here they are, my picks for this season’s awards. A few posts ago, I gave my opinion on who might win, but now that the year is over, I feel it’s time for the final votes to be cast (not that I actually have a vote). I’ll give my top three choices for each honor:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

Most Valuable Player:
1. Justin Morneau, MIN — .321 AVG, 34 HR, 130 RBI, 37 2B
2. Derek Jeter, NYY — .343 AVG, 14 HR, 97 RBI, 39 2B
3. David Ortiz, BOS — .287, 54 HR, 137 RBI, 119 BB, 115 R

Cy Young Award:
1. Johan Santana, MIN — 19-6, 2.77 ERA, 233.2 IP, 245 K, 47 BB, CG
2. Roy Halladay, TOR — 16-5, 3.19 ERA, 220 IP, 132 K, 34 BB, 4 CG, 13.85 P/IP
3. Chien-Ming Wang, NYY — 19-6, 3.63 ERA, 218 IP, 2 CG, 407 GO, 14.01 P/IP

Rookie of the Year:
1. Justin Verlander, DET — 17-9, 3.63 ERA, 124 K, CG, SHO
2. Jonathan Papelbon, BOS — 4-2, 0.92 ERA, 35 SV, 59 G, 68.1 IP, 75 K
3. Francisco Liriano, MIN — 12-3, 2.16 ERA, 121 IP, 144 K

Manager of the Year:
1. Ron Gardenhire, MIN
2. Jim Leyland, DET
3. Joe Torre, NYY

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

Most Valuable Player:
1. Ryan Howard, PHI — .313 AVG, 58 HR, 149 RBI
2. Albert Pujols, STL — .331 AVG, 49 HR, 137 RBI
3. Lance Berkman, HOU — .315 AVG, 45 HR, 136 RBI

Cy Young Award:
1. Roy Oswalt, HOU — 15-8, 2.98 ERA, 220.2 IP, 166 K, 38 BB, 2 CG
2. Brandon Webb, ARI — 16-8, 3.10 ERA, 235 IP, 178 K, 50 BB, 5 CG, 3 SHO
3. Chris Carpenter, STL — 15-8, 3.09 ERA, 221.2 IP, 184 K, 43 BB, 5 CG, 3 SHO

Rookie of the Year:
1. Ryan Zimmerman, WAS — .287 AVG, 20 HR, 110 RBI, 47 2B
2. Dan Uggla, FLA — .282, 27 HR, 90 RBI
3. Hanley Ramirez, FLA — .292, 17 HR, 59 RBI, 46 2B, 51 SB

Manager of the Year:
1. Joe Girardi, FLA
2. Willie Randolph, NYM
3. Grady Little, LAD

Let the arguments begin.

As far as the playoffs go, I know the games have already started, but I’ll give you my ALCS and NLCS picks anyway. I believe it will be Mets-Padres in the NLCS and A’s-Yankees in the ALCS. My World Series pick is Yankees vs. Padres. Call me crazy for picking the Padres to win the NL, but I like their pitching staff — and that’s what can carry teams through a short series (yes, I saw the Cardinals beat up on Peavy yesterday, but I’m sticking with the Friars).

It’s actually been nice to kick back and take in some playoff baseball from my living room. Sure, I’d like to be working in the pressbox at one of these parks, but the time off sure is nice, too. I’ll be posting more throughout the playoffs.

So that’s it. It’s done. Over. Turn the page, put the cat out, or whatever else you wanna say. The Blue Jays 2006 season is complete, and so is my rookie season on a Major League beat. So for those of you aspiring journalists out there, here are a few things I’ve learned in year No. 1:

