We are barreling toward the playoffs, which begin next week. But some of the races are not determined officially yet…namely, the Rockies have clinched a playoff berth but still have a shot at the division title. The Twins are hanging tough, having fended off elimination one more day. Other than that, the races are decided. Here are the final power rankings for the regular season…..

1. New York Yankees (102-58)—Absolutely no signs of slowing down, and that’s probably a good thing with the playoffs looming.

2. Los Angeles Angels (95-65)—Will this be the year the Angels finally break their playoff curse against the Red Sox?

3. Los Angeles Dodgers (93-67)—These guys have been playing mediocre ball since Manny came back, and now they are in danger of blowing the division lead.

4. Boston Red Sox (93-67)—The Sox seem to be able to beat up on everyone except the Yankees. And that could prove to be a problem in the next two weeks.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (92-68)—No matter who the closer is, this team has to like its chances with Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels going 1-2 in a short series.

6. St. Louis Cardinals (91-69)—Sometimes coasting to the division title makes a team complacent, and winning 4 of 10 games is complacent. Plus, the NL matchups are yet to be determined, so the Cards don’t know who their first opponent will be.

7. Colorado Rockies (92-68)—You don’t get as hot as the Rockies, who are 74-40 since Jim Tracy took over as manager. I mean, are you kidding me? I’d be really worried if I were any other team these guys might face in the postseason.

8. Detroit Tigers (85-75)—They’ve been in first place just about since day one, but the feisty Twins are making live miserable. Still, the Tigers have had to fight and that could give them momentum against the Yankees. Well, if they hang on to win the division.

9. Minnesota Twins (84-76)—They earn a spot here because they are still in the race.

10. San Francisco Giants (87-73)—Lots of promise this season, but couldn’t fend off a white hot Rockies team in the end.

Any time a team can add a three-time Cy Young winner who has a World Series ring and can still throw 90 mph as a fifth starter, it’s usually a good thing. And when that three-time Cy Young winner only costs the club $1 million, it’s a great thing.

The defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies signed Pedro Martinez to a one-year, $1 million contract on Wednesday in hopes he can rekindle some of the magic that has made him an eight-time All-Star over his career. While they did have to immediately place him on the 15-day DL with an shoulder strain, the club thinks that Martinez might be ready to pitch on July 30 when the Phillies open a series in San Francisco.

This was a low-risk, high-reward signing for the Phils. Given Philly’s offensive firepower, Martinez essentially just has to give the club quality outings. They don’t need him to strikeout 10 batters a game or work into the eighth inning every outing, they just need him to stay healthy and keep them in ballgames. And even if he doesn’t stay healthy, then the Phillies would be in no worse shape then they were before they signed him.

If Pedro pitches well and the Phils can hold off the Marlins, Braves and Mets in the NL East, then the Phillies will have a starting postseason rotation of Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ and Martinez, with Jamie Moyer moving to the pen to provide some long relief. That’s not a bad rotation, especially if Happ (6-0, 2.90 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) can continue pitching as well as he has up to this point in the season.

Again, if Martinez’s arm or shoulder craps out again, then the Phillies essentially waste $1 million this year. But if he pitches well, then he was worth the investment – especially considering he wanted $5 million for one season (or so reports claim).

There’s a different feel to baseball again – a good feeling.

Yeah, I know – there are probably still plenty of players who are cheating. But at least the league is (finally) making somewhat of an effort to clean up its image and for that, we as fans have hope that maybe someday the game will be juice-free again.

Those who have watched their fair share of baseball this season should be reveling in how the game is getting younger again. Instead of teams waiting for dingers in order to score runs, clubs are bunting, stealing and manufacturing scoring opportunities – the way the game is supposed to be played.

After watching how the Rays won last season, more and more teams are building their rosters by developing home grown talent rather than signing big-name free agents (save for the Yankees, of course) and it’s making the game exciting again. An onus has been made on youth and speed and for the first time in quite a while, baseball is once again a young man’s game.

