NEW YORK — You never know who you might run into while making your way around the Big Apple. Last night, a few of us dotcomers realized we were parked a few bar stools away from the one and only Steve Lemme, of Super Troopers and Beerfest fame.

The man was actually nice enough to buy a few rounds for us, too. Quality. Prior to making it down to Chelsea to hang with a B actor, I was at a different spot with Anthony Castrovince of indians.com. Who woulda guessed we’d run into a local high school spanish teacher who has Yankees closer Mariano Rivera’s son as a student. Small world.

Today, it’s back to the ol’ ballpark, where the Empire is trying to stave off elimination in the first round for the third straight season. Earlier today, the Boss — Yanks owner George Steinbrenner — said in one publication that manager Joe Torre’s job status after this year hinged on winning the ALDS. I don’t know if I agree with judgin’ Joe on this series. The fact that New York made the playoffs after being 14 1/2 back at one point should be enough to bring Torre back, in my book.

If the Bombers do indeed lose today, the fallout will definitely be interesting. Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte will mull retirement again, Jorge Posada and Rivera are free agents, and A-Rod may opt out. Speaking of which, I’m sick of these nicknames like "A-Rod", or "V-Dub" for Vernon Wells in Toronto. I suggest we start getting a little more creative with our monikers. For Rodriguez, I’ll throw this one out there and see if it sticks: The Brinks Bomber. Any takers?

Today’s lineups:

INDIANS
Grady Sizemore, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Travis Hafner, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Ryan Garko, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Kenny Lofton, LF
Trot Nixon, RF
Casey Blake, 3B

PITCHING: RHP Jake Westbrook

YANKEES
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jorge Posada, C
Jason Giambi, 1B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF

PITCHING: RHP Roger Clemens

NEW YORK — At least the Attack of the Midges didn’t make its way up to the Jacobs Field pressbox on Friday night. What an unreal scene in Cleveland last night. One minute there are no insects in sight, and the next they are swarming around the mound and sticking to Joba Chamberlain’s neck at the game’s most integral moment.

The bugs that Yankees fans will surely blame for this postseason collapse (that is, if the Indians close the deal) made their first appearance in the top of the eighth inning, when New York first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz was at bat. He kept stepping out of the batter’s box and shooing the pesty buggers away before grounding out.

"I got a lot of phone calls, people thought I was senile at bat in the eighth," Mientkiewicz joked in a press conference at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. "The joke around the guys was that we all had Derek Jeter’s ‘Driven’ on, and all the bugs were attacking us."

Jeter’s signature cologne aside (I made that same joke in the ballpark last night, but Mientkiewicz will get all the credit now for saying on camera. Way to steal my thunder, dude), the bugs were reeking some major havok when Chamberlain took the mound for the Yankees in the bottom of the eighth, leading by one run.

Chamberlain didn’t give up a single hit, but he threw two wild pitches, hit one batter and walked two to allow the tying run to score — all while trying to stop the bugs from flying in his mouth and after being sprayed with bug repellant.

"Just when you think you’ve seen it all," Jeter said. "I guess that’s home-field advantage for them — just let the bugs out. It worked. It was annoying. They were all flying around and I think it was worse on the pitcher’s mound. I haven’t experienced that anywhere. There’s been times when there’s been a group of bees that have come, but not that. I’ve never seen that before."

Twice this spring, the Yankees met up with some annoying bees — once in Lakeland and once in Sarasota. On Saturday, the gnats attack had Mientkiewicz citing the 1998 movie "Bees," tagline: "They outnumber us 100 million to one. If they wanted to, they could destroy the Earth. Bee afraid…"

"Joba looked like the movie ‘Bees,’" Mientkiewicz said. "He had them all over his neck and his back. But, then again, so did their guys. We don’t want to make excuses."

That was the exact point that Cleveland’s Ryan Garko made on his MLBlog, where he wrote: "…the other guys on the Yankees were acting like there were bullets flying around their heads, not gnats. I mean… this is the big leagues."

"The only chance we had was to get some bug spray out there," Chamberlain said. "That helped a little, but I came in and there was a million. That’s just a part of it and everybody else had to deal with it, too. I wasn’t the only person that had to deal with it. Obviously, they did fine."

One of our writers actually received an e-mail from a college professor who said that the type of bugs that were pestering the Yanks were attracted to moisture, and NOT steered away by the bug spray. Whoops. They also weren’t Canadian Soldiers, as reported by TBS, which tried to blame Canada.

