Farmer Ted

Thanks, Johnny. Standing O well deserved. Gotta love the striped unis.

Oh, the smug looks on those Missouri hicks in the stands got me steamed last night. Mow 'em down Johnny.

Old Style, Offical brew of the Cubs. You'd think if they couldn't get a major label beer as a sponsor, they'd at least get a local brew. Old Style Beer G. Heileman Brewing Company PO BOX 739 Milwaukee, WI 53201 Goose Island. Drink local.

Bad: Ted's internal clock is now on playoff time.

The Sun-Times says it's done. Cubs finalize deal to make Piniella manager Cubs ready to introduce Piniella as manager October 16, 2006 BY CHRIS DE LUCA Staff Reporter The Cubs finalized a deal making Lou Piniella their new manager today, agreeing on a three-year contract believed to be worth at least $4 million annually. According to team and industry sources, Piniella is expected to be introduced at a news conference Tuesday. Formal negotiations with Piniella's Chicago-based agent, Alan Nero, began Sunday, the day after the veteran manager's duties as a Fox analyst ended with the conclusion of the American League Championship Series. ''I think we'll be ready to announce something in the next couple of days,'' Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said Sunday night. ''I've been very pleased with how this process has gone.'' Piniella, 63, was tops on Hendry's wish list long before the process began. Hendry's decision was apparently made on Friday, after he had concluded his most serious interviews with Piniella, former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi and Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly. Sources say Piniella's people knew on Friday they had won the derby. San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy was identified as the No. 2 candidate if talks with Piniella fell through. Though Bochy had been granted permission from Padres CEO Sandy Alderson to interview with the Cubs, Hendry never made a formal request. He backed off when it was clear the sought-after Piniella had the Cubs at the top of his own wish list. ''Listen, I'm not interested in managing just to say I'm a major-league manager,'' Piniella told the Sun-Times over the weekend during the ALCS in Detroit. ''I'm looking for an opportunity to win.'' The feeling in Piniella's camp is the Cubs have the resources -- with a payroll expected to jump to the $115 million range -- and some key core players, such as first baseman Derrek Lee, third baseman Aramis Ramirez, All-Star pitcher Carlos Zambrano and catcher Michael Barrett, to make a serious run in a potentially weak National League Central. Hendry's next major task is locking up Ramirez, who has the right to file for free agency after the World Series. Hendry has been working on a three- or four-year extension that would keep Ramirez off the market. Those talks, however, have been derailed by the managerial search. ''I hope to move that back to the front burner this week,'' Hendry said. Hiring Piniella might mean the return of pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who's not a fan favorite because he has presided over a largely ineffective and injury-prone staff the last three seasons. But Rothschild, who worked with Piniella in Cincinnati, has the respect of Hendry and the Cubs' pitching staff. The Cubs officially cut ties with manager Dusty Baker and his coaching staff two weeks ago today, after the Cubs finished with a 66-96 record that left them in last place in the NL Central. Baker spent the previous four years with the Cubs, taking them to the NLCS in 2003. That run was followed by three highly disappointing seasons marked by injuries. Hiring a manager has been tops on Hendry's to-do list, and he has worked nonstop in the process since the day Baker was let go. At one point, Girardi -- the former Cubs catcher and team captain -- emerged as the favorite, especially after it appeared Piniella might be headed to the New York Yankees to replace Joe Torre. Though new team president John McDonough preferred Girardi, Tribune Co. bosses made it clear this was Hendry's decision to make. The Piniella hire is a clear sign Hendry is making the key baseball decisions. The GM has two years left on his contract, but a poor showing in 2007 likely will mean the end of his run with the Cubs. The mandate from Cubs bosses is to win a World Series by next season. That means Hendry couldn't afford to do anything but aim high. Since July, Piniella had been identified as the most attractive managerial candidate on the market. Piniella has a 1,519-1,420 record during a 19-year managerial career that began in 1986 with the Yankees. He moved on to the Cincinnati Reds and won the 1990 World Series his first year on the job. He managed the Seattle Mariners and won the AL Manager of the Year Award in 1995 and 2001, when the M's won 116 games. Piniella's run in Seattle ended after the 2002 season, when he asked to be traded to the New York Mets or his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The M's sent him to the Rays, where Piniella managed the cash-strapped team from 2003-05, suffering through three consecutive losing seasons. Piniella asked out of the final year of his contract after the 2005 season. Spending most of the 2006 season working as an analyst for the Fox network helped Piniella recharge his batteries. ''It has been a very nice, relaxing summer for me,'' Piniella said. ''Outside of my first three or four telecasts, where I really pitted out from nerves. The amazing thing about the booth that people don't realize is that things happen a lot quicker up there than they do in the dugout. And you have to be able to articulate it. And they're talking in your ear when you're speaking. ''But I leave home every Friday and I come home either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Not bad.'' But it doesn't compare to his true passion: managing.

Endy is gold. That peg of Belliard at third was huge.