• I know what an ulnar collateral ligament is, where it’s located, what it’s for, and I can type it with my eyes closed. Thank you A.J. Burnett and Gustavo Chacin.
• Shower shoes are a must. This we learned from Alex Rios and Ty Taubenheim, who each suffered a staph infection. Toronto’s clubhouse wasn’t actually the source, but the team disinfected it anyway.
• You should always congratulate someone on adopting a baby. Otherwise, it could lead to an angry outburst. Advice courtesy of Shea Hillenbrand (not to say that was the only issue involved with that incident).
• Chewing tobacco can sometimes look like blood. We learned this from John Gibbons and Ted Lilly, who got into a shoving match in August. There were reports that Gibbons received a bloody nose, but it was probably just some of his chew.
• Throwing up in the pressbox bathroom in the Rogers Centre is NOT a good way to end a season. I found this out during Toronto’s last home game, and wound up at home in bed, sleeping off the flu before having to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Detroit.
• The tunnel between the visitor’s clubhouse and the dugout at Fenway Park is one of the scariest places on Earth. There are puddles in there that have existed since the 1920s.
• Bars in The Big Apple are open until 4 a.m. I learned this while visiting my old college roommate during the first trip to New York. It’s all well and good, that is until you’re out eating a slice of pizza at 4:30 in the morning and you have to cover a day game in a few hours.
• If you want to go see the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, arrange for a cab to pick you up ahead of time. I waited by that stupid red bridge for over an hour before I could get the cab company to send a guy to pick me up. I got to Oakland just in time to do my pregame work
• When a homeless person in Atlanta offers to walk you to your hotel, say no. When he offers to protect you "from the other bums," say no with more emphasis. When he says he got beat up by other homeless people and wound up in a hospital, and has the hospital bracelet and a bottle of pills he in his hand as proof, start thinking about running. When he asks you for some money, tell him you only have Canadian cash. That’s when he’ll leave you alone. Atlanta homeless guys can’t use loonies.
• There are PF Chang’s Chinese restaurants in Denver, Tampa, Seattle, Boston, and Kansas City. And they are all just as spectacular in each city.
• Finally, I learned that it IS possible to wake up in Florida, grab lunch in Canada, and meet up with friends in Grand Rapids, Mich., all in the same day. That’s the life of a sportswriter who is asked to stand up in a wedding a day after covering a Blue Jays-Devil Rays game.

There are plenty more little tidbits I’m sure I could write, and many which I probably don’t remember at the moment, but might share some time later. For now, that’s all I’ve got.

Toronto finishes in second place, winds up with the most wins in a season since 1998, and heads into the offseason with playoff aspirations for 2007. If you thought expectations were high coming into this year, wait till next season. Tomorrow is the annual conference call with Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi. I’ll be blogging more on here tomorrow.

GOOD IMAGE OF THE WEEK:

There was talk about a minor celebration that took place inside the visitor’s clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night. The word is that Troy Glaus sat and watched the end of the Orioles-Red Sox game, and when Boston lost, he and some of Toronto’s trainers popped open a bottle of champagne to honor the Jays’ second-place finish. If that doesn’t show that placing second did mean something to Toronto’s players, I don’t know what else would.

Toronto’s Magic Number, that is. OK, it’s not one of those Magic Number’s that has a playoff berth at the end of the rainbow, but it comes with a nice consolation prize instead.

Here are the American League East standings as of Thursday:

NEW YORK     96-63      —
TORONTO      85-74      11
BOSTON        84-75      12
BALTIMORE    69-90      27
TAMPA BAY    61-98      35

It’s been quite a while since Jays fans have seeen Toronto that high in the standings this late in the year. With three games to go, the Blue Jays control their own second-place destiny. Don’t think the Jays aren’t taking the matter lightly, either. The club’s 16-9 mark this month should say enough.

"I would just like to look up at the end of the season, and when I’m checking out the standings, see Toronto underneath New York," Jays catcher Gregg Zaun said on Thursday. "For quite a while now it’s been New York and Boston."

Normally, you’d think Toronto might have an advantage, heading into the Bronx to face a team that already wrapped up the division title. But the Yankees still are playing for home-field advantage, so they aren’t going to go down easy. Toronto also will be sending Gustavo Chacin, Shaun Marcum, and Dustin McGowan to the mound — not its best trio.

NOTES and THOUGHTS:

–Toronto moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since July 28. That was one day before the club’s seven-game losing streak started. So it took this long for Toronto cancel out the effect of that skid.

–The Jays will undoubtedly offer Ted Lilly salary arbitration, but the pitcher will also undoubtedly decline. If I had to put a number on it, his 15-win season could get him a contract offer to the tune of three-years for $18-25 million, or somewhere around there. Lilly was making $4 million this year. If that price doubles, the Jays might be more on the fringe than in the running to re-sign him.

