Damon's Gaffe Costs The Yankees And Other Stories

• Blue Jays 2-Yankees 1:

There's an old axiom in baseball that when there's a weak defensive player somewhere on

the field, the ball somehow finds him. I doubt that's true statistically, but it just seems that way because their mistakes cost teams games and are therefore more prominent. The Yankees had to know that they were taking liberties defensively by putting Johnny Damon back in center field; they didn't have much of a choice given the struggles of Melky Cabrera and the return of Hideki Matsui, but it's a lack of fundamentals in Damon's game that should be of greater concern than one or two misplays.
Last Saturday against the Royals, Damon batted with runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game; logic dictates a bunt to move the runners over; manager Joe Girardi, citing Damon's lack of skill at bunting, allowed him to swing the bat and Damon struck out; Derek Jeter then grounded into a double play to end the inning. In the end, this didn't cost the Yankees in the standings because they won the game, but they had to play four more innings and use Mariano Rivera for two in what could have been a regulation game ending with the same result. Last night, Damon allowed two balls that hit his glove to bounce away and the second cost the Yankees the game.
While it's understandable that Damon no longer has the legs or arm to play center field on

a regular basis, this is still a player who has almost 1300 career games at the position; there must be a certain amount of savvy that he's accumulated to account for some of the physical deterioration, but he still played the position like an amateur, and that's a big problem. Damon got spun around on the play and may have been slightly out of whack because he's played the position so infrequently this season, but there's no excuse for a major league player not to hang onto a very catchable ball in that situation where the error cost his team a game that they couldn't afford to lose.
These circumstances don't have anything to do with Damon's weak arm, about which there's little that can be done; this is about basic fundamentals. The leadoff hitter has to be able to bunt when the situation calls for it; and the center fielder has to be able to catch the ball, period.

• AL Manager of the Year should be closer than it will be:

It's clear that Rays manager Joe Maddon is going to win the American League Manager of the Year and he's a deserving candidate, but it's somewhat unfair that the job Ron Gardenhire

has done with the Twins----this season and over his managerial career----has been so underappreciated. While Maddon's team has taken a tremendous leap from the netherworld that had been the Rays home for their entire existence, looks like a sure shot for the playoffs and might win 100 games, that doesn't account for the fact that his teams lost 100 and 96 games in his first two seasons as manager. Gardenhire has had solid teams, but maintains a consistent record of success in the standings despite losing stars due to payroll constraints and his teams execute fundamentally whether Johan Santana's on the mound, or Kevin Slowey's on the mound. There's something to be said for doling out awards due to a body-of-work and by that criteria, Gardenhire deserves the nod over Maddon partially because he's never gotten the recognition for being as good as he is.
Looking at the talent levels for both teams, they're very similar. Maddon has had to handle

shepherding young players like B.J. Upton and discipline them without alienating them. Gardenhire's discipline is instilled in his players from the time they join the Twins organization with the simple threat of playing time being slashed if they don't play the game correctly. Both teams had limited expectations before the season started and have launched themselves into surprising contention. Both are worthy candidates and Maddon is going to win because this is the first time the Rays have had any success and he is deserving, but Gardenhire shouldn't be ignored and is actually a more deserving candidate because he's been historically successful and his accomplishments in 2008 are as, if not more, impressive than those of Joe Maddon.

• If you're intent on throwing money down the toilet, give it to charity or, better yet,
  
  give it to me:

From today's New York Times----Christopher "Mad Dog/The Biggest Idiot In the World" Joins Sirius/XM Satellite Radio----let me say right here that this will not work.

The Wide Open National League; The Possible Breakup Of Mike And The Mad Dog

• The NL is wide open for just about every team:

The only teams in the National League who should throw in the towel and start a clearance sale are the Padres and the Nationals. (I'm excluding the Rockies out of deference to their hot

streak from last season; however unlikely it was and is, it happened once and could happen again.) The Padres are an embarrassment, but on the bright side for the stat geeks, they have the exact record that the Pygmalion Win Theorem dictates they should have, much like they did at the end of last year----32-50----good work.
The Nationals have some interesting young talent (much of it listing toward the juvenile delinquent side), but it's a question as to what GM Jim Bowden's plan is; last season the Nationals succeeded in rejuvenating the careers of Dmitri Young (who had personal and professional issues that made him toxic to most teams), and Ronnie Belliard (who couldn't find a big league job after winning a ring with the Cardinals); but instead of taking the veteran players who were playing solidly for a non-contending team and maximizing their value by trading

