December 7, 2005

He doesn’t play one in real life. And this, my friends, is real life. It is now, anyway.

You know the old saying. "Opinions are like bleepholes. Everybody’s got one." My recent support of the Dodgers has surprised a few people; especially since I was ripping management a new one pretty much straight through May, June, July, August and September.

Like I said last week; the Dodgers, having hit bottom days before Paul DePodesta’s firing, are on the way back up. I wanted Jim Tracy jettisoned, with DePodesta right behind him to start the offseason, and I got both.

Now the club has a better general manager in Ned Colletti, and a skipper who'll be just fine in Grady Little.

So, Little’s not Orel Hershiser. He’s not Jim Fregosi either, thank you very much. Any poor schlub can manage the Xs and Os. Sure, Tracy was a tad puzzled by the bunt thing, and Tommy Lasorda was the last guy on earth to come to the conclusion that Todd Worrell couldn’t close games, two innings per outing.

Managers have their peculiarities. Jim Leyland smokes in the dugout. Fred Clarke, Roger Craig, Connie Mack, Billy Martin and Bill Terry had two first names. Miller Huggins had two last names. Pete Rose had bad hair and that other problem, Lou Piniella liked to heave the occasional base, and Bruce Bochy’s needed eyelid lifting surgery for a decade.

Little made a pitching change mistake. He missed one bleeping yank (pun intended). One decision out of thousands. BFD. Enough already. He’s thoroughly qualified. Next.

Crazy Little Thing Called Glove: Let’s get something straight right now. Rafael Furcal is a great shortstop. He's a great shortstop. The prototype, OK. Textbook. “The Dodgers Way to Play Baseball,” remember. I don’t care how much money he makes. I'll pay an extra quarter for a cold hot dog to watch the man play; 50 cents if they actually cook the damn thing. Serious props to Colletti for this one…

The Catch: In what is becoming an unsightly trend, the New York Mets have cornered the market on L.A.’s favorite son catchers. A little reciprocity, please.

With future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza and fan favorite Paul Lo Duca going east, and, shall we say, stretch-of-the-imagination Hall of Famers Todd Hundley and Jason Phillips going west, Los Angeles has more than made up for taking its National League franchise from the Big Apple. Make that, taking its only franchise from the Big Apple...

Credit Where Credit is Due: In case you missed our predictions for 2005, we were right on the nose with at least this one one: “Anna Benson will get more ink than husband Kris...and score more often.”

Credit Where Credit is Due, Part Deux: Oh btw, BaseballSavvy.com doesn’t plagiarize, we attribute. The “Weekend at Bernie’s” line came direct from Fort Myers, FL, courtesy of reader Mike L. That’s Mike in Fort Myers. You da man, Mike. Thanks for the keen observation. Ned Colletti absolutely looks like the “Weekend at Bernie’s” dude. Totally…

Angels? Don’t care. Except, this Hector Carrasco signing. A fine arm and a credit to the game. Bill Stoneman knows what he’s doing. Always. But c’mon, Carrasco is 36, and he’s started six games out of 562. He’s not going to start 30 for California in 2006…

In anticipation of the BaseballSavvy.com year-in-review issue (that’s, our anticipation, not yours), here’s a preview.

Forget the World Baseball Classic. Like, that matters. Announcing BaseballSavvy.com's All Two First Names Major League Baseball Team (known in most households simply as ATFNMLBT). Here is the 2006 roster: Mike Cameron, Stephen Drew, Brian Giles, Tom Gordon, Kevin Howard, Jeff Kent, Travis Lee, John Lester, Matt Morris, Juan Pierre and Luke Scott.

For more obvious reasons than can be stated in this small space, J.D. Drew doesn’t qualify. Plus, “J.D.” isn’t a first name…

The main squeeze starts her new job this morning. Let’s all wish the main squeeze the best of luck. Love and kisses, sweetness…

Talkback: Please send us your comments. If they’re reasonably coherent, we’ll post them uncensored for all the world to see…

Statue for Sandy: The Koufax in bronze campaign continues, so please scroll down to the photo below and vote yes on 32…

Remember, glove conquers all....