Maybe They Should've Brought In Nick Swisher Instead

• Indians 10-Yankees 2:

When the Yankees acquired Damaso Marte with the idea of him being a "crossover lefty" to pitch to batters from both sides of the plate, I doubt they meant that he'd get shelled equally by each. Grady Sizemore has been vulnerable to lefties his entire career, but in all fairness, at age 26 he's entering his prime years and could be learning to handle them much better to take the next step into superstar/MVP contention; Victor Martinez's numbers against lefties are righties (he's a switch-hitter) have been similar also.
That being said, Marte's line from yesterday was so hideous that all the talk of the Yankees "figuring out how to use him", which were supposedly the problems from last season and the genesis of his struggles, don't look like they've been resolved. The Indians lineup was too good to continue to slump as it has since the start of the season, but there's no excuse for the way Marte pitched yesterday, nor is there one for a nine-run inning.
I criticized the Yankees decision to decline Marte's contract option during the winter. It was for $6 million as I recall and the Yankees decided instead to re-sign Marte to a 3-year extension worth nearly $12 million. In the long term, it might've been a sound business decision, but Marte is 34-years-old , has only been involved in high-pressure situations once in his career (with the White Sox in 2005) and struggled to throw strikes in the playoffs----stats. There's every possibility that he simply can't handle pitching in such a high-pressure atmosphere as for the Yankees. It would've cost them more money over the one year to exercise Marte's option, but at least he: A) would've been singing for his supper and impending free agency; and B) he'd be gone after the year if he pitched like this. The Yankees are stuck with him because no one's taking that contract now and he's signed through 2011.

• Viewer Mail 4.17.2009

Jane Heller at Confessions of a She-Fan writes RE Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher:

Supposedly, Nady is trying rest and rehab to avoid surgery. I sure hope it works and he's not lost for the season. Just wrote up today's post about the home opener. What a disaster that game was.


I, too, wondered if using Swisher would cause possible injury. I certainly hope not!

Historically, I've found that when guys try rest and rehab for a severe injury, all they do is waste time they could've spent rehabbing after surgery. It happened with Jorge Posada last year; they'd be better off getting it done now if it's as bad as they're implying.

With Swisher, I doubt we'll see Joe Girardi pull something like that again. Sometimes I get the impression that Girardi's like a smart kid who's given control of a really successful business and does some really stupid things with it occasionally, mostly without thinking. Last year I suggested that the Yankees needed a smart, veteran bench coach who had some managerial experience, but had no designs on managing again so as not to be a threat to the young and occasionally defensive manager. Tony Pena ain't it. Girardi's lack of managerial experience shows itself far too often for my taste----and I'm a Mets fan!!!

Jeff at Red State Blue State posts three comments:

I feel ya on the MLBlogs issues. Getting a bit too much... throw in my issues with MLB.TV (I mean, they boast of the NextDef plug-in giving me HD but I have yet to actually see a game in HD because the damn thing doesn't work and we're well into week 2 already). *Ahem*... as for Motte, from what I read, TLR and Dunc want to put him in in a non-pressure situation first to get him the work. When lefties are a comin', we'll be seeing lots of Dennys "Big Sweat" Reyes. Franklin has the experience. And Perez could get a call-up any day. I was shaking in my boots last night as Franklin gave up a two-out single and Arizona fans actually made some noise, but it was all for naught. You're right, Prince. If anyone knows how to manage a closer-by-committee, it's LaRussa. The big challenge will be this week against the Cubs. So far I am pleasantly surprised. When it comes to Swisher, like I told Jane, I can't take him seriously anyway, unless he has a beer in his hand.

Carpenter is becoming the Cardinals' version of Mark Prior. Meanwhile, the bullpen continues to rear its ugly head. Last night's game made me vomit, twice. In other news: You're right. It ain't fair, Prince, but I don't think you're a schmuck. Manny, now Manny is a schmuck. Great hitter. Big schmuck. Why is balance so hard to find in the universe these days?

I'm going to wrigley today to see if the Redbirds are for real or not. If you never hear from me again it's because I opened my big mouth -- again -- and got pummeled underneath the bleachers -- again. And no sweat on the Padres; I have faith they'll tailspin soon as you predicted.

The one thing I do not understand about MLBlogs is why they put up with this shit. An entity that big and lucrative for the website designer should be working night and day to make sure it runs correctly. I'm not an advocate for screaming and yelling for no reason, but why isn't anyone on the phone screaming and yelling at their web designer to get the thing working correctly. A swath of viral negatives can really affect one's business far worse than a couple of positives.

With Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan, it's probably hell on their stomachs not to have a closer they can trust, but at the end of the day, they're also probably getting some satisfaction out of finding a way to deal with the problem so creatively.

I wouldn't stick Carpenter in with Prior. At least Carpenter recovered from some of his injuries and fulfilled a bit of his potential; plus, he's just got one of those bodies that breaks down; not much you can do at this point except pitch him when he feels good and sit him when he's hurt while not expecting too much.

As for the stuff at Wrigley: People actually take swings at you? Good grief. This is the problem with a free society: there's no IQ or common sense test to let people out of their house; to swill beer; to interact with others, etc.

Joe at Statistician Magician writes RE the Rays right field platoon of Matt Joyce and Gabe Kapler:

The platoon should be given more time though before a decision should be made as to whether or not they want to try something different.

