Too Funny

I know MLB has loose rules about jewelry and accessories like arm-bands as long as they are not distracting, but this is ridiculous.

I got that link off the Soxaholix website and they have some hysterical coverage of the now infamous feminine slap.

Then the so-called greatest franchise in all of sports gets A-Rod and they proceed to play out the greatest choke in the history of the game punctuated by that flailing white gloved sissiness and underlined by the screaming Jeter trying to convince the world A-Rod was really safe. My God that's fucking embarrassing.

Go check out the entire post, good stuff as always.

Only a Boston Fan

This is too funny. Some people will give up anything for a ticket to a World Series game at Fenway.

F*** my wife for red sox tickets. - mw4m - 33

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: anon-46339611@craigslist.org
Date: 2004-10-21, 3:34PM EDT

if anyone is willing to give up 2 red sox world series tickets, game 1 or 2, i will let you fuck my wife. she: 27, blond, blue, nice boobs, tight. serious only please this is no joke

this is in or around Westboro
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

46339611

Any takers?

Red Sox & Yankees Hangover

This was an comment from one of my previous posts about the Sox and Yankees series:

Ahh the frustration of the red sox fans, continually beaten down by loss. Curt Schilling is learning a lesson of humility. He choked Tuesday, because of his public insult. This put too much pressure on himself. There is no curse. Only a team choke. The Red Sox have a formidable team, if only they could learn the exemplary professionalism of the Yankees.

Pedro has learned the lesson of humility FINALLY, I doubt we will see as much arrogance as we have in the past. He still should not have made the comment that he can only do so much for the team, that they had to score more. This was obvious and he should not have said it, bad for team chemistry. These are the things the Red Sox need to learn before they can stand up to the Yankees.

--
Posted by Rick J to The Metropolitans at 10/15/2004 03:33:49 PM

I guess the exemplary professionalism is when A-Rod tried to girlie bitch slap the ball out of Arroyo's glove. Funny how he speaks of the Schilling choking too. As far as learning a lesson of humility, I think the Yankees may have learned some as well. Now I don't think Rick was saying anything that bad, but the this is the reason that I have contempt for Yankee fans. They exhibit extreme arrogance at times because the root for a team that has more money than anyone else and wildly spends it instead of constructing a team intelligently. The Journal News touches upon this topic and it is something that I've echoed a few times. The Yankees get too much credit for being a team that is so great at picking talent, running the team, and spending money wisely. For every good move they have there is Hidiki Arabu, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Raul Mondesi, Kenny Lofton, Jason Giambi, Steve Karsay, Chris Hammond, Drew Henson, etc. They spend to band-aid up the holes and mistakes. If the Yankees get Beltran next year, they will have two DH's and they will be making a ton of money. Giambi does not figure into playing first base anymore if he even plays a large part in the team at all. He's due $11.0M in 2005, $18.0M in 2006, $21.0M in 2007, and $21.0M in 2008 with a $5.0M buyout in 2009. Bernie Williams is due $12.0 M next year and a $3.5 million dollar buyout in 2006. Any other team would be absolutely crippled with those two players, but the Yankees will spend, spend, spend to cover up their colossal mistakes with more colossal contracts. They paid $7.5 million into their 2004 bullpen in players that did not even pitch for them in Chris Hammond and Steve Karsay. They had a need so they spent $6.5 million in Gordon and Quantrill to anchor the bullpen. That is basically $13.5 million on two middle relievers. Intelligence? Hardly. The last time the Yankees won the World Series was in 2000 and that was a team that resembled a normal baseball team. You had Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Brosius, Derek Jeter, Ricky Ledee, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Shane Spencer, and David Justice. That was a team that had role players and was not a collection off All-Stars making $10M + per year. That was a team that was intelligently put together. These days they teams they assemble are a joke. Taking the most expensive contracts and mistakes teams are trying to rid themselves from and overpaying for everyone on the free agent market does not take many brains.

Bill Simmons does a great job describing Yankee fans:

It wasn't just that the Yankees always win. It was everything else that came with it -- the petty barbs, the condescending remarks, the general sense of superiority from a fan base that derives a disproportionate amount of self-esteem from the success of their baseball team. I didn't care that they kept winning as much as they were a-holes about it. Not all of them. Most of them.

This loss is not going to do anything to change that. But they will have their day soon enough. They are team that is only going to get older with unmovable contracts on their hands and overpaid players clogging holes in their lineup. Now that day may not be coming soon, but it will be coming.

