Overuse Of Lidge May Cost The Phillies

• Marlins 10-Phillies 8:

I know what Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was doing when he used Brad Lidge to pitch

the ninth inning last night trailing by two runs to the Marlins, but in the long run with seventeen games left and four games of ultra-importance to the Phillies playoff chances against the reeling Brewers this weekend, wouldn't it have been better to be more prudent with Lidge's workload and give him a night off in what was likely a hopeless cause?
The case to be made for using Lidge is easy. The Marlins bullpen has not been good lately and they're using a patchwork closing corps; the Phillies had Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth and with that, they're two swings from tying the game; and Lidge isn't going to beg out of a game unless he's in agony and physically unable to perform, but what were the odds of another comeback in the bottom of the ninth trailing by two?
I also understand that J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin have been ruthlessly overworked this

season, so it was better to use the durable Lidge, but the strategy could have been manipulated better to perhaps double switch and get another inning out of Ryan Madson rather than to use Lidge when they didn't need to. He only threw seventeen pitches, but we're talking about cumulative use as the season moves along and, as brilliant as Lidge has been, the last thing the Phillies are going to need as the season winds down is to have Lidge reach back for that little bit extra and find he has nothing left to give. Even with that, the division race between the Mets and Phillies may end up as meaningless because...

• Reds 5-Brewers 4; the Brewers are collapsing:

If this season is proving anything, how great or bad a manager is at his job, a manager's importance is only realized when the season comes down to a game or two and it's talent and

performance that dictates the end result. Jim Leyland and Bobby Cox are both having forgettable seasons and Joe Maddon, whose quirky style was met with quizzical looks as his team was winning 61 and 66 games in his first two seasons, is now being feted as "innovative" and "progressive" in his treatment of his Rays now that they're heading towards the playoffs. That being said, there are two examples of how a manager's demeanor can permeate his clubhouse and result in those extra three or four wins at the end of a season that can mean the difference between playing in the playoffs or watching the playoffs on TV.
Joe Torre's calmness and resume throughout any firestorm has allowed the Dodgers to maintain their cool throughout any adversity, injury, controversy and whatever else has happened; Ned Yost's Brewers are stumbling again with talent that other teams look at, shake their heads and wonder what's going on in Milwaukee.
Even though Yost isn't really to blame for the Brewers two losses to the Reds because of any strategic gaffes, there's something about the Brewers that makes them fold whenever they're pushed. A mental toughness is lacking and no amount of power in their lineup or aces in their rotation are going to be able to account for that and keep them in contention. A team with playoff aspirations like the Brewers cannot be losing two straight games to a Reds team (that isn't as bad as they've been portrayed) but is still going with a lot of young players and is playing out the season.
I like Doug Melvin as a GM, but he signed a guy in Jeff Suppan for a lot of money when

Suppan is at his best as a back of the rotation starter who comes up big in post-season games; Suppan was awful last night. Melvin also could have fired Yost earlier in the season and replaced him with the veteran baseball man Ted Simmons; the Brewers bad start would have shielded Melving from any criticism for the move and as the Mets are proving now, sometimes just making the change in the manager's office gets everything in line. (Speaking of which, I don't care what politically correct comments he makes to the contrary, Carlos Delgado must've despised Willie Randolph.)
The four games this weekend against the Phillies are going to determine whether or not the Brewers make the playoffs and it has to be noted that C.C. Sabathia isn't scheduled to pitch in any of them. After Ben Sheets pitches the opener on Thursday, the Brewers are sending Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Suppan to pitch to that Phillies lineup; it might get ugly on and off the field for the Brewers this weekend with a lot of questions about why, since they so aggressively acquired Sabathia to go for everything now, they didn't take a long hard look at their manager and make a cold-blooded and calculating decision to bring in someone who was able to navigate the ship through the storm. They're going to be sorry if and when they sink. They're well on the way.

