Red Sox Should Be Concerned Heading Into Playoffs

• Indians 4-Red Sox 3:

The playoff matchups in the American League are pretty much set and the Red Sox, despite their

successful history against the Angels, have reason to be concerned this year. The Angels are on a mission this season and two of the Red Sox main strengths as they've won their championships----starting pitching and clutch power hitting in the middle of the lineup----are question marks as they prepare for a trip to Anaheim.
Something clicks in Josh Beckett's brain at playoff time, so they're not going to have to worry about him; but Daisuke Matsuzaka is very likely going to have trouble with the Angels patient hitters as they run up his pitch count and gladly accept his propensity to walk people. Jon Lester's been excellent this year and knuckleballers like Tim Wakefield are always hit or miss.
The bigger problem is going to be the lineup. Jason Bay has been everything the Red Sox expected when they traded Manny Ramirez away; that being said, Jason Bay is not Manny and has never once played in a big game on the national stage in his entire career. The Angels are not going to let David Ortiz beat them and are going to force Bay to deliver in the clutch as Manny did. Even with the MVP-quality years being had by Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, they're not additives to what was already a championship recipe;

they're actually picking up for the departed Manny; the injury-diminished Ortiz; the aging Jason Varitek; and the injured J.D. Drew.
No matter what Bay's stats look like and how well he's replaced Manny on paper and especially in the clubhouse, he's not Manny and he's not someone that the Angels are going to sit there and say, "we have to stop this guy if we're gonna win"; that could end up being a miscalculation, but it's a strategy not to allow Ortiz to beat them and to make Bay come through; if he does, you tip your hat to him. The Angels were never intimidated by the Red Sox just as they were never intimidated by the Yankees; the reason the Red Sox beat them so consistently was that the Red Sox weren't a favorable matchup for the Angels and the Yankees were; now that's changed and the Red Sox are in for a rough time heading to Anaheim unless Bay can make up for Manny's absence when it really counts, and that's a big question mark.

• Diamondbacks 4-Cardinals 2; Brandon Webb saves his second Cy Young Award:

I think it's safe to say that in addition to keeping his team alive in the playoff race, Brandon

Webb's last two starts have saved his 2008 Cy Young Award. If the situation calls for it, he may even do more than that; if the Diamondbacks see an opening to catch the Dodgers on Thursday, there's no way Doug Davis is going to start that game and Dan Haren and Webb will be moved up to start on short rest. If they're alive going into the weekend against Colorado and the Giants see the opportunity to knock out or severely damage the playoff chances of their archenemy Dodgers, the Diamondbacks could still have a chance.

• The trades you don't make are often the best ones:

Ervin Santana winning his 16th game last night brought back memories of spring training

when the offensively challenged Angels were discussing a trade that would've sent Santana to the White Sox for Paul Konerko. Think about the dominoes that would've fallen had that deal taken place. Konerko has picked up his game lately, but he was so awful early in the season that he was benched; Santana jumped out of the chute for the Angels and (along with Joe Saunders) took over as the team's ace to counteract the absence of John Lackey and get the team off to a good start. Then there likely wouldn't have been a deal for Mark Teixeira and Teixeira may have ended up with the Diamondbacks because they were the other team with whom the Braves were having serious discussions. What would that have done to the NL West?
Then there were the rampant rumors of Brian Roberts being sent to the Cubs. With the addition of Kosuke Fukudome, there probably wouldn't have been room to keep Roberts, Fukudome and Mark DeRosa and DeRosa might've been traded; DeRosa has never been the power hitter he's proven himself to be this year (it's likely his career year), and the Cubs have

discovered that Fukudome may be just an average player, and not what they were expecting; he's lost his starting job to boot. Looking at the numbers, DeRosa has had almost identical numbers to Roberts except with more power and a ton of clutch hits. How many teams would've had interest in DeRosa, a player who can play every position competently except catcher?
These are just two examples of rumored moves that didn't happen and would've made things worse for their team if they had happened. It's easy to look at trades that were made and judge them in the long and short term, but sometimes more can be learned from looking at trades that were said to be "near completion", but never came to pass for one reason or another and ended up working out far better than any completed deal could have.

For Those Who Always Wondered What Joe Torre Managing The Red Sox Would Look Like, Here It Is

• Dodgers 7-Rockies 2:

If, during all those long years of Yankees-Red Sox vitriol, any loyalist for the Red Sox

wondered what their team would look like with Joe Torre sitting in the corner of the dugout, hands resting on the knob of a bat, same demeanor whether things were going well or poorly and coaxing, cajoling, dragging and leading his teams to the playoffs no matter what adversity presented itself be it injury, a rampaging boss, spoiled fan base, illness or tragedy need only look at what's going on with the Dodgers because it's being played out right now.
If, during all those long years of the Red Sox-Yankees battles, any loyalist for the Yankees wondered what their team would look like with a quirky, spacey, aggravating, forgetful hitting savant named Manny Ramirez manning left field and hitting, hitting, hitting his way into

