1881

Late reports say Terry Francona is going to insist that Boston either pick up his two option years (starting next year) or release him and that the Red Sox are probably going to do the latter.

Stupid, stupid, stupid if that comes to pass. Not his fault they had injuries. Not his fault Epstein didn’t give him the replacements for those lost players. Not his fault big money free agents like Crawford and John Lackey are not living up to their contracts. Not his fault Red Sox fans have unrealistic expectations (though 70% of the nearly 20,000 votes in a poll on Boston.com think Francona should stay).

I predict that the next guy won’t be as good and the Red Sox won’t win another title for a very long time.

1882

Tough call. I think managers have shelf lives, especially “player managers.” At some point you just lose your authority in the clubhouse, and from the stray comments coming out of Boston it looks like that accelerated this year. I like Francona and wish him well, but I can also see why Epstein et al. wanted to make a change.

The problem is finding someone new. I don’t see any awesome candidates out there. If only Joe Maddon were available…

1883

Maybe they can make a trade for Maddon. Perhaps, Crawford?

1884

The very idea that Francona might be out in Boston blows my mind. From a practical standpoint, who’s available who’ll be better?

Seriously, this is a guy who’s averaged 92 wins a year, beat the Yankees in legendary style and not only brought the franchise its first World Series in a century, but did it again 3 years later. How do you not give this guy a lifetime pass? Can you at least let him hang around until he actually has one losing season?

1885

It amazes me that Torre will have survived longer in a more hostile environment (at least in terms of owner meddling) than Francona will have in Boston.

He should be manager for life.

1886

So the bankruptcy court may appoint a trustee to run the Dodgers. In a nutshell, McCourt lost a lot of ground today and

the judge said he intended “a prompt disposition of the key issues” so that the Dodgers management could “utilize the approaching off season to prepare for the 2012 season.”

With perhaps new management or a trustee. Although I must say that I’m glad that Kershaw, Kemp and Ethier will still be with the team no matter what for next year.

1887

Spilts for September with final results:

Numbers reflect games under/over /.500 for that month

  • r = ranking for that month
  • total = total games over .500 for the season to date
1888

Re: the chart

The headlines for September, obviously, are the big red numbers next to Boston and Atlanta. Both teams could have cruised into the playoffs if they’d just played .500 this month, but two historical collapses knocked both teams out of the postseason.

Best months of the year: +14 (Boston in July, Milwaukee in Aug and Detroit in Sept)

Worst months of the year: -18 (Florida in June), -14 (Seattle in July, Pittsburgh in Aug, Minnesota in both Aug and Sept)

The only 2 teams who didn’t have a single losing month this year: Phillies and Yankees, who finished with the best records in the NL and AL.

On 7 occasions this year, teams had months where they were 10 games or better over .500. Each of the following teams did it once: Phillies, Yankees, Boston, Texas, Detroit, Milwaukee, St Louis, 6 of 7 of whom made the playoffs.

Of the 8 playoff teams, the worst month any of them had was -4, shared by three teams (Detroit in Apr, St Louis in June, Tampa in July).

No playoff team had more than one losing month. Only 9 teams could make that claim this year, and the only one to miss the playoffs were the Angels.

1889

Damon goes deep, 2-0 Rays in the 2nd!

Game is on TBS, if you’re looking for it. I’m not sure what the online deal is, although MLB.com is touting some kind of companion coverage.

1890

LA Times is reporting the Angels GM has resigned.

1891

8-0 Rays. Daaaammn.

1892

So the Francona thing is official. He met with the media and portrayed it as his decision, saying the team “needed a new voice.”

Something I hadn’t heard at all and will surely turn into a news story very fast was a reporter who asked Francona about allegations that players (pitchers) had been drinking in the clubhouse. And Francona didn’t deny it, instead saying he would rather speak in generalities and not start pointing fingers at specific people. If there’s anything to – and it seems like there might be – that story is going to build up a head of steam really quick.

1893

Yeah, there has to be something going on here. Even given the September collapse, Francona’s success and popularity over the past eight years would merit at least one “get out of jail free” card with the Red Sox organization, which makes me think he didn’t press for it.

Really surprised how tepid the Rangers were in the opener against the Rays. Two hits, both by Hamilton?

1894

If anybody sees Scott Cousins walking down the street, could you please do me a favor?

Punch him in the face. I and about 3.4 million other fans (not to mention countless fantasy league players) will thank you.

1895

People are still bitter about Cousins? It was play at the plate, shit happens. The Giants will regroup next year and hopefully improve their offense or else it will be another long season.

1896

And now the Indians first base coach and once popular player Sandy Alomar has been mentioned as a possible for the White Sox manager position. Already the pitching coach (spend more time with family, so who knows) and the bench coach (Parkinson) have resigned, so there are several coaching positions to fill. The pitching coach Tim Belcher in particular is hard loss as previously under performing pitchers tended to well under him, like Justin Masterson.

1897

Jeez, who saw this coming? It’s turned into an absolute monsoon in NYC, so 1 1/2 innings in, they’ve thrown the tarp on the field for what will probably probably be a long delay, and who knows if Verlander and Sabathia will be back. Game 1 may turn into an 8 inning battle of long relievers.

1898

Officially . . . delayed until the normal start time tomorrow? Seems weird, but, that is what they are doing. So they will pick up the game tomorrow with what happened tonight and finish it. Then have game two on Sunday during the day. Kind of messes up the pitching rotations, though. If you are either team do you bring back your pitcher to finish or go with your planned game two starter to finish game one and then bring the game one starter back Sunday? Or is that too early, even though neither one through that many pitches?

Has the potential to really impact the series now either way.

1899

If I understand pitching, the answer is both are gone until they at least 3 days rest, though 4 is more likely. Pitching involves stretching an arm and the rest of the body to an absolute physical maximum. The actual pitch count doesn’t factor in the level of warm up and cool down involved in accomplishing this feat. The Indians had a couple of games broken up by rain delays, and after a certain point starters do not come back in.

1900

Meaning both teams aces are out until game four if they follow this. Like I said, really impacts the series.