• Blue Jays 3-White Sox 1; Blue Jays 8-White Sox 2:

I have zero intention of buying into this Blue Jays hot streak as a portent of a leap into contention next season. If you look at their finishes in 2006 and 2007, they had similar hot

streaks (not 10-straight wins hot, but hot enough) and ended with respectable records to put forth the illusion that they're finally "turning the corner" under GM J.P. Ricciardi and I ain't buying it.
Each time, the hot streak has conveniently happened as the team had no chance of making the playoffs; each time they've looked like a team on the rise and able to overcome the infighting and injuries that happen to them every single year, but they again fall to the mediocre team they've been since Ricciardi took over. Add in that they're going to lose A.J. Burnett to free agency (that may not be all that bad a thing because I'm very wary of

injury-prone pitchers who have their career year at age 31 just as they're primed to make a big haul of cash on the open market); that every year there's some embarrassing, alibi-laden controversy (or two; or three; or five) between Ricciardi and a player (from his team and others) a reporter or whoever else, that makes them look like their operating a circus instead of a baseball team; and that they're in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays and you'll see the exact same thing happen a year from now as is happening now. It's like Groundhog Day except the ownership never seems to catch on, much to their detriment.

• A message from my Sith alter-ego:

I sense a mocking tone in the power of Darth Escribus, Lord of the Sith as on the front

page of the blogsite an ad for the new Star Wars game is popping up. Such an attitude is a horrible mistake. When my apprentice Darth Moneke arrives, she will...take care of you...

Yankees In A Catch-42

• Yankees 2-Blue Jays 1:

Imagine you're Joe Girardi and as you sit in the dugout trying to nursemaid your set-up

men Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez through the eighth inning of a game you must win, you look up at the scoreboard and see that both the Red Sox and Rays are blowing out their respective opponents. Not only that, but the Red Sox happen to be beating up on one of the teams directly in front of the Yankees, the White Sox. With a chance to gain a game on one of the teams you're going to have to pass to get into playoff position and the two direct competitors in your own division winning easily, what do you do?
What do you do as you watch Jose Veras put Carl Pavano's second straight gutty performance (with stuff that could only be classified as mediocre) in jeopardy after Pavano outdueled a pitcher who's on his way to possiby winning 20 games in A.J. Burnett? What do you do, after Veras gives up a hit and a walk and you bring in Ramirez who records an out via strikeout and Joe Inglett, a left-handed contact hitter having a solid year is coming to the plate with one out and the game in the balance?
It's simple you think, I have the greatest closer in baseball history in the bullpen warming up and ready; but bear in mind that the greatest closer in baseball history is going to be 39-years-old later this year; that he's accustomed to only pitching one inning to get his saves; that most of the times he's recorded saves of more than a single inning have been in do-or-die situations; that he's pitched more than one inning six times since August 12th; that he recorded four outs to save another imperative game against the Red Sox just 30 hours before; what do you do?
You think it's an easy decision? Knowing you have to win every game you can? That if you have a 2-1 advantage, you can't simply let Rivera's workload dictate a game's result if losing that game will put you seven games behind the Red Sox and eleven and a half behind the Rays? Do you

even have a choice? Girardi did the right thing in bringing Rivera in and there may be eighth inning help on the way from Joba Chamberlain, but there are going to be other situations like this over the final month because the Yankees cannot afford to lose games like this in which they're in a position to win. If it was a blowout one way or the other, it's a convenient way to give Rivera the days off he needs, but the situation is such that Girardi had no options and he had to put Rivera in for another eighth inning save. It's going to be this way for the final month of the season and even if the Yankees somehow pull off a miracle and make the playoffs, the question is going to have to be asked, is Rivera going to have anything left to give in October?

• Mets 5-Marlins 4:
  

Kevin Gregg is not a very reliable closer and I could almost hear the Phillies cussing and throwing things in Chicago as Carlos Beltran's two-out grand slam sailed into the right field bleachers of Dolphin Stadium.

• Cubs 3-Phillies 2:

Yesterday was my first look at Jeff Samardzija and combining him and his fastball (upwards of 95 mph), with Carlos Marmol (a funky motion and another power fastball) and Kerry Wood will give the Cubs a 2008 version of manager Lou Piniella's famed Nasty Boys from the 1990 Reds; the games are going to be over after the sixth inning, sort of like little league.

• Republican Vice Presidential nominee...Sarah Palin?

