Papi and Manny, pleased to meet you.

Terry Francona -- with however much help from his coaches and Theo Epstein -- puts together the smartest lineup in baseball. (Eric Wedge doesn't do a bad job either.) When your on-base guys are high in the order, more runs go onto the board.

Unless you're the Yankees, with slugging to burn, that's how you have to do it. Maybe even then.

Barry, Dave,

Great job as always. Keep up the fantastick work!

Hey, Manny and Papi: Please be gentle with us.

Yay, a chat doubleheader!!

Fave para from the AL Notebook: "The umpire was full of [expletive]," Steinbrenner said. "He won't umpire our games anymore." Froemming was working the left field line Sunday night for Game 3. . . .

I know you guys are busy but I am dying for some actual Nationals-related news.

thanks

I'm with Natlanta -- I'd like some Nats news, if there is any to impart.

Is there anything to this Glavine rumor?

Anything new on the Dunn front (somehow the Angels power outage makes it seem like there might be a bidding war we can't win...)?

What about the President of the Scott Rolen fan club -- is Carpenter going to be feigning interest in the Nats next year? (One thing I note: Chip Caray may actually be as bad if not worse than Carpenter. Chip's pro-Yankees' bent in calling the ALDS is more than mildly annoying. "ARod got a single!!! Woo Hoo!! Give him another 20 million!!!" Makes me wonder if ol' Chip is auditioning for the YES network -- he's already done half the glory train ride with the Braves and Cubs -- could the Yanks and/or Sox be far behind for him?)

You guys are doing a great job giving playoff coverage from a Nat fans' perspective though. I thought I was the only one thinking of Macier Izturis as the price you pay for Jose Guillen.

St. Barry -

Allow me to offer an angle for your pre-series coverage of the NLCS.

If the Tribe wins the series versus the Evil Empire, then the Final 4 will all be teams that employed D'Backs GM Josh Byrnes, who was born and raised in DC. Pretty heady stuff.

Add to that the following:

1. Byrnes is a DC Native who was an All-IAC baseball player St. Albans before setting records at Haverford College.

2. Byrnes started as a minimum wage intern for the Indians in '94 only to be laid off sue to the strike. He was rehired when the strike was over.

3. Byrnes was the Indians advance scout during their heyday in the 90s and ended up as their Director of Scouting before moving to Colorado.

4. Byrnes has a ring from his time as Asst. GM with the 2004 Red Sox.

5. Looking at your statistic regarding the bottom (presumed) Final 4 payrolls, Byrnes helps draft or acquire, sign and develop the players who comprise much of the Final 4 teams, including:

Francis
Sabathia
Buchholz
Papelbon
Affeldt
Hawpe
Atkins
Pedroia
Ellsbury
Spilborghs
Salazar
Sullivan
Baker
Young
Upton

Pretty compelling, no?

While we love the Riz here in DC after the 20 for 20 draft for the Nats and the revitalization of the famr system, it seems pretty clear that Byrnes' impact on the Final 4 and his DC roots is worthy of a feature story.

Enjoy the dry heat v. mountain cool series.

Further proof that Barry would not survive covering baseball in his native land. It's just too dangerous. When Dan Shaughnessy got bratty in The Globe and Theo Epstein quit, a visibly frightened Dan appeared amidst all of the death threats and subscription cancellations. Sut when it comes to Joe orre, Barry is saying, "Fire the beloved manager." Dave is saying, "No, don't!" If Barry does this in The Hub City, he will be invited to a Broonz game, after which he will be taken out just like in a George Higgins novel.

Steinbrenner: "[Froemming] won't umpire our games anymore."

Yo Georgie: You may own Joe Torre, but you don't own all of MLB. Chill.

Better suggestion from John Sterling last night: If they make it back to Cleveland and it happens again, Torre should pull the team off the field for the ten or twenty minutes that it takes for the midgefestation to play out.

So, of course, should Eric Wedge if it happens in the top of the inning. This sort of pestilence can be over in half an inning -- and if it was, there may be some merit to the Yankees' claim to have been disadvantaged, although life couldn't have been much easier for the Cleveland hitters and base runners than for Chamberlain on the mound.

"Chip's pro-Yankees' bent in calling the ALDS is more than mildly annoying. 'ARod got a single!!! Woo Hoo!! Give him another 20 million!!!'"

While I didn't hear the call, my Chip Caray snark detector is pegged on that one. (It may be that my Ray snark detector needs recalibration.)

Yay, Snarky Barry is back!

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(This is the void of baseball that will now be filled by Redskins coverage, no doubt, as they are 3-1 and undoubtedly headed to the Super Bowl.)

I second WebberDC's motion. Besides the DC-home-boy angle, Post readers will be interested in a view on how well, with Rizzo and Garagiola gone, Byrnes is positioned to carry on their legacy.

My take is that, given his experience, he's positioned quite well. But I'd like to hear Barry's or Dave's take.

BTW Nick Piecoro did a feature in the Arizona Republic last week, but it was mostly on Rizzo and Garagiola. A feature on Byrnes in the Post would be something like belling the cat.

