Free At Last

Dodger pitcher Joe Ely thanks owner Frank McCourt for going away.

Major League Baseball and Dodgers owner Frank McCourt released a joint announcement that McCourt would allow the team to be sold.

Three bags and an error

The friendless grifter and former Boston parking lot magnate filed for bankruptcy protection in June and finalized a divorce agreement with wife Jamie in August.  A new idiot or group of idiots is expected to take possession of the team before spring training.

Volunteers stand by to help pack or drive McCourt, his sycophant children, and wishfully the Kardashians to the airport.

Tony LaRussa Calls It A Career

St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa announced he would retire, ending a 33-year managerial career that places him third all-time in wins behind Connie Mack and John McGraw.

"Enough of the phone jokes!"

He leaves behind a stunning resume, winning over 500 games with three different teams, winning a World Series title in both the National and American Leagues, and managing more games than any other manager, save Connie Mack.

On another day we might have thrown in snide asides regarding his affiliation with accused steroid-users, his DUI, his dyed hair, his OCD managerial style, his lawyer-esque dialogue, and his overall tendency to just roll his burrito a little too tight.  However, if we ever meet his daughter Bianca, cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders, we'd like to have as pleasant a conversation as possible.

Sports Illustrated Strikes Again

On Sunday night, SI.com published a report that the New York Yankees had offered CC Sabathia an improved contract extension but that the lefty would opt out and seek other offers in the free agent market. The story was picked up by The Sporting News and other sports news outlets.

On Monday night, CC Sabathia announced he would accept the extra year and $30M, keeping him in Gotham through 2015 with an option for 2016.

SI.com could not be reached for comment.

And Gee Willakers

From 10.5 games out of the post-season race in the last week of August, the St. Louis Cardinals completed their ridiculous comeback by winning Game 7 of the World Series, 6-2, over the Texas Rangers.  It is the 11th for the franchise and the first since 2006.

Ready to go Robin Ventura on somebody

It looked like another grinder as the teams were tied 2-2 through the first couple of innings when Ron Washington took a page from the Tony LaRussa playbook and went to the bullpen early to remove Matt Harrison after four innings and three runs.  The Cardinals looked invigorated by Thursday night's improbable win while the Rangers, who had not lost two consecutive games since August, picked an unfortunate time to run out of gas.  They got their two runs early off Chris Carpenter, who started rough but quickly dialed in and found his groove, and from then on the Rangers were not much of a threat.

Texas bbq, St. Louis style

Lance Berkman, Allen Craig, and David Freese all had a World Series you would expect Albert Pujols to have, but for his contract negotiations, regardless where they take him, he needed this World Series win the most.  After slow starts the last couple of years because of injuries, Pujols's stock has slowed, if not flatlined.  A great player to be sure, the favorite of hack broadcasters who insist on handicapping early Hall of Fame votes, but for all his years only one championship ring.  Statistics are wonderful toys and even with his prodigious talent Pujols was still one ring behind Manny Rodriguez, whom nobody is extolling for class.  Teammate David Freese took MVP for both NLCS and World Series and arguably Chris Carpenter, Lance Berkman, or Allen Craig deserved the WS MVP just as much if not more.  But that puts Pujols not into even the top four performers for the Cardinals, and though his presence alone is problematic enough for the opposing team, it is not a lock that his play is consistently dominant as the talking heads would have you believe.  Mariano Rivera is continually posted as a can't fail, but even if that were true his team still didn't get past the first round.

"Rzepczinski?"

So now that nobody on the St. Louis side remembers the bullpen telephone incident, it's on to the off-season to enjoy a hard-earned trophy and to ponder what this team will look like next year, specifically LaRussa and Pujols.  For the Rangers, it will be the echo of "one strike away" for the winter months, hoping CC Sabathia opts out of his Yankee contract, wondering how their bank-vault closing pitching could let the big prize slip away, not just once in the same game, but the two final games. 

And the even bigger question, how do you face Nolan Ryan?

Golly

O'er the land of the Freese

The superlatives have all been taken, the cliches de-mothballed and paraded about, the dead horses brought out and beaten again, the comparisons all deepened with another re-etching. 

Yes, same guy

1975, 1991, 1986, look in record books, go through your ticket stubs, file through the memory bank, pick one, pick any.  2011 World Series Game 6 will stand as a worthy rival for craziest, wildest, ugliest, worst, nuttiest, awesomest Series game of all time.



