September Monday, Part I: Yankees, Rays, Rockies and White Sox

 Let's kick off our third year of this feature. To reiterate, today signifies (in my mind, at least) that we are truly in baseball's "stretch run." There are just three weeks left on the calendar, and this is the first full week in which the kids are back in school and the grown-ups are back at work. Football has started, the weather is cooling and the ballgames just feel different. Because, after all, every game with pennant-race implications has such less room for error for the teams involved.

So let's look at what this week will bring us. But first, your updated playoff standings:

AL: Yankees (1) vs. Texas (3), Minnesota (2) vs. Tampa Bay (4)

NL: Philadelphia (1) vs. San Diego (3), Cincinnati (2) vs. Atlanta (4)

Thoughts: The Yankees and Rays had been battling this whole time over homefield advantage for the first two rounds. But if you look now, the Twins trail the two AL East powers by just two games in the loss column. With the Yankees and Rays playing each other seven times over the next three weeks, if they beat up on each other, the Twins could sneak into the top seed. The AL playoffs could go through Minneapolis.

Series of the Week: Yankees at Rays, starting tonight. Should be great, even if Tropicana Field isn't filled. With the matchup of managers who both pride themselves on being strong tacticians, it'll be interesting to watch the two Joes (Girardi and Maddon, of course) go at each other. How hard will they use their relievers? Will the 40-man rosters ensure that none of these games end before midnight?

Division of the Week: The NL West, of course. Three teams separated by two games. The Padres and Rockies play three in Denver, starting tonight. On paper, the third-place Rockies look like the best team, IMO. They also seem to have the most favorable schedule, as they don't have to go to either San Diego or San Francisco (the Giants come to Coors field Sept. 24-26); have six more games with Joe Torre's fading Dodgers; and end the season with the fading Cardinals. 

Hail Mary of the Week: The White Sox play three in Chicago against the Twins starting tomorrow night, and while you never say never, Ozzie Guillen's group pretty much has to sweep that series to make the AL Central any sort of race. The Chisox currently trail the Twins by six games.

Spoiler of the Week: We mentioned Torre's Dodgers, and while every indication is that Torre's L.A. run is ending in ugly fashion, they do have the opportunity to make an impact this week, with three in San Francisco and three at home against Colorado.

Player of the Week: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado. CarGo is OPSing .821 (.350 OBP/.471 SLG) in his last seven games, and that means he has slowed down. In his last 14 days, he's at 1.275 (.509/.766) and in his last 28 days, 1.312 (.479/.833). The Rockies could overtake the Padres this week with a sweep; of course, the Giants could benefit from such a scenario by beating up on the Dodgers, starting tomorrow.

Pitcher of the Week: Gotta be John Danks, the White Sox's ace, who takes the mound tomorrow night in U.S. Cellular Field against the Twins' Francisco Liriano. If Danks puts together a winning effort, then the White Sox can at least get something going.

--At the Mets game, I spoke with Jose Reyes, who expressed his desire to stay with the Mets for a long time. Next year will, of course, be crucial for Reyes, who simply has to do a better job of staying healthy. If you read the quotes in the column from a scout who has seen Reyes recently, you'll see that Reyes' talent is still held in high regard.

--I've been mentioning Yankees vice president of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer as a candidate for GM openings like the Mets and Arizona, but that's not happening. The Yankees turned down Arizona's request to interview Oppenheimer, who is under contract through next year, and the belief in the industry is that the Yankees won't let Oppenheimer interview anywhere. It's unusual, but George Steinbrenner believed in holding onto the people he valued, and that tradition seems to have continued.

So for the Mets, that leaves...Kevin Towers and Logan White, and we'll see what other names emerge.

--Speaking of the Mets, everyone with whom I speak wants to know what's going on there. And when I mention that Wally Backman and Bobby Valentine are both candidates to replace Jerry Manuel as manager, there is usually a visceral reaction. People are offended that Valentine has to share a mention with Backman, so superior is Valentine's reputation to Backman's.

Just sayin'.

--Live chat Wednesday at noon. What else could you possibly have going on in your life that would force you to miss it?

--I'll check in tonight from Tropicana Field