* * *

The List:Bliss for Yankee Haters

#5 is particularly funny because of one young and wet behind the ears Alex Rodriguez celebrating with Edgar Martinez.

Joel Sherman is at it again while outlining some guys for the Yankees to improve their staff with. Some of things he says are completely laughable.

3. Eric Milton. The best young free agent southpaw starter (ignore the combustible Odalis Perez). The homers against are worrisome, but he has some postseason success, a Yankee pedigree and if Beltran is in center Milton will have someone who can track long flyballs.

The homeruns are worrisome? The guy gave up 43 homeruns in 34 games while posting a 4.75 ERA. I would have to say worrisome is not the right adjective for that. Try horrifying. If that is an improvement to the staff somehow, go ahead. The 'combustible' Odalis Perez is a much better pickup than Milton.

4. Billy Wagner. The Yanks need a lefty reliever and why stop at anything short of the best? How about Jon Lieber and Kenny Lofton for Wagner? Lieber ($8 million option that should be picked up) is going to be real good next year coming off a strong postseason and another season removed from Tommy John surgery. Wagner ($9 million) would enable the Yanks to more comfortably deal Gordon.

Bill Wagner? What a great idea! Except the Phillies picked up his option because they wanted to keep him while picking up Felix Rodriguez's option to keep their solid bullpen together. They still have Tim Worrell and their pen is still a strength of the team. The most ridiculous idea is that he wants to trade Lofton and Leiber for Wagner...WHAT!!!! Sherman should really not drink in the morning, the Phillies would not make the deal in a million years.

Paul Sullivan suggests that the Cubs tade Sammy Sosa for Kevin Brown. He says that Sosa could be their DH in 2005. Only problem is, the Yankees already have two DH's in Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams. But hey, it would not be the Yankees without a few guys making over $10M sitting on the bench. How do these people make this stuff up?

The miracle run is over for the Astros. They were downed by the Cardinals in game seven and Fat Boy was sent packing. I guess the big questions for the Astros begin today as they will attempt to bring back the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Carlos Beltran. I am pulling for MacLane to be able to retain both of them. They will still have some young solid players in Lidge, Oswalt, Hernandez, Miller, Berkman, and Lane to build around and if they can keep Beltran too, they would be formidable for years to come. They still have a another good year or two from Pettite (if he can get healthy), Bagwell, and Biggio. The Cardinals move on to face the BoSox on Saturday and the Sox will be sending Tim Wakefield to the hill vs. Woody Williams. Wakefield the game #1 starter for the BoSox? I actually like it. The ball thing will be fluttering all over the place and the Cardinals will not be used to it. The Red Sox could steal game #1 with their 5th starter. I'm feeling good about the Red Sox ending their World Series drought this year.

Is it just me or does Kevin Brown look like he is actually puking?

Monumental Collapse

How could a team with the highest payroll in history of organized sports succumb to a team when they have a 3-0 lead in the ALCS? Easy, the Red Sox have a lot of heart to go with a talented team. They just flat out looked liked they wanted it more. Johnny Damon saved every single hit and RBI for last night because he exploded with a grand slam and a two run homer. The Sox did not give up and scrapped out a series that will be regarded as one of the best ever. This was not exactly David vs. Goliath being that the Red Sox have a $130,000,000 payroll, but they were still about $50,000,000 less than the Yankees. They suffered a thwarting defeat and we can finally stop listening to Yankee fans spew things like the curse lives and hopefully 1918 if the Red Sox can pull out a World Series victory. One negative to everything is that I am now forced to listen to smug Yankee fans talk about how they want to Beltran, Pedro, Pavano, etc. and be sore losers about the loss. I’m not sure what is worse, a Yankee fan winning and being annoying about it or them telling everyone how great the Yankees are in spite of the defeat. Some are actually ripping Met fans in my office because they are relishing in the joy of the Yankees getting downed and asking when the Mets last played in October. It was actually this year since the regular season goes into October, but who can be tied down with measly details. You can bet that Steinbrenner is going to crack the $200,000,000 mark next year and is fuming over this meltdown. They built the most expensive team in the history of sports and forgot to put together a decent starting rotation. Javier Vazquez was regarded as one of the best young pitchers in the league and now he was relegated to mop up roles in the playoffs. One has to wonder if he is at all too happy that he signed a contract extension with them. Derek Lowe came up huge last night and with only two days rest and pitched an economical game throwing 69 pitches in six innings giving up only one hit. What Lowe did was just renew interest in him and the word in the papers is that Baltimore is eyeing him up for their 2005 rotation. It would be tough to pick an MVP between D-Lowe and Big Papi, so the reality is, they should be co-MVPs. Both of there were tremendous and were the definition of clutch. It is also somewhat satisfying after listening to the talk radio people speak of how the Yankees were God's gift to the world after being up 3-0 and saying there was no chance the Red Sox could come back and Boston were a bunch of chokers. There were optimistic fans calling up and saying Boston had a shot, and they were torn down. I have a renewed faith in miracles after watching the Yankees choke more than the star of Deepthroat and I'm thinking that maybe I can actually somehow get Anna Kournikova to marry me. Just a great finish to the ALCS and now we move on to the NLCS game seven after another great extra inning game won on a 12th inning Jim Edmunds homerun. So far the playoffs have been entertaining and Mr. Selig has to be happy about it. The prospect of two Wild Card teams meeting in the World Series speaks volumes on the importance of one of the best changes ever to the game in adding Wild Cards. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I do not believe two Wild Card teams every met in the World Series and I am certainly pulling for it. I think it would be a great to see it because Houston's miracle run just to make the playoffs is certainly a great story and they have never been in World Series while the Red Sox are a great story for obvious reasons.