In his press conference on Saturday, Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens said that things might have gone differently if he had any control over the situation:

"I would have probably pulled us off the field," Clemens said.

CLEVELAND — Not a whole heckuva lot going on right now minus waiting for the first pitch here at Jacobs Field. Word has it that Queen Latifah is in the house — maybe she’ll don a Yanks’ cap like LeBron did here last night.

The most entertaining thing that’s happened here pregame was myself and a couple other writers spending about 15 minutes quoting the Big Lebowski — the single greatest comedy of all time. If you’re not down with the Dude, well then, obviously, you’re not a golfer. In honor of the Big Lewbowski, a few of us might actually go bowling tonight.

Of course, maybe the highlight was actually last night after Game 1, when Bryan Hoch — our Yankees’ writer — busted out quite an impressive impression of Anchorman’s Ron Burgandy (You know I don’t speak spanish). Hoch was also quick to bring up a picture on his phone, showing him dressed as San Diego’s favorite anchorman for Halloween. Quality.

When we’re not quoting our favorite flicks, we do actually run around and do some work, though. On the Yanks’ side, Hideki Matsui is still in the lineup, despite a recent slump and some right knee issues. New York manager Joe Torre said Matsui was fine to play, and he didn’t want to make a decision to bench him based on one game. For the Tribe, Kenny Lofton (3-for-4 with four RBIs on Thursday) started in left field against lefty Andy Pettitte, sending Franklin Gutierrez to the bench.

Here’s today’s lineups:

YANKEES
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Jorge Posada, C
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Doug Mientkiewicz, 1B

PITCHING: LHP Andy Pettitte

INDIANS
Grady Sizemore, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Travis Hafner, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Ryan Garko, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Kenny Lofton, LF
Jason Michaels, RF
Casey Blake, 3B

PITCHING: RHP Fausto Carmona

CLEVELAND — It was a pretty embarrassing scenario for that camera man to suddenly be thrust into the spotlight by tripping and falling on Doug Mientkiewicz, injuring the first baseman’s left ankle. That doesn’t mean Mientkiewicz was happy to hear the guy got fired for it.

"Did he really?," Mientkiewicz said after New York’s 12-3 loss. "I didn’t want that, by any means. Accidents happen. I hope they come back and — that’s kind of harsh, isn’t it?"

At that point, one of the reporters in the crowd surrounding Mientkiewicz’s locker pointed out that the camera man was just a freelancer — not a full-timer for his network.

"Still, that doesn’t matter," Mientkiewicz said. "Trust me, there’s a lot better players he could’ve sabotaged than me. That shouldn’t happen. It was a mistake and people make mistakes. I feel bad. He doesn’t deserve that. He deserves better than that."

Mientkiewicz was pulled from the game early, but Yankees manager Joe Torre said that had nothing to do with the sore ankle. Although, torre did say it appeared as though Mientkiewicz was hobbling some during the game. The first baseman didn’t agree.

"I play when I’m told to play," he said with a shrug. "If I looked like I was hobbling around, I didn’t feel like I was hobbling around. I was totally fine."

Maybe he wasn’t hobbling, but the Yankees as a whole sure went limp against the Indians. They drove C.C. Sabathia’s pitch count up early and chased him from the game, but New York couldn’t turn one of Sabathia’s six walks into a run and Cleveland’s bullpen overpowered the Yanks in the final four innings.

On the Blue Jays’ front, here’s the 2008 home schedule:

April
4-6 Red Sox
8-10 Athletics
16-17 Rangers
18-21 Tigers

May
2-5 White Sox
6-8 Devil Rays
20-22 Angels
23-26 Royals

June
6-8 Orioles
9-11 Mariners
13-15 Cubs
24-26 Reds
27-29 Braves

July
8-10 Orioles
11-13 Yankees
25-27 Mariners
28-30 Devil Rays

August
4-7 Athletics
8-10 Indians
19-21 Yankees
22-24 Indians

September
2-4 Twins
5-7 Devil Rays
16-18 Orioles
19-21 Red Sox
23-25 Yankees

CLEVELAND — There’s always something with the Yankees. When the Bombers arrived at Jacobs Field this afternoon, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz had quite the run-in with a camera man. The photog was filming and walking with his back to Mientkiewicz, when he tripped and fell, landing on top of the first baseman’s left ankle. Mientkiewicz rolled his ankle — which has been troublesome in the past — but he said he still plans on starting for the Yankees. Welcome to the postseason.