I didn't actually suggest that they try something different; I just wondered if they saw what they had and regretted what they'd done. Kapler can't be expected to provide much of anything; Joyce is young and inexpensive in terms of dollars, but I wouldn't have traded an arm like Edwin Jackson for him. Whether or not they try something different at this point is irrelevant; they've got what they got. Kapler's won't be part of the regular outfield rotation for much longer either because he'll get hurt or won't start hitting and he ain't worth the $1 million plus they're paying him.

• The issue with my website:

Here's the thing: I've left the batcave for a couple weeks for unspecified reasons and there's some kinda problem that keeps popping up with the following message:

Temporary Interruption
An error has interrupted communication between your browser and the web site server. Internal errors can have many causes.

Click here to continue working.

Because of this interruption, you may have to log in again, or repeat your last action.

The consensus is that it's the internet connection, but it's been working fine so far. Dunno if it's something I did or downloaded or whatever. If anyone's computer savvy and has any suggestions that might help, I'm all ears. It could be a couple of days or it could be until the end of the month, but I'll be posting here in the interim as I try to fix the problems without flinging my computer out the window.

Yapping So Much While Accomplishing So Little

• Admitting mistakes is not a sign of weakness:

With the way Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi is treating a two week hot streak as a validation

of his handling of the organization, one would think he not only had two World Series titles in his trophy case, but that he was somehow treated unfairly on the road to those two titles. Now that the Blue Jays have secured a record above .500 for the season and Ricciardi's job has likely been spared (again), he's seen fit to start defending his record not in a matter-of-fact way, but by blustering and crowing about all the good things he's accomplished during his mediocre seven year run as the team's architect.
In an article on Canda.com----Link----Ricciardi isn't shy in crediting himself for the relatively few big league players his drafts have delivered; that the team hadn't "had to go the route [like] the Minnesotas or the Tampas, lose those 100, 90 [games]; eight, nine years of losing in a row" (as if that's some great accomplishment); and deflects the

blame for the team's relentless status as an also-ran by citing "circumstances" (whatever that means).
If the team had spent eight or nine years losing 100, 90 games, then Ricciardi would absolutely have reason to say that things are improving and the future is promising; but they haven't. This is the third year in a row in which they were expected to finally jump into contention and the third year in a row that they were an average team with an average record before a late-season hot streak made them appear as if they were on the rise. I'd say that it's a safe bet that the same thing's going to happen next year; the one question I keep asking is how long before the Blue Jays ownership wises up to this fact.
Perhaps Ricciardi's obvious and insistent attempts to depict himself as an alpha-male are preventing him from looking at the team and his mistakes objectively and saying that he screwed up, but it's no sign of strength to continually flap one's mouth without reason and expect those that know better to buy it. After seven years and repeated embarrassments and mistakes on and off the field, Ricciardi's still displaying an arrogance that is beyond comprehension; a record of 86-76 is not an accomplishment for someone who claims to have all the answers, it's a failure; what's worse, it's a failure that he repeats over and over again without anyone willing to pull the plug. And next year, with the Red Sox being as good as they are; the Yankees going to spend tons of money to fill their holes and the Rays still young and supremely talented, the Blue Jays aren't going to be in any better position than they're in now unless they make some drastic changes in the front office, but that's not going to happen because a bad start and solid finish only gives the illusion of success and it's an illusion that is going to happen again and again until the organization wakes up and sees it for what it is, much to their detriment.

• Marlins 8-Astros 1:

The Astros have a legitimate gripe with the way the hurricane-induced cancellations were handled essentially taking two home games away from them and sending them to Milwaukee

to face the Cubs in a stadium loaded with Cubs fans, but that can't account for them continuing to lose after they went to Florida to play the Marlins. Anger is one thing, but once the game starts, the players aren't in the batter's box or on the mound thinking about how they were wronged. Their hot streak that launched them back into contention had to end sooner or later and it just happened to end at a time in which they had a convenient scapegoat. The three losses to the blazing hot Marlins aren't accountable to anything that happened over the weekend.
Speaking of the Marlins, is Fredi Gonzalez going to steal the Manager of the Year award from other deserving candidates like Tony La Russa, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre as he leads the Marlins on this eight game win streak and onto the outskirts of contention? I don't see the Manager of the Year award as one in which the voters are doing too much deep thought, so La Russa's peformance in keeping the Cardinals in contention as

long as he did; Piniella's underappreciated work with the Cubs (every Lou Piniella team from the start of his managerial career has played the game the right way, advancing runners and performing the fundamentals----it's no accident); and Torre's calm leadership of the Dodgers, might be forgotten as the Marlins end over .500 with a bargain basement payroll. With each passing day, the job Gonzalez has done with the Marlins, along with the growing pains Joe Girardi is having with the Yankees and their $210 million payroll, diminishes Girardi's 2006 season all the more and lends credence to the Marlins claims about the organization being more responsible for their success than any manager could be. (I'd give the Manager of the Year to Piniella.)