everyone's hearts and making them ignore the defensive lapses, tantrums, demands and bouts of laziness, it's being played out right now with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The calmness that the Dodgers are showing is identical to that which the Yankees showed all those years as Torre guided them through any and all firestorms whether they were baseball or life-related. An eight game losing streak and season-long inconsistency? No reason to panic. Injuries to chunks of the pitching staff? Why worry? Someone else will get the job done, somehow. The Diamondbacks are pulling out all the stops to improve their club by dealing for help in their bullpen and lineup with stunning swiftness? No problem, for all of his bizarreness, Torre will handle Manny as he goes through his "Manny being Manny" act heading toward another big contract after crowbarring his way out of Boston. The infighting with rookies and veterans at odds in the clubhouse that doomed Grady Little and ended the Dodgers playoff hopes in 2007? Torre'll take care of it. The impossible Jeff Kent? Torre will placate him as well as he can.
Anything else? Torre, Torre, Torre. Four championship rings, controls the clubhouse, leads his men. Rookies? Veterans? In-season acquisitions? Lack of hitting? Lack of pitching? Injuries? Press? Naysayers? Mocking from the other coast and staggering Yankees at his

unappreciated skills? It doesn't matter. The one thing that's being proven this year is that despite his strategic ordinariness, Joe Torre handles his team and guides them through anything with the one thing that any manager has to have to be successful----he doesn't panic. Referred to as "The Godfather", Torre is the man behind the desk using his brain, experience and reputation to keep everyone in line and as a result, the Dodgers are heading for the playoffs and didn't panic when the world crumbled around them.
If anyone has ever wondered (publicly or privately) what would have happened had Torre been running the Red Sox for the years 1998-2003 instead of Jimy Williams and Grady Little, the result is on display right now in 2008 with the Dodgers. It adds to the irony that not only is Manny on his team, but so are Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Lowe. Anyone who questions the import of a manager need only look at how the Dodgers are finishing the season with the same placid, stoic personality of their manager. That's why the Dodgers are winning and a major reason why the Yankees aren't.

• Diamondbacks 3-Reds 2:

As important as this game was; as much as Brandon Lyon has been struggling as the Diamondbacks closer lately; and with the knowledge that the Dodgers were winning and another Diamondbacks loss would probably have sealed their fate, why was Brandon Webb,

their supposed horse and Cy Young Award winner yanked after throwing only 96 pitches and eight shutout innings?
This isn't being written because Lyon almost blew the game and the Diamondbacks season; nor is it being written to second-guess how decisions are being made in the Diamondbacks dugout; but after watching how the aforementioned Torre has handled his club through their various crises and how Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin has been relying on that absurd "book" that's become so prevalent, why would he remove his ace and put such an important game in the hands of that shaky bullpen and run the risk of ending his team's season? If Webb had thrown 115 pitches, okay, but he'd thrown 96; are you telling me that he couldn't throw twenty more pitches to close the game out himself? Is he or is he not the team's best pitcher and guy who's supposed to carry them in times of distress?
Now Melvin is implying that he's considering making a change at closer and replacing Lyon with (I would assume) Chad Qualls. Melvin's quote was that he felt he'd given Lyon "enough rope"; once a manager starts thinking he has to have a certain amount of "rope" before going to his closer, then it's time to get a new closer. And Lyon shouldn't even have been in that situation to begin with because Webb should at least have started the inning and gotten yanked if and only if he got into serious trouble. Webb should've been the closer last night and the near disaster could've been averted completely.

• The promotional ads for the Colorado Rockies:

From when I got the InDemand package, I've seen a lot of promotional ads for various teams, but the most creative and entertaining belong to the Colorado Rockies. Last night was

a funny parody of The Godfather with Todd Helton playing "The Toddfather"; and there was Troy Tulowitzki having his name chanted everywhere he went as it interrupted people from doing their jobs as Tulowitzki had a satisfied and bemused look on his face. The players are actually good actors and they're great spots.

Yankees Getting Kicked In The Head From All Sides

• Red Sox 11-Yankees 3; Marlins 4-Braves 1:

Amid the stunned feelings of resignation of their current predicament that are beginning to

permeate Yankeeland, there are other aspects of the story that are only going to serve to make things worse from the organization itself to the entire fan base. It's one thing to lose; it's another thing to have that loss receive an exclamation point from perhaps the most-despised current member of the Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia.
Since his arrival as a full time big leaguer last season, Pedroia has baited, aggravated, irritated and antagonized the Yankees because he's good; because he knows he's good; because he'll tell you he's good; and because he has a penchant for getting big hits. With the Yankees clinging desperately to any chance of climbing back into contention, it must have been tantamount to getting kicked in the stomach watching Pedroia trotting around the bases after his grand slam.
With their division deficit now at 10 1/2 games behind the Rays and the Wild Card deficit at seven behind the Red Sox and 4 1/2 behind the Twins, the Yankees hopes are fading unless

they get hot and get hot fast. Individuals in the Yankee organization must be feeling the sting of what's happening elsewhere as well. On the same night that Pedroia and the Red Sox hammered the Yankees staff of journeymen and mediocre pitchers; Johan Santana gutted his way through six innings for the Mets; and Josh Johnson was in Atlanta pitching for the Marlins and punctuating his comeback from Tommy John surgery (that the Marlins front office still blames Yankees manager Joe Girardi for playing a large part in making necessary) with a complete game effort against the Braves.
Since much of his perceived ability to manage was based on the job he did in his single season with the Marlins, it should diminish Girardi's resume even further as that same Marlins team may end up 2008 with a better record as they function with a payroll that is 10% of that of the Yankees. Girardi's strengths are there for all to see----he's hard-working, intelligent and relentlessly positive----but the negatives are there for all to see as well. He has