That said, I’ve decided to have a little fun by constructing an entire 25-man baseball roster (I’ve named the team “Team Youthful Exuberance�) by using only players who are 25 years of age and younger. Rules and guidelines for the roster are below so enjoy and as always, feel free to make an argument for any players that I might have missed.

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According to the Wilmington Journal, the Phillies are confident that starter Cole Hamels’ elbow is almost fully healthy as he enters his 2009 debut against the Rockies on Friday.

For the past month, Hamels has had the most scrutinized left elbow in the Delaware Valley — and for good reason. To recap: For about three weeks in spring training, he felt persistent, lingering between-innings stiffness during his starts. So, he returned to Philly and underwent an MRI exam that didn’t reveal structural damage. He received an anti-inflammatory injection March 17 and has been insisting ever since that the discomfort is gone.

Surely, though, team officials still will be holding their breath as Hamels takes the mound here tonight for the opener of a three-game series against the Rockies. Even Charlie Manuel said he’s anxious to see how Hamels responds to the thin mountain air and forecasted temperature in the upper-40s. (Take it from me, it’s chilly here. I walked to dinner last night on the 16th Street Mall and had to bundle up.)

But after overseeing Hamels’ bullpen session Wednesday at the Bank, pitching coach Rich Dubee believes his ace will be just fine.

“Physically, I think he’s fine,” Dubee said. “We ran the MRI and all the tests, and we felt very good about the doctor’s evaluation. Cole is feeling much better than he felt a month ago. He’s definitely headed in the right direction.”

His last spring-training start left some questions, though. Facing the Rays last Saturday, he yielded six runs in six innings, threw 83 pitches and still didn’t crack 90 mph on the radar gun. His fastball maxed out in the high-80s but mostly sat in the mid-80s.

This is just a matter of the Phils’ coaching staff keeping a close eye on Hamels’ mechanics and his pitch count and going from there. I highly doubt he throws more than 85 pitches tonight and he’ll probably be on a short leash. No need to rush this kid with the entire season still ahead.

According to MLBlogs.com, doctors found no structural damage in Cole Hamels’ elbow after examining it on Tuesday. Hamels had left Phillies’ spring training on Monday after reporting elbow problems in his pitching arm.

The Phillies just announced that they have received good news from Cole Hamels’ doctor’s visit today in Philadelphia: there is no structural damage to his left elbow. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is in a meeting, but we are told he will provide more information later.

That sounds like good news. Of course, we don’t know what the plan is for Hamels. Give him a shot? Shut him down for a week or two?

That’s not only good news for Philly fans, but also for fantasy baseball owners who draft in the next week or two (or who have already drafted). Hamels still might miss a start in the beginning of the season, but after this news, he still seems like a safe pick. (Although keep an eye on any updating reports.)

Phillies’ starter Cole Hamels has left spring training to fly to Philadelphia to have his sore elbow examined by team doctors.

“We do not think it is serious, at least at this time” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “We thought it was important for Dr. Ciccotti to check him out and see if there is anything more serious than what we think it is. He’ll decide once he sees him tomorrow morning if he needs to do any testing or any further testing. We did do a physical on him before we ended up finalizing the multiyear deal with him and felt comfortable with the diagnostics and such. But he’s had a little persistent soreness and we want to be cautious about it and have him checked out.”

Hamels pitched in a minor-league spring training game yesterday at the Carpenter Complex. The Phillies said afterward that it went well and that he remained on schedule to start Opening Day on April 5.

“And he was,” Amaro said. “But he’s still got a little bit of soreness in there. We don’t feel that it’s serious, but again, I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t look inside his elbow. We just want to be cautious, and we thought it was important that he sees our doctor in Philly.”

I don’t think teams can ever be too cautious when it comes to starting pitchers and their arms, but it’s way too early for Hamels to be having any kind of issues. Hopefully for Phillie fans, it’s nothing serious and he doesn’t miss any time. But it’s a long season and if Hamels needs to miss a few weeks in April, that’s better than losing him during a key stretch run late in the year.