In A Daze, In A Malaise, The Tampa Bay Rays

• Red Sox 3-Rays 0:

The Rays are staggering and stumbling toward the finish as teams who've had a smooth

season-long ride sometimes do; occasionally it costs them, occasionally it doesn't. I don't see this sudden rash of losing as affecting the team one way or the other once the playoffs start. Right now, it looks like the Red Sox are going to overtake them for the division, but all that's going to do is change the matchups in the first round. Simply because a team has an awful close to their season doesn't mean they're going to continue that in the playoffs.
The Tigers and Cardinals of 2006 looked like expansion teams over the last month of that season and both wound up in the World Series; once the playoff spot is clinched (and the lead the Rays built up will ensure they're going to make the playoffs no matter how many more games they lose), they should relax and get back to playing as well as they did earlier this season. Given the lead they built up, some adversity and guidance from the leaders in the clubhouse, how to overcome it and return to the solid baseball that got them into this position in the first place isn't a bad thing whether or not they win the division title; making the playoffs is the most important thing and the Rays have that sewn up.

• Angels 12-Yankees 1:

The statements uttered above about the Rays may not have been so clear cut had the

Yankees and manager Joe Girardi acted more quickly to prevent Darrell Rasner from blowing the game up last Thursday----Blog 9/5. It would be interesting to see what position the Rays would be in and how much panic would be going on if they were in the midst of a seven game losing streak.
The scuffle between the Yankees and Angels last night looked like it stemmed more from frustration on the part of the Yankees than any real animosity between the teams; it's a bad sign that the benches cleared and the Yankees, instead of getting fired up and playing better, looked like they packed everything in and let the Angels blow them out afterwards.
Hank Steinbrenner was quoted yesterday as saying that Girardi will be back next season----ESPN Story----but I don't think that's as guaranteed as the Baby Boss implies in his statement. What happens if the Yankees collapse completely over the final eighteen games and go 6-12 or somewhere in that area and end the season at 82-80? It's seen as almost a sure thing that Brian Cashman returns, but what happens if the Washington Nationals job opens up and the Philadelphia Phillies job is offered to him and he decides on his own to abandon ship? It's likely that the Yankees would promote from within with Damon Oppenheimer to replace Cashman, but if they go elsewhere for a replacement, what if the new GM doesn't want Girardi?
If George Steinbrenner were still running things, there's no question what the end result of

this season would be; neither Cashman nor Girardi would return and the money coming off the books with the departing free agents Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, et al would be going into the pockets of C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. People mistake Joe Torre's unprecedentedly long reign as Yankees manager as evidence that the Boss mellowed in his old age; maybe he was slightly more patient than he would have been fifteen-to-twenty years earlier, but Torre survived for one reason----he kept winning the World Series; other than that, he would have joined the long list of Yankee managers who were fired with or without their success and loyalty to the organization.
It's conveniently forgotten that Torre was days (perhaps hours) away from being fired in 1998 when the team started out at 1-4; he was able to right the ship in time to save himself and make history with a team that is widely regarded as one of the best in baseball history. Will Girardi be back next season? I'd say probably, but it's not a definite thing because if Hank gets angry enough and realizes that his bluster and threats are met with widespread skepticism and outright ridicule, he might just turn around and fire Girardi. It's at least in the realm of possibility.

• Billy Wagner out for the rest of 2008, 2009 and perhaps for his career:

Here's one thing I don't understand about this diagnosis, did he tear the ligament while he was pitching that simulated game on Sunday, or was it already an undiagnosed tear? And if

it was already torn, why did it take until Monday to diagnose it after he'd seen all of those doctors to try and find out what was wrong initially? That's neither here nor there I suppose, because it doesn't sound like rest and rehab were going to do much good; if the ligament was going to go, it was going to go. Wagner throws very, very hard and has been durable for much of his career, so it's no surprise that he's got a serious arm injury as his career winds down. The thing the Mets now have to decide is what to do about a closer for 2009.
For 2008, they're in the same position they were before Wagner was officially out for the season. I don't think they were expecting him back when he first went on the disabled list and were looking at it as a bonus is he was going to be able to return. Luis Ayala is going to close for the rest of this season as long as he's getting the job done and I have no problem with that. Ayala has handled the pressure, he throws strikes and has very good stuff. There are voices in the media, notably Mike Francesa on WFAN, who are implying that the Mets are walking the tightrope this season with Ayala, but in order to prove his point, he's twisting reality to suit himself. On Sunday for example, Ayala gave up a run and it was seen to be a struggle for him to record the final three outs against the Phillies in the Mets 6-3 win. Looking at the box score and taking the situation out of context makes it appear that way, but it's not the case.
Ayala did give up a deep drive to Andy Tracy that Endy Chavez caught by the left field wall; and he gave up a run, but the two hits he allowed traveled about a combined total of 75 feet with swinging bunts by Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs; they were lucky hits and no reflection on how well or poorly Ayala might have been pitching. From what I can see, Ayala is pitching very well and is handling the job better than anyone else the Mets have right now.
As for next year, the immediate speculation will center on the possibility of signing the impending free agent Francisco Rodriguez from the Angels or trading for Huston Street of the

Athletics. I would not pony up the $60-70 million it's going to require to get Rodriguez. As gaudy as K-Rod's stats are, he walks a lot of hitters; has a stressful, over-the-top motion and history has proven that importing big money closers is a wasted effort much of the time. While I don't believe the closer-by-committee strategy can work in today's game, I do believe that teams can develop a closer of their own inexpensively. I wouldn't touch Street either given how shaky he's been and the concern about his health; plus Athletics boss Billy Beane is like a predator waiting for a team like the Mets to panic if they look like they're desperate to make a splash and bring in a recognizable name.
What I would do is sign a veteran stopgap like Todd Jones or keep Al Reyes just in case the designated closer falters. If they try to move forward with Ayala or use one of their youngsters like Eddie Kunz or Robert Parnell, then this is the correct strategy; I would also seriously consider shifting John Maine into the role next year. Spending more money or prospects on a different closer would be a big mistake because there are other viable options that would work just as well, if not better.