Anyone care to wonder what Nomar is thinking right about now?

* * *

FINALLY!! Willie Randolph will interview with Omar Minaya to be skipper of the other NY team. We can stop reading on how he is the front runner despite not interviewing and have some credence behind the things we actually read and hear. Newsday still says that the job is his for the taking with a good interview. The curious thing about that is the fact that they were not enamored with him the first time, and he is somehow a slam dunk if he is mildly competent?

XM Satellite Radio has signed a deal that will bring every single Major League radio broadcast right to everyone's home. I already have XM so I'm pretty excited about this. I think it is a great thing and people that are Mets fans in other states will have the pleasure of listening to WFAN's broadcast of the game.

If Javier Vazquez is made available and the Yankees are willing to eat some of that contract, do you think the Mets should jump on him? After his performance this year and in the post season the Boss may just be looking to get rid of him so he will not have to look at him. Shit, I’ll take the entire damn salary if they take Stanton’s entire four million. They need left handed reliever anyway, right?

Desperation

"When I saw blood dripping though the sock and he's giving us
seven innings in Yankee Stadium, that was storybook," Boston first
baseman Kevin Millar said.

"We just did something that has never been done yet,"
Schilling said. "It ain't over yet. It ain't over by any stretch
against this team and this organization."
-Curt Schilling

The Red Sox made history by becoming the first Major League Baseball team to come back from a 3-0 deficit to force a game seven. Curt Schilling's performance was one for the ages. He came out and pitched with his a dislocated ankle tendon being held down by three sutures and basically dominated the game. He went seven strong innings giving up only four hits and one run and notched a Red Sox victory. The umpiring crew was working overtime by making two horrible calls and having meeting to overturn them and rightfully so. Alex Rodriguez proved what type of scum he was in eighth inning by slapping the ball (a very girlie slap at that) out of Bronson Arroyo's glove as he was trying to tag him out. Initially, Rodriguez was called safe, but it was eventually overturned. Fine, Alex did it, and they caught him, it should have ended there. But Rodriguez and Torre pleaded and carried on for way too long on something that was so blatantly done it was tasteless and ridiculous. Torre tried to say the baseline was obstructed, but it does not matter since A-Rod was not in it anyway. You tried to cheat, and you did not get away with it, so deal with it. Don't cry about it and carry on. The fans then threw debris on the field because there is no way A-Rod would pull a desperate move like that to try and win the game from the surging Red Sox. Whatever happened to trying to beat a team within the confines of rules like real men? For once in my lifetime the Yankees are not getting every call in the playoffs. Too bad. The Yankees are reeling and you can see it in the faces. They almost look helpless and their bats have gone into hibernation for the last three games. Game seven's pitching match up of Derek Lowe vs. Kevin Brown is not the marquee match up that everyone would like, but this one should be interesting. Can D-Blowe match his game four performance? The bottom line is that the Red Sox need their bats to wake up. They have not put up a substantial amount of runs, outside of the game they had gotten blown out, against suspect pitching. Tonight is going to be an intense game with a lot of emotion and hopefully A-Rod can refrain himself from flailing like a woman in fruitless effort to cheat the Yankees into the World Series. No class was exhibited by the A-Rod yesterday and I cannot think of one person (well maybe Giambi) less deserving of World Series title. And Yes, I would have said the same thing had A-Rod been on the Red Sox. The guy signs a contract that would take up about 25-30% of his team's payroll in Texas and wonders why the suck. I was truly disgusted by the crybaby display by Rodriguez.

