Mangini Canned as Heads Begin to Roll

No surprise here, after losing to the Dolphins yesterday, completing a major collapse, the Jets after fired head coach Eric Mangini. Jet fans everywhere will be roaring their approval.

No surprise in Motown either where Rod Marinelli was let go. The Browns dismissed Romeo Crennel and have already contacted Bill Cowher, who told them, "No thanks".

Share

Brewers Can Yost

The Milwaukee Brewers have gone 3-11 in September and manager Ned Yost has paid the price. The Brewers have fired their manager after seeing their wildcard lead disappear. Milwaukee had won 8 of 9 to finish off August, but were swept in three straight by the Mets to start the final month of the season. The Phillies caught the Brewers in the standings with a four game sweep this past weekend.

Milwaukee had an 8.5 game lead in the NL Central last season, but didn't make the playoffs. The front office is trying to ensure that a similar situation doesn't occur this season. Third base coach, and former utility man, Dale Sveum will take over as interim manager.

Share

Around the Horn - 6/20

Some news first. Curt Schilling has revealed he's going to undergo season ending, and possibly career ending, shoulder surgery.

Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya is expected to return from his season long trip from the DL tonight when the team travels to San Diego.

Travis Hafner will not have to have surgery on his rotator cuff, but he's not close to coming back.

The Mariners fired John McLaren yesterday and reports have the Blue Jays firing John Gibbons prior to tonight's game. Former Jays manager Cito Gaston will take over.

Carlos Zambrano could miss significant time for the Cubs due to a shoulder problem.


Round 3 of Interleague play went as follows:

Rays 3 Cubs 0
The Rays take the sweep on Carl Crawford's grand slam on Thursday.

Twins 3 Nationals 0
Twins outscored the Nationals 22-6.

White Sox 3 Pirates 0
The White Sox scored 37 runs in the series. Jermaine Dye capped the sweep with a 2 HR, 6 RBI game.

Blue Jays 0 Brewers 3
John Gibbons to go out with a whimper. Former Blue Jay David Bush had a no-hitter Thursday into the 8th inning before the Brewers almost blew an 8-0 lead.

Rangers 2 Braves 1
Michael Young's 9th walk off single gave the Rangers the series after the bullpen blew yet another lead.

Orioles 3 Astros 0
Two one-run games and one two-run game. The Orioles ruined Miguel Tejada's home coming. The former Oriole only went 2-12.

Athletics 1 Diamondbacks 2
Two blowouts and then a pitcher's duel decides the finale, 2-1. Justin Upton delivered a game winning home run in the 8th inning.

Indians 0 Rockies 3
Rockies came into the series 14 games under .500. How long until C.C. Sabathia gets dealt?

Royals 3 Cardinals 0
Royals pitching limited the Cardinals to 4 runs in the series.

Angels 1 Mets 2
Mets took the series, but lost their manager.

Mariners 1 Marlins 2
The final demise for John McLaren. Rumor has it that players like Richie Sexson are soon to follow.

Red Sox 2 Phillies 1
The best in the NL is still not as good as the best in the AL.

AL wins this round by a whopping 25-14 margin.

Share

The Captain Feels Bad

Derek Jeter found out about Willie Randolph's firing this afternoon and told Mike and the Mad Dog that he was upset to hear about Randolph's manager.

"I feel bad for Willie," Jeter said today on WFAN's "Mike and the Mad Dog" program. "It's unfortunate. I know how much he cares about winning and how hard he works." "I don't pay attention to what goes on [with the Mets] because we have our own issues," Jeter said. "But I feel bad for him. Hopefully he gets another opportunity to manage."

The Captain even took a veiled shot at the cross-town team.

"I just found out about an hour ago," Jeter said. "I'm not awake at 3 o'clock in the morning."

Source: NY Post

Share

Mets Fire Willie, Disgrace Themselves

Imagine our surprise this morning when we woke up and found out that Willie Randolph was fired by the Mets. The last thnig we saw last night was the Mets clinging to an 8-6 lead in the 8th inning. They held on for a 9-6 win, but Willie along with pitching coach Rick Peterson and 1st base coach Tom Nieto were axed after the game. At 3:14 A.M. EST. After the newspapers had gone to bed on the East coast the Wilpons and Omar Minaya pulled the plug. In considerably gutless fashion.