• How does this affect Wagner's Hall of Fame candidacy?

This doesn't affect Wagner's candidacy at all because he wasn't getting in one way or the other. Rob Neyer wrote this in his blog yesterday:

And what of Wagner? This year he's been just about as good as ever, when he's been able to pitch. But how good will he be in 2010? I think he'll be pretty good. John Smoltz certainly was, when he came back. But Smoltz was only 34, and Wagner will turn 39 in 2010. Even if he's pretty good, we can't assume he'll be great. Which I'm afraid puts a real damper on his Hall of Fame candidacy.

Billy Wagner is not a Hall of Famer. Hall of Fame voters elect closers under

protest to begin with. If the truly great closers of yesteryear like Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage and Rollie Fingers had to wait for election, what would it say about a pretty good, but not great closer like Billy Wagner if he were even to receive serious consideration? In today's era, Dennis Eckersley was the first of the "one-inning save" closers who got in, but that's in part because he won a load of hardware as a closer (Cy Young Award, MVP, ALCS MVP); was a top six finisher in the Cy Young/MVP voting three other times; and was also a great starting pitcher early in his career. Mariano Rivera will get in on the first ballot because of the championship teams for whom he was an indispensable linchpin, but as for the others, it's a big question mark.
Trevor Hoffman is often referred to as a "future Hall of Famer", but I'm not so sure. I would have to think long and hard about voting for Hoffman because he has no hardware, has struggled in big games; he has finished in the top six of Cy Young voting four times (twice coming

in second). Hoffman has a better shot than Wagner does, but if these closers get in, it opens up a bunch of other names that would have a legitimate argument for their own induction. Those guys, including names like John Franco and Lee Smith, are not Hall of Famers. And Franco has something that Wagner doesn't since he recorded a huge save in the playoffs by striking out Barry Bonds as the winning run at the plate in game two of the 2000 NLDS. Wagner has failed miserably in big situations time after time. This injury and the possible end to Wagner's career doesn't hurt or help his candidacy because he ain't gettin' in either way.

• Reds 5-Brewers 4:

Strategically, there's no way to blame Brewers manager Ned Yost for this loss. He could

have left starter Dave Bush in to pitch the ninth given how shaky the Brewers bullpen has been; how well Bush pitched; and that Bush had only thrown 99 pitches, but Salomon Torres has been mostly reliable as the Brewers closer; there was no reason to think he wouldn't be able to hold a two run lead.
That being said, the Brewers are gagging again as the season winds down and it is very possible that neither the Mets nor Phillies are going to be left out in the cold in this year's playoff race because the Brewers are a likely candidate to collapse down the stretch. It's indicative of Yost's tightness that after Torres was hit with Corey Patterson's line drive and Yost ventured onto the field to watch Torres make a couple of warm up tosses to make sure he was okay, Yost's jaw muscles were contracting with such ferocity that he looked like he might spontaneously combust right there on the field.
Yost is eerily similar to another tightly wound manager whom the players tolerated and eventually mutinied against, former Astros and Angels manager Terry Collins. Off the field, Collins is said to be a very nice guy, but his tempestuous nature wore on the veterans in both of his

managerial stops and frightened the young players to the point that they were petrified to make a mistake. He was moderately successful because he had some talent to work with, but his teams were winning in spite of him and not because of him. In both of Collins's managerial stops, the players let management know that enough was enough with him and his temper. In his case, as with Yost's, a change was needed for the talented teams to make it to the next level from potential contender to true contender. If the supremely talented Brewers falter again, it will be partially because of their bullpen, but predominately because of their manager and a change is going to have to be made to someone more temperate if they want to win when it counts.

The Final Indignity Of 2008 May Be Yet To Come For The Yankees

• Would any one of the following be worse than the others, or would it all simply
  
  morph into different scenes in a full-on nightmare?

A 10 1/2 game deficit in the division and an eight game deficit in the Wild Card standings with twenty-one games to play pretty much seals the Yankees fate as a non-playoff team this year. Even with that, there are still ways for the nightmare to get even worse. With today's comeback win over the Rays, the Blue Jays have an identical record with the Yankees at 75-66; by season's end, there's a very real possibility that the Yankees aren't just going to miss the playoffs, but they may end up in fourth place in the AL East behind the Rays, Red Sox and the Blue Jays; but it gets worse.
By season's end, there's every chance that the Yankees are going to not only be watching the playoffs on TV for the first time since 1993, but that they'll have to watch their most hated