Less this... http://www.nypost.com/gossip/celebp/10112006/photo03.jpg More this... http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/bdd_Chewbacca.jpg

"Last night, it looked like Lo Duca and Wagner are getting with the program." The sissy George Michael look was very popular last night in the Mets dugout, David Wright included. I would have preferred the more rugged Bruce Sutter look.

That Sweet Lou Whitaker is pretty good. I miss John Wockenfuss. Is Ron LeFlore still on probation? on edit. Hmm, Wocky didn't play for the Tiggers that year. The Leflore reference was simply a joke. Everyone knows LaVar Burton was a better baseball player anyway.

Anyone catching this small plane crash on the east side? I'm hearing the plane is registered to Cory Lidle and he was piloting the plane. Any confirmation???

The far left field loge on the concourse is a wide open area. Since it's a big game, there should be beer and food down there, too. Not good for people watching, but out of the way. The only people who go down that far have tickets for those sections. Hey, Dickshot, that's where we saw "John Kruk"!

Spotted this on a cards fan site. Let's go to Dewey's and start some trouble with those John Tudor-lovin' bastids! http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=11 For those of you in the NY area and looking to watch the game with some Cards fans apparently this is a yahoo group of NYC Cards fans that have met up and watched the games together in Manhatten. It looks like right now Dewey's Flatiron on Fifth Avenue, which is right off of Madison Sq. Park. which is where the fans were for the Game 5 of the NLCS last year, so its lucky and the staff/fans dont give Cards fans a hard time. Join the group and show up to watch so that we can have safety in numbers. I will be there for Game 2,3,4,5. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/nycredbirds/ Join the group so you can be updated if they decide to go to a different bar.

A clean shaven Ivan rocks.

I dunno, Dickshot. Looks like the beard has been trimmed around the edges. Is that legal?

I enjoy watching a league championhip series where the home team has tarp over the upper deck because they have no fans.

October 10, 2006 and the Yankees are STILL out of the playoffs.

It's going to be the Oliver Perez breakout series. Try hitting that southpaw junk, Poo-Holes.

Why would we want the third best SS in New York playing second base for the Mets?

