Here are five players that deserved a trip to Arizona’s Chase Field next week, but instead will have to watch a couple of less-deserving players take their spot. Now let’s everybody pile on Bruce Bochy like the rest of the Internet world. Just make sure you stretch first.

1. Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pirates
I don’t know who deserves more blame here, the players or Bochy. The players selected the Reds’ Jay Bruce (who has more home runs than McCutchen but is hitting an earth shattering .230) as one of the outfield reserves and Bochy chose the Mets’ Carlos Beltran, another player with a lower batting average and OPS than McCutchen and whose defense is significantly worse. Somehow McCutchen was left off the “Final Man” vote that is decided by the fans, so Major League Baseball deserves a swift kick to the groin here as well. Seeing as how McCutchen and the Pirates are shaping up to be the feel good story of 2011, the players, Bochy, and MLB dropped the ball badly by leaving the sparkplug off the NL roster.

2. Paul Konerko, 1B, White Sox
Apparently the AL players voted in Michael Young as a backup DH. Why would somebody feel as though a backup DH is needed for the American League roster? Outside of pitchers, THE ENTIRE FREAKING TEAM COULD BE DESIGNATED HITTERS. Konerko has a .954 OPS, which is fourth-best in the entire AL, and is among the league leaders in RBI (62, third), home runs (21, fourth) and batting average (.317, fifth). The problem is that teammate Carlos Quentin was a players’ selection and AL skipper Ron Washington needed to use four of his seven spots to ensure that every team was represented. He simply ran out of room for Konerko, which is a shame. But hopefully he’ll win the “Final Vote” and be on his way to Arizona next week anyway.

3. CC Sabathia, SP, Yankees
Seeing as how Sabathia is scheduled to pitch on Sunday, it’s kind of a moot point to discuss in detail how he was screwed. But a snub is a snub. Washington chose his own lefty C.J. Wilson over Sabathia, which isn’t that big of a deal. There’s a strong argument that Wilson should have made the team, but there were others less-deserving that took Sabathia’s spot. (Jose Valverde, anyone?) Again, in the end Sabathia would have been replaced anyway. But he at least deserved to be mentioned.

4. Tommy Hanson, SP, Braves
I actually get why Hanson was left off the NL roster. I’m not saying it’s fair or right, but I understand it. He missed time earlier this year with a shoulder injury (which limited his innings) and two of his own teammates (Jair Jurrjens and Jonny Venters) have taken some of his spotlight in Atlanta. Plus, if you say Hanson deserves a spot, then who do you leave off? Jurrjens, Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee were all locks. The argument gets interesting when you bring up Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain – two of Bochy’s handpicked pitchers from San Fran. But Vogelsong has been one of the best stories of the year and he was only 7 1/3 innings short of ranking second in the league in ERA. For those who have paid attention, the guy has been out-of-this-world good since being called up from Triple-A and we’re talking about a player who was pitching in Japan and the minor leagues over the last couple of years. Cain has worse overall numbers than Hanson, but did you see what he did in June? He was 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA in six starts and if the Giants had anything resembling a major league offense (hell, even a Triple-A offense would probably suffice), he would have had at least one more victory. Nevertheless, Cain is scheduled to pitch on Sunday so this snubbing will correct itself in the end. I’m sure Bochy will select Hanson as Cain’s replacement so everything will work out. (Or at least sort of. The voting system is still incredibly flawed and all of these snubs are proof.)

5. Jhonny Peralta, SS, Tigers
I guess now would be a good time to admit that all five of these players are interchangeable. One could make a good argument that Peralta deserves to be higher on this list and that wouldn’t offend me. The Tribe’s Asdrubal Cabrera made the AL roster as Derek Jeter’s backup. In reality, Cabrera should be starting and Peralta should be his backup with Jeter sitting at home. Simply put, the fans botched this one because they were blinded by Jeter’s popularity. I love Jeter and truly believe that he’s one of the best players of all-time. But Peralta (.311 BA, 14 HR, 48 RBI, .363 OBP) has been outstanding this year and deserved the spot more.

CC Sabathia has an opt-out clause in his contract that he can exercise after the 2011 season and while it seems unlikely that he would want to leave the Yankees, he told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that anything is possible.