enemies in the Red Sox and Mets still playing, and also the manager that they kicked out the door to Los Angeles, Joe Torre, as he manages the Dodgers. If Torre coaxes this dysfunctional Dodgers team into the playoffs while the Yankees and their hand-picked replacement, Joe Girardi (who had been waiting in the wings for this opportunity since he was fired by the Marlins and turned down every other chance he got to manage) finishes the season with a record of, say, 87-75, what is that going to say about the decision to insult Torre with that one-year contract offer?
The arguments to let Torre go are well-known and some of them have reasonable validity. It may very well have been time to go in a new direction with someone younger who has a different voice especially since the team was going forward with their young pitching; it could be that Girardi will eventually be a better strategic manager than Torre was and that he was the perfect choice as they transition from a team that spent tons and tons of money on free agents and turned their focus on developing players of their own. They may even begin a new dynasty in the next year or two, but the fact still remains that the jury on Girardi----on and off the field----is still out.
His strategic gaffes have cost the Yankees several games this year and could have cost them several more; he's far too sensitive to criticism and his relentless positivity no matter the circumstances may wear thin to veterans who see reality and don't want to hear the manager talk about how the team "battled" or "never gave up"; they're eventually going to want to hear

him say something to turn things around or unload on them when they deserve it. And the fact still remains that if the Yankees do end with a record of around 87-75, Girardi will only have won nine more games than he did in his sole year managing the Marlins in 2006 in which he won Manager of the Year and was fired; the difference being that the Marlins payroll for 2006 was $15 million and the 2008 Yankees began the season with a payroll of $209 million. Suffice it to say he's not going to be winning Manager of the Year in 2008 for the same fourth place finish that he achieved with the Marlins because it's not going to be seen as an achievement; in fact, it'll be pretty embarrassing considering what he had to work with.

• Dodgers 7-Diamondbacks 2; speaking of Torre:

For the three and a half years that Willie Randolph managed the Mets, it was always an open question why he made so many pitching changes when they didn't appear necessary; in

today's Dodgers-Diamondbacks game, it became clear that it wasn't something that Randolph came up with on his own; it was a learned behavior from the manager he worked for with the Yankees from 1996 through 2004.
Torre has always been very free with his bullpen and his track record of success served as a shield to any criticism that may have popped up for some of his maneuverings, but in today's game I had to stop and wonder what it was he was trying to prove as he pulled two relievers in the ninth inning with leads of seven and five runs, and had to bring his closer in to finish a game that shouldn't have been so complicated.
With that 7-0 lead going into the top of the ninth inning, Torre brought in a September call-up, rookie lefty Scott Elbert; Elbert promptly loaded the bases with one out when Torre made his slow amble to the mound to relieve Elbert with 34-year-old journeyman righty Jason Johnson.

Johnson got the second out before he walked Chris Young and gave up a two-run single to Justin Upton; out went Torre again, this time to call for his closer Jonathan Broxton. Broxton struck out Miguel Montero to end the game.
To get three outs in a ninth inning which began with the Dodgers leading 7-0, Torre needed to use three different pitchers; it reminded me of Randolph's overmanaging the Mets as he always seemed to want to install at least two extra bullpen mounds in every ballpark so he could have four relievers warming up at the same time. If Torre didn't trust the rookie Elbert, he should have had Johnson start the inning; and if he wanted to make absolute sure that the game never had any chance to get out of hand, he should have started the inning with Broxton and all of this "strategy" would've been unnecessary.

• Tony La Russa's "power play" and the possibility of becoming a GM(?):

Buster Olney linked an article by Joe Strauss in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that suggests that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa expects the Cardinals to spend some money this off-season, but it also suggests that La Russa is also entertaining the idea of becoming a general manager----Article.
There's no question that La Russa is going to try and get the Cardinals front office to spend

as freely as they did in his earlier years as their manager, but their reluctance to spend on big name free agents or to acquire anyone of substance to help them contend this year indicates that they're going to let La Russa bloviate about how he wants some expensive veteran help and then go along their merry way signing reclamation projects like Kyle Lohse and hope that La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan can turn someone else into a 13-game winner.
The Cardinals were widely expected by many (including me) to fall to the bottom of the NL Central division. It's been La Russa's strategic wizardry that has kept the Cardinals in contention, but the fact that the team desperately needed some help in the bullpen as they shuttled one pitcher after another into the closer's role and GM John Mozeliak did nothing indicates that they're not going to spend any more money this off-season on any players of note. They have a lot of money coming off the books, but that doesn't mean they're going to take it and put it right back into the team for 2009.
La Russa's going to want them to sign Francisco Rodriguez, which they won't do because K-Rod is going to be coming off of a 60-save season and will want at least $15 million a year

for five or six years. La Russa's going to want them to sign Orlando Cabrera, which they won't do because Cabrera's going to want somewhere in the $50-60 million range on a five year deal. La Russa's going to want them to go after A.J. Burnett, which won't happen because Burnett is going to be coming off his career year with close to 20 wins and will be in heavy demand as he asks for $100 million, and probably gets it. La Russa's kidding himself if he thinks these things are going to happen because he's demanding them. The Cardinals are going to wait to see where the big name free agents go, then they're going to sift through the remnants and pick at the bones for the most inexpensive pieces they can find because that's the way they do business now.
As for the La Russa as GM idea, it won't work. Much like Lou Piniella was kicked upstairs to be the Yankees GM during one of George Steinbrenner's attempts to fire a popular manager without really firing him to avoid the vitriol he received when he fired Yogi Berra (both times he replaced the former manager with Billy Martin), Piniella tried to be a GM for a few months, decided he didn't like it and resigned. (He replaced Martin as manager a short time later.)
La Russa is not a front office guy; he's not a guy who's going to be happy wearing a suit