Admit it, you passed on Tim Lincecum last year. You took one look at his 2007 record (7-5), his ball boy-type frame (he only stands 5’11� and is 170-pounds soaking wet) and the fact that he played on a team with one of the worst offenses in baseball and you said, “no thanks.�

But there was one owner (the smart one) in your league that bought into the hype, took a shot and reaped the benefits of Lincecum earning the NL Cy Young Award while going 18-5 with a major league-leading 265 strikeouts and 2.62 ERA.

Don’t feel bad; you weren’t the only fantasy owner last year that just couldn’t pull the trigger on Lincecum. Truth be told, he was a bit of a risk last season given his inexperience and the fact that the Giants weren’t expected to give him much run support. And assuming you’ve played a fair share of fantasy baseball, you’ve probably been burned once or twice in the past by taking a risk on that perfect young sleeper that everyone is gaga for in spring training, yet fizzles once the season starts.

World Series MVP Cole Hamels appeared on David Letterman last night.

Click here to see the video.

The 2008 World Series had a little of everything. It had a team that hadn’t played in the Fall Classic in over a decade, another that was making its first ever appearance and two starving sports cities dying for something to finally cheer about. Throw in not one, but three separate weather delays and baseball fans were treated to one of the more bizarre Series in some time. And thanks to their 4-3 Game 5 victory, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays four games to one to win the 2008 World Series.

Below are five observations from the 2008 World Series.

1. The team with more momentum didn’t win. After beating the Boston Red Sox in a thrilling seven game ALDS, the Tampa Bay Rays steamrolled into the Fall Classic with all of the momentum. But maybe the ALDS took too much out of them, because the big “mo� didn’t play a factor in this Fall Classic. The Phillies disposed of the Dodgers rather easily in the NLDS and obviously had no issues getting back up for the Rays.

2. The AL didn’t dominate in the end. Baseball pundits liked to wax poetically throughout the season about how the American League has more dominant pitchers, better lineups and more complete teams. But the Rays, who arguably had the better pitching, the better lineup and more complete team, couldn’t measure up. While Philadelphia might not have had the better club according to all the so-called experts, they proved it all comes down to execution.

3. The Phillies had to deal with the weather too. Obviously the weather had an effect on the Rays’ performance. They weren’t used to playing that late in October and especially not in cold climates like the ones they faced in Philly. But it’s not like the Phillies played in that kind of weather year round. The rain and cold could have had an affect on both teams, but only one was in the end.

4. Cole Hamels is unbelievable. Hamels played the role of Josh Beckett in this year’s postseason in that he was absolutely un-hittable. He rebounded from a shaky 2007 postseason and shined like a true ace when the Phillies needed one the most.

5. Phillies-Rays killed the causal fan. The Phillies and Rays deserved to play in the Fall Classic because they earned it. They were the best teams in their respective leagues and nobody can take away their accomplishments. That said, this was a boring Series for the causal fan. While it was fun to root for the underdog Rays and a Phillies team that was going after their first title in 28 years, there wasn’t much to tune into. There was no team to root against like the Yankees or Red Sox. There was no crazy character to follow like Manny Ramirez. This Series flat out lacked some luster, but then again – too bad. The Red Sox didn’t deserve to be there; nor did the Yankees. The Phillies and Rays did and in the end, that’s all that matters.

My title is stupid – all wins in the World Series are “must wins.� But surely you catch my drift – the Rays dropping Game 4 to the Phillies was incredibly detrimental to them winning a championship.

Even though Tampa isn’t used to the weather they’ve seen the past two games, the cold had nothing to do with why they lost 10-2 Sunday night. Philadelphia was just better and Joe Blanton (a castoff in Oakland before he was traded at the deadline) deserves a ton of credit for mixing up his pitches and keeping the Rays’ hitters off balance the entire night. Tampa just has to tip their hats to the Phils tonight for knocking around Andy Sonnanstine, who is a young, developing pitcher who had won each of his previous two postseason starts.

There’s no other way to put it – the Rays are in major trouble. Not only are they down 3-1 in the series, but they also have to face Cole Hamels – who has been nothing short of sensational – on Monday night. Crazier things have happened, but playing at home and with Hamels on the hill, the Phillies seem destined to close this thing out.