Sabathia has an opt-out clause in his contract after this season and, in the past, he always definitively said he would not use that clause to negotiate another free-agent contract with either the Yankees or another team.

However, Monday, Sabathia did some dancing around the issue and, for the first time, opened the door that he might deploy the opt-out.

In a mass interview with reporters, Sabathia indicated he would not use the opt out without directly saying so, then shut down further inquiry by saying he was concentrating on this season and repeating the phrase, “I’m here.”

But in a one-on-one conversation with The Post afterward, Sabathia was given a few chances to definitively say he would not opt out — as he had previously — and did not. On one occasion he said, “Anything is possible in a contract.” In another, the big lefty said, “Who knows what is possible, but I am not thinking about anything beyond Opening Day.”

Rut-row. It sure sounds like Sabathia is setting himself up for a pay raise at the end of the year – and why wouldn’t he? The Yankees can ill-afford to lose him and would no doubt make him the highest-paid pitcher in the league if he threatened to walk out.

Cliff Lee is now making $25 million a year, so it stands to reason that Sabathia (who makes $23 million per season) wants to be paid at least as much as Lee, if not more. Barring injury or a disastrous season, Sabathia could probably squeeze a couple million more out of the Yankees, who desperately need him to anchor their starting rotation.

It wasn’t a picture perfect outing for CC Sabathia but the Yankees don’t mind.

The Yankees’ ace allowed 11 hits over six innings on Wednesday, but the Bombers managed to beat the Rangers 7-2 to stave off elimination in the ALCS. The series now shifts to Texas for two games, as the Rangers currently own a 3-2 lead.

Sabathia worked himself in and out of jams the entire game, as the Rangers stranded a total of eight batters on the night. He struck out seven and somehow managed to not issue a walk while throwing 112 pitches to pick up his first win of the ALCS (he got a no-decision in the Yankees’ come-from-behind victory in Game 1 of the series).

Offensively, Curtis Granderson finished with three hits and drove in two runs, while Nick Swisher scored twice and drove in a run as well. The Yankees built a 5-0 lead before catcher Matt Treanor hit a solo shot in the fifth off Sabathia to give the Rangers’ their first run of the game. They would add tack on another run in the sixth but that’s all they could muster as Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect 8th and 9th, respectively.

Game 6 will start at 8:07PM ET and will feature Phil Hughes vs. Colby Lewis. The Rangers are just 1-3 at home this postseason.

Things don’t look good in the Bronx.

A.J. Burnett retired the fist six batters he faced Tuesday night, but then remembered he was A.J. Burnett pitching in 2010 and the wheels started to fall off. The end result was disastrous, which is what most pundits figured when Joe Girardi appointed him his Game 4 starter.

Burnett allowed five runs on six hits in six innings of work as the Rangers crushed the Yankees 10-3 in Game 4 of the ALCS. Texas’ catcher Bengie Molina (a great midseason pickup from the Giants) went 3-for-4 with a go-ahead three run homer in the sixth off Burnett, while the eventual ALCS MVP Josh Hamilton also hit a pair of dingers and Nelson Cruz added a two-run shot in the ninth.

Compounding issues for the Yankees is that Mark Teixeira is now done for the season with a strain in his right hamstring. Twenty-three-year-old Eduardo Nunez hit .280 this year in 50 at bats with one home run, but he’s not going to keep pitchers awake at night like Teixeira will.

The Bombers face elimination this afternoon at 4:00PM ET. The good news is that they have their ace on the hill; the bad news is that CC Sabathia has a 7.20 ERA in this year’s postseason. C.J. Wilson will start for the Rangers and his ERA is a tad better (2.03), plus he flustered New York hitters for most of Game 1 before they got to him in the 7th inning. And even if the Rangers lose today, they’ll be at home for the final two games of the series and Cliff Lee (who’s pretty good in the postseason) would start Game 7 if necessary.

The Red Sox have proved this decade that being down 3-1 doesn’t mean a club can’t pull off a comeback. But the Yankees look old, tired and dare I say completely overmatched in this series. They look finished.

The Yankees entered the playoffs losers of eight of their last 11 games. But no matter how much they’ve struggled or how many chinks in the armor they may have shown, this is still their time of year.