and watching someone else manage his team in a far inferior fashion than he could. He's a baseball managing lifer. Like his friend Bill Parcells, the rush of the field will never be replaced by anything no matter how hard he tries. (I know Parcells is running the Miami Dolphins as team president, but I think a major part of him still wishes he had the energy to go back on the field and run the whole show from top to bottom.) So this is, to me, an empty threat designed to give the Cardinals front office the idea that their Hall of Fame manager might leave if the opportunity presents itself; but with the way they're now running that storied franchise, I get the idea that the ownership wouldn't be all that bothered one way or the other if La Russa was their manager or not; in fact, they might be relieved to get out from under his salary and hire someone for a bargain-basement contract who'd just be happy to have the job and do as he's told without complaint.
La Russa will manage the Cardinals next year; it'll be the same sort of team with the same sort of payroll as this year, and then after 2009, the two parties will go their separate ways and La Russa will go to a big spending team to take one more shot at winning another title without having to beg for in-season help; and it'll probably be best for all involved.

Another Girardi Strategic Gaffe Dooms The Yankees For The Game And The Season

• Rays 7-Yankees 5:

If the Yankees even want to have any chance at all of making an unlikely run at a playoff

spot over the final three weeks, they have to win every game they possibly can; and in a game against the team in their division that leads them by ten games before the first pitch's even been thrown, it amounts to a two game swing in the standings; for the Yankees, last night's game against the Rays was, in essence, a playoff game. You wouldn't have known that by the way Yankees manager Joe Girardi managed as if it were a game in mid-May.
Darrell Rasner was a godsend to the Yankees injury-tattered starting rotation when he was recalled as a desperation stopgap in early May. A pitcher who could only be referred to as a journeyman/Triple A filler did an excellent job in five of his first six starts in May and early June. Such a string of performances for a pitcher of Rasner's severely limited talent wasn't

going to last and it didn't as he fell into the pattern of battling his way through five innings or so and keeping the games within reason for the Yankees offense to try and slug their way through. Last night, it couldn't have been expected that Rasner was suddenly going to revert into what he was in early May.
It was clear by the second inning that after Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro singled and Rasner wild pitched Hinske to third that the game was one or two pitches away from blowing up completely. It was at that point that Girardi should have gotten someone up in the bullpen. He didn't.
Gabe Gross ripped a double to right scoring Hinske and sending Navarro to third. Still no action in the bullpen.
Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Navarro; Akinori Iwamura singled to center to score Gross; 3-0 Rays. Still no action in the bullpen.
B.J. Upton singled to center and only then did pitching coach Dave Eiland visit the mound and Alfredo Aceves began warming up in the bullpen about three batters too late. Carlos Pena then walked to load the bases (the Yankees were lucky Pena didn't hit one out of the park) and Girardi finally yanked Rasner. Alceves, with the bases loaded, allowed a seeing-eye grounder by Willy Aybar into right field to score two more runs

and give Rays All Star Scott Kazmir a 5-0 lead. Even with the Yankees comeback in the ninth inning to make the score a respectable 7-5, the game was out of reach in the second inning and there was no reason for it on several levels.
The swing between an eleven game deficit in the standings and a nine game deficit is mountainous. The Rays are still a young team that isn't sure whether or not to believe that their sudden leap into contention is real even with all of their success this season; a series of losses to a team like the Yankees----especially having them come into Tropicana Field and sweep them three straight----when the Rays have been so dominant at home this season may have planted a seed into the minds of the young players that a collapse was possible. After the anecdotal evidence of what happened with the Phillies and Rockies in 2007, how much would it realistically have taken for the Rays to start doubting themselves? What would they be thinking if the Yankees came in and beat them so convincingly? Despite all of the struggles the Yankees have had this season, their aura is still there. The veteran warhorses like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte aren't going to go down without a fight and the Yankees' mere presence still within unlikely, but doable, striking distance may have sent the Rays into a tailspin.
While the Rays are traveling to Toronto to play the blazing hot Blue Jays this weekend, the Yankees are heading home to play the atrocious Mariners. What would be going through the minds of the Rays if they lost to the Blue Jays on Friday (it would've been their fourth loss in a row) as the Yankees were battering the Mariners? Would the Rays start getting nervous? Playing tight? Making mental and physical mistakes? Would things snowball and spin out of control as they did with the Mets last season? Let's say the Yankees sweep the Mariners and the Rays lose