They had Willie fly to the West coast, manage one game, and then as if that game mattered, they fired him. The right thing would have been to fire him on Sunday. But the Mets front office clearly didn't want to face the press. Maybe they'll say they didn't want to fire him on Father's Day. What a load of crap. We'll find out more this afternoon when Minaya holds a press conference at 5:00 EST.

In the mean time, bench coach Jerry Manuel will take over. He compiled a 500-471 record in 6 seasons in Chicago as White Sox manager. It included a division title in 2000 and 4 second place finishes in the AL Central. Chris Russo will go on ad nauseum this afternoon on how Manuel was run out of town in Chicago. But he'll be right when he rips the Mets for doing wrong.

Share

Michael Kay, Yea or Nay?

We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk over the last year. Let's quickly re-phrase that a bit. We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk for years, but it has gotten a lot louder the last year. We're only referring to his work as the lead Yankees broadcaster for the YES Network.

Not his work on Centerstage, which we feel he does very well, or on his radio show, which we could take or leave. There have even been "Fire Michael Kay" blogs started.

Let's review some of our own complaints about Kay as well as a lot of what we've been hearing from others. We won't even bring up his "fivehead". Oops, we just did.

Repetitiveness

Kay definitely has a penchant for repeating himself. We don't mean the kind of repeating that Tim McCarver does, where he's still dissecting a play from three innings ago. We're referring to his constant mentioning of certain things. Some examples:

The size of Kevin Mench's head; Every time the Yankees play the team Mench is on, Kay goes on about how large Mench's melon is. Okay, we get it. It's a throwback to the '70s when Frank Messer couldn't stop talking about how Carlos May had half his thumb blown off.

The repeat use of phrases, especially corny ones. "He's like the girl with the curl. He's either very good or very bad."

The "Martini Glass" defense to describe the shift when Jason Giambi comes up.

Part of this next example is obviously an issue with the YES director and production team. Every time David Cone is in the booth we don't need to see the last out of his perfect game. Kay is only partially duplicitous (we use that word here because he loves to use it) here since he just intros the clip.

Another irritating Kayism has even bothered his fellow broadcasters, though it's usually good natured. That would be Kay's use of $5 words to describe a scene that could be easily stated in a more user friendly manner. Don't get us wrong, education and expanding your vocabulary is great, but this is a baseball game not an English lit class. Some examples:

"His speech was filled with vitriol."

Act your age. We are all for immaturity, but when you're 47-years old trying to sound 20, you just sound stupid.

"Are you guys down with that?"

The corny factor.

"When we come back we'll put a bow on this one." Heck we can't even stand when he thanks us for tuning in.

Asinine gimmickry - "QuanGorMo" to describe the Yankees 7th thru 9th inning was stupid, and "Generation Trey" to lump Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy together is obnoxious and loathed. What makes the latter worse is David Cone has picked it up. On the bright side, no one else has.

The obvious - Asking John Flaherty about his approach at the plate. Flaherty, except for a year or two, couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag. We don't want to know what his approach is.

The home run call - Coming up with a distinctive home run call is tough. No question about it. But "See ya" is really weak. It's also become the rallying cry for those who want Kay out of the booth. We also hate it because of the guy we played golf with one time who yelled it every time we hit a ball into the woods. We heard it a lot.

Exaggeration - You have to keep things interesting during a broadcast, but Kay overplays many plays. The grounder in the hole at shortstop is a routine play. It shouldn't sound like Brooks Robinson just dove into foul territory, got up, and threw a runner out. Kay is guilty of this all the time. Every ball hit to the outfield is "driven" even if it's a routine fly ball.

To his credit, Kay does a good job of getting the analysts involved in various discussions. But, we have a major issue with the guys in the suits who gave Kay exclusive play-by-play rights. Back in the day we enjoyed the rotation of announcers. At that point they rotated between radio and TV. What makes this worse is that the best play-by-play guy YES has is Kenny Singleton, and he only gets to have that role when Kay doesn't accompany the team to the towns he hates (i.e. Kansas City).