"What he did was completely unprofessional, and really hurt his team," said Boston's Kevin Millar. "It was an unprofessional play and he knows that. He has to brush his teeth and look at himself in the mirror in the morning."

(Kevin's remark was based on the assumption that Alex brushes his teeth. I do however have my doubts on Alex's personal hygiene habits but I do think he frequently looks at himself in the mirror.)

The pressure is on the Yankees and not the Red Sox tonight. If the Red Sox lose, they were supposed too. The curse coupled with the fact the Yankees are their daddy was just to much for the Red Sox to take. They were down 3-0 so it was a cute little feat that they even got this far. However, the Yankees on the other hand with all their mystique, the highest payroll in the history of professional sports, and a 3-0 lead, which has never been relinquished in the history of major league, would be quite a story if they lost. Make no mistake, the Yankees have all the pressure in the world on their shoulders and Steinbrenner breathing down their back with the prospect of a Red Sox celebration on Yankee turn after coming back from a 3-0 deficit.

* * *

"I think it's safe to say that [there] will probably be somebody in place after the World Series," GM Omar Minaya said yesterday.

Reports continue to swirl that Willie Randolph is the favorite and all he has to do is do well in the interview. I've stated this before and I'll state it again. Why? If he is the right man, so be it, hire the guy. But outside of being a 3rd base coach for a long time, what makes him qualified? Sitting next too Joe Torre for a year? Torre sits on the bench and rarely moves. He writes the lineup card and sits down for nine innings. The only time he gets up is to call in Quantrill, Gordon, or Rivera from the bullpen. Nowhere have a read anything that actually backs up the reason Randolph is the favorite with any other credentials besides the fact that he was a 3rd base coach on the Yankees with the exception from this year. On top of that, he is reported to be mild mannered. Now, I'm not asking for Larry Bowa, but a guy with a bit a fire would be nice. I don't want Bobby V. back, but he was a happy medium of a fiery guy who was not a lunatic. So I ask, someone please tell me why Randolph is qualified for the job? Joe Torre certainly thinks he has what it takes.

"I certainly would like to see him get the opportunity. I think credential-wise, especially the fact that he's done it here in New York, certainly qualifies him as a viable candidate in my mind." said Joe Torre

Rudy was a hitting coach for over a decade and was a manager a long time ago. I consider the hitting coach to be much more important than a third base and he has a track record with some strong testimonials from his former players. People have mentioned that he was a hitting coach in a hitter’s park, so the results would be positive, but he has worked with a lot of young players that have went on to become accomplished hitters. The papers are my only sources of info on either of these guys and the case has been overwhelmingly in Jaramillo's favor. He supposedly nailed his interview but is not the frontrunner? Am I missing something?

Petition to Remove McCarver

If you are as disgusted and annoyed as I am that people are forced to listed to Tim McCarver if they watch the playoffs on Fox, stop by and sign this petition.

To the president of Fox Sports,

We respectfully ask you to remove Tim McCarver from your postseason Major League Baseball coverage. Aside from McCarver's obvious bias towards one major league team in particular (and a perennial postseason contender, at that), his color commentary is vapid and devoid of any insight and analysis that would add value to Fox's postseason broadcasts. We believe he does a disservice to the millions of fans who cannot attend postseason games, as well as tarnishing the reputation of Fox Sports. Please see to it that McCarver is replaced by one of the many fine color analysts available who can offer real value to the fans and to Fox Sports. Thank you.

I came across it while perusing the Soxaholix and I whole heartedly agree that this is a worthy cause. Al Leiter who is unfortunate enough to broadcast with him has to endure painful of hours of non-sense while the Senator himself offers insightful comments and adds value to the program. It is not as if there is dearth of broadcasting talent. Fox sticks four people in the booth at a time and there are plenty of people that would do a better job than McCarver who for some reason is highly regarded enough by Fox to give him this cushy gig. Besides his clearly apparent crush on Jeter's crotch and anything to do with pinstripes, he is flat out horrible. Our very own Gary Cohen runs rings around this guy. It may not be fair to compare Cohen with McCarver since Gary is as good as anyone in the business, but when the playoffs are on, am I wrong to think that the cream of the crop should be calling the games when the most people are actually watching the games? I do not have huge problem with Buck, Brennaman, and Lyons who are their other main broadcasters, but McCarver needs to go and go quickly. I really cannot fault Deion Sanders for giving him a bath back in 1992. Deion may not have be right, but there are not many that can tolerate Tim McCarver and one cannot be expected to be able to quell their disdain for Timmy boy.