three out of four to the Blue Jays putting the Yankees within 6 1/2 games of first place as the Rays head to Boston and then New York; what would be going through the heads of the fragile, young Rays if it started to appear possible that the Yankees were going to catch them? We won't know because Rasner was allowed to pitch to three batters too many and let the game get out of hand with a crooked number 5 up on the board in the second inning. You could almost feel the reeling Rays relax as they built that 5-0 lead and it was because of Joe Girardi staying too long with his starting pitcher; a starting pitcher that should have been on the shortest of leashes given the circumstances and importance of this game.
The argument that it was too early to go to the bullpen is an empty alibi as well. It's September; the Yankees are carrying fifteen pitchers including Alceves, who pitched very well; and Dan Giese who would have been better options than leaving Rasner in to get shelled and put the game out of reach. In fact, one of the long relievers should have been stretched and ready to start loosening up be before the game even started given how shaky Rasner's been since June.
There's no excuse for this kind of gaffe in what amounted to a playoff game for the Yankees. They had to win this game if they wanted to still be on life support as they headed back home to play the Mariners, but they're not because of their manager. This entire season has been more of a learning experience than anyone anticipated for Girardi, and in what was his first unofficial playoff game----a must win----he failed miserably because he didn't act and it cost the Yankees any chance of climbing back into the race which was, for a day at least, a realistic possibility. The game might have blown up no matter what Girardi did with Rasner, but if he'd pulled him when he should have, at least he wouldn't have been the one to light the match.

• Blue Jays 9-Twins 0:

This Blue Jays hot streak in which they've won five in a row to put them seven games over .500 is the worst thing that could be happening to the organization because, if they end at 86-76 or thereabouts, the Blue Jays front office may again look past everything that's happened from April until September and allow GM J.P. Ricciardi to continue in his job when

he should be fired.
How many more years is Ricciardi, whose bluster was one of the reasons he got the job in the first place, going to get to have his team in realistic contention? 2008 will be the sixth time in seven years that the Blue Jays have been "sort of" okay, "sort of" competitive, but not really in any position to make a genuine playoff run. Under Ricciardi, they've never won more than 87 games; never ended any closer than eight games within a playoff spot, but again, they're having a late hot streak to make their record look respectable on paper and possibly save Ricciardi's job.
If Ricciardi's failures were only in the standings and he had some basis for the decisions he'd made that haven't worked (getting Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus for example), it'd be one thing; but just about every season in which he's been the Blue Jays GM has been pockmarked with some off-field controversy from players fighting with the manager; to Ricciardi lying to the press and blaming the press for it; to the contract-related release of Frank Thomas; to the embarrassing episode in which Ricciardi criticized Adam Dunn on his radio show...*

*Just one question: why does the GM of the team have a call-in radio show anyway?!?

....among many other things. And the team has never been in contention by season's end. Amid all the complaints that it's hard for the Blue Jays to contend in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox, it's conveniently missed that the formerly woebegone Rays have surpassed all three teams a year after losing 96 games. And where are the Blue Jays? They're in fourth place; not in contention, but not ending so terribly that a GM change would be fait accompli.
Whether or not the Blue Jays notoriously patient (to their own detriment) ownership realizes it, they're never going to take the next step under Ricciardi. They need to bring in a

Brian Cashman-type GM who's not going to have a radio show; who's not going to openly spar with the press over petty matters trying to exert his machismo over them; and who's not going to preside over a team whose record never reflects the season they actually had. Former Angels GM and now Senior Advisor Bill Stoneman, who pitched two no-hitters in Canada for the Montreal Expos and ran the team before moving to the Angels, is someone I would want to speak to if I were advising the Blue Jays, but since this hot streak may save Ricciardi's job, finding a suitable replacement won't be necessary and history shows that this team's going to be in this same position a year from now and they can repeat the process all over again.

The Dynamics Of A Bench Clearing "Brawl"

• Marlins 4-Mets 3:

After Aaron Heilman's atrocious ninth inning tonight, it's clear the duel between the Mets and the Phillies down the stretch is going to come down to which team's bullpen coughs up

the fewest games; right now it's a coin flip and that's with the Phillies getting such a stunning comeback year from Brad Lidge. Lidge has had his own issues with blowing big games and having it affect him for an extended period (see Pujols, Albert; 2005 NLCS). That's neither here nor there in the story of tonight's game because of the bench clearing dance the teams exchanged after Mets starter Mike Pelfrey drilled Marlins outfielder Cody Ross.
I have great respect for Cody Ross. He's rung every single ounce of ability out of his small frame; has bounced from the Tigers to the Dodgers to the Reds to the Marlins trying to find a place where he was going to get a chance to play; he got his chance with the Marlins and has proven himself to have surprising (though streaky) power, a penchant for getting big hits and a toughness that's hard to find. This is a player who was hit in the mouth by an Oscar Villareal fastball two years ago

and insisted on getting right back into the lineup. With that, it's hard to believe that even Ross thinks that Pelfrey was throwing at him in the second inning of tonight's game. Pelfrey also hit Ross on August 10th and does hit a greater than usual number of hitters, but that's only because he tries to pitch inside and gets a lot of natural movement on his pitches.
After Ross was hit, he cussed loudly and slammed his bat and elbow protector to the ground; Mets catcher Brian Schneider was watching Ross closely to see if anything was going to happen and sure enough, as he was walking to first, Ross let Pelfrey know what he thought of him and from reading his lips and due to the circumstances, he certainly wasn't wishing Pelfrey "luck". Pelfrey responded in kind and the next thing everyone knew, both benches cleared and there was the general milling around that goes on during a bench clearing "incident". There were no punches thrown, but even when there are actual fights on a baseball diamond, they always end up pretty much the same way.
There's the one guy who got angry at the other guy and the two wind up screaming at each other; then the benches empty and the players start holding their teammates back; then there are the guys who started charging in and try to appear as if they want to fight whether they really do or not. Tonight, that character was played by Marlins first baseman Mike Jacobs. Jacobs ran onto the field, got spun around and held back in what looked like an audition to make sure he got as much face time on SportsCenter as humanly possible to show how tough and great a teammate he is because he wants to "fight" for his comrade. Then the bullpens come charging in and things cool down...until someone says something and the teams start moving toward one another again. Then order is restored and everyone returns to playing the game. It's the same script just about every time and it's tiresome; if these guys want to fight, then