While he probably has a better grasp of the game than John Sterling, he too, like Sterling, seems like he spent his formative years at tap class rather than actually playing the sport. He makes pointless points, that wouldn't be agreed upon by smart baseball people. We also have an issue with Kay kissing ass on YES and then ripping the same people on his radio show (i.e. Joe Torre after his departure).

We would like to see Kay go...back to radio. We were annoyed at first by the Sterling-Kay extravaganza, but they grew on us. Since Suzyn Waldman is horrible on the radio broadcast, it would be a natural fit.

Michael Kay, SEE YA.

Now please fill out our poll and tell us what you think.

Share

Just Don't Charge Levine

Who didn't see this coming? Don Zimmer has reacted to Joe Torre's treatment with a roundhouse right.

"It was sad the way it was handled," Zimmer said. "What has the man done? It speaks for itself. To let him sit there for 10-12 days is bullc---, and then all you hear about is 'keep Torre, don't keep Torre.' ... Do things in a better way than that. You've got so many people over there now involved, I don't know.

"Where do they stand now? They're going to interview six managers? Let them have a good time."

Source

Share

Fall Out Boys

The repercussions from yesterday's poor attempt to sway Joe Torre into returning are already being felt. The Yankees brain trust, and we use that term lightly, is taking a beating today, from both the media and from the fans. The family von Steinbrenner and Jeri-curl Randy Levine fooled no one with their "respectable" contract offer to Joe Torre.

We said before the season that it was time for a change. That the Yankees were going as far as they could with Joe Torre at the helm, and we still feel that way. But we also know what Joe Torre did for the franchise. Not since the 1950s had a manager won 4 world series in 5 years. And yes, he was handed the players by George Steinbrenner, but he still knew how to cajole, manipulate, ride, appease his way to one division title and one playoff berth year after year.

If the Yankees really wanted Torre back they simply would have guaranteed him 7 or 8 million for next year. Why should a guy who has made 12 straight playoff appearances have to hit incentives? The anti-Torre sect's argument of, "Hey, I work for a living, and I don't get my money handed to me", is absurd, because no one ever mistook sports for real life. As Peter Abraham shrewdly pointed out, look at the percentage of the pay cut instead of the actual dollars. If you are a financial analyst making 50 grand a year and for 2008, your boss says, your salary next year will be $32,500 with the chance to earn 50 grand, would you be happy? We didn't think so.

For the pro-Torre faction, you should remember what happened in 1995. Fans were furious at the handling of Buck Showalter. We were even more furious when Joe Torre was hired (you know you were). The headlines screaming today that Joe got screwed were the same ones that called him "Clueless Joe" back then. So keep in mind that this may work out all right.

We'll hear Torre's side of things today on a 2:00 conference call that will be carried by ESPN and other outlets (we're sure WFAN will carry it).

So what happens now? Obviously the first matter at hand is finding a manager, and doing it quickly with pending free agents. Brian Cashman can drone on all he wants to about "the process", but the Yankees need to move quickly for damage control.

The Candidates

Don Mattingly - Says he's not ready, though he denied that. We don't think he's ready either.

Joe Girardi - We would love to see him in there, but the front office is supposedly concerned about Girardi's control freak personality.

Trey Hillman - He was highly thought of while managing in the Yankees farm system and is currently managing in Japan. But do you really see a non-experienced guy, other than Mattingly, being hired?

Larry Bowa - We've never loved him as a manager, but he did do a great job as 3rd Base coach and working with the infielders, especially Robinson Cano. We would like to see him get a 2 year deal, with Mattingly staying on as bench coach, set to take over in 2010 (in 2009 if Bowa spits the bit next year).

Tony Pena - Did a good job in KC before quickly resigning. That may have left a smudge on his resume. We would like to see him stay on the staff though. It could certainly help in trying to get Jorge Posada to re-sign.

Bobby Valentine - Smug. Arrogant. Self-centered. NOT the right man for the job.

We won't even mention the bad haired, DUI guy in St. Louis.