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES
at 6:37 p.m. ET at Jacobs Field

Game 1 lineups:

YANKEES
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jorge Posada, C
Hideki Matsui, DH
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Doug Mientkiewicz, 1B

PITCHING: RHP Chien-Ming Wang

INDIANS
Grady Sizemore, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Travis Hafner, DH
Victor Martinez, C
Ryan Garko, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Kenny Lofton, LF
Franklin Gutierrez, RF
Casey Blake, 3B

PITCHING: LHP C.C. Sabathia

CLEVELAND — What better way to spend a day than standing around at Jacobs Field, watching professional athletes stretch and take batting practice with hundreds of media types huddled along the base lines. Minus the surplus of scribes, this is normally called pregame, though usually there’s a game afterward.

The highlight of my day actually came at lunch, when I grabbed some grub at the Fourth Street Bar and Grill with Toronto Sun’s Mike Rutsey. We walked into the restaurant and were led to our table in what appeared to be a normal little joint. Turns out, when you round the corner, there’s a bowling alley in the place! I mean, it’s one thing to have a bar in a bowling alley, but to have lanes in a bar? That’s quality.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened during the workout today at The Jake. Yankees manager Joe Torre revealed his roster, which includes exactly zero left-handers in his bullpen for the ALDS. Torre also opted to stick with his typically lineup, instead of tweaking it to account for facing tough left-hander C.C. Sabathia.

I was assigned to do a piece on New York’s Chien-Ming Wang (a headline writer’s worst nightmare), who is starting in Game 1 for the Bombers. Wang is basically the Yankees’ Roy Halladay — a groundball pitcher who tries to induce early contact. Interestingly enough, Cleveland grounded into the fewest double plays in baseball this year, while Wang created the most. That should make it an interesting pairing.

I’m going to get back to taking in the final frames of this D-backs vs. Cubbies contest. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the ballpark here around 1:30 and will have a few stories I’ll be working on. Before this series is over, I plan on asking Travis Hafner how he plans on fixing John McDonald’s swing this winter. Talk about an odd pair to be workout partners in the offseason. Then again, maybe working out with Mac is what led to Pronk’s dimished stats this year…food for thought.

CLEVELAND — Greetings from Ohio, where I’m staying just a few blocks from The Jake. Out my hotel window, I can see a giant "Go Tribe!" sign plastered across a store front. The Indians worked out today and I’ll be heading over to the ballpark for Yankees coverage tomorrow. Yep, yours truly drew the GA tag for the New York beat during the ALDS.

Before I head down the street for a cool brew at an Irish Pub tonight, I figured I’d toss up my year-end picks for this season’s awards. My No. 1 choices probably won’t stray too far from who you’d expect me to say, but I’ll put my top three choices in each category to stir some debate. In the "Apologies to" category, the names are listed in no particular order.

Bastian’s 2007 MLB Award Winners:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
1. Alex Rodriguez, NYY — .314 AVG, 54 HR, 156 RBIs, 143 R, 1.067 OPS
2. Magglio Ordonez, DET — .363 AVG, 28 HR, 139 RBIs, 54 2B, 1.029 OPS
3. David Ortiz, BOS — .332 AVG, 35 HR, 117 RBIs, 52 2B, 111 BB, 116 R, 1.066 OPS

APOLOGIES TO: Vladimir Guerrero, LAA; Carlos Pena, TB; Curtis Granderson, DET; Victor Martinez, CLE; Jorge Posada, NYY

COMMENT: Having A-Rod and Maggs finish one and two for this accolade seems pretty straight forward. As much as people may loath Rodriguez, he had a season of historic proportions. In another season, Ordonez might’ve netted the MVP. You could make an argument for a number of guys for the three spot, but Ortiz still put up a monster season while battling a leg injury.

CY YOUNG AWARD
1. C.C. Sabathia, CLE — 19-7, 3.21 ERA, 209 K, 37 BB, 241 IP, 4 CG
2. Josh Beckett, BOS — 20-7, 3.27 ERA, 194 K, 40 BB, 200.2 IP, CG
3. Fausto Carmona, CLE — 19-8, 3.06 ERA, 137 K, 61 BB, 215 IP, 2 CG

APOLOGIES TO: Roy Halladay, TOR; John Lackey, LAA; Kelvim Escobar, LAA; Chien-Ming Wang, NYY; Justin Verlander, DET

