TOWER GROVE — There are many things that St. Louis Cardinals recent third baseman Mark DeRosa brings to the table, not the least of which is his classification as a free agent.

He’s a Type B and loving it.

Each fall, on the eve of free agency, the Elias Sports Bureau releases a ranking of players that help classify free agents as either Type A or Type B players. The rankings are based on the previous two…

TOWER GROVE — In one of the most dominant World Series pitching performances of our era, Philadelphia Phillies lefty Cliff Lee tied-up one of the finest lineups in the game last night, striking out 10 New York Yankees and authoring a complete-game in Game 1 at (New) Yankee Stadium. It was, in short, arguably the best World Series start by a NL pitcher since Bob Gibson.

But is it better than Hoot’s?

Lee needed 122 pitches to…

HOUSTON — With 2009 speeding to a close, discussions about the decade behind us are already popping up. Some baseball writers, like Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci’s have picked their Team of the Aughts, others have just explored who might be the Player of the Decade. Here we’ve been convicted of over-stating the Decade Triple Crown notion (scroll down).

Time to look at the bigger picture.

In the past week or 10 days, the St. Louis Cardinals have clinched the…

DOWNTOWN — New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was the unofficial host of the 2008 All-Star Game as it visited the Bronx, the spotlight barely found him because of the big cement, facade-famous goliath that was the true star of last year’s main event — Yankee Stadium. Still, he had some advice for the mayor of this year’s All-Star Game, as it came to St. Louis and Albert Pujols was the most famous monument around.

“Enjoy it,”…

DOWNTOWN — New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said he doesn’t need to see the numbers from the National League to know what Albert Pujols has done in the first half of this season. Players are talking about it.

They are also talking about what’s impossibly possible.

On Monday, during the American League player availability in downtown St. Louis hours before the Home Run Derby, Teixeira talked about how much fun it is to play with…