Stop by AmIAnnoying.com to check out to see McCarver's page there. Over the past few years, the results have been rather strong to back up the case that McCarver is just not the man for the job.

In 2003, Out of 2559 Votes: 69.91% Annoying
In 2002, Out of 2066 Votes: 70.96% Annoying
In 2001, Out of 4736 Votes: 61.91% Annoying

In 2004, 74.41% of the people that stopped by have found him annoying.

Who can argue with the public? They have spoken and now it is time for Fox to listen.

You Gotta Believe

I'm officially lending You Gotta Believe to the Red Sox. Last year it was Cowboy Up and they always use Reverse the Curse, but they just do not cut it. I have no idea what it is this year, but if Kevin Millar made it up, it probably stinks. Last night they had Believe written everywhere in the clubhouse so they might as well take the entire thing, I'm sure Tug would not mind. The Red Sox have staved off a celebration on their home turf and made this series a bit more interesting. Just when it looked like they were rolling over and playing dead, Big Papi had the game winning hit in extra innings two nights in a row. Yesterday's game started at five, at which time I went home from work. Then I got home, did some stuff while I was watching the game, then I went out to eat. At eight o'clock, I went to the movies and the game was still on and the the Astros vs. Cardinals game had just started. At about 10:30 I got home from the movies and the game was still freakin' on. The game took nearly six hours to finish and was the longest a playoff game has ever taken in terms of time. The Astros game finished a half hour after the Red Sox game despite starting three hours later. Now Curt Schilling and his magic booty are coming out to pitch game six in dramatic fashion if the weather can hold out. Can the Red Sox win two games in row from the Yankees? Definitely. However improbable of a run that this would be for the Red Sox, it is not impossible. Throw out the series being 3-2 in favor of the Yankees and look at these two final games. The Red Sox, if Schilling's magic boot is really magic, have the clear advantage over the Yankees in game six. Leiber has shut down the Red Sox recently and I just cannot believe that streak will continue. Game seven gets dicey for all. The Red Sox will have used all five of their starters in three days in row. Who would be available for game seven? Arroyo only pitched one inning on Monday and Derek Lowe would be on extremely short rest so one would assume they would combine to try and give a solid combined outing and as always, the knuckerballer can go seven days a week. The Yankees will be throwing Vazquez or Brown out on the hill for game seven and I'm not sure who would be willing to bet the farm on either of them to win that game. As far as I'm concerned, as long as Big Papi and ManRam are in the lineup and Curt is going to gut out game number six, You Gotta Believe.

* * *

Terry Collins will be the third managerial candidate to meet with Omar Minaya. I think we all believe that Mr. Collins has no shot at this job.

This is an awfully strange rumor:

Beltran is represented by Scott Boras, but recent reports have suggested he may be ready to cut ties with the powerful Boras.

Raise your hand if you thought Houston had a shot after being down 2-0 to the Cardinals. Maybe this is the year for unbelievable comebacks and two huge upsets.

No Major League Contracts

As if there were not enough reasons to not give a newly drafted player a major league contract unless they utterly and completely deserve one, there is another reason that no one has really touched upon. One more reason that the Mets should not offer Phil Humber a major league contract is the fact that it takes a spot on the 40 man roster.

Beyond the financial reasons, teams don't like to offer Major League deals to draft picks because the player immediately takes up a spot on the organization's 40-man roster, a spot the team could otherwise use on another prospect to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

Jaime Cerda was given away to the Royals for Shawn Sedlacek to make room on the 40 man roster and Lenny Dinardo was lost to the Red Sox via the rule 5 draft because the Mets had no room on their 40 man roster to protect him. Eventually I believe the Mets will award him a major league contract and the Mets may lose someone that could have some value because of it. Phil Humber may not be far away from contributing on the major league level, but he will need some time in the minor leagues and that time is usually when a rookie is not on the 40 man roster. Also, this causes a major league team to bring up a player as fast as possible. The Mets may feel pressured to move Humber along faster than they should because of his major league contract and because of that Humber may arrive sooner than he should be and may not be prepared when he arrives. Is he good enough? I guess the Mets will decide that for themselves.

* * *

Willie Randolph will most likely interview for the Mets managerial opening on Wednesday. Joe Torre continues to run his mouth on the skepticism of the legitimacy of the interview.