Free Agent Impact

We've been really surprised at the reaction of the fans towards mainstays like Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada for their allegiance to Torre. Mariano was already feeling bitter towards the Yankees for not giving him an extension prior to the '07 season. The handling of Torre didn't help the Yankees cause any. Andy Pettitte has a big decision ahead of him. Will Pettitte's decision be swayed by a new manager coming in?

Forget about what A-Rod has to say. He professed his love for Torre after the ALDS, but do you think it's genuine? Torre batted the man 8th in the '06 ALDS. A-Rod and Boras will go where the money is. Period.

This is why the Yankees have to get a manager that will help get these free agents to come back.

What remains to be seen is whether or not this will be the winter of our discontent.

Share

Win or Else

The "old" George Steinbrenner has made an appearance. Actually his words have. King George is ready to drop the axe on Joe Torre if the Yankees don't advance to the ALCS.

"His job is on the line," the Yankees' owner said in a phone interview. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."

King George also blasted the umpiring crew for the handling of the "bug" incident.

"The umpire was full of [expletive]," Steinbrenner said of the retiring Froemming. "He won't umpire our games anymore."

In the wake of that Game 2 defeat, Steinbrenner said the Yankees had complained to baseball commissioner Bud Selig about the decision to play on. "[Selig] just said, 'That's in the umpires' hands,' " Steinbrenner said. "But Jesus Christ, it was terrible. It messed up the whole team, [Derek] Jeter, all of them."

And finally some words concerning Alex Rodriguez.

"I think we'll re-sign him," Steinbrenner said of Rodriguez. "I think he's going to have a good run the rest of the [postseason]. I think he realizes New York is the place to be, the place to play. A lot of this [postseason] is laying on his shoulders, you know, but I think he's up to it."

Source

Share

What's Worse than Managing the Pirates?

Getting fired by them. Jim Tracey got the axe today after 2 abysmal years. How you can succeed when you're relying on guys like Shaun Chacon.

Share

Astros Drop the Ax

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Houston Astros have sent manager Phil Garner and GM Tim Purpura to the unemployment line. The Astros are just 58-73 this season, 2 years after making it to the World Series. Bench coach Cecil Cooper takes over as interim manager.

Although they signed Carlos Lee this off-season, the Astros took a big hit with the loss of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens.

Source

Share

Torre Defenders, Time to Wake Up

Prior to the 1996 season, I was furious that Buck Showalter was let go and "Clueless" Joe Torre was hired. But in time Torre proved that circumstances can certainly make or break a manager. I wholeheartedly disagree with those who say any team could have won with the Yankees teams of '96 - '00. That's just plain garbage. Sparky Anderson used to hear the same thing when he managed the Reds teams of the '70s.

Torre pushed every right button, and used his personnel to perfection in garnering those WS championships. But over time, poor decisions by the front office and poor decision making by Torre have caught up to him.

The biggest red mark on Torre's report card is his handling of the bullpen. It was a piece of cake in '96- Mariano Rivera for 2 innings and John Wetteland to close. In the ensuing years he was able to mix and match with Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson as the bridge to Mo. But Torre has not met the challenge of managing a less than stellar bullpen.

Torre's m.o. is to use a reliever until said reliever's knuckles are scraping the ground, while he ignores other relievers he deems untrustworthy. The 2003 World Series turned on Torre's decision to use the horrendous Jeff Weaver instead of Chris Hammond in extra innings. Weaver served up a walk-off gopher ball and the Marlins went on to win the series. In 2004, Torre overworked Paul Quantrill into ineffectiveness, then overtaxed Tom Gordon and Rivera as a result.

In 2005 he abused Tanyon Sturtze. In '06 it was Scott Proctor and Ron Villone, and this year it's, well, Scott Proctor again. Last night's loss to the Orioles was a prime example of what happens when you a pitcher is shot. Proctor had absolutely no control, but Torre let him hang out to dry.

There's no question that this year's bullpen is less than start quality, and took an early beating because of the starter's ineffectiveness. But Torre has mismanaged them to a new level.