much to answer for regarding strategy, just as he did two years ago; and he hasn't proven to be any more successful with a $200 million payroll and championship expectations than he was with a $15 million payroll and no expectations. The credit that Girardi received for the Marlins rise in 2006 is dwindling with every competitive day the bargain basement team stays in contention for a playoff spot under Fredi Gonzalez and Johnson's dominance since his return is shining a light (fairly or not) on the fact that he got hurt while pitching for Girardi.
If the Yankees season continues to slide down this road (and they've shown no reason to believe that anything's going to change over the last month), there are going to be questions about the wisdom of everything that transpired from 2007's conclusion until the end of 2008. Even though the Dodgers have problems of their own, Joe Torre's success at getting the Yankees into the playoffs no matter what can't be dismissed if they don't make the playoffs in

the first year after he was allowed to leave. Was it the smartest thing to let Johan Santana slip through their fingers (especially to go to the Mets) to keep the likes of Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and whoever else the Twins asked for, especially since they took the Mets deal they didn't really want because they were out of options? It's easy to critique such decisions in hindsight, but since when do the Yankees let money stop them from making a move that would've added an ace in his prime like Santana? Since when does money take precedence over the good of the team?
GM Brian Cashman has made some mistakes, but he's still a good GM; even with that, there have to be questions about his motivation in making these moves. The rookie mistakes that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have made stem from allowing Cashman to try and

lower the payroll at the expense of doing what's best for the organization in the short run. As I've said before, what is Cashman's motivation to slash costs? What difference does it make to him what the team payroll is unless he's trying to garner some credit for himself as to how wise he is with a dollar? To think that the Yankees, with their almost limitless resources, needed to save the money that Santana would have cost is absurd. After all the money wasted on the likes of Carl Pavano, what difference would another $20 or so million added to that $200 million have been if it meant a playoff spot?
Unless things take a drastic turn, there are going to be angry and rightfully indignant questions from the Yankees fan base as to why these decisions were made to play for three, four and five years down the line when the nucleus of the team is aging so rapidly. How many stellar seasons from Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter does Cashman think are left? What are they going to get out of Jorge Posada as he returns from injury? There's no doubt that Yankee

fans were spoiled by the four championships in five years and Torre's annual trip to the playoffs even if they got knocked out in the first round; now they're learning what life is like if they're transitioning to a younger and more frugal organization. The one thing that should make Yankee fans angriest is that there was no reason for the attempted payroll reduction and reliance on young players. They have a new ballpark on the way that is going to provide a windfall; they have an established brand that is going to make money no matter the condition of the team; why cut corners on the bench? On the bullpen? Or the starting rotation?
Even if, as expected and whether Cashman's there or not, the Yankees make big plays for the likes of C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Ben Sheets and whoever else, it's still not going to explain why they decided to become frugal in 2008 and started spending again when the grand plan didn't work immediately; and to think the empty threats of Hank Steinbrenner are all of a sudden going to turn into decisive (and occasionally

ill-advised) action just like those of his father and are going to fix things lends credence to the question as to why they decided to go down this road in 2008 at all; it adds to the poignancy of wondering what the purpose of all of this "looking toward the future" was from the start.
Teams like the Ahtletics, Padres, Rockies, Marlins, Twins all have an argument for scrimping and saving here and there----the Yankees don't. This all began with Cashman's decision to go young and become the object of admiration of others, saving money that he wasn't under a mandate to save and finding bargains where he didn't need to find bargains. While the previously mentioned teams have found inexpensive and productive "finds" doing business their own way, the Yankees don't have to do that, which leads to the question as to why they tried to develop a startup when they can afford to purchase established goods; why they did the equivalent of buying swampland in the Everglades when they can afford to buy land on Park Avenue. Because the plan looks like it's going to fail and the Yankees are just going to go back to throwing money at their problems which, even without a championship since 2000, at least got them into the playoffs, makes it look all the worse. What was the point?

The Mets Lose; The Yankees Lose; Replay Is On The Way; And...A Shot At Love?

• Phillies 8-Mets 7 (13):

With the combination of that Phillies lineup and Citizens Bank Park, no lead is really

completely safe, so it's hard to give the Mets too hard a time for blowing a 7-0 lead. That being said, one of the main reasons that the Phillies were able to come back and win last night's game at all had nothing to do with the Mets shaky bullpen (they really weren't all that bad last night); it had to do with the Mets putting their bats away after they'd built that seven run lead.
Common sense said that with Pedro Martinez a mere shadow of what he once was, the Mets bullpen and the Phillies lineup such as they are, things were going to tighten up as the game wore on. Once Jamie Moyer was out of the game, the Mets allowed the likes of Clay Condrey, Scott Eyre and Rudy Seanez to keep them off the scoreboard and that is more of a reason why they lost than anything their bullpen or the Phillies lineup did. Had the Mets cashed in on just one of their potential rallies while they still had a comfortable lead, the game would have been pretty much over; the Phillies bullpen pitched well, but too often this season, the Mets have appeared to become comfortable with a lead that should be safe and have gone on cruise control allowing their opponents an opportunity to chip away at that lead until it's gone.
This isn't new; one of the multitude of reasons the Phillies were able to catch the Mets last

September was because the Mets started playing stupid by getting thrown out stealing bases and not cashing in on opportunities to score insurance runs. Since they have more competent dugout management now in Jerry Manuel, I wouldn't expect them to make similar fundamental mistakes as they did last year; sometimes pitchers give up homers and blow games like the Mets staff did last night; but it wouldn't have been a problem had they been able to score two or more runs off of the types of pitchers they faced in the middle innings last night; if there's a reason the Mets blew the game, it's not because of the bullpen, it's because they stopped scoring.

