Kevin Kaduk from Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show to put our annual post-mortem on the 2009 baseball season.

Last year, Kaduk joined us in what was undoubtedly a much happier recap to the season, what with the Phillies winning the World Series last season (you may have heard). We talk about Game Six, and really what the atmosphere was like at Yankee Stadium for the clincher.

Before Game Five, Kaduk and I talked out on Ashburn Alley about the different vibe each ballpark -- and each city -- had during the Series. He explained that Philadelphia felt like a World Series town, with even the street sweepers wearing Phillies hats. In New York, he felt it was business as usual.

And that’s what baseball is in New York -- business -- as evidenced by the $2,500 seats behind home plate inexplicably empty during big spots in the game. So exactly how corporate is the crowd at Yankee Stadium? Was Game Six like a Super Bowl?

We also talk about the concept of fan interaction as a home field advantage? Does it even matter, or do familiarity with the park and the all important ‘last ups’ really matter more than anything the fans could ever do?

We talk about the BIG NEWS that Joe Girardi is going to change his number from 27 to 28 to challenge the team to win another title. What is this, high school football? We really need our managers’ uniform number being a motivational factor? It’s insane and could only happen with a franchise that has 26 (looks at Girardi’s back) no 27 titles.

We talk about Matsui’s MVP and if it’s a big deal internationally. Is he now as big as Ichiro? Do people in Japan care at all that Matsui won the MVP? And what’s the biggest story, the first Japanese player to win World Series MVP, the first DH to win it or the first non-pitcher to sit on the bench for most of three games in a six-game series to win it? The first two may be bigger stories, but the third is the most impressive.

We rip on the Phillies fans for coming up with nothing better than “You took Steroids” whenever A-Rod was up at bat. Really, Philly? That’s it? A-Rod ADMITTED that. Your best chant was just re-stating a fact? Might as well have chanted “Girls Like Jeter.” Of course, Kaduk throws it back on me for not coming up with something better out in the bleachers. That’s not really my style though, is it? And he did say the Who’s Your Daddy chants in the Bronx were pretty awesome.

We talk about next year and wonder if anyone will be picking a different World Series than Phillies-Yankees rematch. Are they not clearly the best two teams in their respective leagues at this point?

We spin it to the off-season to talk about some big Hot Stove storylines. St. Louis snuck this Mark McGwire signing right before the World Series and Mac wasn’t there to talk. Will he ever? Will Spring Training be a zoo for the Cardinals or are people over it like Tony Larussa hopes they are? And with new information having come out since the Congresssional hearings -- namely McGwire’s brother talking -- should Big Mac be forced to entertain more questions, and hopefully give some real answers?

And some real hot stove talk, including: how important is John Lackey? Has Manny’s option (and Cliff Lee’s) set the market for signings this off-season? And who will be telling more Steve Phillips jokes at the winter meetings, his former colleagues in the media or General Manager’s office?

Thanks for listening.