"And now sitting on the bench and getting a little more of a feel of the workings in that area I think can only enhance his chances, if as they say, if the interview is for real and if they're seriously considering him.

"I think he's ready for it. I know he's looking forward to the interview and hopefully it works out for him."

If as they say this interview if for real? C'mon Joe, time to keep your mouth shut. Joe Torre thinks it is his God give right to speak about things that do not concern him. Willie is certainly lucky that a major league team in interested in his services. The last I heard he did not have any other interviews set up for manager of any other ballclubs this year. Instead of being greatful of this opportunity being presented to one of his friends, Joe Torre continues to be cynic about this entire ordeal. Maybe I am just naive, but if the Mets wanted to fill their quota of interviewing an African-American candidate to comply with major league's rules then they would not bother him while he is in the middle of the playoffs. I do believe that Minaya would exhibit a bit more class than that. I've also mentioned before that could have interviewed Don Baylor if they were just looking to satisfy some major league criteria when conducting a search for a manager. Willie is a legitimate a candidate for this New York Mets job so lets have some quiet from the peanut gallery.

So the Red Sox have prolonged this painful series by winning in dramatic fashion last night. Not getting swept is definitely a good thing for Boston, but who has much faith in Pedro winning this game today? Even if he does, then it goes to Bronson Arroyo vs. Jon Leiber and then Tim Wakefield vs. Kevin Brown. Not many inspriring pitchers for either side. Only Schilling hobbling to the mound would give me renewed sense of hope in this series. Many Bostonians will be suffering through work with a hangover today but they will not have too long to wait for game #5 because it will be taking place at 5:10 today. Does anyone outside Boston think they are going to make history?

Carlos Beltran is probably pricing himself off of every team's wish list. Now that Carlos is 'October tested' he will be the object of Stenbrenner's affection. Beltran is completely tearing the cover off the ball and despite the fact that offense is not their priority, the Yankees are just going to make a huge push for him.

In the NLCS, he's hitting .538 (7-for-13) and slugging 1.538. Since the postseason began, he's hitting .486 (17-for-35) and slugging 1.257, with 17 runs scored, one shy of Barry Bonds' record for most in a single postseason. When Beltran has put the ball in play in this postseason, he has spewed out more extra-base hits (11) than outs (10).

As of now he is tied with Barry Bonds for the most homers in one postseason with eight. I'm guessing he is going to break that record with one more game.

The Frontrunner

According to NJ.com, Willie Randolph is the front runner despite not even interviewing yet. The article also mentions that the Mets plan to give him the resources necessary to succeed.

If he does get the job, the plan is for the Mets to surround him with a solid coaching staff that includes Rick Peterson as pitching coach and would hopefully include Jaramillo as hitting coach. Jaramillo said yesterday that if he doesn't get the manager's job, he would prefer to return to Texas as the Rangers hitting coach, but that could change.

This statement about Jaramillo possibly being the hitting coach is rather muddled now since the Post is saying that the Rangers only have given him permission to interview for the managerial job and no other.

Meanwhile, The Post has learned that the permission the Rangers granted to the Mets to speak to Jaramillo is good only to hire him as manager and not hitting coach, according to one source familiar with the negotiations. That revelation obviously makes it less likely that the Mets would be able to hire the highly-regarded Jaramillo in any capacity other than manager.

This kind of puts pressure onto the managerial situation because it is all or nothing with Rudy if this is true. I guess Omar has some tough decisions to make in the next week and Rudy's value to the club as a manger and hitting guru have to be weighed. If the Mets higher Randolph then they lose the value add that Jaramillo brings being an accomplished hitting coach and bi-lingual manager. Although I admit I have no idea who would be more qualified for the job knowing only what I read about the two in the reputable NY papers, but it seems on the surface that Jaramillo brings more pluses to the table.

From the Post:
Though Jaramillo's only managing experience is at the Rookie League level (where Minaya was his coach), he's said to be a commanding, in-your-face kind of guy. And when when he talks, people listen.

At least he does have managerial experience which Randolph does not have. Also, he is a guy that people actually listen too and that seems like what this team needs. Howe lost the players ears a long time ago.

* * *

Some interesting Carl Pavano news.

Count the Indians among teams that could make a run at the Marlins Carl Pavano this winter. They have made signing a rotation-topping starter their top winter priority.

They have a good young team and a good young rotation, they have the money to do it and it would sure be a coup if they can pick up arguably the best available starter.

Carlos Beltran is one homerun away from tying Barry Bond's record for homeruns in a post season with eight.