END OF SEASON

"It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, you rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then, just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops."

-A. Bartlett Giamatti

So this past season had some interesting highlights:

* Three players hit their 500th career homerun

* A few no-hitters

* The Cubs curse continues ...

* Some guy in San Francisco hit career homer 756

* The Rockies win 14 of their final 15 regular season games

* The Red Sox, unfortunately, won the World Series (curse anyone?)

* Joe Torre ends his amazing tenure as the Yankees skipper

Another baseball season has come and gone. The long chilly, dark days of winter are ahead. How long to pitchers and catchers report to spring training?