Who are these people?

If you've been watching baseball, you may have noticed lately that the teams you've been watching just don't look the same - the players you've gotten used to are not the players now taking the field.

This is what happens at the tail end of the season. For a team like the Yankees, who clinched the AL East and homefield advantage over the weekend, these games no longer matter in making the postseason. So they can sit their Jeters and their ARods, give them a chance to rest up and/or heal in time for the postseason, and give their recent minor-league call-ups or bench players a chance to shine, or at least see what it feels like to play at the major league level.

This is the time of year when a player like Ramiro Pena, who spent most of the year in the minor league and some time on the bench, gets a chance to hit his first major-league home run, which he did last night against Kansas City. This is the time of year when we welcome back Shelley Duncan, who tears it up in Triple A and who has a powerful major league bat but is just not quite good enough to make the Yankee roster full time during the regular season...although with injuries and retirements and trades, you never know when there's gonna be another opening.

Anyway, if you're watching baseball because you like the way ARod looks in his tight pants - don't worry, he'll be back to playing full time as soon as the postseason begins. So either take a break from the action for the next week, or see if any of these other guys might have something to offer...

PS The Tigers and Twins are playing a doubleheader. This is one of the only races left in baseball till the postseason, so if you want some potentially nailbiting action, this is where it's at. Plus, Joe Mauer, arguably the most talented and best looking guy in baseball right now - so this series has it all. If you don't get it on TV, follow these games online, ya dig?

I think it goes without saying who I'm rooting for, but I'll say it anyway - Mauer Power!