Re. midge infestationd, last night Jon Miller had an anecdote involving the O's, the Browns, and Bill Veeck (who else?). After the bugs swarmed the O's pitcher, Veeck jokingly claimed responsibility, saying that he had trained the bugs and kept them in a jar until just the right moment...

From Bill Conlon in The Inquirer on Charie Manuel's pulling Kyle Kendrick for Kyle Lohse in Game 2 when up 3-2 in the 4th with 2 outs, and Lohse serving up a grand-slam to the light-hitting Kaz Matsui:
"I want my ashes scattered in a place as quiet as the Money Pit became while Matsui scampered around the bases for a team that has now won 16 of its last 17 games.
A lone voice seared through the sudden stillness of a hot October afternoon that had turned the gray shade of winter. "Idiot!" the leather-lunged fan thundered."

Speaking of which, has Boz stopped writing about baseball entirely? You know, it is pretty ironic that during the season when the Nats were playing, Boz focused his columns on other teams because they supposedly had "more compelling" stories. Now, once some of those other teams are playing for it all and the stories *are* compelling, Boz is writing columns about....the Redskins? I mean, come on.

On the other hand, Barry, you and Sheinin have been great and very entertaining. Thanks for the fine writing and reporting.
_____________________

Yay, Snarky Barry is back!

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(This is the void of baseball that will now be filled by Redskins coverage, no doubt, as they are 3-1 and undoubtedly headed to the Super Bowl.)

Posted by: John in Mpls | October 8, 2007 10:19 AM

Barry,

When are we going to hear about which coaches have been retained? Its been more than a week since they said they were going to announce it.

Echoing comments about Boswell - why is he writing about football when the baseball playoffs are going on? He's much better on baseball

Why is Boswell writing about the Redskins now and not baseball? Because the Post must have not one but two columnists devoted to the Redskins for each and every one of their games. For years, it was Kornheiser and Wilbon. Then Kornheiser left, and it was Wilbon and Wise. Now (actually it started last season) Wilbon has quit doing the Redskins game columns, and apparently Boswell drew the short straw and now has to do them along with Wise. He's done every preseason game and every regular season Redskins game so far this year. You mean you just now noticed?

Oh, I forgot to add that I take the "glass half full" view about Boswell writing about the Redskins. At least he's not writing about the Orioles!

Huh?

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A feature on Byrnes in the Post would be something like belling the cat.
Posted by: Hendo | October 8, 2007 11:15 AM

In re my remark that "A feature on Byrnes in the Post would be something like belling the cat," cevansjr replies "Huh?"

To wit, in that the Post, the paper from out of town (albeit from Byrnes' native town) can surely do a better job of profiling Byrnes than what the Arizona Republic has essayed so far.

Rereading my comment, the metaphor I chose makes it sound as though I'm subconsciously projecting Byrnes into an office on South Capitol Street some day. Well... a bit hasty, a bit wishful, but I wouldn't say no.

Hi 419, I like football too. I like when football is covered in the paper too. I don't mind sharing. I don't even mind if, the day after an extremely well-played game, Boswell decides to write a column about it.

I don't even mind if a team that has been here for 80 years gets more coverage than a team that has been here for three.

How is that not fair again?

On WCBS, Yankees play-by-play announcer John Sterling gives ungrudging props to the Tribe for getting out to a big lead, dwelling not at all on Wang's complete lack of command.

Should Yankee fans salute Sterling's sportsmanship, or run him out of town on a rail?

506 asks "How is that not fair again?"

I don't recall saying that it's not fair, 506. Boswell writes about the Redskins because it's his assigned job at the Post. Whether he likes it or not, I don't know. Whether he'd choose to do it if he wasn't assigned to, I don't know. He covers the Redskins because it's football saeason and that's his job. Someone asked why he's covering the Redskins now instead of the baseball playoffs. I explained why. I never said if I thought it was fair or unfair. I just said that at least he's not writing about the Orioles. Had to get some snark in there somewhere, y'know....

Boz wrote quite the obituary for the Yankees this morning. Off with his head!

Hard to say, Hendo. I'm working too hard trying to stay awake listening to him drone onnnnnn and onnnnnnn about obvious [stuff].
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Should Yankee fans salute Sterling's sportsmanship, or run him out of town on a rail?
Posted by: Hendo | October 8, 2007 08:32 PM

Hendo, thanks, but I'm still lost. How is the Post writing about Byrnes "like belling the cat," i.e., an impossible-to-effect solution (or, in contemporary usage, a spectacularly audacious act)? Hence, "huh?"
At first I thought you were referencing Barry's post: "Ramirez: Interesting cat. I saw him pour buckets of liquid on Theo Epstein and Mike Lowell, having tons of fun in the clubhouse afterward" but I couldn't make that make sense, either.

and, off the point, but have you ever read the AZ Republic? It's all advertising -- this blog has more reporting in it than the Republic.

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... the Post, the paper from out of town (albeit from Byrnes' native town) can surely do a better job of profiling Byrnes than what the Arizona Republic has essayed so far.
Posted by: Hendo | October 8, 2007 07:01 PM