World Series

I think that Fox Sports' starting coverage of the 2002 World Series was extremely flawed by not showing Jackie Autry throwing the first pitch. This was disrespectful to Gene Autry and to all fans of the game. GEORGE BIRD Eagle Rock Who are these baseball experts who know so much more than Tim McCarver, who played 21 years and hit over .300 in three World Series? As to his ability at analyzing the game, may I remind you that he called the ninth-inning hit that won the 2001 Series for Arizona?

SAN DIEGO - Eleven more days until Matt Kemp is eligible to return from the disabled list. Kemp's absence was of minimal consequence Thursday, as the first-place Dodgers trampled the last-place San Diego Padres, 8-1, to earn a split of a two-game series at Petco Park. The Dodgers improved to 25-13, including 2-2 since Kemp was placed on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. But the void could be a significant factor in the coming days when the Dodgers host the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series that starts Friday.

Another NoCal team seemingly on the verge of its first championship. Another SoCal team comes from the depths of despair to stay alive. Was that Robert Horry I saw shooting a three-point shot for the Angels last night? Michael Lee Manous Lynwood I'd like to thank Barry Bonds for not being a team player. By being Barry Bonds, he doesn't just assure you of a home run, he assures you of a defensive blunder or two. Oh sure, it may not show up in the scorebook as an error, but Barry plays for Barry.

Stan Kasten still wears the massive World Series ring he won 17 years ago as president of the Atlanta Braves, and he says there has rarely been a day when someone hasn't wanted to touch or hold it. "I take it off every day," he said Wednesday. "Because I'm asked by a fan, by a staffer, by a player to see it. And I want them to see it. This is why we're here. " Kasten, 60, was standing in front of home plate at Dodger Stadium wearing a crisp white Dodgers home jersey over a blue tie as he spoke about how he, as team president, planned to turn the Dodgers into consistent winners — just as he had done in Atlanta.

Moose Skowron Five-time World Series champion Moose Skowron, 81, a five-time World Series champion with the New York Yankees and the Dodgers and one of only two players to hit three home runs in the seventh games of World Series, died Friday of congestive heart failureat a hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill. He also had lung cancer. Skowron became a star as a first baseman for the Yankees and went on to appear in eight All-Star games. After his playing career ended, he returned to his native Chicago and had worked for the White Sox since 1999 in the team's community relations department.

GAME 1 Oct. 27 Arizona 9 New York 1 * GAME 2 Oct. 28 Arizona 4, New York 0 * GAME 3 Oct. 30 New York 2, Arizona 1 * GAME 4 Oct. 31 New York 4, Arizona 3 (10) * GAME 5 Nov. 1 New York 3, Arizona 2 (12) * GAME 6 Nov. 3 Arizona 15, New York 2 * GAME 7 Nov. 4 Arizona 3, New York 2 * BEST OF SEVEN Arizona wins, 4-3

If the World Series at all resembles the first two rounds of the baseball playoffs, an umpire will make a bad call, a call so bad that instant replay will reveal the error for all of America to see, in living color, in high definition, and within seconds. The manager will charge onto the field to argue. The umpire will defend his call. The game will go on. The error will not be corrected. With a limited replay system and supporting facilities already in use, Commissioner Bud Selig could authorize a broader use of instant replay by the time the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies play Game 1 of the World Series tonight at Yankee Stadium.

Philadelphia 10, at Tampa Bay 1: Chase Utley homered and drove in four runs for the Phillies in the first regular-season meeting between the teams since last year's World Series. San Francisco 4, at Oakland 1: Tim Lincecum struck out 12 and gave up seven hits in his fourth career complete game. at Detroit 5, Chicago Cubs 4: Pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Kevin Gregg to lift the Tigers. St.

Dusty Rhodes, a light-hitting, hard-drinking outfielder who was at his best on baseball's biggest stage, died of cardiopulmonary arrest Wednesday at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 82. Rhodes, whose left-handed swing was tailor-made for the short right-field porch at the New York Giants' home in the Polo Grounds, never batted more than 244 times in seven big-league seasons and had a career average of just .253.