Not the reason, but not helpful

Box scores, highlights, the written paragraph, none of that will help you understand the game if you didn't see it.  The sloppy defensive play was not to be believed.  Every home run, every lead change was apparently the back-breaker.  The managers were running out of maneuvers.  Twenty-seven outs wasn't enough to decide it.

Oh, sorry, pardon me...

The theme for the game will be "one strike away."  The Rangers could have, should have, put it away twice with two out and two strikes.  The Cardinals shouldn't have been here anyway, so to have two strikes with two out on two separate at-bats in an elimination game was to them like having lunch at noon.  St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa rode the razor's edge of brilliance and catastrophe, the difference of course riding on David Freese's 11th-inning walk-off homer.  Ron Washington had who he wanted where he wanted them, but the players have to play the game.  An infielder has to field his position, a closer has to make his pitches.  Even LaRussa, in his quietest moments between games, has to acknowledge that as fact.

Not clutch

Heroes and goats lined up to have their credentials punched -- Michael Young committed two fielding errors and Matt Holliday and Freese committed one each.  Nelson Cruz appeared to have misplayed Freese's triple in the 9th inning.  Josh Hamilton appeared to put the game to rest.  Lance Berkman was clutch.  Albert Pujols let his presence do the work. 



If you haven't seen the game, find a way to do so.  If you weren't available or had no interest in a midwest and Texas series, redeem yourself and find that someone who has it on tivo or MLB.tv archives or somewhere you can return to the rails of historic baseball.


Nolan Ryan's Facebook status

Exciting Game 6's have a tendency to belie a pedestrian Game 7, but if the 2011 post-season continues in its current state, Friday night's game will be no slouch.

Eric Karros Looks Like Mayhem

Wha ?

St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa explained in a post-game press conference that crowd noise caused bullpen personnel to not hear his requests for reliever Jason Motte, not once, but twice, resulting in a mismatch with Mike Napoli, a tie-breaking double, and ultimately a loss in Game 5 of the World Series.

"Is that my phone or yours?"

LaRussa claimed that in his first call to the bullpen he asked for Motte and Rzepczinski and eventually brought Rzepczinski to face David Murphy, whose double-play grounder ricocheted off Rzepczinski's hand to become a bases-loading single.  LaRussa said he again called bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist to get his closer throwing, and seeing that Motte was not throwing, left Rzepczinski in to throw to Napoli and the rest will now be history.

We're not sure what to make of this.  LaRussa took full responsibility for the mix up, admitting that he should have actually looked to see who was warming up in the bullpen.  He guessed that the crowd noise was sufficient to make phone conversation difficult. 

"One ringy-dingy..."

Having never managed a World Series game, we are loath to second-guess only the second manager to win World Series in both leagues, but if after the first time your directive to get a pitcher up was not followed, wouldn't you double check to make sure after you called the second time?  And since you had been to a World Series before, wouldn't you anticipate home crowd noise and other visitors' hazards?

"Can I what...?"

We have not heard from the bullpen coach and nobody had directly contradicted LaRussa's story, but it sounds somehow not quite right.  LaRussa had earlier declared Rzepczinski not available, so would anyone answering the bullpen phone get Rzepczinski throwing without question?  Why not send someone down to the bullpen to make sure Motte was warming up after the first botch-up?  And considering what a control-freak LaRussa is he seemed very not angry about such a colossal disaster that cost him Game 5 and quite possibly the Series.  It seems ludicrous to think LaRussa was making up a story to cover up a bad pitching choice; then again, just the Cardinals being in this year's World Series seemed ludicrous six weeks ago, but here we are.  Don't even get us started with Albert Pujols supposedly calling for a steal during his at-bat which resulted in a game-ending strike-em-out throw-em-out double play.

"Can you hold?  My other shoe is ringing"

Many observers have found the joke in this story with equipment that was invented when the National League was born, why couldn't they text, has nobody not heard of a cell phone, etc., but the problem wasn't with hardware or technology, it was the personnel using it.  Somebody screwed something up and LaRussa is handling it like a lawyer.

It's a wacky post-season.  Texas Rangers owner Nolan Ryan may have been right in his prediction of victory in six games.  Stay tuned.