» League Championship Series Open Day Potpouri

League Championship Series Open Day Potpouri

Since there was no game to report about on Wednesday, there are a potpouri of topics to discuss in the world of MLB.

Firstly, Boston and Cleveland return to action on Thursday in Cleveland as the Indians look to wrap up the ALCS in game 5 while Boston tries to stay alive. Josh Beckett once again opposes CC Sabathia.

One of these two teams will oppose the historic white-hot, 21 of 22 Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series.

And you know that those Rockies, with 8 days off, must be chomping at the bit to get the Series under way. After 11 years of frustration and with a lifetime .332 BA, first baseman Todd Helton knows that he’s been rewarded, that he’s finally in it. And hot-hitting NLCS MVP leftfielder Matt Holliday, 3rd baseman Garrett Atkins, rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki as well as ace lefthander Jeff Francis, the two rookie starters Ubaldo Jimenez and lefthander Franklin Morales and closer Manny Corpas and whatever that substance that he’s using on his hands — they’ll all be there against whichever AL team wins the right to face them.

So who cares about Manny Ramirez’s casual off-field attitude?

Maybe Manny simply sensed how this thing is going. Maybe he tried to portray looseness and had it come out wrong. The Red Sox don’t read as a team that could be talked out of the playoffs easily, not with Beckett and Curt Schilling coming, not when they’ve already mauled C.C. Sabathia once, not when one win gets them back to Fenway Park.

“We’re just thinking about Thursday,” Ramirez said. “Let’s see what the future is going to bring.”

As Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes; “He will show up with his bat and his act at game time Thursday, hitting as though he cares.”

Yep, Ramirez, David “Big Papi” Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia will all be there with their hitting shoes on and Jonathan Papelbon will be there hoping to make the big save.

The Indians, with their no-name offense which somehow gets it done game-by-game along with Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Paul Byrd and closer Joe Borowski are up by three games to one but there’s still life in the Red Sox — it ain’t over ’til it’s over!

For the boxscores and recap on Thursday’s game, click here.

Back in the Bronx, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is not pulling the plug in his customary knee-jerk-style on Joe Torre, but rather top team management has held two meetings with Torre. But the October 17 AP report states; “it was possible a decision would be made Thursday or Friday.”

Meanwhile, Bill Madden writes the following about the possible variables holding up a decision on Torre;

There are three ways to look at this non-announcement on a day in which Yankee legions had great expectations of a momentous decision coming out of Tampa — none of which would seem to bode particularly well for Torre. No. 1 is that either the powers-that-be — and in this case that would be Steinbrenner, his two sons, Hal and Hank, his son-in-law Felix Lopez, team president Randy Levine, chief operating officer Lonn Trost and GM Brian Cashman — really haven’t been able to come to a decision on Torre; No. 2 is that they have reluctantly decided to bring him back but are letting him sweat a little more, and No. 3 is they have decided to begin the Don Mattingly era but still need to figure out a seamless, kindly way to execute this transition.

The Phillies may have exited quickly in the post-season, but team members have already begun garning awards. 2nd baseman Chase Utley and centerfielder Aaron Rowand have been chosen to The Sporting News’ NL squad. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins “barely missed making it three Phillies, losing out to [Florida’s] Hanley Ramirez.”

Meanwhile, Rollins, along with Yankees’ Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez were feted “winning the Oscar Charleston Legacy Award as the Negro League Baseball museum’s choice for the National League’s Most Valuable Player.”

MLB.com’s Ken Mandel writes;

An outstanding dynamic shortstop, Rollins played stellar defense and became the first player in history to record at least 30 stolen bases, 30 homers, 20 triples and 30 doubles in a season. He led the NL with 139 runs scored. The switch-hitter is a two-time Award winner, earning the Bell honor for leading the NL in stolen bases (46) in 2001, his rookie season.

“He’s done about everything a guy could do,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “I don’t know what else you could do, unless he wants to sell tickets and sell popcorn.”

Ryan Howard won the Charleston Award last year, and went on to capture the NL MVP Award the following month.

Manager Charlie Manuel may not get the manager of the year award, but
he did get “a contact extension that could keep him in red pinstripes through the end of the decade” and apparently a committment “to bump their payroll to a franchise high and ensure he has a contending team.”

Whether the Phils actually make good on their apparent payroll bump-up committment will be determined by such situations as whether the club can come to sufficient terms insuring that Aaron Rowand returns in 2008, paying Ryan Howrd sufficiently, bringing in a capable 3rd baseman with pop and power such as Boston’s Mike Lowell, keeping midddle reliever J.C. Romero on the club, etc.

Mandel also reports that the Phillies will keep their coaching staff intact. For the most part, I’m okay with that but I have real questions regarding the judgement to retain pitching coach Rich Dubee.

Dubee, 50, handled a club-record 28 pitchers this past season, seven of whom made their Major League debuts. The team also set a franchise record with nine different pitchers earning saves. He shepherded a staff that suffered injuries to starters Adam Eaton, Cole Hamels, Jon Lieber and Freddy Garcia and relievers Tom Gordon, Ryan Madson and Brett Myers, among others. As a team, the Phillies had a 4.73 ERA, fourth-worst in baseball.

The number of pitchers who went down last season was incredulous.
With the exception of Garcia who was later found to be damaged goods from day one of acquisition, the number of pitchers hitting the DL last season was of such a magnitude that one must question Dubee’s excercise and conditioning methods. Only Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick who came up in June, and Romero went through the season without a stint on the DH. I cannot ever recall another pitching staff in all of MLB so devastated by injuries.

Finally, I think the Phillies best move is keep Brett Myers closing games. There is a lot of talk about acquiring Mariano Rivera depending upon the Yankees’ stand on Joe Torre. But my opinion; off of his performance last season and his career-high ERA, he just wasn’t normal Rivera. If obtained by the Phils, he should be set-up with Myers remaining the closer and jettisoning Tom Gordon.

In closing, the Phillies announced that they were declining the options on utilitiy infielder Abraham Nunez, and catcher Rod Barajas. Apparently, as things stand now, the club will go with Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste as their catchers next season.

The off-season’s gonna be real interesting. Stay tuned.

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