Notes From All Over

1.) Ozzie wants a bullpen, stat (bottom of the article). I couldn't agree more; I harped on this several times throughout the year, but the bullpen was one of the biggest reasons that the White Sox weren't better. The starting pitching over-performed a year ago, and underperformed this year for stretches. Teams can survive that (*ahem - Twins*) if the bullpen is doing its job. Part of the problem, however, is not fixable if the White Sox insist on using Bobby Jenks as a closer. He had an ERA of 4.00 and a WHIP of 1.39. Yes, he picked up 41 saves and only blew 4, but he pitched terribly down the stretch in crunch time, and with an ERA that high he was lucky to only blow 4 saves. Of course, the White Sox aren't going to remove Jenks from that role, because he sure does look succesful with those 41 shiny saves. I think that's a mistake.

2.) Frank Robinson, manager of the Nationals, is already gone. Joe Girardi and Dusty Baker should officially be let go later today or tomorrow. Discussions are underway in Texas about letting Bucky Showalter go. The Phillies are considering axing Charlie Manuel. Felipe Alou could be out of a job in San Francisco. Makes you appreciate Ron Gardenhire all the more when you realize that these guys are getting canned for not being able to do what Gardenhire has routinely done over the first 5 years of his managerial career - getting to the playoffs.

3.) I'm sick of Billy Beane. He's had success at the end of the regular season, and he's been creative in making deals. But in this article, he essentially says "who cares about the post-season, it's all a crap shoot anyway." Now, he's right in some respects - baseball is a flukey sport, and especially in a five game series you have no idea what's going to happen. But to say it doesn't matter, and that you're content just to get in? Sounds to me like somebody who's never built a team that made it into the second round.

4.) The A's are pretty happy with their bullpen, just like the Twins. Could be an interesting matchup, if the Twins can force the Oakland starters to throw a lot of pitches and leave the game after 5 or 6 innings.

5.) SportsNation (from ESPN) loves the Twins. With 7,378 votes as of this morning, the Twins are favored 80%-20% to win the series, and Ron Gardenhire gets some love, as he's favored over Ken Macha as the more desirable manager, 83.8%-17.2%. There are some other interesting questions mixed in, but the bottom line is that the Twins seem to have caught the fancy of the masses, much as they did when they first came back from oblivion in the 2001-2002 years. Living in Pittsburgh then, I was astonished at how many Twins hats and shirts I would see when I went to Pirates games. But really, what's not to love about this team? We're lucky to be Twins fans!