COMMENT: This should be a very tight race between Sabathia and Beckett. I give the edge to C.C. based on complete games, innings, and having fewer walks with 40 more IP to his credit. Having watched Halladay (16-7, 7 CG) all season, I’d love to list him third. The season he had despite missing three weeks was amazing. But, even Roy said there were more deserving guys. That said, you’ve got to like the year Carmona had for Cleveland.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Dustin Pedroia, BOS — .317 AVG, 8 HR, 50 RBIs, 39 2B, .380 OBP, .442 SLG
2. Delmon Young, TB — .288 AVG, 13 HR, 93 RBIs, 38 2B, .316 OBP, .408 SLG
3. Hideki Okajima, BOS — 3-2, 2.22 ERA, 63 K, 17 BB, 69 IP, 66 G, 27 HLD

APOLOGIES TO: Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS; Reggie Willits, LAA; Jeremy Guthrie, BAL; Brian Bannister, KAN; Billy Butler, KAN; Alex Gordon, KAN

COMMENT: Young could easily win this award, and the Rays have certainly been pumping him up. When they were in Toronto, the Rays handed out a release detailing Young’s season, trying to perhaps sway the writers. BUT, Pedroia has been phenomenol this season, and as a second baseman, he has a better OBP and SLG than Delmon — not to mention Pedroia’s strong D. You could argue Dice-K could rank third here, or even Willits for that matter, but I was more impressed with Okajima this season.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
1. Joe Torre, NYY (94-68)
2. Eric Wedge, CLE (96-66)
3. Terry Francona, BOS (96-66)

APOLOGIES TO: Mike Scioscia, LAA (94-68)

COMMENT: There was a point earlier this season when it seemed ludicrous that the Yankees would make the playoffs. Still, New York climbed back into the race after being 14 1/2 back of the Red Sox at one juncture and the Bombers gave Red Sox Nation quite a scare in September. Then again, you could easily give this award to Wedge for leading the Indians to the Central title or to Francona for helping Boston finally dethrone the Yankees in the East.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
1. Matt Holliday, COL — .340 AVG, 36 HR, 137 RBIs, 50 2B, 216 H, 120 R, 1.012 OPS
2. Prince Fielder, MIL — .288 AVG, 50 HR, 119 RBIs, 109 R, 1.013 OPS
3. Hanley Ramirez, FLA — .332 AVG, 29 HR, 81 RBIs, 52 SB, 125 R, 212 H, .948 OPS

APOLOGIES TO: Jimmy Rollins, PHI; Chase Utley, PHI; Ryan Howard, PHI; Chipper Jones, ATL; David Wright, NYM; Albert Pujols, STL

COMMENT: No, I am not hopping on the Jimmy Rollins bandwagon, and I’ll tell you why. A) I’m not convinced he’s the best shortstop in the league. If Hanley Ramirez weren’t on the Marlins, I think everyone would be talking about him right now instead of Rollins — and, yes, I know Rollins became the first player ever to have 30 HR, 20 3B, 20 2B, 20 SB. B) I’m not convinced Rollins is the most valuable player on his own team. You could easily make arguments for Howard and Utley. So, I split the votes between the three and Ramirez gets the nod for the three spot in my book. In fact, Ramirez is arguably the top shortstop in all of baseball. I think Holliday deserves the MVP, especially after the way the Rox stormed into the playoffs, and Fielder was the youngest ever to hit 50 bombs — Nuff said.

CY YOUNG AWARD
1. Jake Peavy, SD — 19-6, 2.54 ERA, 240 K, 68 BB, 223.1 IP
2. Brandon Webb, ARI — 18-10, 3.01 ERA, 194 K, 72 BB, 236.1 IP, 4 CG
3. Brad Penny, LAD — 16-4, 3.03 ERA, 135 K, 73 BB, 208 IP

APOLOGIES TO: Jeff Francis, COL; Carlos Zambrano, CHC; Aaron Harang, CIN; Cole Hamels, PHI; Ted Lilly, CHC (Did I just type Ted Lilly’s name into a Cy Young Award list? That’s strange)

COMMENT: Throw out that meltdown Peavy had against Colorado on Monday. He simply had a dominant year and finished with pitcher’s Triple Crown (first in wins, strikeouts and ERA) in the NL. Webb finishes second for me based on his high innings total and logging 4 complete efforts in the NL, where CGs are rare nowadays. If Penny had more offense, he might’ve had 20 wins this season. His stats are pretty impressive, giving him the edge over the rest of the pack.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Troy Tulowitzki, COL — .291 AVG, 24 HR, 99 RBIs, 33 2B, 104 R, .987 FP
2. Ryan Braun, MIL — .324 AVG, 34 HR, 97 RBIs, 26 2B, 15 SB, 91 R, 1.004 OPS
3. Hunter Pence, HOU — .322 AVG, 17 HR, 69 RBIs, 30 2B, .899 OPS

