http://tinyurl.com/y5nobx

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Don Mattingly will replace Lee Mazzilli as Yankees bench coach, people with knowledge of the situation told Newsday Thursday.

The promotion brings Mattingly one important step closer to the manager's seat and solidifies him as the favorite to be Joe Torre's successor. Torre's contract expires after next season.
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As badly as we need pitching, I can't see paying 15+ million for this guy.

He also has a lot of innings on his arm, including many at a young age. Isn't that the formula for injury?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Fi1VcbpAI

Come on, Tiggers. Can you make it interesting, at least? I hope you lose, 'cause you're cheaters who have tar-nished the game, but I want it to go seven, darn it.

Bridge inspection. You don't do work for the NYDOT do you? Those guys always give us fits when we do bridges up there. BTW, we do prefabricated steel bridges in case you were wondering.

BTW, thanks for the link to that. I have never seen the color footage of the Tacoma Narrows collapse. You are the man, Cliff.

At least you've got a football team...

And I thought RPI had a football team? I bet Alabama does not have a hockey team though. ;)

Being from Hawaii, I didn't realize that. My first day on campus, I got to talking to some football players, and they were telling jokes that had analytic geometry punchlines. I figured I was doomed to flunk out, if even the football players were that smart.

Eventually, I realized they were just ordinary students who happened to play football. It was the hockey team that was there on athletic scholarships.

For the hell of it, I counted 13 or 14 middle relievers out of the top 26 pitchers in K/9 this season (discounting guys who only threw ~20 innings or less).

Dunno if A-Rod would go for it, though. He might like going back home to Florida, I guess.

And I believe we're all mis-stating the name of the fine school located in lovely Troy. Doesn't it go by just Rensselaer now?

randym, just out of curiousity, when did you graduate? I knew quite a few people at RPI when I was at Union.

Happily, the Cards have taken the lead with Mr. Suppan out of the game.

36 Like I said on the other thread, Alex Rodriguez for Dontrelle and Miguel Cabrera is the only trade that makes sense for the Yankees.

37 Yes, it goes by Rensselaer. They paid some high-falutin' consultant $50,000 to help them shed their nerdy image. Said consultant suggested dropping RPI and going with Rensselaer instead.

I graduated back when the Mets were the WS champions. When dinosaurs ruled the earth...

Had they bunted with Edmonds, that basehit would have scored two.

They didn't need a big inning, just to nab the lead and get some insurance, if they were lucky.

Why not bunt with Edmonds?

A bird in the hand...

He'd got Jorgie beat in the baserunning department, that's for sure.

I'd like to build a team of guys who play like him.

I get the sense that their main job is to work on mechanics but what I think is more important is working on approach.

Do they study this?

I'd have him on my team any day of the week.

He'd by the perfect bench player for us.

52 I have no clue. Obviously, they do a lot of scouting, and that must affect their approach. As we so often saw, on those nights when the scouting report said "Swing at the first pitch."

Well, the Tiggers have dug themselves a hole...

Tigers, get thee to the NL and don't come back.

54 I think Eckstein is a good player, but I hate how the media overhypes him. Yes, he's a little guy. Yes, he throws funny. Yes, its clear that hard work rather than talent has gotten him to where he is. But does every other story need to be about Eckstein? And that Holiday Inn award is a joke. The last thing Eckstein is is underappreciated or unknown.

Now, tonight being 4 for 4, he totally deserves the POTG. No overhyping there.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15841412.htm

"But the thing Tigers fans should panic about most is that Tigers hitters are swinging at pretty much everything they see. There was a flyover before Tuesday night's game. Detroit leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson swung at the planes."

Although it looks like he's about to win his second ring, so perhaps the old "Don't-you-want-to-win-the-world-series?" card won't quite resonate with him.

Still, from watching him play against us and from those other times I've seen him, he's really impressed me.

