The committee met for the first time on Thursday, January 14th. Prior to the initial meeting, this is what the commissioner had to say about the committee,

“I’ve encouraged this group to be very blunt. I want these people to discuss anything they want,” Selig said after meeting with the general managers and his executive council on Wednesday. “To synthesize these things I’ve had [Cardinals manager] Tony La Russa and [Braves president] John Schuerholz put together an agenda that has a wide variety of things on it. So we’ll find out how extensive this is tomorrow.”

It is also manned by three other managers, three other people in team management, four former and present GM’s and MLB consultant and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, plus renowned columnist George Will (per the MLB.com article by Barry M. Bloom last Wednesday).

Here’s another snipet from that article with quotes from Mr. Selig and the listing of the other committee members:

“There will be no sacred cows,” Selig told MLB.com last week.

The four managers on the committee are La Russa, Jim Leyland of the Tigers, Joe Torre of the Dodgers, and Mike Scioscia of the Angels.

From the GM ranks is Schuerholz of the Braves, Andy MacPhail of the Orioles, Mark Shapiro of the Indians, and Terry Ryan, the former GM of the Twins.

Among the owner representatives is Chuck Armstrong, president of the Mariners; Paul Beeston, president of the Blue Jays; Bill DeWitt, chairman of the Cardinals; and Dave Montgomery, president of the Phillies.

“This is an extraordinary committee,” Selig said.

It’s an extraordinary assembly of baseball people, but I’m not sure I’d say it’s an extraordinary committee just yet. I have heard that on the agenda is instant replay and scheduling of the World Series moving forward. Instant replay is on the agenda due to the frequent amount of blown calls this past post-season. Rescheduling the post season is, I believe, an attempt to get the fall classic out of November. There are too many off days and it has been claimed to have broken many a team’s momentum over the past few years since the last change in scheduling.

Personally, I like the idea of both of these topics as both could use some tweaking or expanding. I also think that they should revise the regular season schedule to a less division heavy leaning. Baseball currently has inter-division teams playing 18/19 times against each other, but I’d be all in favor of knocking that down to 14/15 and adding more games from other divisions that teams don’t currently see as often.

What do you all think should also be on the agenda? Also, if you have heard or read anything about the first meeting please add the link to it in the comments section below.

Thanks…

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I listen to local sports talk radio when I’m driving around town, and recently the host interviewed a writer (I missed his name) for mlb.com discussing the post-season format – number of games, how many games each series should be, that sort of thing.  He talked about why the World Series starts on a Wednesday, and how MLB is tied to that start based on the way the scheduling is done.

Which, of course, got me thinking.  Is Baseball really tied to the playoff schedule as currently constructed, with no way to modify?  Could they change the scheduling to get a World Series Game 1 on a Saturday, and a Game 7 on a Sunday?

Current scheduling looks something like this.  The LDS start on a Wednesday/Thursday, and run for a week max (2 games, day off, 3 games).  There’s one scheduled off-day between rounds.  The LCS starts on a Thursday/Friday, and runs for a max of 10 days (2 games, day off, 2 games, day off, game, day off, 2 games). Again, there’s one scheduled off-day before the World Series starts.  The Fall Classic, then, starts on a Wednesday and uses the same 10 day schedule as the LCS.

To modify this schedule and get World Series Game 1 moved to a Sunday, we must shorten the LDS/LCS time frames by 4 days.   Here’s one way to do it:

1. Make each LDS play on the same schedule. Baseball is all about revenue these days, so they try very hard to have a game in prime time every night during the post season.  However, if baseball wants the biggest audiences for their marquee event, they need to make sure Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are played on the weekend.  By shortening the LDS round from 7 days to 6, they start moving to that format.  Besides, the odd off-day aside, there are 15 games played per day from 1 April to 5 October. Teams get used to playing on consecutive days, why does MLB insist on changing this aspect for the playoffs? Having 4 games a day during the LDS round will bring the playoffs back in line with the regular season.

2. Get rid of the off-days between Games 4 and 5. This is a recent, as in the last few years, development. I think, at this point, even the players and the Commissioner’s office are in favor of losing this off-day.  It disrupts the flow of the series and takes away from the action.  Say a series is tied 2-2.  There’s already enough tension in the series, and everyone knows the winner of Game 5 will be the heavy favorite to win the series (given they have two chances to clinch). Why make the players and the fans wait an extra day to play this crucial game?  Just play.