Torre's defenders need to wake up, this isn't 2000 any more. His detractors have to give him the credit he deserves for those glory years. But Torre's 4 rings is what got him a bye after the '03 and '04 seasons, but now is the time for Torre to not pass go and go directly to the unemployment line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bullpen problems MUST be resolved by Brian Cashman, who along with the Tampa morons, has the responsibility for the makeup of the pen. Here are some things to shake up that leaky pen.

Kyle Farnsworth - Has to go. Having a 1 inning pitcher, other than your closer, who can't work back-to-back days is a waste of space. The Yankees overpaid him, and if that means eating a chunk of his salary, so be it. This guy is awful. (it would also end Michael Kay's constant, "he's got such great stuff" commentary).

Scott Proctor - Can still be the 7th/8th inning guy if he gets some time off. Proctor may have to beanball his way to another suspension in order to get some rest.

Brian Bruney - Doesn't matter how hard you throw if you walk the ball park. This guy should be used in critical spots until Ron Guidry gets his straightened out.

Mike Myers - The Poster Boy has to go. He's a roster spot killer. A lefty specialist who can't retire lefties. Go take your windup to a beer softball league where you belong.

Ron Villone - Could still be an innings eater out of the pen, but Torre has lost faith in him- again. Last year he practically used him every day until he was ineffective.

Luis Vizcaino - Has seemed to turn things around of late, thanks to tutoring from Mo. Should be given the chance to pitch in the crucial 7th/8th inning spots again.

Mariano Rivera - Doesn't have to be a tie game or a save situation to use your best reliever. Torre doesn't want to him wear out like he has in the past. That doesn't mean forgetting about him for days on end.

Give the Farm some tryouts.

We've gone on and on here many times wondering why the Yankees refuse to use Chris Britton. He should be up here..NOW.

Edwar Ramirez - We won't know if this guy is the goods or a dud until he gets the chance. He failed as a starter for the Angels, but has wracked up amazing numbers (74 Ks in 40.1 innings) in the Yankees system. Started the year in Trenton before being bumped up to Scranton a few weeks back.

Kevin Wheelan - Probably still too early to make the jump from Double-A, but the kid might be worth a look. He's only his 2nd full season in the minors after being selected by the Tigers in the June, 2005 draft. Eastern League opponents are only hitting .182 off of him, but Whelan has issued 25 walks in 31 innings.

Sean Henn - Had moderate success earlier in the year before old control problems cropped up. Would still rather give him a chance then Myers.

Jim Brower - the 34-year old veteran was released earlier this season by the Pirates organization. He's struck out 28 in 26 innings and walked just 5 since joining Scranton. Brower has a 2.08 ERA to boot.

Runelvys Hernandez - Picked up after being dropped by the Red Sox organization. The one time prospect could be used as a long man out of the pen. Something the Yankees are still lacking.

Share

Time to Say Goodnight Joe

The Yankees-Orioles games ended moments ago with Scott Proctor walking Ramon Hernandez with the bases loaded and 1 out in the bottom of the 9th. It should be the last pitch ever thrown with Joe Torre as manager.

Walks have absolutely killed the Yankees this season and Proctor (does he pitch every day or is that just my imagination?) put himself in immediate trouble by walking Corey Patterson to start the 9th. A Brian Roberts single put two men on and none out.

Did Joe get anyone warming up? No

Proctor then made a tremendous play, diving to snare a bunt off the bat of Chris Gomez. Proctor would have easily doubled Patterson off 2nd, but appeared to be shaken up on the play. With temps around 80 and high humidity, it would have been nice if Torre had come out with Gene Monahan to give Proctor a blow, but this is Joe Torre. He was too busy thinking of ways to blow another game.

Proctor then walked Nick Markakis- meanwhile we see a shot of the Yankees pen, everyone sitting nicely on the bench- to load the bases.

Was the end ever in doubt here? Proctor got away with one pitch as he nearly hit Hernandez with a wild pitch that goes to the backstop. Luck was momentarily on the Yankees side as Patterson froze at 3rd. But the inevitable was to happen.

Ball Four- Yankees lose. Now can Torre. Not in a few weeks, not after the season. NOW.

Share