get on with it. None of this running around and charging in and yelling and screaming, and it's always the loudest ones who go crawling out of the pile of bodies during the fight

and head for the nearest exit; it happens every time.
I was involved in a bench clearing fight when I was nineteen, playing on the sandlots and still harboring delusions of being able to play professionally. This was a legitimate fight with guys actually throwing punches, but for the most part, everything else played out predictably with guys holding each other back, trying to protect teammates from getting hurt and showing some solidarity so they look like they're willing to fight even if they're not. In this particular incident, I was holding back one of the main participants along with a couple of players on the other team. (Much like "The Most Interesting Man In the World" with his ice cold Dos Equis, I'm a lover, not a fighter; but I'm a fighter too, so don't get any ideas.) One guy on my team----the biggest guy as it turned out----got knocked to the

ground and had a cut lip after he yapped long and hard to one of the opposing players during the festivities. This was a prime example of what goes on during these things. (I joined the team we were fighting with the next season.)
In general, a baseball team and it's rosters work out this way when it comes to fighting: there are four or five guys who can actually fight, but don't do it unless they have to; six to eight guys who think they can fight, act like they can fight and charge around like they can fight, but get a brutal beating when they do fight. (I'm not suggesting that Mike Jacobs is one of those guys----he could be the best baseball player/fighter since Billy Martin, but he sure was acting like one of those guys.) Then there are the rest of the players who try to keep the posers and the fighters from hurting themselves or anyone else and keep guys from getting suspended. The number of times in which actual punches are thrown in comparison to the number of times benches clear can't be very good considering that a potential fight is the reason that the players ran out onto the field in the first place.
This also doesn't suggest that there haven't been some genuinely tough baseball players; guys you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. Ray Knight was the former Golden Gloves boxing muscle behind the 1986 Mets; Dave Parker was called "Cobra" for a reason; and of course, there was Billy Martin; but then there are the guys who think they're tough, yell like they're tough, but never do much of anything like Josh Beckett and Roger Clemens. The main thing is that these incidents never amount to much because the dynamic is almost always the same, as are baseball players. Sometimes pretense is the better part of valor and it's better to look and act like a guy who's ready to drop the gloves than to actually be a guy who's ready to drop the gloves. Stay thirsty my friends.

• The 2008 Yankees are ready for the coroner (figuratively):

In a reference from The Sopranos to quote Carmine Lupertazzi from when he decided to shut down the construction of the Esplanade in retaliation during an ongoing back-and-forth

between the Lupertazzis and the Sopranos: "I haven't wanted to do this..." but he did do it because it was necessary; now, I must do the same thing and declare the Yankees dead.
After today's latest bullpen meltdown and series of mental and physical errors, the Yankees had to sit and watch both the Rays and the Red Sox win to increase their respective leads over the Yankees to 11 1/2 for the Rays and seven for the Red Sox. It's going to be all but impossible for the Yankees to catch up to either team especially with the wounded and journeyman-laden starting rotation and woeful bullpen. Add in that Robinson

Cano is playing like a guy whose head is everywhere but on his job; that Johnny Damon can't play center field; that Alex Rodriguez is hitting poorly in the clutch and in bad luck; that Joe Girardi is learning on the job; etc, etc, etc.
It was bound to happen eventually and it might have happened had Joe Torre been managing the team instead of Joe Girardi, but their luck has run out and the Yankees of 2008 are officially being taken off of life support, at least in my hospital. Speaking of Torre...

• Dodgers 6-Diamondbacks 2:
  

As terribly as the Dodgers have played during the last week in which they lost eight in a

row including three straight to the Washington Nationals, their win tonight over the Diamondbacks puts them 3 1/2 games out of first place with a record of 66-70. By season's end, no one's going to care if either team makes the playoffs with a record of 81-81 or 80-82 or whatever.
As difficult as I was finding it to diagnose what was wrong with the Dodgers after their flashy acquisitions of Manny Ramirez, Greg Maddux and Casey Blake, it's just as hard to diagnose what's wrong with the Diamondbacks who acquired a power bat/on-base machine in Adam Dunn; a set-up reliever who can close in Jon Rauch and a respected veteran in Tony Clark; they also have the best 1-2 punch of starting pitchers in baseball in Brandon Webb and Dan Haren and they still can't put the Dodgers away.
Some say that it's better to be lucky than good, but Joe Torre's luck from the Yankees seems to be following him to Los Angeles because no matter how awful the Dodgers look, the Diamondbacks are bent on matching them and with that, they're well on their way to blowing this division that they should have wrapped up already given the talent on their roster, how they've augmented it and how far the Dodgers have gone in an attempt to eliminate themselves; but they're still there and the Torre-luck is something that the Diamondbacks aren't going to want to tempt because if they do, they're going to lose.

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.

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.