This might have been an inspired choice for John McCain if he were ten to fifteen years younger, but in an attempt to appease the religious right/zealot/lunatic fringe of the republican party who cannot stand him, he picked a young woman with almost no experience whatsoever other than a year and

a half as the governor of the almost forgotten state of Alaska. Do McCain and his advisers really believe that Sarah Palin is going to attract the disgruntled voters of Hillary Clinton? Does he think that they're going to look past her stance on abortion (against it in all cases); guns (enthusiastic member of the NRA); and beliefs (she wants to have creationism taught in schools) and vote for a 72-year-old man whose health isn't all that great and whose mental acuity deserts him from time-to-time and run the very real risk that she's going to have to step in and be the president of the United States? Think about it.
If McCain were 62 instead of 72, then appeasing the radical right wing of the party was a good idea; but the Hillary voters who have a problem with Barack Obama are either going to look at their choices and stay home, or shut their eyes when they walk into the booth and vote for Obama; a minuscule number of women are going to vote based on gender. This was a big mistake and a complete turnaround from McCain's image as a maverick because it wasn't

done because he wanted to do it, it was done for political expediency.
I believe deeply that the republicans are throwing McCain to the wolves knowing that they're almost assuredly going to lose in November and are looking toward 2012 when they'll be able to run the likes of Mitt Romney or some other more palatable candidate to the radical base and centrists that they need to win. They were hoping to stay close and maybe capitalize on Obama's newness (in every aspect of his story) and just as they threw Bob Dole in to run against Bill Clinton hoping that the Clinton baggage would allow Dole to win, they're hoping that McCain can somehow pull out a squeaker; this pick makes it clearer than ever that they're desperate to the point of throwing in everything but the kitchen sink and it's not going to work; in fact, it makes things worse.

Add The Mets To The List Of Teams That Need A Starting Pitcher

• Marlins 7-Mets 3; John Maine leaves the game in the fifth inning with shoulder pain/stiffness:

A week ago, the Mets starting rotation was relatively solid in comparison to the rest of the

league even with the ambiguity of Pedro Martinez; now the may have to go into the market for a stopgap to give them some innings. John Maine left last night's game against the Marlins with pain/stiffness in the back of his shoulder and returned to New York for an examination and if he's out for any significant amount of time, the Mets have a problem.
The initial belief from pitching coach Dan Warthen is that it's not something serious that will cause Maine to miss more than one start, but that's hardly any comfort to the Mets who don't have any idea when they're getting Martinez back and what they're going to get out of him when he does return. So they, like most other teams, are going to scrounge around the non-contenders and teams willing to deal to try and find a starter. The Blue Jays have pulled A.J. Burnett off the market (more on this later), as the Reds have with Bronson Arroyo; that leaves the likes of Jarrod

Washburn; Paul Byrd; Vicente Padilla; Miguel Batista; and Tim Redding. There are teams like the Astros that should be making pitchers available to re-stock the franchise, but instead are acquiring spare parts that they don't need in Randy Wolf.
I wouldn't get too excited or give up much of anything for most of the pitchers mentioned; taking their salaries should be sufficient to

acquire them in lieu of viable prospects, but guys like Padilla, who's signed through next year with a 2010 option, wouldn't come cheap; and Redding is the type of impending free agent pitcher that the Nationals Bizarro GM Jim Bowden would ask for six top prospects after prematurely unloading the cheap, productive and versatile reliever Jon Rauch to the Diamondbacks for one. Byrd's been terrible this year, but he wouldn't cost

much in terms of players and the change might wake him up for the rest of the season; worst case scenario, he'd eat some innings. Perhaps the Twins would want to get something for Livan Hernandez as they promote Francisco Liriano; Hernandez would be a perfect fit for the Mets.
The only hope the Mets have in this case is that Maine will only miss a start or two and they can patch something together with Triple A veterans Brian Stokes or Ruddy Lugo; they could also promote top prospect Jon Niese from Double A for a couple of starts to see if they catch lightning. Unless they're getting one of the veteran pitchers available for little or nothing, patching the problem with what they have is the best solution for now.

