Since nearly every online sports reporter has rehashed the same tired consensus, it's sad that fans have to resort to a blog editorial byline to get a more full, original and balanced account.

Indeed, are you getting deja vu as to which media forum or format best serves reality reporting? Could it be that real people writers can blog the scoop that the media franchise entities miss?

Sportswriters usually follow a set of copy guidelines. For whom is it more newsworthy to wear the hero label in the event of a big game reversal of fortune? Do you rejoice the career fight song of a been-there-done-that guy used to being a hero...or do you give a nod to a new one?

The latter holds true in this case, as all you hear is about Taguchi hitting the go ahead run vs. the Mets while the name Scott Spiezio is buried in also-ran stats since it's more politically correct to sing praises of foreign national players rather than gutsy homegrown stalwarts.

Well, my friends, Scott Spiezio has a .700 post season BA, the highest in the history of the game. He saved the season for the Angels in '02. If he doesn't hit the two run triple in the 7th, the Cards are down two games to none and St. Louis is toast.

Because it's the hit that gets you there that saves the game, not just the one that rides its bandwagon coattails.

My guess is that ARod would kill for SS's fearless post season heroics. Just how much of his inflated 25 mil salary is a saved season worth? How much is a championship worth?

So what if the guy is an average regular season Joe lunch box grinder. Most of his RBIs come in game saving or winning crunch time either way.

Come post time, Scott is the Man Of The Fall, the new age Mr. October. After two post seasons of these unconscious dramatics, the conclusion is inescapable and undeniable.

Do fans put more weight on seasonal preliminaries to the MLB tournament dance or do they want to win in October? Do season stats and bucks count more than showtime heart and soul?

After the national pastime record books are written, who will they remember, the mega buck island egos or the small change charges who won our hearts with timeless Roy Hobbsian memories?

Special note to Georgie Steinbrenner: Instead of buying the latest free agent superstars when the whim or need arises, fill your lineup with Scott Spiezios when the leaves turn.

And send the primadonnas to work for baseball 3rd world minimum wage. Money can't buy you love. Or more rings.

Winning requires big hearts. And aside from Beantown's Big Papi, today right here and now a man named Spiezio is the best player in the game.

In the clutch...when it counts.