With the Dodgers less than an hour removed from recording their final out of the season, Andre Ethier let himself look ahead to the day they reach the World Series. What Ethier imagined was the same cast of players, only older. What he imagined was a team resembling the Philadelphia Phillies club that eliminated them from the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. "They have a whole different identity than us," Ethier said. "They're built around that core lineup that has a lot of power.

Moose Skowron Five-time World Series champion Moose Skowron, 81, a five-time World Series champion with the New York Yankees and the Dodgers and one of only two players to hit three home runs in the seventh games of World Series, died Friday of congestive heart failureat a hospital in Arlington Heights, Ill. He also had lung cancer. Skowron became a star as a first baseman for the Yankees and went on to appear in eight All-Star games. After his playing career ended, he returned to his native Chicago and had worked for the White Sox since 1999 in the team's community relations department.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Angels' World Series championship, a club distinguished in part by a bullpen built more on hope than on money. The closer was a converted catcher. The key setup guys were a September call-up not old enough to drink and two refugees from the independent leagues. The Angels had no choice. That was the last year B.A. (Before Arte). The Angels did not spend even $1 million on their shortstop, let alone a middle reliever. So, if progress means they can spend $5 million on a guy to pitch the seventh inning, why does their bullpen seem so much more unstable now?

Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Too much hot fudge can spoil the sundae. A current case in point is your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. We have been giddy since owner Arte Moreno and his TV partners bought Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. Baseball fans and sportswriters love to win World Series on paper, and these two seemed to put the Angels under the bright lights in late October. But did they? Pujols is not the problem. Waiting for his first homer as an Angel is a sideshow.

For insight on how this young Dodgers season might play out, I turn to a professional futurist, Lisa at Sunset Psychic Reading, in the shadow of Dodger Stadium. "Sometimes you sleep good, sometimes you don't," she says, quite accurately, mind you. "You've been thinking about starting your own business," she says. "It will be with a friend or a family member. " Frapp! There goes my dream of starting a business with a complete stranger. Unfortunately, Lisa doesn't have much to offer in the way of Major League Baseball predictions.

Of the many statistics that indicate the potential strength of the Angels' pitching rotation, most prominent are the 61-37 record, 2.97 earned-run average and 774 strikeouts that Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and C.J. Wilson combined for last season. But the number 926 is what jumps out at General Manager Jerry Dipoto entering Friday night's season opener against the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium. That's how many innings Weaver, Haren, Santana and Wilson combined to throw in 2011, a figure that, if repeated, would require the Angels get only 74 innings from their fifth starter — Jerome Williams or Garrett Richards — to reach what Dipoto considers a magic number for five-man rotations: 1,000.

Albert Pujols has entered a season with a team defending its World Series victory. That team of great expectations finished with a losing record. The season before Pujols led the  St. Louis Cardinals  to last year's World Series, the team failed to make the playoffs. So do big expectations like those confronting the Angels and $240-million addition Pujols help or hurt? “You guys are the ones picking us to win,” Pujols said Monday before making his Anaheim Stadium debut against the Dodgers in the opener of the three-game Freeway Series that will move to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Used to be that baseball's sun rose — and set — in the East. The Yankees annually dominated the winter free-agent market and whatever table scraps were left were scooped up by the Red Sox or Phillies. What happened in the wilderness beyond the Rocky Mountains generally was considered inconsequential. But that's all changed this year. With the signing of Albert Pujols, the top free-agent slugger, and C.J. Wilson, the top free-agent pitcher, the Angels may now be baseball's best team.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. — Yes, it's about results. It's also about perspective. In 39-year-old relief pitcher Jason Isringhausen, the Angels are poised to collect the benefits of both. And the wisdom banked by the veteran's rich experiences might be the most important dynamic. In Isringhausen, the Angels' bullpen has added someone who: •Endured being a can't-miss prospect who missed. •Withstood the trauma of three Tommy John elbow surgeries.