Baseball Playoffs Start Today!

Besides, he can always rush the mound when he doesn't like what the opposing pitcher is doing and get the sympathy vote

There goes my prestige as sports forecaster!

fbaezer, especially in baseball - I don't think there is ever truly a "lesser deserving club(s)". All World Series Championships are determined by a 162 game leader, a 5 game playoff, a 7 game LCS and a 7 game World Series. There is no parallel in team sports.

I have found they best sports forecasters to be about 50/50 Don't be discouraged.....

Hard to forecast, for sure. As Bobby Cox is supposed to have said (after the umpteenth failure of the Braves to advance): The playoffs are a crap shoot...

The question is, "Who has the best **** "

This just handed to me:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBA-Red-Sox-Little.html?hp

(For those who can't access the link: Grady is out.)

Or the hottest...

True, back to my reply above - hottest beats best, but; you do have to have the **** and it is a proven result

There was a brief while when the Yankees were actually developing players. After the disastrous eighties during which Georgie bought anything that moved but couldn't buy a win to save his life. NY fans, this one included, were screaming and crying for him to stop trading away the young developing players.

George does what he does because it's what he wants to do. Real Yankee fans know and understand baseball. We know that it takes time to put a good team together, to develop young players, to find the right chemistry on the field and with the coaches and manager. Believe it or not, real Yankee fans (at least this one) don't expect to win the Series every year. Or to be in the Series every year. I'm thrilled when we're there and I do just fine when we're not.

I'm sure you're right, Roberta, about real NYY fans realizing that you can't win the World Series every year. Yet Steinbrenner doesn't share this world view, and he runs the organization so autocratically that his point of view is the only one that counts. He still meddles in personnel decisions without consulting with (or by ignoring) Joe Torre.

And good players sometimes flounder in that atmosphere. Take Jeff Weaver. He was a good young pitcher for the Tigers (of all teams) until NYY snapped him up and expected him to be a superstar right away. For whatever reason he didn't accompish that, so Steinbrenner outbid Boston for Contreras. Now both of them are question marks, and both earn big money.

I probably spend too much time ranting about Steinbrenner; I sympathize with NYY fans who have to put up with him!

D'artagnan wrote:



Zimmer has indeed managed the Red Sox before: he was the Boston manager in 1978, a date that needs no further explanation for anyone who follows the Red Sox or the Yankees. In fact, it's said to have been Zimmer who gave Bucky Dent his middle name (as in "Bucky F. Dent"). I hardly think the Red Sox would want to bring back anyone who had any connection with that debacle.

in a bizarre twist of irony, grady little has been mentioned as a possible replacement for zimmer as yankee bench coach next year

meanwhile the sox have put manny on waivers, in an attempt to shed that humungous contract. will he soon be georgie-porgie's next quick fix?

As I recall, Ramirez was quoted as saying he'd like to finish his career in the Bronx. He did, after all, play high school ball in Washington Heights, quite close by. Still his friends there who root for him.

Is that true, Region, re Grady possibly going to NYY? Or are you pulling our legs, you naughty person...

d'artagnan, i actually did hear it earlier in the week...
also in the running to be sitting next to torre next year is joe girardi.

i imagine theo & co are willing to cut manny loose bcos of the emergence of ortiz, millar & mueller -- altho it seems strange to not feel the need for a triple crown threat in the batting order, regardless of how flaky or absentminded he may be. if its simply about the $$, then i guess its understandable.

The NY Times seems to be consistently reporting that Girardi will manage the Orioles next year.

It's been fun reading the Times in the aftermath of the NYY loss in the Series. Steinbrenner has been mostly silent (in the press, at least), but the off-season has only just begun (as the Carpenters used to chirp)...

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Well, he's off waivers.

Looks as if we're stuck with "Money" Ramirez.

Not my fav player.

Didn't hear he was off waivers, angie. That happened quickly. Looks like several teams are going to be stuck with their over-priced talent. Take A-Rod, please!

Perhaps, just perhaps this will be a truly learning experience - nah, never happen.

I'm so happy another young, inexperienced, never make it to the end team just won the pennant again

The successes of the Marlins this year and Anaheim last year have definitely given the owners pause, I'm sure. Both teams were relatively low-budget. We can be sure Steinbrenner will learn nothing from these examples--he can only spend, spend, spend--but I'll bet the others owners are paying lots of attention.

We shall see...

The Astros traded Billy Wagner to the Phillies today in a salary dump.

They got Brandon Duckworth and two minor-leaguers (who do not figure to pitch at the major-league level in 2004) for the best closer in team history and one of the five best closers in all of baseball.

The outrage expressed on sports-talk radio today and on the team and newspaper websites rivals any I have ever witnessed.

It confounds me to no end how the locals can piss down the throat of their fans and expect them to line up for tickets every year.