–I’m sure you all are curious about which of the players with uncertain contract situations for next season are more or less likely to be back with the Blue Jays. I’ll give my opinion here. I’ll go from a scale of 1-10 (1 being "not likely to be back in ’06" and 10 being "very likely to be back in ’06"). Keep in mind, this is solely based on my opinion, given the payroll, roster alternatives, available free agents, etc;

Vernon Wells — signing an extention with Toronto: 8
Ted Lilly — re-signing with Toronto: 5
Gregg Zaun — re-signing with Toronto: 6
Bengie Molina — re-signing with Toronto: 2
Justin Speier — re-signing with Toronto: 6
Frank Catalanotto — re-signing with Toronto: 5

That’s all I’ve got for now. It’s 1:45 p.m. right now and in about 45 minutes I’ll be heading to the 4 train to catch a ride to Yankee Stadium. Stay tuned for more…

Yeah, go figure that on the last home game of the season, I’d get so sick at work that I had to go home. I hammered out the Jays notes as quickly as I could after eating dinner — which only made me feel worse — and then I spent some time hugging the toilet in a bathroom in the Rogers Centre. That was a first. So if any of you loyal readers were wondering why I didn’t write the game story for the final home contest, well, I hope that explains it.

Anyway, after paying respect to the Ivory Gods, I started to feel a little better. I caught a 6:30 am flight out of Toronto and I’m currently in Motown. Being in Detroit isn’t always great, but in my case, it allows me to see some old college friends and people who help cover the Tigers that I know from my days at Michigan State. So I’m looking forward to the next three days — especially because I was able to hold down my lunch today!

ABOUT THEM BLUE JAYS:

Second place! Second place! Can you feel the excitement ripping through Blue Jays Nation? OK, in all seriousness, second place is a good achievement. Just keep in mind that if Toronto does finish second, it has a LOT to do with Boston’s free fall than a huge surge by the Jays. Either way, it’d be good for Toronto to shake up the status quo for once. The Jays haven’t finished in second since 1990, I believe. They haven’t finished higher than third since 1993, when they won the World Series. So even though second does come with a Wild Card this season, it is an improvement.

It had to be good for you Jays fans to hear Vernon Wells say he hopes he stays in Toronto for years to come. Wells had been taking the "We’ll just have to wait and see" approach on the contract subject for most of the season. Lately, he’s been making it sound like he really does want to stay with the Jays. He didn’t deny that negotiations had already begun. When he was asked that on Monday, Wells smiled and said something to the effect of "I let my representatives handle all of that."

I’ve got to believe that inking him to an extension is the No. 1 priority this winter. Beyond that, Toronto needs to add one or two starters — Ted Lilly might be one of the solutions, but we’ll see. The Jays also plan on addressing the middle infield issue. Next year it’ll be Aaron Hill and…and…that’s what needs to be figured out. Russ Adams isn’t projected to be a starter in 2007 — not unless he shows Toronto some huge leap in performance in the spring.

Dustin McGowan starts tonight at Comerica Park against Tigers’ Jeremy Bonderman. This series doesn’t mean much for the Jays, but Toronto might play a role in whether Detroit wins the Central or the Wild Card. I, for one, have this gut feeling that the Twins will win the division.

I’m taking one post off from blogging about baseball — today I’m still in shock from after what happened last night in East Lansing, Mich. Well I’m not in shock, considering Michigan State has let me down multiple times over the years, but that was a horrible defeat to Notre Dame. For those of you who haven’t read my profile, I went to Michigan State.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say today. On the Blue Jays front, it looks like Dustin McGowan will be starting on Tuesday in Detroit. Jays manager John Gibbons also said the pitcher might take part in the Arizona Fall League. It’s still up in the air what role he might fill next season — starter or reliever. If he doesn’t make the club out of Spring Training, he’d have to clear waivers to go to Triple-A. I personally think another club wouldn’t mind picking him up. That being said, the Jays need to determine how he best fits in with the team.

It wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist (why is that the profession we always pick out for this type of point?) to figure out that Roy Halladay had thrown his last pitch of the season on Wednesday. With only two starts left for the Good Doctor, it wouldn’t have made any sense to rest him for one start and risk reinjuring his arm in the last series of the season.

Even so, Toronto wouldn’t say officially that Halladay was indeed done for the year on Wednesday. On Thursday, Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi was quoted in some reports saying Halladay was done, and on Friday, we heard it again from manager John Gibbons and from Halladay himself. So see you next season Doc. It’s just unfortunate he finishes the year without a win in his last six starts.

Halladay said he pitched through some discomfort in his right forearm at various points this season. He added that it was too much to take only twice. That was on Wednesday, and in April, when he missed a start because of the injury. The first time around, Halladay said working excessively on his cut fastball in the spring put extra strain on his forearm coming into the year. That was part of the problem this time, too, but he said it was more "wear and tear" than anything else. At least he was smart enough to pull the plug when he did.

OTHER NOTES:

–Technically, the Blue Jays have only released their home schedule for next season. Since there have been published reports — in the L.A. Times, Toronto Sun, among others — about some of the road dates, I don’t mind keying you all in on some minor schedule notes.

The Jays Interleague schedule includes trips to L.A. to play the Dodgers and to San Francisco to play the Giants. During rivalry week, Toronto will head to Philly to square off against its 1993 World Series foe. After the All-Star break, Toronto has an eight straight games on the road — four against the Red Sox and four against the Yankees. Ouch.

Also, for those of you weekend attendees at the Rogers Centre, don’t get excited about seeing those Jays-Red Sox or Jays-Yankees games. Toronto doesn’t host either Boston or New York in any weekend sets. Both clubs make three visits to Toronto, but they are all during weekdays. Weekend series’ include: Rangers, Devil Rays, Mariners, Orioles, Tigers, White Sox, Nationals, Indians and Rockies.

— Gibbons hasn’t announced who will fill in for Halladay, yet. Shaun Marcum will start on Monday, but Tuesday remains up in the air. Remember when Brian Tallet started a game and a whole bunch of relievers followed? You might see something like that. Or, Gibbons said Josh Towers, Dustin McGowan, or Davis Romero could be a candidate to start, too.

Everyone knew the day was coming. Toronto was only officially eliminated from the American League East race last night. In reality — all algebra aside — the Jays were eliminated quite some time ago.

For me, it was when Milton Bradley hit the walk-off home run against B.J. Ryan on July 30. That was the moment when all the hope seemed to be snuffed out. That was the second lost in a seven-game skid and was on the second leg of the three-city, 2-8 road trip Toronto was on. I’m sure the rest of you have other games that stick out in the same regard.

These last 11 games needs to be taken seriously for Toronto, though. At the very least, they are games in which the Blue Jays can get as close to feeling what a playoff atmosphere is like by assuming the role of the spoiler. That starts tonight, when Toronto can try to stop the Yankees’ division-clinching party from taking place at the Rogers Centre. Of course, the Jays also need the Red Sox to lose to stave off the champagne.

Then comes Boston. Toronto can use those games to try and leapfrog the Red Sox in the standings. Sure, second place doesn’t mean as much this year, seeing that the Wild Card is coming out of the Central. And it’s not like Toronto stormed UP the standings to catch the Red Sox. It was more that Boston slipped horribly in August and stumbled DOWN to the Blue Jays. Even so, Toronto hasn’t been higher than third since ’93. The Jays would take it.

Toronto then heads to Detroit for a three-game set that could make or break the Tigers’ chances at winning the AL East, winning the Wild Card, or falling out of it if the White Sox can make a last-minute push. Personally, I think the Twins will win the Central and the Tigers will get in the playoffs with the Wild Card.

The last three games against the Yankees won’t have much meaning, unless that bid for second place is still on the line for the Jays. New York will have the East wrapped up and probably won’t strut out it’s complete All-Star lineup. Of course, after New York swept Toronto in Yankee Stadium the last time the Jays made the trip to the Bronx, I’m sure the Jays would like to take the final series.

First things first, though, the Blue Jays need to try to send the Yankees packing with unopened bottles of champagne tonight. Oh, and helping Roy Halladay get another win wouldn’t be bad, either.