Angell:  EXPLAINING TONY

In an informal press conference early this morning, while feeding the clustering denizens of his Himalayan Marmot ranch in Alton, Illinois, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa offered further explanation of his notorious relief-pitcher mixup in the late innings of Monday’s Game Five of the World Series, which may have led to a go-ahead late two-run rally by the Texas Rangers, and their 4-2 victory. “Probably you won’t believe this,” La Russa said, “but just listen.” He then allowed ...

MLB: Davey Johnson expected to remain Nats manager

The Nationals are expected to retain Davey Johnson as their manager, according to a baseball source. An announcement would be made after the World Series ends.

Johnson took over the position on an interim basis on June 26, three days after Jim Riggleman resigned. Washington went 40-43 under Johnson, finishing third in the National League East—their highest finish since the team moved from Montreal after the 2004 season.

Teams are asked by Major League Baseball not to make major announcements ...

Dewan: Andrus and Kinsler

I haven’t seen teamwork like this… since Elvis and Larry Geller!

These plays [in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series] are an extension of what [Elvis] Andrus and [Ian] Kinsler have been doing all season. Defensively, they are the best double play combination in the game. And on the base paths they were baseball’s two best baserunners in 2011.

Here are the Defensive Runs Saved totals for the top five shortstop-second base combos in 2011:

Combo            Team      2B Runs Saved SS Runs Saved ...

CBS: Bernstein: Time For Cubs Fans To Grow Up

New Chicago language? This is so sharp…I thought it was written by the other Dan Bernstein!

Stop getting over-attached to individual players to the point where you overvalue them. Players are people, but they are property: assets to be cultivated, and promoted or traded as needed. Just because you like a guy, it doesn’t mean anybody really thinks he’s any good, or that your team wouldn’t be better served flipping him for someone better. Your Ryan Theriot jersey-shirt makes you look ...

Cronin: Did Topps turn down a deal on Maury Wills because he was such a bad prospect?

Send Me No Five Dollars. (obligatory Kappelhoffonian riff)

It was during this tryout that Topps employee Turk Karam was visiting the Tigers training camp signing new players to Topps contracts (which, again, were $5 for any minor leaguer who looked like he had a chance at the Majors). Karam did not offer Wills a contract. Sy Berger, the Topps executive in charge of player relations, questioned Karam as to why he did not sign Wills. After all, Wills was in the Tigers’ Major League training ...

ESPN: Rubin: What to do with David Wright?

Love, then tragedy strikes the town!

In one respect, losing Reyes would seem to all but cement Wright remaining a Met in 2012. After all, with the Mets starving for revenue, the double hit of losing Reyes and Wright—even with the promise of building for a better future—would lead to a more desolate Citi Field in 2012, a further revenue drain, and losses Fred Wilpon and family seemingly could not withstand.

But if the Mets had owners with deep enough pockets to absorb a short-term revenue ...

Full Count—So about that Starbucks sighting of Theo Epstein…

Mystery solved.

“When I’m somewhere when I don’t want to be recognized and someone recognizes me, I have a couple standard lines I always go to,” he acknowledged. “‘Oh, no, that’s not me, but I guess I kind of look like him. I get that a lot.’ Or, I say, ‘Theo Epstein, who’s that?’ I was so excited to be in Chicago, and so surprised to be recognized, that I dropped both lines on this guy without stopping to think that they really don’t work very well in concert with one ...

Bruce Jenkins: La Russa should see humor in situation he made

Captain Jenks phones one in…

With Game 6 of the World Series tonight in St. Louis, I’d suggest that Tony La Russa arrive as a telephone repairman, complete with the proper outfit, a nifty hat and a set of tools. Anything to lighten the mood around a club that suddenly appears dismantled.

If humor is the proper tonic, this will be quite a trick. La Russa’s reputation is that of a man wound too tight, a bit strong on the rage and paranoia. Although he has won two World Series, there were 12 ...

NYT: Baseball’s Game of Telephone

In Atlanta, there are televisions in the dugouts to help the manager monitor the action in his team’s bullpen - who is warming up, and how ready a pitcher might be to enter the game.

Another National League team, in an effort to improve communications between the dugout and the bullpen, experimented with specially designed mobile telephones in recent years. That ended because the team’s coaches weren’t happy with them, although it didn’t help, either, that players had run up $70,000 in ...

RB Mewelde Moore Still Has Baseball Dreams

Mewelde two sports (insert aging longitudinal crack).

LL: Looking back on your college career, was it tough balancing both training for the college football season and playing professional baseball in the summers?

Mewelde Moore: Baseball players train? I didn’t know that (laughs) … No, I played football and then played baseball; that was pretty much my deal. It was really one of those things where in baseball I used to over-train, and I think that may have hindered my game a little bit. ...

