MLB Nl West

In what wasn't much of a surprising move, Los Angeles Dodgers leftfielder Manny Ramirez has decided to exercise his player option for 2010 and will return to the Dodgers next season. His agent Scott Boras let Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti know about Ramirez's decision on Friday night.

All of which means that Ramirez will make $20 million with the Dodgers rather than becoming a free agent, which is a smart move considering it's highly unlikely Manny would get that much money anywhere else next year. Manny didn't have the greatest season for the Dodgers in 2009, but Colletti is confident he'll bounce back next season.

Tim Lincecum was cited by the state police in Washington for possession of marijuana this week. The pot was found in his car after he was pulled over for speeding near the Oregon border on Oct. 30. It was a small amount, and the police determined that Lincecum was not intoxicated while driving, so he's been cited for misdemeanor possession. After his hearing on Nov. 23, that will likely be the last we hear of this particular incident.

Andrew Baggarly, the San Jose Mercury writer who wrote the blog entry linked above, guesses that this incident won't be much more than an embarrassment for Lincecum and that it's unlikely to affect his potential arbitration hearing early next year. He's probably right that it'd be wrong for the Giants to accuse their superstar pitcher of being a dirty hippie for having a few grams of pot in his car, but that's a funny mental image I'm stuck with and now I hope you are, too.

While the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are busy battling for the meaningless title of World Series champion Arizona reliever Clay Zavada was in St. Louis to receive some real hardware. Yes, after much debate throughout the country and campaigns that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, Zavada was named the "Mustached American of the Year" by the American Mustache Institute on Sunday night.

We shall all now bow to the power of Zavada's Rollie Fingers-esque mustache, and hope that through the will of being too lazy to shave, we too can one day achieve such greatness for ourselves.

The San Francisco Giants announced today that they've come to terms with second baseman Freddy Sanchez on a two-year deal. Terms weren't announced, but with the Giants holding an $8 million option on Sanchez, it's probably safe to assume that the cost for them per year will be less than that. T

That option would've vested for Sanchez on its own if he'd reached 600 plate appearances, but a shoulder and knee injuries limited him to just 25 games in a Giants uniform after he was traded to San Francisco from Pittsburgh. The shoulder's been a nagging problem for Sanchez for some time, but when healthy Sanchez has been one of the best hitting second basemen in the NL over the past few seasons, being named to three of the last four All-Star teams and winning a batting title in 2006.

The Rockies and manager Jim Tracy are nearing a three-year extension, the Denver Post is reporting, though an official announcement on an extension will likely wait until after the World Series. Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle after Hurdle was fired on May 27 and led the Rockies to a 74-42 record and the wild-card berth in the National League playoffs.

When Tracy took over, the Rockies were 18-28 and 14 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Under Tracy, they challenged L.A. for the division title. That sprint to the playoffs makes this extension more or less a foregone conclusion. What team in their right mind wouldn't extend the interim manager that had his team playing at a 103-win pace over a large chunk of the season?

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his wife, Jamie, have confirmed to the Associated Press that they have separated a few days after Frank attended the Cardinals-Dodgers game alone. This is intriguing news in terms of how it may effect the inner workings of the Dodgers' front office. Jamie McCourt is the team president and CEO of the Dodgers -- making her the highest ranking female in all of baseball.

If the separation continues and evolves into a divorce, how will all their substantial assets be divided? They've been married since 1979, so the ownership of the Dodgers -- and the job of the team president -- will likely be at stake during proceedings.

Let's start by looking at two stat lines. Some of you have probably already guessed where I'm going with this, but bear with me.

Player A: .319/.395/.691, 1 HR/11.56 plate appearances
Player B: .207/.298/.356, 1 HR/37 plate appearances

If you haven't already figured it out, both of those players are Ryan Howard. "Player A" is Howard against righties in 2009 and "Player B" is Howard against lefties in 2009. To simplify, Ryan Howard is Albert Pujols against righties and David Eckstein against lefties. So why does no one question Jim Tracy's decision to leave right-hander Huston Street in the game to face Howard with the Rockies' season on the line?

With two series over, Major League Baseball has updated the schedule for the rest of the Division Series.

The Rockies and Phillies will play their Game 4 at 4 PM ET if the Yankees-Twins series is still going on. Should the Yankees finish off a sweep Sunday night, the NL Game would move to 6 PM ET.

Series-by-series times are after the jump (all times Eastern).

The Rockies announced Tuesday that starter Jorge de la Rosa will miss the NLDS with a sore groin. He suffered the injury on Saturday and manager Jim Tracy said before Colorado's workout day that the training staff informed him that de la Rosa's injury isn't progressing, though his season isn't necessarily over if the Rockies play deeper into October.

"He was scheduled to throw a bullpen today. We're not even going to take that chance. We're not going to have him do that. We're going to continue working with him," Tracy said. "If we're fortunate to advance beyond here, could he end up in the mix and be a guy that could be considered for a League Championship Series if we're fortunate enough to get there? I think that's definitely a viable possibility."

At first glance, this series pits Manny Ramirez against Albert Pujols; two of the best right-handed hitters of this generation. But it runs much deeper than that.

Both teams have secondary weapons on offense. Matt Holliday has raked in his short time in St. Louis. Andre Ethier mixed in a career high 31 home runs with his six walk-off hits this year. On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals could have the top two finishers in the NL Cy Young race in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, while the Dodgers finished tied with the Giants for the fewest runs allowed in the National League.

These are two good baseball teams. They've both spent most of the season in first place in their respective divisions and the fight between them for home-field advantage in the National League went down to the wire. In a five-game series, almost anything can happen. In a series between two teams this evenly matched, all bets are off.