• Another reason the Blue Jays should fire J.P. Ricciardi:

Now the Blue Jays are justifying keeping A.J. Burnett by implying that they're going to try to crawl back into contention and win right now after a brief hot streak has pushed them over .500. It's nonsense.
Take a look back at the Blue Jays track record under GM J.P. Ricciardi. Every year they've

either been out of contention completely by this point, or were hovering around exactly where they are now; not in a genuine playoff race, but not bad enough to warrant a thorough housecleaning of veterans; and look where they end up. They wind up with a record of slightly above .500 or a bit better and everyone thinks that they're improving; that they're ready to take the next step and join the Yankees and Red Sox at the top of the AL East and possibly vault past one to make the playoffs; but they don't. They're a hamster on a treadmill and it's enough already. They've had this latest hot streak to push them over .500 and into

"contention" against the fading Orioles and the Mariners. In August they play: the Rangers, Athletics, Indians, Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Yankees. Does anyone really believe that they're going to be able to keep up this "hot" streak?
Regarding Burnett, the main reason that they're not trading him is that they're not going to get much of anything for him because of that stupid contract that Ricciardi doled out in which the pitcher can either opt out at the end of this year or can activate two more years at $12 million per. If a deal could be worked out where Burnett would agree to activate the contract immediately upon being traded, then maybe the Blue Jays would get something of value for him, but why should he given the state of pitching around the big leagues? He's got 12 wins now and could wind up with 17-19 by season's end if he pitches well; he'd get a long-term deal from someone after the season if he does opt out.
The Burnett contract is eerily similar to the one that Frank Thomas received which----despite the disingenuous claims by Ricciardi----truly precipitated his release earlier this year. Thomas's contract was going to activate for next year after he reached 376 plate

appearances and the Blue Jays used Thomas's slow start (for which he's been notorious throughout his career) and chafing at being benched as the reasons he was released. The truth is that they dumped him because they didn't want to pay him for next year and having contracts dictate how a team is run and what player decisions are made in this way is inept management.
It's one thing to dump a player because of his contract and the team situation; it's another to dump him in April as the Blue Jays did with Thomas. It's the same situation with Burnett. They're not keeping him because they think they're going to leap into contention; they're keeping him because Ricciardi is hoping against hope that the Blue Jays will win their 87-88 games and again save his job as he hides behind the "improvement" that isn't really there. You really can't blame the guy for trying this strategy because it's worked in saving his neck before; you'd think that ownership would eventually catch on and make a change, but Ricciardi, with all of his controversies, embarrassing public dustups with players and bottom-line mediocrity, is still there, so he might again survive like the reptile he's proven himself to be.

Conspiracy Theories And The Rapid Rash Of Firings

• Randolph's conspiracy theories (relayed through other parties):

The New York Post is implying, through quotations of anonymous Willie Randolph "friends" (take that for what it's worth) that the former Mets manager feels betrayed by new manager

Jerry Manuel and thinks that he may have been stabbed in the back by an ambitious subordinate----NY Post Story. If this is accurate, then Randolph is grasping at straws to find some reason why he was let go other than the reality of a team that was underperforming for him and hadn't played well and with life since early last season.
Any bench coach or "manager in waiting" is in a no-win situation while the entire episode is unfolding. Few and far between are the bench coaches who have little or no interest in becoming managers, so the current manager has to know that his trusted assistant would probably like nothing better than to have his job if the situation calls for it. Yesterday, I mentioned two recent situations where the bench coach may have undermined his manager to get the top spot; with Manuel, I didn't suspect similar machinations and I still don't. What was Manuel supposed to do? Was he supposed to ignore the front office personnel that wanted to talk to him because he didn't want to upset Randolph? Technically, since the front office personnel were above Randolph, they too were Manuel's bosses, so he had no choice but to respond to them when appropriate.
Randolph knew that there were front office personnel that wanted him out and had become paranoid (with good reason apparently), but to all of a sudden have "friends" implying that Randolph now feels betrayed by a bench coach with whom he'd become close and had counseled him during the turmoil strikes me as the Post either making things up or Randolph trying to find ways to deflect the blame away from himself for his dismissal.
It doesn't matter who the manager is and how close he is to a present of former employee

who's been mentioned as a possible successor, there has to be tension once the criticism becomes more pronounced, a firing is imminent and the replacement is seen to be skulking around and waiting for the job. Joe Torre was about as successful as a manager could be with the Yankees and had Joe Girardi as his bench coach before Girardi left to manage the Marlins, but Torre had to know when Girardi turned down several opportunities after the Marlins fired him and instead chose to work for the YES network, that his former catcher and coach had an eye on his job. Torre's bench coach from last season, Don Mattingly, doesn't have an undermining bone in his body, but Girardi seemed to be waiting for the opportunity that he eventually received. Friendship doesn't matter; loyalty doesn't matter and what actually happened doesn't matter; it's the perception that counts and if Randolph wants to see Manuel as a power hungry usurper who took his job through scheming, there's no way to dissuade him even if it's just a conspiracy theory to protect himself from the truth----he deserved to get fired.