APOLOGIES TO: Chris Young, ARI; Tim Lincecum, SF; Kevin Kouzmanoff, SD; Peter Moylan, ATL

COMMENT: Why even include more than two names in this race? The award is going to come down to Tulowitzki and Braun, and Braun may just get the edge in the actually voting. Braun’s season didn’t start until May and he still put up a season’s worth of bloated numbers. I lean toward Tulowitzki, though, and it’s because of his defense. Tulo’s .987 fielding percentage at shortstop was the best mark in all of baseball. Braun was a liability at times in the field. One rook that stood out to me, too, is Moylan. He appeared in 80 games and posted a 1.80 ERA over 90 innings for the Bravos.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
1. Bob Melvin, ARI (90-72)
2. Clint Hurdle, COL (90-73)
3. Charlie Manuel, PHI (89-73)

APOLOGIES TO: Lou Piniella, CHC (85-77); Ned Yost, MIL (83-79)

COMMENT: Early in the year, Yost looked like the frontrunner for this award, but the Brewers sure faded in the second half. You could also lobby for Sweet Lou, who led the Cubbies from worst to first in his first year at the helm on the North Side. I like Melvin, who defied mathematics in leading the D-Backs to the best record in the NL. The Snakes hit .250 as a team and gave up more runs (732) than they scored (712). How does that net 90 wins? Hurdle will also get votes for the Rockies’ late push and Manuel may get the nod in the actual voting for exploiting the Metro’s collapse.

Well, there you have it. Let the discussion begin. Feel free to tell me just how wrong I really am. — JB

The 2007 season is moving forward without the Toronto Blue Jays. I’m looking forward to watching the Rockies attempt to complete the late-season push toward the playoffs tonight in the sudden-death tilt with the Padres. Given that this year will include a 163rd contest, I’m going to hold off on my year-end award picks until tomorrow.

For now, I’ll take a look back at Toronto’s season and dish out this season’s BA’s — the Bastian Awards.

BLUE JAYS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Alex Rios

You could make quite a case for second baseman Aaron Hill, but Rios enjoyed a breakout season with the Jays this year. The right fielder hit .297 with 24 homers, 43 doubles and 85 RBIs. Rios might’ve driven in more had he not spent so much time in the leadoff spot early in the year. Now, Toronto manager John Gibbons will wrestle with whether or not Rios or Vernon Wells should be the club’s No. 3 hitter in 2008.

PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Roy Halladay

Once upon a time, Babe Ruth swatted more homers on his own than some teams had as a whole. Well, nowadays, Halladay is logging more complete games as an individual than many teams have combined. Halladay’s Major League-leading seven complete games were more than 26 clubs had as a whole, and three teams didn’t notch a singled CG this season. Even after missing three weeks with an appendectomy, Halladay was near the league lead in innings and he was within striking distance of 20 wins.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jesse Litsch

Apologies to Adam Lind (11 homers in 89 games) and Brian Wolfe (2.98 EA in 38 games). The 22-year-old Litsch made the jump from Double-A to Toronto’s rotation and he made it look easy at times. Relying on control and a nice changeup, Litsch finished 7-9 with a 3.81 ERA in 20 starts. Litsch had some of the worst run support on the staff, though, so he could’ve easily been a 10-game winner in his first tour of the bigs. Now, Litsch appears to be the leading candidate for Toronto’s fifth spot next year.

RELIEVER OF THE YEAR: Jeremy Accardo

Apologies to left-hander Scott Downs (2.17 ERA in 81 games) and right-hander Casey Janssen (2.35 ERA in 70 games). Accardo was on the bubble in Spring Training and he eventually became a solid replacement for injured closer B.J. Ryan. Accardo notched 30 saves and finished with a 2.14 ERA. Using a nasty splitter, Accardo locked down the ninth inning in Ryan’s absence, and the young righty will likely slip into the setup job when the Jays’ closer returns from the disabled list next year.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Shaun Marcum

Apologies to Dustin McGowan and Matt Stairs. After posting a 6.06 ERA in 13 relief outings, who would’ve predicted that Marcum would emerge as one of Toronto’s top starters after being moved to the rotation this year? Marcum joined the starting staff and went 11-4 with a 3.91 ERA the rest of the way. McGowan (12-10) likely projects to be the Jays’ No. 3 starter for next season, but Marcum was a true blessing to the pitching staff this year. Those two, combined with Litsch, Halladay and A.J. Burnett give Toronto an intimidating rotation for 2008.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Vernon Wells

The Blue Jays expected more from their center fielder after he enjoyed a huge offensive year in 2006 and subesequently penned his name on a seven-year extension worth $126 million. In ’07, though, Wells hit .245 with 16 homers and 80 RBIs before being shut down with a left shoulder injury. If the Jays have any prayer of seeing their offense return to its 2006 form, the club needs a strong return from Wells, who was signed to be one of the focal points of the lineup.