With these modifications, the LDS starts on a Wednesday and ends on a Monday.  The LCS starts on a Wednesday and ends on a Thursday.  The World Series would then start on a Saturday and end on a Sunday.

MLB isn’t stuck with the schedule as is.  MLB could change the post-season schedule any time they wanted to get the World Series over two weekends.  They just choose not to.

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1. Alex Rodriguez: After the Yankees won the World Series, A-Rod looked to be the happiest player of all, and with good reason. After all the questions over whether he would have yet another disappointing October, Rodriguez had a postseason for the ages. He led the team in postseason hitting with a .365 batting average and an incredible .500 on-base percentage.  He hit six homers – two of them in extra innings to tie the game – and drove in 18 runs. While he didn’t officially win an MVP title, A-Rod really was the Yankees most valuable player in the postseason.

2. Joe Girardi: The Yankee manager sure didn’t play it safe. He went with a three-man, short-rest rotation in the playoffs. Because Jose Molina and A.J. Burnett had a better rapport than the pitcher had with All-Star catcher Jorge Posada, he kept the Molina-Burnett batter together, even though it cost him offensively. And he benched Nick Swisher for Jerry Hairston Jr. when the right fielder was struggling. All these moves opened himself up to media criticism. But Girardi had the last laugh. Even though his moves didn’t always work out – like his bullpen machinations in Anaheim – the Yankee manager wasn’t afraid to be bold. Now #27 will have to change his uniform number.

3. CC Sabathia: Simply put, CC is the biggest Yankee postseason pitching sensation since the days of Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez. He went 3-1 in the playoffs, with a minuscule 1.98 ERA. Without CC to rely on as the Game 1 and 4 starter, it’s doubtful the Yankees would have succeeded this fall. Only blemish on Sabathia’s postseason record was his inability to get out Chase Utley; three of the four homers Sabathia gave up in the playoffs were to Utley.

4. Derek Jeter: The Yankee shortstop continued his consistent postseason greatness, hitting .344, including three homers. He also made critical defense plays. For many fans, Jeter is the team’s face of October (and November). Critics said that the Yankees wouldn’t win with such an ancient player at shortstop (Jeter is 35.) So much for that notion.

5. Johnny Damon: Damon stealing two bases – on one play – against Brad Lidge and the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series may have been the most critical play in that series. Thanks to Damon’s two-base dash, the Yankees gained a critical advantage in the series, and won the game one hit later, giving them a commanding 3-1 series lead.

6. Mariano Rivera: The greatest closer of all time continued his October dominance. Seven out of eight postseason closers this year failed at least once, helping to cost their team a chance at a title. The only closer to succeed every time? Mariano Rivera. And he did all this with a rib cage injury. Remarkable.

7. Andy Pettitte: Pettitte went 4-0, and won the clinching games in the ALDS, ALCS, and the World Series. Not bad for somebody who nearly didn’t get the chance to be a Yankee this year – Pettitte had turned down the Yankees’ original $11M contract offer, and ended up having to settle for an incentive-laden deal.

8. Hideki Matsui: The World Series MVP won those honors despite only starting half the games. The DH may have played his last game as a Yankee, but his six-RBI performance in Game 6 will be remembered long after he is gone. Overall, he hit .349 in the postseason. Not too shabby.

9. A.J. Burnett: Burnett’s brilliant performance against Pedro Martinez in Game 2 of the World Series – one run and nine strikeouts over seven innings – might have been the best-pitched game for the Yankees this postseason. He also pitched well in Game 2 of the ALDS and the ALCS. While Burnett wasn’t perfect in the playoffs – he got knocked out in the third inning of Game 5 of the World Series, and he stumbled in the first inning of ALCS Game 5 – he still did provide some postseason dominance.

10. Damaso Marte: He might have been the least likely postseason star. Most Yankee fans didn’t even want to see Marte on the postseason roster. Yet the lefty reliever, who had a very disappointing, injury-riddled regular season, was the Yankees’ second-most reliable arm in the bullpen after Rivera. Marte was the Yanks’ best lefty specialist in the postseason since Graeme Lloyd in the 1996 World Series.