He had some ridiculous at-bat a little while ago, maybe against the Mets? Can't recall, but it was like 15 pitches and it was very impressive.

I think he ended up striking out.

I'm not saying he's Willie Mays, but I think he's a very, very solid player and solidity is sort of hard to come by these days--everyone wants to be a superstar.

Don't yell at any FOX executives, Girardi.

There is also no way Loria would ever approve that deal. Getting the most expensive player in the game, even if the Yanks picked up some of the salary, would kill their argument for a new mostly-taxpayer-financed stadium.

65 "solidity is sort of hard to come by these days--everyone wants to be a superstar."

Recognizing your limits is a good thing, but shouldn't everyone in the big leagues try to be a superstar, ie, give their all and then some? And since when is being a superstar a bad thing?

Or when you strike out with the tying runner on second base in the eigth inning instead of putting the ball in play and allowing the chips to fall where they may.

Or when you think it's beneath you to even learn how to bunt, let alone be called upon to execute one.

The problem, I suppose, is that superstar is defined too narrowly as "home run hitter" and too few fans appreciate complete baseball players so most players apparently have less incentive to become complete players.

That's as it seems to me, anyway.

I just saw that "Dancing with the Stars" has kicked the World Series' butt in the ratings. I love that FOX is suffering. Couldn't happen to a more deserving network.

http://tinyurl.com/y3eh8l

"I went by his house."

I have an image of Sheff on his Mongoose Californian (http://tinyurl.com/yatu4m) pedalling frantically to Steinbrenner's cul-de-sac. So goofy.

It really is a case of a misleading headline creating false expectations as to content. You didn't miss much and there certainly isn't anything new in there.

Not that I expect it to get that far.

You know, even though I predicted the NL didn't have a chance, I don't mind the Cards winning. But does it have to be Jeff Weaver? :-P

http://www.iaaf.org/antidoping/news/Kind=2/newsId=23876.html

The bit about how quickly he felt recovered, after 200 miles no less, also struck me. A pitcher like Rogers, or Clemens even, could do wonders with EPO as they hit the seventh inning.

Damn...any bets until how long it takes for the HGH/EPO stories to hit the fan?

"It was maddening to see skiers I knew to be playing fair, guys who trained their hearts out with little financial reward, lose to the cheaters."

Imagine what it must feel like to be a clean baseball player competing against cheaters for a spot on the roster. Assuming there is such a thing as clean player. The pressure to juice must be intense.

The author of the article found the improvement so significant that he didn't need his glasses when he was on HGH.

95 There is no scientific research that states that HGH improves the eyesight. A lot of the alleged benefits of PEDs are nothing more than myths that doctors and athletes spread among themselves to justify their cheating.

FWIW, the author of the article said he wouldn't touch steroids again unless it was medically necessary. He didn't like EPO, either, because it had unpleasant side effects for him. But he would use HGH if he could afford it, because it helped his vision so much.

I think the vision thing could be real. That's how side effects are usually discovered: they're reported by the users.

I've never heard that steroids improve vision, BTW.

The Sultan of ...er, Hustle, I guess.

Start at 3?

And looks like Pujols may finally see a pitch.

Nauseating.

My kind of player.

http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/10/the_unit_price.html

"In a way, one could say that Randy Johnson cost the Yankees Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, Randy Choate, Brad Halsey, Dioner Navarro and $41 million.

Here's the question: Based on what Randy Johnson has done for the Yankees in the last two years, and what we can expect from Johnson in 2007, was it worth it?"

That would be a "no," at least from my POV. :-P

It's wasn't pretty, but it was a nice way to break in the new stadium.

I thought I was over our loss but now watching them celebrate, I realize I'm just a tad bit bitter.

Not very magnanimous I admit, but that's how I feel.

And I guess it is nice that they won in front of the home crowd.

I feel sorry for the Detroit fans, though. Not much good news coming out of Michigan lately, except the Tigers.