them to contenders for youngsters, Bowden lavished lucrative extensions on them. Belliard has been awful this year and Young is overweight and injured. This year they have some veterans who have value. They could get something for Cristian Guzman, Aaron Boone, Odalis Perez and Tim Redding; are they going to make the same mistake as they did last season and hold onto players who are unlikely to be around if and when the Nationals are contenders?
As for the rest of the league, even teams like the Reds and Pirates have an excuse to make some intelligent, under-the-radar moves for veteran help (if it doesn't cost that much) to see if they can loiter around the Wild Card race. The only team that looks like a lock to make the playoffs right now is the Cubs; Lou Piniella has them running on all cylinders similar to the way he molded his Mariners teams into well-oiled machines. He's gotten surprising contributions from his veterans like Jim Edmonds

and Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood has handled the closing duties as well as can be expected. That being said, the Cubs are certainly not guaranteed to blow through the playoffs to the World Series. Who knows how Wood will react to being on the mound in a game 5 or game 7 of the playoffs; when the whole season is riding on his right arm? The Cubs aren't under any circumstances a guarantee to even get out of the first round of the playoffs, which should be all the more reason for the other NL teams to go for improvements and try to win now.
Every contending team has their needs; even the teams that are playing very poorly and having trouble staying over .500 have reason to make a deal for an impact player. If the Brewers or Braves get a starting pitcher; if the Dodgers or Mets get a power bat; if any of the teams still in contention get one player who provides a spark, they could find themselves in the playoffs; and the absence of a team head-and-shoulders above everyone else makes the National League wide open and ripe for whichever team gets hot at the right time. Two years ago, the Cardinals overcame a woeful final month and proved that the regular season means nothing in the playoffs; there could be a similar situation this year if the right team gets the right guy to light a fire.

• The possible breakup of Mike and the Mad Dog:

It recently came out in the media that Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo of The Mike and the Mad Dog radio show in New York (simulcast on the YES Network) are in the midst of a cold war that threatens to end the on-air relationship. They've apparently had blowups in the

past (they've been together since 1989), but this is said to be one of the worst and possibly irreconcilable. Neither has denied the possibility of a split and both are unsure as to what's going to happen. I was reticent to start making comments about this because I don't know the issues between the two, nor do I know what their

personal situations are; but on further reflection, not having information about that which they're talking has never stopped Francesa or Russo from going on about any and every subject (movies, politics, news----and especially sports) as if they're unrivaled experts, so why shouldn't I weigh in on their careers?
I've never been shy to unload on Francesa and Russo when they've deserved it for insipid gaffes or arrogant bluster in the area of sports; and I've certainly never been shy to unload when they've gone over the edge in saying things about other people that are borderline slanderous or simply offensive and disrespectful; I've also given them credit numerous times for good work they've done, specifically in interviews. This may be a situation where the two want to be their own entities; don't need to deal with the tension that is poisoning the relationship and is quite possibly stirring the interesting dynamic between them; and don't want to be aggravated by the quirks of the other anymore; they're both in their 50s with young children and lives away from the studio. Maybe they just don't want to deal with everything anymore.
One thing that both should remember before committing to a breakup is that they'll never be as popular as individuals as they are as a tandem. Their audience will never reach the apex it reaches as they work together and they're not going to have the influence (positive and negative) that they do now. Even with all the ancillary aspects to such a combustible partnership, that power (such as it is) is very difficult to walk away from over some issues that might be able to be ironed out with time and a brief separation.
If I was asked to guess what would happen, I'd say that they're going to look at all the positives and negatives of staying together versus splitting up and wind up continuing with the show. Francesa will be able to handle a solo act far better than Russo especially if the newspaper account of Russo heading to satellite radio is true. Francesa, for all of his pomposity, condescension, arrogance, self-importance and clinging to untenable beliefs, has enough of a viable take on sports and sober (especially compared to his partner) approach to be able to function alone. If Russo thinks he's going to go to satellite radio and approach the audience that he's able to attract now (even when he works alone on Saturdays), then he really is the

Biggest Idiot in the World. Howard Stern, giant that he is in the radio industry, was only able to attract a fraction of his audience to satellite radio; people are not going to run out and start paying for radio to listen to Christopher Russo. On his own, he'll get a big contract, as will Francesa; they'll get a lot of money, but that may not satiate the appetites that both have for being the voices of the angry and unhinged sports fan every weekday afternoon in New York City. If they're willing to live with that, then they should by all means go their separate ways; the question is whether the money is more important than their cachet; that's what they have to weigh more than any of the other details of their staying together or splitting up.