• Red Sox 7-Yankees 3:

If last season's comebacks by the Phillies and the Rockies proved anything, it's that a team is not dead until they're officially dead. This is one of the reasons I've been reluctant to

join to armchair undertakers and start a Yankees postmortem. Things can turn around very, very quickly if a team gets suddenly cold and another team gets suddenly hot; and to mention the change in dugout leadership for the Yankees from Joe Torre to Joe Girardi as a reason for the premature autopsy isn't adequate enough to think the Yankees are done; Torre's new team, the Dodgers, is in the midst of a collapse even after making baseball's splashiest improvements at mid-season. I do not believe that the Yankees are done...yet; but they're well on the way unless they start doing one simple thing: winning.
Alex Rodriguez is getting the blame for the Yankees inability to come through in the clutch last night and hitting into two double plays and making an error, but there are other culprits as well and some were integral parts of the Yankees teams from five-plus years ago. Andy

Pettitte, whom the Yankees needed to deliver a virtuouso performance, allowed ten hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings; Jason Giambi, who wasn't part of the Yankees dynasty, but has gotten some big post-season hits, went 0 for 4 and vapor locked in the field allowing an extra run to score. ARod's gaffes were prominent and more is expected for a player with ARod's paycheck and abilities, but he wasn't the only culprit in this loss.
Unless the Yankees start performing on the field----and I mean players other than ARod as well----there's not going to be a comeback. They still have time to save their season and get back into playoff position, but it's not going to happen by someone else's hand; the Yankees intimidation factor is almost gone and they need to put down this revolt at the hands of their former whipping boys like the Rays; if they don't make a move soon, their playoff streak is going to end; Girardi will get the blame, but this has been a team effort from the championship players like Pettitte, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera all the way through to ARod; there's plenty of responsibility for everyone if they don't turn things around.

• Replay is on the way:

I have no problem with instant replay being used to correct missed home run calls. (The Derek Jeter "homer" in the 1996 playoffs in which Jeffrey Maier interfered with Tony Tarasco's

ability to catch the ball is often referenced as a prime example of a call that

would have been reversed, but what would the call have been exactly? A ground-rule double? An out? A do-over? What?) The problem I have is with the instantaneous implementation of this new tool. There are going to be bugs that have to be worked out that may end up causing more trouble than just going forward over the final month of the season under the old system and putting replay in next year would. Jumping right in headfirst with such a drastic change strikes me as the type of thing that Vince McMahon would do with the ill-fated and embarrassing XFL, and I doubt that the MLB commissioner's office would want to be compared with someone such as that.

• A Shot At Love with...the Prince of New York?!?

Believe it or not, I got an email yesterday asking if I'd be interested in auditioning to be a

contestant on A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila. Why they asked me is beyond even my massive brainpower, but this ain't gonna fly for several reasons:
A) my fiancee is unlikely to approve and, while petite, she has enough knowledge of Tae Kwon Do and Israeli martial arts that she'd turn Tila Tequila into her personal hand puppet.
B) as stunning as I am (see the picture in the upper right hand corner of my duplicate site----MLBlogs site----I love it when you call me Big Poppa!), I'm not enough of a sexually ambiguous pretty boy to fit in on that show; they want would be models, tanned and rippling; my wiry 175 pound days are over and have been traded in for a head-breaking 200.
C) I have an awful temper and would probably prefer not to have it on video or run the risk of the fuse being lit by the types of people who choose to go on those reality shows.
It is because of these main reasons, and many other ancillary ones, that I respectfully have to turn down this opportunity. I think the world (mine and everyone else's) is better for this decision.

Dice-K's Misleading Record And The False Perception Of Brilliance

While many aspects of the sudden availability and blind adherence to stats may have diminished the game slightly and distracted from the human element in an evaluator's ability

to judge a player, that availability has put certain numbers and players into a better context of whether or not they're any good and whether or not their records should be taken at face value. One such player, whose record indicates dominance, but whose other stats aren't particularly impressive, is Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.
In years past, when most fans didn't have the time or patience to scour through a pitcher's hits/innings pitched ratio; number of homers allowed; WHIP; ERA+ and whatever else, there was the won/lost record and the ERA and perhaps the team's record in games started by that pitcher. Other than that, there was little else to go on. Now, with the web, everyone can get the entire story from beginning to end at the click of a button. In looking past the gaudy 15-2 record of Matsuzaka, it's clear that he hasn't been all that good this year and has in fact taken advantage of being on a very good team with a very good bullpen to accumulate that

record.
The problem with Matsuzaka is that even his other stats make his year look better than it actually is. Along with his record of 15-2, he's allowed 105 hits in 132 innings; struck out 117; allowed 10 homers; has a 1.38 WHIP; a .218 batting average against; and a 2.98 ERA overall. In looking at his individual game performances, it's clear that he's being handled very gingerly and put into the best possible situations to accrue that record----2008 Gamelogs. Here are the facts:

• In eleven of his 23 starts, Matsuzaka has been unable to complete six innings; in eight of those, he's only gone five.
• He issues a lot of walks----78 in 132 innings is not good----and has only pitched into and past the seventh inning nine times.
  