Nusbaum: Of Bad Mechanics And Torn Testicles; Or, Why I Love Adrian Beltre

Just don’t touch his hair follicle-stimulating hormones!

Whether or not the Rangers win the World Series, I hope this postseason finally marks the settling of Adrian Beltre into our collective consciousness as what he is: something remarkable. Before his offensive outburst in Boston last season, the Beltre narrative was defined by grumbling—grumbling about his big contract year in 2004, about whether he was using PEDs, about why he couldn’t hit in Seattle.

...I don’t mean to suggest Beltre ...

Futterman (WSJ): Retaining Pujols Could Add Fat to Cards’ Payroll

Clayton Skaggs, who has worked with Pujols and several other members of the Cardinals as the team’s injury and performance consultant, said Pujols still has great strength and stability, especially through his core. “You shake his hand and you know immediately this is a person with some strength,” Dr. Skaggs said.

But he also compared Pujols’ strength and stability to that of a sumo wrestler. Certainly the Cardinals don’t want Yokozuna Asashoryu manning first base for them in a few years.

...

In Media Res: Mediating Baseball

In Media Res is a weekly online publication about different roles media play in culture; they take up a different theme each week—this week is Mediating Baseball!

Mediating Baseball [October 24-28, 2011]

Monday October 24, 2011 – Elizabeth Rawitsch (University of East Anglia) presents: Melting Pot or Multiculturalism? Mediating Ethnicity in Baseball

Tuesday October 25, 2011 –  Pellom McDaniels III (University of Missouri-Kansas City) presents: “I is Unruffable”: Rereading African ...

Rogers: Theo Epstein has open mind on roster

Yeehaa!..More expansive than any ultra-MK-ULTRA neurotransmittin’ experiment!

While first Jim Hendry and then Bush declined to trade first baseman Carlos Pena, some baseball analysts feel that the unsung (Bryan) LaHair is a better alternative for 2012. He batted .331 with 38 home runs last season and has hit .308 with six homers in 10 games in Venezuela.

“I have a soft spot for guys who hit everywhere they’ve ever been – hit, hit, hit and continue to hit,’’ Epstein said. “There’s this myth ...

At 63, Johnny Bench still not on the bench

Bah, the Blender Era was just so lame. (freebie Coldplay issue did come in handy to yank out me mutt’s hanging strudel)

Q. Speaking of the Hall of Fame, baseball has just come through the era of performance enhancing drugs. Alex Rodriguez has admitted to using steroids, and it’s widely assumed Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens were users as well. Do you consider those guys Hall of Fame worthy?

A. We know a lot of the guys who took some of the juice. You see, I blame it on the ...

Arizona Daily Star: After baseball career, DeWald peaked

Sufferin’ Zurbriggen’s! I don’t recall Terry DeWald.

DeWald played for the Durham Bulls in 1968. “The shower scene in the movie is the same shower we used,” he remembers. A year later he was shipped to Visalia, a Mets affiliate, whereupon he hit .307, smacked 10 homers, stole 18 bases and made the California League All-Star team.

His baseball career came crashing down when (a) he tore up his right knee during spring training, and (b) his comeback was scuttled when a bad-hop ground ball ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-26-2011

AP via Spartanburg Herald, October 27, 1911:

Philadelphia, Oct. 26—Hail! Philadelphia Athletics, Champions of the world for the second successive year.

In an exhibition of batting seldom seen in a premier baseball series, the American league team this afternoon defeated New York in the sixth game of the set by the overwhelming score of 13 to 2…It was more than a mere defeat for the giants [sic], it was a rout.

...

When the game was over that part of the crowd which did not leave the ground ...

2011 WS Game 6…. CHATTER (Weather Permitting)

Rangers (Lewis) at Cardinals (Garcia). FOX. 8:05.

80% chance of Rain.

Rangers lead 3-2.

ESPN: Mike Scioscia talks Mike Napoli trade

Interesting comments by Napoli on his time with the Angels, I don’t recall seeing anything about them when he made them

In August, Napoli told the Dallas Morning News he felt constrained by Scioscia’s high demands on his catchers.

“I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder to see if I was doing things right,” Napoli said. “I had ‘bad hands.’ I was so worried about my setup and the mechanics all the time. I learned a lot. I learned a lot of what I do there, but playing there just ...

Darryl Strawberry says ‘86 New York Mets would defeat ‘98 New York Yankees

Darryl Strawberry has no doubts that the 1986 New York Mets would beat the 1998 New York Yankees.

And if there’s anyone who should know, it’s Strawberry, who played on both championship teams.

“There’s no question. You cannot beat the ‘86 Mets,” Strawberry said Tuesday while appearing on ESPN New York 1050’s “The Michael Kay Show.” “The Yankees teams I played on were great teams with great personalities, but they were good guys. The ‘86 Mets would’ve been drilling those guys; I just know how ...