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So, when interviewers asked Yankees manager Joe Girardi where he was going after managing the NY Yankees to their 27th World Series Championship, did he say he would be going to Disneyland? Maybe he did, I don’t know because being a Red Sox fan I didn’t keep the TV on long enough to find out!

But, what happened hours after the historic win has propelled my respect for Joe Girardi the man.

While driving home on the Cross County Parkway in Eastchester after hours of celebration of their latest victory Girardi risked his life to help someone in need. Here’s a snippet of the Boston Heralrd.com article, “Joe Girardi a hero when helping victim of car crash after World Series“.

In the article, the Herald uses reports from The Journal-News also quoted Sgt. Thomas McGurn as saying Girardi put himself at risk in leaving his car to dash across a busy roadway near a “notorious” blind curve.

“He could’ve gotten killed,” said McGurn, quoted from the report received by the newspaper. “Traffic goes by at 80 mph.”

Girardi felt he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. “Obviously, there’s a lot of joy in what we do, but we can’t forget our obligation as human beings.”

Please click the link above to read the whole Boston Herald.com story.

What we need in baseball is for stories like these to be as newsworthy as the whole steroids issue, marital disputes, et al. To bring a little balance to the face of the game we love.

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As the popular 1981 Journey song from their hit recording Escape reminds us to “Don’t Stop Believin’” I also found out that the song was adopted by the 2005 Chicago White Sox when they were in that year’s Fall Classic. Wikipedia also has the following story regarding the song’s connection to baseball.

In 2008, in a tight battle for first place with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers began to play “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the middle of the 8th inning at all of their home games. Subsequently, the song has been played at Dodger home games throughout the 2009 season, much to the chagrin of Steve Perry, a self-proclaimed San Francisco Giants fan.

If you don’t trust wikipedia (some people don’t), feel free to read “Perry’s 8th-inning Journey” by SF Chronicle’s staff writer, Henry Schulman.

Image via Wikipedia

Now, in the 2009 World Series, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley and the rest of the Phillies are singin’ this song too…or at least the ought to be. Utley has now tied Mr. October Reggie Jackson (a Philadelphia native) for the most Home runs in the World Series and Cliff Lee has won both of his games pitched (games 1 and 5). He has been worth his weight in gold and is making Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. look like a genius after the mid-season trade the brought Lee to Philadelphia in place of Doc Halliday who wound up staying in Toronto.

So now the series is heading back to NY for game 6 and if Pedro Martinez has anything to say about it, game 7, too! He will be opposed by Pettitte and Pedro is just the type of player that could pull it off. So sending this to game 7 is very doable, but NOT easy. Pettitte is no push over, especially in the playoffs. But can he do it on short rest?

There is a question I have for Phillies manager Charlie Manuel though. Last night, why take out CF Shane Victorino before the start of the 8th inning? I understand that he got hit in the hand and had to get X-Rayed, but there were no broken bones found (we were told) and this IS the World Series after all. He has 3 whole months to recover from the injury AFTER this week’s games.

Don’t get me wrong, Yankees manager Joe Girardi has had his share of hiccups in this series, too. His handling of the bullpen earlier in the series and his decision to have Burnett pitch on three days rest last night even though he has a history of arm/shoulder problems.

I guess after all is said and done, seeing is beLEEving and I expect to see Lee play a significant role if this series goes to a game 7.

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For those of who who are not excited about this year’s Fall Classic between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, think it over for a minute…and while you’re at it read this snippet from Adam Becker’s article over at Baseball Reflections called, “Get Over It!“. After you read it, I’m betting that you will feel differently. Now, here’s that snippet:

The beauty of this year’s Series is that those of us that don’t have a rooting interest, can sit back, relax, and watch the past two AL CY Young award winners duel in Game 1, Pedro Martinez take another crack at the Yankees in Game 2, the greatest closer of all-time hurling once again in October, and winners of a total of five MVP’s in the past 6 years……not to mention post-season legends Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, and 3-time defending Silver Slugger Chase Utley.

After I read this snippet, my reaction was just…WOW!

BUT, before we dive into my prediction, let’s take a quick look at how these two teams got here from the League Championship Series.

NLCS — The Philadelphia Phillies vs. The Los Angeles Dodgers

The bottom line in this series is that the Dodgers pitching which was so dominant against Cardinals simply couldn’t keep series MVP Ryan Howard and the rest of the Phillies power line up at bay. In the end, the combo of the dominant pitching of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez and their potent offense  was just more than this Dodger team could handle. This will be the franchise’s 7th trip to the World Series.