• He has had seven games in which he's allowed zero earned runs, and a few of them have
  
  been dominant----April 1st against the Athletics and April 30th against the Blue Jays for example----but he throws a lot of pitches and for the amount of money the Red Sox spent to get him, he's been a middle of the rotation starter at best who's a sure bet to need bullpen help in almost all of his starts. I don't think that's what teams who bid so vigorously on Matsuzaka's services had in mind when the process was going on.
• Matsuzaka's numbers are like a circle; he keeps his ERA down because he throws so many pitches that he can't go further than five or six innings and the Red Sox get him out of the game before he blows up and his ERA can become bloated. He takes advantage of the deep Red Sox bullpen and that the lineup can score plenty of runs for him, so his overall won/lost record looks better than it would if he were playing for a team like the Blue Jays, who can't score; or the Mets, whose bullpen comes in carrying a gasoline can.

This reminds me of one of the greatest examples of a team that spent money on a pitcher based on little more than his won/lost record and pretty much got the exact same pitcher that

he was before----the Royals 1990 signing of Storm Davis.
In the years before he became the "genius"/Hall of Fame executive and "architect" of the Atlanta Braves string of National League dominance, John Schuerholz was one of the many average to slightly above average GMs amongst the rabble of the 80s and 90s. Schuerholz was taken in by Davis's two years with the Tony La Russa Athletics at the height of their powers in which he went 35-14, with numbers that were otherwise horrible across the board. After the 1989 season, Schuerholz went on a spending spree which netted not only Storm Davis for three years and $6 million (it was a lot of money for a pitcher in 1990), but also reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Mark Davis for $13 million over four years. Mark Davis should've been better than he was, but it was easy to see what they were going to get from Storm Davis.
Storm Davis pitched deeply into games occasionally----1989 Gamelogs----but for the most part he pitched his five or six innings and allowed the Athletics powerful offense----Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Terry Steinbach, etc, and their deep and well-organized bullpen with an in-his-prime closer Dennis Eckersley----to win 19 games. The Athletics knew what Storm was when they let him leave via free agency, confident that his performance could be replicated and more for far less money with a guy like veteran Scott Sanderson for one-year and $750,000. (Sanderson was far better than Storm Davis ever was.)
For a supposed "genius", it's strange that Schuerholz

didn't realize those facts; that he couldn't look past that gaudy 19-7 record and realize that $2 million per year was a lot of money for a pitcher who allowed 187 hits and 19 homers in 169 innings. It would be predictable today what would happen to a pitcher like Storm Davis; that he would get pummeled in Kansas City, would wind up in the bullpen and be dumped. The Royals sent him back on his original team the Baltimore Orioles after the 1991 season for a no-hit catcher named Bob Melvin (the same Bob Melvin who's now the Diamondbacks manager).
This type of decision shows what fine line it is from perceived idiocy to perceived genius. Schuerholz has gotten the credit for the Braves rise, but he had little to do with building the foundation of that team. Tom Glavine was drafted in 1984 when John Mullen was the Braves GM; John Smoltz was acquired from the Tigers for Doyle Alexander by none other than then GM Bobby Cox; and Chipper Jones was drafted by Cox only because Todd Van Poppel so vehemently

insisted that he was going to college (he didn't after he was drafted by the Athletics and turned out to be a historic bust).
Schuerholz's reputation as a "genius" has been further established by how the Braves have collapsed since he kicked himself upstairs to the presidency of the club and allowed new GM Frank Wren to bear the brunt of what looks to be a long rebuilding project to begin in Atlanta. Could it be that he saw the handwriting on the wall and wanted to insulate himself and his reputation by not having his fingerprints on this version of the Braves? By leaving it to Wren and Bobby Cox to try and clean up? Is that the mark of a genius?
In all, the Red Sox have probably gotten what they wanted from Matsuzaka on and off the field. They established a market in Japan where the Yankees had previously been the dominant force and they've gotten a decent, if not as great as advertised, starting pitcher. If nothing else, this puts the full results of a GM and a player into their proper perspective. Like Storm Davis, Matsuzaka has put up a great won/lost record, but his results are really quite

mediocre and the designations of genius or "Cy Young Award contender" are thrown around too liberally without the full story; just as a 15-2 record looks great on paper, Schuerholz benefited from the decisions made by others, went from throwing money into the toilet for the Royals to joining a team in the Braves whose foundation was already established, is writing books on his management technique, is seen as a brilliant front office operator and will wind up in the Hall of Fame. Fair or not, it's the perception and not the reality that is remembered even if there are those that know the truth.

Yankees Demote Kennedy And Other Stories

• Yankees send Ian Kennedy back to the minors:

The New York Times is reporting that the Yankees have shipped Ian Kennedy back to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with the instructions to throw his breaking pitches regardless

of the score and game situation----Article. Kennedy also backtracked on his laissez-faire comments about his heinous big league performances after the negative reaction in the clubhouse and media. Kennedy will learn about dealing with the media because that was a case in which he said something stupid, which isn't unexpected in a 23-year-old who's experiencing on-field adversity for the first time; but the important question is: will he learn how to pitch effectively in the big leagues?
After all the hype accompanying the three young Yankee pitchers----Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain----it was at best unrealistic and at worst baseball malpractice to think that they were going to walk all over big league hitters the way they dominated in the minors. Now Kennedy has been the one to take the most brutal beating and is paying the price on and off the field. He's been told that he's going to be back in September, which may or may not be true; but unless the Yankees fall completely out of contention, Kennedy's return doesn't mean he's going to be participating in any meaningful games unless there's an emergency.
This season is a write-off for Kennedy and Hughes and shouldn't be seen as an indictment

