Best champion in a division where a New York team missed the playoffs: The Philadelphia Phillies, just edging out the Tampa Bay Rays by virtue of a slightly better interleague record last October.

Interesting factoids. I never would have pegged Cano as being that good against lefties. Utley's OPS on curveballs is outstanding.

Only five of Mitchell's 24 appearances at short were behind Fernandez. He did start there in five of Fernandez's six starts between June 20 and July 20.

who left a tag open?

Fortunately I didn't say how much he played but if I did based on memory, it would have been much more than that. Where did you get that data? Maybe Davey didn't want to play Mitchell and Teufel up the middle together in some of those Sid starts. Of course, that team didn't need offense (or anything) during the regular season. By July 20th, if memory serves, the race was just about over. But memory is so overrated.

Number 5 gave me a thought. What if you could put together the "perfect manager"? In other words, combine the best components of a lot of great managers together and come up with the optimal manager?

Let's see, you could have Davey Johnson's ability to think outside the box with lineup combinations, based on factors other than just lefty/righty. Earl Weaver seemed good at this as well. Casey Stengel of course.

Billy Martin's daring ingame strategies would be good. Anyone else? Herzog maybe?

Bobby Cox's ability to garner "undying loyalty and respect" from the players. Who else? Connie Mack? After the book, Joe Torre would be out.

Building/managing a bullpen--Herzog maybe. LaRussa also seems good at this.

Building/managing a rotation--Everyone thinks of pitching coaches more with this, but Herzog and Sparky Anderson seemed to somehow be able to piece together a serviceable rotation, no matter what the talent level. Stengel also.

Building a bench--Anderson, even when he had a dream lineup, also seemed to have a lot of bench players who could start for other teams, and gave them a lot of work. Also Davey and Earl.

Stocking a coaching staff--Walter Alston always seemed to have a person on his staff, such as Durocher, LaSorda, who you wouldn't think would be able to work, but also seemed to. Joe Torre has also had some deep coaching staffs, and Bobby Cox has sent a lot of coaches to managerial posts as well.

Working the umpire--Several folks here to choose from--McGraw, Weaver, Martin, Cox, Piniella.

Working the media--Anyone better than Stengel?

Am I missing any components or managers?

What? No love for Rogers Hornsby or Ty Cobb?

Indeed, love for Rogers Hornsby is also a component of a good manager.

Bobby Valentine always seemed to be able to get a lot out of players who everybody else considered to be on the fringe.