• Mariners fire John McLaren:

This was somewhat inevitable once Bill Bavasi was fired even if it's just for cosmetic effect. McLaren may get another shot somewhere eventually (although he waited a really long time for this chance and may not have the stomach for another long delay), but it's hard to blame

him for this disaster. That being said, the Mariners have been unlucky and terrible in just about every phase of the game and that generally is a reflection on the manager.
Rob Neyer wonders if McLaren "could have fought harder for the young players he managed, particularly Adam Jones and Jeff Clement", but I don't think that McLaren would've been given such a strong voice in the construction of the team in his first full season on the job. Given Les Miserables Erik Bedard's injury-history and misanthropic behavior throughout his career, it was silly to think he was going to show up and suddenly become a legitimate number two starter and expected savior. The centerpiece of the deal for the Orioles, Adam Jones, hasn't been exactly lighting the world on fire in his chance to play, so it's hard to rip the deal as a total nightmare yet. With the fire both McLaren and Bavasi were under early in the season, they really couldn't afford to wait out Clement's struggles and try to win simultaneously.
McLaren may go down as a better coach than manager and, even though this wasn't exactly a fair chance for him, the results are what they are. The players didn't seem to be listening to him and installing Jim Riggleman makes sense to give the appearance of doing

something even if it's too late to do much of anything useful but clear out the house of some veterans and retool the organization.
One thing about Riggleman that needs to be watched is that he tends to batter his pitchers. While Dusty Baker has the Kerry Wood/injury problems laid at his feet, it was Riggleman who overused Wood as a rookie with some ridiculously high pitch counts----Wood 1998 Gamelogs. The argument that the Cubs were in a pennant race and were trying to win as many games as possible is the same argument that Baker can give for his usage of Wood and Mark Prior in 2003. The 1998 Cubs made the playoffs, but Wood missed the entire 1999 season with Tommy John surgery. Felix Hernandez is a valuable commodity who needs to be kept on a reasonable pitch count under Riggleman and if they're going to trade Bedard, they'd better keep him healthy and on the mound. They're out of the race, so going crazy with their pitchers makes no sense.

• J.P. Ricciardi's flapping mouth:

There are guys who should be baseball executives; there are guys who should have their

own radio shows; there are rarely guys who can effectively combine both. Say this for Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi----he's entertaining. Now he's gotten into a war of words with Cincinnati Reds left fielder Adam Dunn. After receiving calls on his radio show from fans

advocating the Blue Jays acquisition of the power hitting left fielder, Ricciardi unloaded on the player----Story----with some unkind comments. As much as I hate to say it, Ricciardi might be well-suited to taking some lessons from Brian Cashman on saying a load of stuff while saying nothing at all. As annoying as it is, it seems to keep Cashman out of the same trouble that Ricciardi's free mouth uses to get himself into such verbal scrapes.
Never mind the inappropriate nature of a current GM unloading on a player in such a way, Ricciardi makes it worse by unloading on a player who isn't even on his team! It never ends in Toronto; Ricciardi's players fight with his manager (Ted Lilly and Shea Hillenbrand with John Gibbons); he accuses players of malingering and milking injuries (A.J. Burnett); he gets into

verbal confrontations with players and releases them in fits of anger knowing their penchant for getting off to slow starts and because they have contract options----that Ricciardi negotiated----which kick in with a certain number of at bats are reached (Frank Thomas); and his team has never, ever been a legitimate contender despite his brazen proclamations upon getting the job in 2001.
Again, amid high expectations, the Blue Jays are floundering at 35-39 and Ricciardi's job has to be in jeopardy with all the bluster, controversies and failures on and off the field. One thing about him though, he's not going to go out gracefully and if anyone's going to leave in a blaze of glory, it's Ricciardi.