of their futures as big leaguers; they could still become useful if not the reincarnation of the 1990s Braves or other great rotations. Chamberlain has shown the promise to be a future Cy Young Award winner. The Yankees problem now is that, among many other things, they didn't expect the injury to Chien-Ming Wang to rob them of his 19 wins; they didn't expect to have to deal with a Rays team that matured so quickly, rode a hot start to prominence, and also overcame their seven game losing streak going into the All Star break to recover beautifully. Instead of only having to worry about the Red Sox in the AL East, they're scrambling for a Wild Card berth that looks increasingly like it's not going to be available. The Yankees may be discovering, as the Braves did when their string of playoff appearances ended, that it's not as easy as it looked all those years; that barrelling down the road while making drastic changes isn't always a smooth and easy process and things don't always mystically end with the Yankees in the playoffs.
Everything ends. The dynasty from the late-90s ended; the George Steinbrenner-era is ending; the Joe Torre-era ended; and the automatic ticket into the playoffs may be on life-support now. They're still in position to make another run, but they're running out of time and with the way their direct contenders are playing, the Yankees may have run out of tricks and the last post-season at Yankee Stadium and intentions of a historic finale may not exist at all.

• White Sox 6-Red Sox 5:

The Red Sox haven't been playing all that great either and despite all the numbers that are being quoted as to how Jason Bay's stats can reasonably replicate Manny Ramirez's so that

Manny's departure won't be such a big loss; and that Bay will be a better outfielder; and that Bay will run out ground balls; the Red Sox are going to feel the loss of Manny Ramirez as the season winds down. I completely understand the decision to get rid of him at all costs, but it's not going to be a simple matter of inserting a different piece into Manny's slot and ending up with another championship.
With the way the Yankees are scrounging for starting pitching, even if the Red Sox don't catch the Rays, they have enough pitching in the rotation and bullpen; and should score enough runs to hold off the Yankees and whichever of the two teams----the Twins or White Sox----fades out in the end in the AL Central. If things hold as they are and the Red Sox have to play the Angels, that's when they're going to truly feel the effects of not having a happy or unhappy Manny in their lineup.

• Padres 16-Rockies 7:

It's one thing to extol Livan Hernandez's value as an innings-eater who'll stay out on the

mound for 145 pitches or more, but there's no possible way to defend yesterday's performance in his first start as a member of the Rockies. The Padres can't hit and they gave Hernandez a brutal beating with nine runs (including two homers) in 2 2/3 innings. The Rockies got Hernandez for nothing and were desperate for starting pitching; and I've been trumpeting Hernandez as a pitcher who could provide something to someone; but if yesterday's an example of what he has to offer, then there's no point in putting him out there.

• Scott Rolen to the disabled list:

Who (other than J.P. Ricciardi) didn't see this coming? A couple of weeks ago, I compared

Scott Rolen and Troy Glaus based on their contracts and production----Blog 7/31/2008. Is it still possible that the work of Ricciardi in the past seven years is being lost on the Blue Jays ownership and that he's going to be back? He should've been fired three months ago so the new GM could get a head start on next season, but he's still there.

I'm Starting To Believe That Manny's Just Not All That Bright

No matter what happens with Manny Ramirez over the next half-hour and whether he's traded wherever or stays in Boston, he's in for a rude awakening at the end of this season if he thinks his tantrums are going to help his cause in seeking a long-term contract. I've been

on the side of "Manny being Manny" as more of a canned persona than an actual implication of a lack of intelligence on the part of Manny Ramirez, but now I've been swayed to believe that Manny just isn't that bright; that he truly doesn't understand that he's costing himself money with these petulant sit-in strikes by claiming to be injured.
If he were 28, then he'd likely still find a team willing to dole out the cash and years no matter how boorishly he behaved; but he's not 28; he's about to turn 37 and his numbers are going to decline in a different ballpark with a different team and different lineup. In case anyone hadn't noticed, the days of players maintaining or increasing their production as they reach their late-30s are over and Manny's no exception to that reality.
There have been times when I've said that Manny's just a space cadet who doesn't realize the ramifications of asking to be traded (those ramifications being that the Red Sox might actually take him seriously and send him somewhere else); there have also been times that I've asserted that Manny's a bit more savvy than people give him credit for and that these incidents are part of a master plan to take financial advantage of his image as a hitting savant and life simpleton; but I'm convinced now that Manny just isn't that bright and that he may or may not get his latest wish to be sent away from Boston, but doesn't realize that his objective of getting another $100 million contract has quite likely been damaged beyond all repair; that if he'd behaved himself and had an MVP-quality final three months with the Red Sox, some

team would be sufficiently convinced that he's worth that $100 million; but now that's gone. Someone will sign him whether he plays his last three months with the Red Sox or someone else, but he's hurt his case for another big contract with his on-field self immolation of "sticking it" to the Red Sox by not hustling and begging out of games with questionable injuries. He stuck it to the Red Sox, but didn't realize that the weapon was dual edged and while sticking it to the Red Sox, he also inadvertently stuck it to Manny Ramirez as well.

It's The Great Pumpkin!!!!

• Phillies 10-Braves 9:

Quote from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, courtesy of IMDB.com:

Linus: There he is! There he is! It's the Great Pumpkin! He's rising out of the pumpkin patch!
[Linus faints and the "Pumpkin" is really Snoopy, meanwhile Sally is seething]
Linus: What happened? Did I faint? What did he leave us? Did he leave us any toys?