PLAY OF THE YEAR: Aaron Hill steals home on May 29

Apologies to at least a dozen defensive gems turned in by shortstop John McDonald. On May 29, Hill bolted from third base against the Yankees and successfully recorded a straight steal on New York left-hander Andy Pettitte in a 3-2 Jays win. Prior to the game, third-base coach Brian Butterfield told Hill and the Jays that such a situation might arise against Pettitte. It’s little details like that that might have helped convince Toronto to promote Butterfield to the bench coach job next year.

On to other matters…

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi — booed by the Rogers Centre faithful during the season finale — sat down with the press on Sunday night to discuss the state of the club.

Here are a few goals he indicated the club has for the offseason:

• Explore potential long-term deals for Rios and Hill
• Look to acquire a veteran backup catcher with a good arm
• Look to acquire a super utility man, possibly via trade
• Maybe add some pitching depth through "reclamation projects"
• Explore whether or not to stick with LF Reed Johnson
• Attempt to re-sign veteran Matt Stairs
• Hire a hitting coach to replace Mickey Brantley
• Work within a payroll of roughly $90 million

Here are some goals Ricciardi said the Blue Jays have for next season:

• Show improvement with patience and situational hitting on offense
• Utilize Wells’ and Rios’ speed more often

Ricciardi said that Adam Lind would likely be more of a "regular" player in 2009, which means he could be back at Triple-A to start next season. Toronto’s GM also added that catcher Curtis Thigpen would probably be back in Triple-A with C Robinzon Diaz, who is "really close" to making it to the bigs.

It doesn’t appear that INF Russ Adams has convinced the Jays that he can be their primary utility man. Ricciardi also said that he told right-hander Brandon League that, "’If you want to be on this team next year you have to make this team.’" Minor League pitcher Brett Cecil is one prospect who Ricciardi said is "on the fast track."

Janssen will be stretched out over the winter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be converted to a starter. Toronto did the same thing with Janssen last year, just in case he’d emerge as a potential rotation guy. When League and Ryan went down, Janssen moved to the bullpen. It will likely be a similar scenario this coming spring. If Ryan isn’t ready by Opening Day, Janssen will more than likely be a reliever.

Welp, that’s it from me today. I have to gear up for my trip to Cleveland tomorrow. I’ll be blogging throughout the playoffs, so stay tuned. Anyone out there pulling for the Rox tonight?

Fitting that the Toronto marathon is taking place on the day the Blue Jays’ 2007 marathon comes to an end…

Tampa Bay (65-96) at Toronto (83-78)
at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre

Today’s lineups:

DEVIL RAYS
Akinori Iwamura, 2B
Jorge Velandia, SS
Carlos Pena, 1B
Greg Norton, RF
Raul Casanova, DH
Dioner Navarro, C
Jonny Gomes, LF
Joel Guzman, 3B
Justin Ruggiano, CF

PITCHING: RHP Jason Hammel (2-5, 6.08 ERA)

BLUE JAYS
Reed Johnson, DH
Russ Adams, 2B
Alex Rios, CF
Adam Lind, LF
John-Ford Griffin, RF
Curtis Thigpen, C
Hector Luna, 1B
Joe Inglett, 3B
Ray Olmedo, SS

PITCHING: RHP A.J. Burnett (10-7, 3.49 ERA)

NOTES: CoachGate finally is over and there are no surprises. Hitting coach Mickey Brantley is not coming back (and rumor has it that you should tune in to Off the Record on Wednesday), Ernie Whitt is moving to first base, Marty Pevey is switching to third base and Brian Butterfield will be the new bench coach. … Toronto manager John Gibbons said that he believes Toronto’s rotation should be the same heading into next season: Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum and Jesse Litsch. He hinted that RHPs Casey Janssen and Brian Wolfe would likely remain in the bullpen next year.

UP NEXT:

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

New York at Cleveland
Los Angeles at Boston

COMING LATER: My postseason award picks and playoff predictions