ALCS — The New York Yankees vs. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

I honestly don’t know if it was more the dominant play of CC Sabathia and A-Rod or the uncharacteristically hideous Angel defense, which coughed up 8 errors, that sent the Yankees to their 40th World Series appearance. After all, the Yankees committed 3 errors of their own. To be honest, the Yankees didn’t impress me in this series! With the way the Angels were playing this series should have ended quicker. Then again, maybe the Angels were able to take it to 6 games due to the intangibles like their desire to win it for Adenhart. Who knows?

My Prediction for the 2009 Fall Classic

For the first time in as long as I can remember we have as even of a match up as is possible. The Phillies are NOT your typical National League team! Yes they can play small ball and run, but that’s just a part of their game. They are also a power-filled line up much like your above average American League team and much like the Yankees themselves.

This series has the potential to be an instant classic if only given the chance. This match up is THAT good!

Both starting rotations have their question marks after the former Cy Young Award winning Indians take the mound tonight. Will the Yankees still show themselves as Pedro Martinez’s “daddy” as he claimed when he was with the Red Sox? Will A.J. Burnett be caught by Posada or Molina? Which Cole Hamels will we see in game 3 against Andy Pettitte? Likewise, which version of closer Brad Lidge will we see? He will need to be the Lidge we saw in all of 2008 to match Rivera “the great”! And will A-Rod continue his uncharacteristic hot hitting in the post-season?

Will all of the drama, hype and All Stars in this series I for one would be disappointed if it didn’t go 6 or 7 games!

But when the last team is standing, I expect them to be wearing the “red” pinstripes of the Philadelphia Phillies! If for no other reason that I believe that they can dent the armor of Rivera, although not by much, but more importantly I just think they are the better team all around. Plus, winning the Fall Classic last year as opposed nine years ago is an advantage in the Phillies corner

What do you all think? Let your voice be heard!

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With the Philadelphia Phillies heading to their second consecutive trip to the World Series, here are a few tributes to the late, Great Harry Kalas: A Phillies Legend!

This first one is presented to you by Comcast…

This one is the Harry Kalas tribute video 4/17/09 Citizens Bank Park…

This one is slower with snap shots of Harry the K put to a slow march, very fitting…

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For those of us that are not Yankees or Phillies fans, perhaps we should simply put our disappointments and jealousies aside and enjoy what should truly be a Fall Classic.

Believe me, as a lifetime Mets fan, I am as unhappy as anyone that I have to sit through another World Series featuring “The Evil Empire”. If that’s not enough of a kick in the keister, the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Mets “rival du jour”, create an impossible rooting situation for most Mets faithful.

I have some advice for my Mets brethren, not to mention all of Red Sox Nation, and any other fans still sobbing about what might have been. Get over it!

If you are truly a baseball enthusiast, then you can swallow your pride for a week or so, and enjoy watching the two best teams in baseball. No other matchup could possibly have offered more of a marquis atmosphere.

The 2009 World Series will feature a collection of players that possess a truckload of in-season and post-season hardware. This batch of MVP’s, CY Young award winners, Gold Glovers, past Series champions, and future Hall of Famers is spectacular. There is not a single significant accomplishment that has not been, or will not be achieved by this group.

I suppose a reunion with Joe Torre would have been cute for New Yorkers to talk about for a few days. A “Freeway Series” would have been electrifying…..for the handful of Californians that would choose baseball over Kobe this time of year.

The beauty of this year’s Series is that those of us that don’t have a rooting interest, can sit back, relax, and watch the past two AL CY Young award winners duel in Game 1, Pedro Martinez take another crack at the Yankees in Game 2, the greatest closer of all-time hurling once again in October, and winners of a total of five MVP’s in the past 6 years……not to mention post-season legends Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, and 3-time defending Silver Slugger Chase Utley.

As for my personal rooting dilemma, I will stick to my guns and root against the Yankees….as always. If it’s too difficult to watch another celebration by either the Yankees of the Phillies, there is another alternative…..the opening of Michael Jackson’s “This is It” film.

I didn’t think so.

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In tribute of the Great Harry Kalas!

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