For five innings Wednesday night, the Yankees were making Twins’ starter Francisco Liriano look like Cy Young. They trailed 3-0 in the top of the sixth, but after Nick Swisher struck out swinging to start the inning, Mark Teixeira doubled to deep left, Alex Rodriguez walked and then Teixeira scored on a Robinson Cano single to right.

After Marcus Thames struck out, Jorge Posada lined a single to right to score A-Rod and move Cano to second. Curtis Granderson delivered the big blow by tripling off the wall in deep right center to score Cano and Posada to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

They never trailed after that.

The Twins scratched across a run in their half of the inning, but Teixeira blasted a 355-foot home run in the top of 7th to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead. After allowing two base runners to reach in the ninth, Mariano Rivera got Jim Thome to pop out to third to end the game and give New York a 6-4 victory.

This is the time of year when the Yankees are never out of any game. They may have showed their age throughout the regular season, but there’s no replacement for postseason experience. When the stakes are high, this is when the Bombers are at their best.

Of course, this is still a team that’s going to struggle to win it all. Their pitching is a major concern and Joe Girardi’s stomach must have been in knots watching his ace C.C. Sabathia struggle in the early innings last night before finally settling in. He’s supposed to be the rock of the rotation and if he struggles, then the Yanks are doomed.

Game 2 is set for tonight at 6:07PM ET, as Andy Pettitte will take on former Yankee Carl Pavano.

The Yankees just keep winning, and suddenly the Padres keep losing, sitting with an 8-game losing streak, but still clinging to a three-game lead over the Giants. We may wind up with very few pennant races, but we are likely to have lots of new match-ups in the postseason this year. For that, I’m excited. And let me go out on a limb here. Watch out for the Rockies. They have this knack for winning 98% of their games in September and climbing fast in the standings.

1. New York Yankees (85-50)—They haven’t lost since I did my last rankings. The Rays caught up, but then the Yanks jumped back out to a 1.5-game lead. I know I’ve been high on the Rays, but the Yankees ain’t gonna fold. And CC for Cy Young?

2. Tampa Bay Rays (83-51)—With a 7-game lead in the wild card, that’s got to be what the Rays are gunning for. And they’d have to suffer a major collapse for that to happen at this point.

3. Cincinnati Red (78-56)—No longer a flash in the pan, the Reds are not just for real, they are striking fear in every other MLB team. How about the addition of Aroldis Chapman? Did anyone thing he would be helping this team in a pennant race in September?

4. Minnesota Twins (78-57)—The White Sox have Manny Ramirez now, but that won’t stop the Twins from pulling away this month.

5. Atlanta Braves (78-57)—Hanging tough as the Phillies make a charge. This could be one division race worth biting your nails over.

6. San Diego Padres (76-57)—Speaking of biting nails, how are you Padres’ fans feeling these days? Yikes.

7. Texas Rangers (75-59)—Now with a 9-game lead, Nolan Ryan can print those playoff tickets.

8. Philadelphia Phillies (77-58)—This team has caught fire at the right time, and we all knew they had it in them. One game back, and the Braves could wind up missing the postseason entirely after a great year.

9. Boston Red Sox (76-58)—A good season, and they’d be in the divisional hunt in every other division but the AL East.

10. San Francisco Giants (74-61)—With the Padres losing 8 in a row, the Giants have still not been able to capitalize. And now they trail the Phillies by 3 games in the wild card hunt.

There’s really no other way to open up a baseball season then to pit the Yankees and Red Sox against each other on national TV, which the MLB did last night.

The BoSox’s Dustin Pedroia had a two-run homer and an RBI single to power Boston past New York 9-7 in a wild opener. The Red Sox overcame an early 5-1 deficit thanks to timely hitting by Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and newcomer Adrian Beltre. The biggest hit came off Pedroia’s bat when he took a Chan Ho Park pitch over the Green Monster in the seventh inning, giving him dingers on consecutive Opening Days now.

As usual for this time of year, the starting pitching was spotty. CC Sabathia went 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out four. Josh Beckett only went 4.2 innings while giving up five runs on eight hits and allowing two home runs. He struck out only two batters.

Game 2 of this three-game series will be played on Tuesday.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
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