The same reaction must have been exhibited by the fans who were stunned by the sight of Mike Hampton scheduled to pitch; making it out to the mound to pitch; actually pitching; pitching somewhat effectively. His line looks terrible with six earned runs and eight hits

allowed, two walks and only one strikeout, but for a guy who hasn't pitched in a big league game in three years and has had injuries to just about every single part of his body preventing him from managing to drag himself out to the mound long enough to throw a pitch, it could've been much worse and his stuff looked good enough to be able to win some games eventually. If Hampton can keep from getting hurt, he's bound to get better. Of course, he could get hurt again doing, well, doing anything considering the shaky nature of his musculature, but four innings is better than the zero innings he's given the Braves since 2005.

• Yankees 10-Red Sox 3:

Again we hear the speculation about Manny Ramirez and the possibility of him being sent out of Boston for his newest episode of pulling himself out of the lineup. Everyone conveniently forgets the negative side of "Manny being Manny" when he's hitting his clutch homers or making everyone chuckle with his bizarre behaviors, but a major part of "Manny being Manny"

is pulling himself out of the lineup with questionable injuries and doing things that angers the fans, teammates, coaching staff, manager and front office. I said recently that the Red Sox have the prospects and money to acquire Matt Holliday and play him in right field; move J.D. Drew to center field and deal with Manny for the rest of the year and decline his option----Teams That Should Hold; Teams That Should Raise, July 19.
If the Red Sox do decide to trade Manny, the only thing I can see happening is if they can formulate a three way deal with the Mets or Phillies and the Rockies to get Holliday to Boston, Manny to New York or Philadelphia and a load of stuff from the other two organizations to Colorado. Other than that, the Red Sox aren't going to trade Manny, and I still think they might end up exercising his option at the end of the year if he behaves himself helps them to another title. And it's likely to go back-and-forth several times before a final decision is made if they don't trade him in the coming days.

• Dodgers acquire Casey Blake:

Casey Blake was one of the unsung players for the Indians during their rebuilding process

and return to contention. A late bloomer, it took the Indians to give him a chance to play regularly after he bounced from the Blue Jays to the Twins, to the Orioles, back to the Twins and finally to the Indians where he became an everyday player at the age of 29. Able to play first base, third base and right field, Blake is one of those players that many don't notice until he does something that helps his team win a big game, but those that were paying attention know how good and useful Blake is to a team with playoff aspirations. The days of musical third baseman for the Dodgers of 2008 are over.
Indians GM Mark Shapiro knows what he's doing and in acquiring John Meloan he gets a

24-year-old righty with big strikeout numbers throughout his professional career. He's been terrible statistically this year, but the Indians are going to offer an opportunity to make it in the big leagues as they rebuild, so if he's going to make it, he's in the right place. 22-year-old Carlos Santana is a utility player who can catch and has come into his own at the plate in high A ball this year with a massive offensive year. His numbers----14 homers; 94 RBI; 83 runs scored; a .318 average; .424 OBP; and 52 of his 109 hits have been for extra bases----indicate that he's got a chance to be a solid big leaguer a few years down the road. Shapiro isn't stupid and knows how to mine other organizations for talent, so with a player like Blake who was in demand, it's safe to say Shapiro got what he wanted in the deal. This is a positive move for both sides.
The Indians also acquired Anthony Reyes from the Cardinals for minor league righty Luis Perdomo. Reyes was once considered one of the jewels of the Cardinals system, but it had

become increasingly clear that he wasn't going to make it in St. Louis; needed a change of scenery to a venue where he'd be put into a role and left there; and he needed to get away from Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan. For all of the success stories the famed duo has formulated, there are always a few pitchers for whom their methods don't sink in. It happened most recently with Jason Marquis and now Reyes is going to get another chance somewhere else. Perdomo is 24, has spent this season with the Indians high A and double A affiliates and put up big strikeout numbers as a reliever. It wouldn't be surprising to see him in St. Louis before the season's over for the Cardinals to see if they can strike some rookie lightning out of the bullpen.

An Objective Look At Willie Randolph's Tenure

• Randolph's Mets managerial epitaph:

When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fired coach Jimmy Johnson after winning two consecutive Super Bowls in 1993 and 1994, it was following a blowup between the two at an NFL function

after which Jones had a few drinks and asserted that any number of coaches could have won with the Cowboys' talent and that Johnson's contribution was just that----a contribution amongst a large number of people. There had been tension between Johnson and Jones for years as they rebuilt the Cowboys, much of it centering on who would receive the bulk of the credit; these things happen with two big personalities with even bigger egos, but the idea was that Jones was diminishing Johnson's accomplishment by saying that his part in the resurrection of the franchise wasn't as important as others thought it was. Jones may have been overstating the situation by saying that 500 coaches could have won with that Cowboys team, but the overall idea that many different coaches or managers can achieve similar successes with the same teams is not unreasonable; it's something to truly consider carefully. This begs the question: how much credit should Willie Randolph receive for the rise of the Mets from when he arrived and was his contribution any greater (or less) than it would've been under a different manager?
When GM Omar Minaya was hired late in the 2004 season, the Mets were an utter disaster and laughingstock around the major leagues. They played listlessly; there was infighting and no one seemed to know who was in charge. In New York, they were borderline irrelevant as fans became numb to the constant turmoil. Manager Art Howe was fired as