Whiting: Attitude, lifestyle contributed to Irabu’s demise

There’s some interesting background on his relationship with his biological dad. It’s, of course, a very sad story. I’m quoting the following the section only because I’m a little surprised by the Stottlemyre line. Even when he was going well, I never got the impression that he had incredibly nasty stuff. It makes me wonder, given his poor conditioning and issues with focusing, if Irabu would have had a better career in the majors as a reliever.

The Yankees won their division all three years ...

Allen Barra: Exonerating Bill Buckner

Red Sox fans cried “Curse of the Bambino”—the punishment Boston supposedly merited for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1919—but the focus of the curse that season was Buckner. Yet Buckner did not put the tying runs on base. He didn’t throw the wild pitch that made it 5-5. He did not make the decision to keep his defensive replacement on the bench. Had he made the play, the Red Sox could have lost the game anyway.

When so many others contributed as much or more to the Red Sox ...

Posnanski: Bullpen phones

I cannot text you with a drink in my hand, eh?

Here’s what we know happened. In the eighth inning, with the score tied, Tony La Russa picked up the phone and asked for Marc Rzepczynski to begin warming up. But here’s where it gets tricky. That’s all bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist heard. But La Russa would say afterward that what he actually SAID was that to get Rzepczynski AND Jason Motte working… he then noticed that only Rzepczynski was warming up. He then picked up the phone and called ...

John Lackey to have Tommy John surgery

And when he comes back he’ll throw even uglier!

New Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said today that pitcher John Lackey will have Tommy John surgery and miss the 2012 season.

Lackey had elbow soreness during the season, and recently saw a specialist, Dr. Lewis Yocum.

“John Lackey will go ahead and have Tommy John surgery,” Cherington said during the news conference at which he was introduced as the successor to Theo Epstein, who has left to become president of baseball operations for ...

Robothal: La Russa’s Explanations are Baffling

Pay no attention to the manager behind the curtain…

Bizarre phone activity. Possible cover-ups. Everything but La Russa kneeling in front of a portrait of Connie Mack and praying as his team crumbled.

I’m not about to call La Russa a liar over Bullpen-gate, because I honestly don’t know what the heck happened.

All I know is that I have never heard a more mind-boggling explanation from a manager, and this one came after Game 5 of the World Series, for goodness’ sake.

Genetti: Tim McCarver needs to stop talking

And get back to serious warblin’!

For as long as he’s been teamed up with Joe Buck broadcasting baseball games, he’s been nothing but negative toward the St. Louis Cardinals.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a regular-season game, a postseason matchup or the World Series, McCarver does nothing but point out the faults and errors of the Cardinals and give all the praise to the opposing teams. If the Cardinals do something good or spectacular, he keeps his comments short and still allows a ...

Epstein:  Farewell, Red Sox Nation

This is an impressive piece, and that’s coming from a Yankees fan. 

For the last decade, I gave everything I had to the Red Sox and received even more in return. I grew enormously as a person, had some successes, and made a lot of mistakes, too. I still love the organization, enjoy close relationships with owners John Henry and Tom Werner - as well as a complicated but ultimately productive and rewarding relationship with Larry Lucchino - and count many of my co-workers among my dearest ...

MLB accuses Frank McCourt of ‘looting’ $189 million from Dodgers

For the first time, Major League Baseball put a specific number on the amount it alleges Dodgers owner Frank McCourt took out of the team—$189.16 million—and described the distributions as “looting.”

However, amid the legal and financial fine points of the Dodgers’ bankruptcy, Bryan Stow could emerge as a pivotal face in the case at a critical hearing next week.

Stow won’t be there, of course. But, with his representatives sitting on the official committee of creditors, attorneys for the ...

Doyel: In Moneyball world, Michael Young’s legacy has become fuzzy

In Doy-El’s world…Black Zero Sum Game’s legacy has become even fuzzier!

The older baseball guys love Michael Young. The mainstream media, the grizzled vets, the baseball lifers. They love him. To them, he’s a great player, a clubhouse leader, a potential Hall of Famer.

The younger baseball guys don’t love Michael Young. They don’t hate him, but they don’t love him. They esteem him, nothing more or less. To them—the bloggers, the hipsters, the sabermetricians—Young is a good player, maybe ...

Selig tells Dallas radio station league plans to expand replay

I believe it was medievalist turned roster survivalist, C.S. Leius, that said…“The safest road to NFL hell is the gradual one.”

Commissioner Bud Selig tells a Dallas radio station baseball plans to expand its use of replay, but he says reviewing every close call would hurt the game.

Umpire Ron Kulpa blew a call at first base during St. Louis’ 16-7 victory at Texas in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night, kickstarting the replay debate once again. Baseball currently limits replay use ...