Minaya rightfully wanted to turn the page completely from the previous regime(s) and start fresh with a manager of his choosing. That manager was Willie Randolph. What was strange though, was how Minaya was able to convince the ownership, Fred and Jeff Wilpon, to open the Mets vault to spend some money on free agents while dispatching the aging and overly influential veterans Al Leiter and John Franco. I've always been curious as to Howe's private reaction to the news that the Mets had spent so lavishly to

sign Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran while he was forced to play Jason Phillips at first base and usher in the youngsters Jose Reyes and David Wright as they learned to play in the big leagues.
Randolph was walking into a pretty good situation. A honeymoon for a lifelong winner; a popular New Yorker who, despite his Yankees roots, grew up as a Mets fan in Brooklyn. There were few expectations even with the high-priced free agents and anything the team did positively after the previous few years was going to make the manager a hero. The Mets and Randolph endured their growing pains in 2005 because of the new manager's inexperience and the lack of overall talent on the team, but ended a respectable 83-79 and were once again a force on and off the field because Pedro gave them an identity and it was now known that they were willing to spend money to try and win. But was that 83-79 really that great an accomplishment?
The last team under Howe in 2004 went 71-91; are you going to seriously tell me that the Mets roster in 2005 in comparison to that in 2004 wasn't worth an extra 12 wins? Would

Howe not have benefited from the maturing Reyes and Wright and the presence of Martinez and Beltran? Along with the dispatching of the interfering busybodies in Leiter and Franco? This is not to imply that Minaya shouldn't have brought in the manager that he wanted or that the discipline and seriousness that Randolph instilled didn't contribute to the Mets improvement, but based on talent alone, Howe likely would have replicated Randolph's 2005 success.
In 2006, the Mets ran away with the NL East and lost in the NLCS to the Cardinals. That roster was power packed with the newly acquired and still slugging Carlos Delgado; along with a near MVP year from Beltran and the emerging stars Wright and Reyes, the Mets were the consensus pick to go the World Series. With all of the talent on that roster, shouldn't they have been expected to make it as far as they did and possibly further than they did? Wasn't part of the reason that the Cardinals beat the Mets that year due to the strategic wizardry of Cardinals manager Tony La Russa?
In 2007, as Delgado began to lose bat speed; injuries robbed the Mets of Pedro and the overuse of the bullpen wore them down late in the season, one has to wonder whether another manager who was more prudent in the use of his relievers and able to adjust his message on

the fly while deflecting the negative aspects of managing in New York would've been able to steer the team through the struggles and prevent the collapse. In 2008 until Randolph was let go, there was an aura of resignation around the team. With the veterans continuing their downslide, the organization still in denial about what happened in 2007; and the cloud of malaise around the players; along with the repeated questions about the manager's job status, the result was probably never in doubt. A move had to be made and while it probably wasn't done quickly or cleanly enough for the tastes of the fainthearted, it was necessary.
There have been teams that have won with lesser talent because of their manager or coach. Billy Martin was a master at maximizing his players abilities in the short-term; in

hockey, Mike Keenan will turn a team around quickly simply because of the system he implements and his discipline; in football, Bill Parcells will pretty much guarantee a competitive team within three years of his arrival. La Russa is so brilliant that he can squeeze at least ten more wins out of his teams than would be realistically expected; but how many managers and coaches can say that? How many simply achieve what the talents of their players can achieve and occasionally less? It works the opposite way as well; the Diamondbacks under Bob Brenly could just as easily have reached the same heights with a scarecrow strategically placed in the corner of the dugout. The talent usually dictates what the team will accomplish unless they have a Hall of Famer running things. The people mentioned above are Hall of Famers; Art Howe isn't a Hall of Famer as a manager, but then neither is Willie Randolph.

• J.D. Drew is playing like an MVP:

Stunningly, the player to pick up the slack for the Red Sox after the loss of David Ortiz hasn't been Manny Ramirez, but has been J.D. Drew. Drew, at the unlikely age of 32, is staying healthy and killing the ball to the point that he's a legitimate MVP threat. Of course, there's always the possibility (or likelihood) of the oft-injured Drew winding up on the disabled

list at any given moment for some shocking injury to a bone or muscle that even most doctors didn't know the human body had, but for right now he's been playing great. He's getting on base; hitting homers and playing great defense. Most of all he's stayed healthy and made the loss of Ortiz seem like nothing more than a small bump for the team, and he's expected back sooner rather than later.
Drew's had spurts like this before and then something has invariably happened to halt his progress, but he's earning his money and doing his job. After last year's sub par year and amid all the smirking "I told you so's" doled out to Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino, they're getting far more than what they paid for in Drew this year. I'd hesitate to think he's going to keep it up, but if he does nothing more than get them from before Ortiz got hurt until after Ortiz returns and still have the team in first place, that, coupled with his grand slam in the ALCS last year, will give the Red Sox hierarchy cause to say that Drew was worth the money and the ridicule no matter what happens from now on.

• Barry Zito rumored to contact Rick Peterson:

There's a story circulating that soon after Rick Peterson was fired by the Mets, Barry Zito contacted his mentor to help him rediscover whatever he's lost on the way to a 2-11 record this year and a contract that is looking more and more like money flushed down the toilet. Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti was said to be unhappy with the idea that Zito go to another pitching coach, but he needs to see the big picture; the Giants have so much money invested in Zito that if Righetti can't straighten him out, then they're going to find someone who can and that someone may be Peterson. Instead of getting angry and becoming territorial, Righetti should probably accept that Zito may need to talk to someone else; someone he knows and is comfortable with if for no other reason than to keep his job and not be replaced by Peterson completely.