The STL take on the series... For Cards, it's another uphill battle By Joe Strauss ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 10/10/2006 Tony La Russa looks over the roster in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series. If the Cardinals mostly greeted their division title with relief on the season's final day, they were able to fully embrace Sunday night's division series win over San Diego. The Cardinals, after all, were supposed to trounce their watered-down division. They were rated underdogs against the NL West champion Padres. In the aftermath of a 6-2 win, players doused general partner Bill DeWitt Jr. with champagne and various Anheuser-Busch products. First baseman Albert Pujols, a relatively reserved figure following the division clincher, reveled after his team eliminated the Padres from a second consecutive postseason. Advertisement A bullpen including rookies Josh Kinney, Tyler Johnson and Adam Wainwright took turns spraying each other as well as lefthander Randy Flores, spring surprise Josh Hancock and elders Braden Looper and "grandpa" Jason Isringhausen. Inside his office, across a hall from the clubhouse bedlam, manager Tony La Russa struck a reflective pose sitting in a folding chair. Padres manager Bruce Bochy walked from the visitors clubhouse to offer his congratulations. La Russa accepted, sat back down and quietly admitted that he actually expected his team would have to play a Game 5 in San Diego because nothing else during an 83-78 season had come without angst. "It doesn't matter how many wins you have during the regular season," said Pujols, who instructed his teammates not to bring luggage to the ballpark Sunday. "It's how you do in the postseason that tells you if you have a successful year." Taut and sullen during the season's latter stages, the Cardinals found release against a Padres team clearly uncomfortable as favorites. The Cardinals never trailed in Game 1 and Game 2. They eventually extended their streak to 48 innings without trailing the Padres in the last two division series. Undone by Padres righthander Chris Young in Game 3, the Redbirds answered the visitors' two-run first inning against Chris Carpenter to end Game 4 with eight shutout frames. Before the series, La Russa suggested that late-season injuries had put his team in a "less fair" position for much of September. But the return of shortstop David Eckstein, the availability of center fielder Jim Edmonds and the bullpen's performance allowed the team to resemble what was predicted for it in February rather than how it played in September. Eckstein's presence is especially vital. "He gives us a lot of energy," said La Russa. "It's not to take away from anybody else, but we look different with Eckstein." The consecutive wins in San Diego to start the series were the Cardinals' first back-to-back road victories since July 25-26. The Padres' six runs in the series were the fewest the Cardinals surrendered in any four-game span this season. All of the runs were earned. La Russa used his bullpen aggressively throughout the series and was rewarded with 13 1/3 scoreless innings. Johnson, who allowed game-losing home runs to Geoff Jenkins and Aubrey Huff on the season's final trip, was unflappable in four appearances. Wainwright, elevated to the closer role after Braden Looper suffered two losses in the season's final two weeks, finished his team's three playoff wins and did not bend after the Padres brought the tying run on deck Sunday. Isringhausen, who last appeared Sept. 6, has retained a significant role since undergoing season-ending hip surgery. A mentor all season to an inexperienced group, Isringhausen counseled Wainwright up until the time he began to warm up Sunday. "I told Adam, 'Hey, have you ever been swarmed on the mound before?'" Isringhausen said. "He said he hadn't. I told him to go out and have fun with it because you never know when the chance will come again." During the Oct. 1 celebration of a division title, Edmonds tried to stay away from any revelry. He pleaded with those dousing him with champagne to avoid his painful left foot. Edmonds received injections before each division series game to alleviate discomfort that he compared to "walking on a rock." Still, he was mobile enough to climb a chair and present second baseman Ronnie Belliard with a game ball after Game 1 and right fielder Juan Encarnacion another after Game 4. Now the Cardinals enter a best-of-seven series against a team that outclassed them during the regular season but has taken significant hits of its own in the past two weeks. Left fielder Cliff Floyd is believed to be out for the series after straining an Achilles' tendon Saturday night. Starting pitchers Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez are not available, leaving mercurial lefthander Oliver Perez as the Mets' Game 4 starter. The Cardinals also have issues. Third baseman Scott Rolen was expected to receive a cortisone injection before today's workout at Shea Stadium and is questionable at best to start Wednesday's opener. Needing a fourth starter of their own, La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan must choose between Staten Island native Jason Marquis and rookie Anthony Reyes, who lasted only 26 pitches Oct. 1 before being left off the first-round roster. La Russa rarely has taken an underdog team into the postseason. As a result, losses often are ascribed to his out-of-character tactics or ill-timed mind games. The 2000 press conference bait-and-switch involving Rick Ankiel, reliever Rick White's interminable Game 5 appearance in the 2002 NLCS and last year's pre-emptive suggestion that plate umpire Wally Bell not give Houston Astros ace Roger Clemens favorable treatment come to mind. Facing an allegedly superior opponent, La Russa is liberated to "push." He no longer feels constrained by "the book," he says, "because the book says you're going to lose." "The book" says a team can't win relying so heavily on a bullpen with so many postseason neophytes. It says not to squeeze with the bases loaded as La Russa did with Eckstein during Sunday's telling four-run sixth. And it strongly recommends lifting a starting pitcher after five shutout innings as La Russa did in Game 2 for fear of overexposing inexperienced relievers. The past week witnessed a remarkable transformation. A team that spent September's final weeks counting its losses left St. Louis on Monday afternoon thinking only of how to craft eight more wins. Best hitter Third baseman David Wright, .311, 26 homers, 116 RBIs. The Mets' lineup is so good that Wright hits fifth. Best overall player Carlos Beltran, .275, 41 homers, 116 RBIs, 18 stolen bases. Cards fans remember Beltran's show in the 2004 NL Championship Series when he played for Houston. Most dangerous player Shortstop Jose Reyes, .300, 19 homers, 81 RBIs, 64 steals. These leadoff numbers are Rickey Henderson-like. Best starting pitcher Lefthander Tom Glavine, 15-7, 3.82 ERA. He was only 5-9 in NLCS outings while with Atlanta. Best reliever Lefthander Billy Wagner, 40 saves in 45 opportunities, 2.24 ERA, .219 opponents' average against. Wagner may be the NL's top closer. Injury list RHP Pedro Martinez (rotator cuff, out); RHP Orlando Hernandez (torn calf muscle, out); LF Cliff Floyd (strained Achilles' tendon, probably out); RHP Duaner Sanchez (separated shoulder, out); RHP Victor Zambrano (torn tendon in elbow, out). Season record 97-65; 50-31 at home and 47-34 on the road Record vs. Cardinals 4-2 (3-0 at home, 1-2 on road) Last postseason appearance Lost 2000 World Series to Yankees. Postseason record vs. Cards Won 2000 NLCS in five games.

Now Cardinals will get a real test BY PAUL SULLIVAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE BASEBALL COLUMNIST 10/09/2006 They limped into the postseason with 10 losses in their final 14 games and a 35-39 record after the All-Star break, testing the faith of their loyal fans. But now St. Louis is only one step from the World Series, proving that mediocrity isn't necessarily a deal-breaker in the National League playoffs. The Cardinals advanced to the National League Championship Series on Sunday night with a 6-2 victory over San Diego, riding the arm of Chris Carpenter to win the series 3-1. "No matter how you get here, you're here," Carpenter said. "And once you get here, you have a chance." With the New York Mets on tap in the NLCS, the degree of difficulty significantly increases. But the Cardinals didn't even need Albert Pujols to get a hit or Scott Rolen to be in the lineup to put away the overmatched Padres. If the 1927 Yankees were Murderers' Row, the '06 Padres are Loiterers' Row. They scored six runs in the four-game series and went two for 32 with runners in scoring position. A four-run sixth inning off San Diego starter Woody Williams and reliever Cla Meredith gave Carpenter his first lead, and the popgun attack of the Padres was doomed. Carpenter won two games in the series but won't be available to start the opener of the NLCS on Wednesday because of the Cardinals' failure to sweep. Since the Cardinals played San Diego in their final home stand, Carpenter was facing the Padres for the third time in 12 days. He suffered from control problems at the outset, throwing 35 pitches and walking home the first run in the Padres' two-run first. "I came out in the first and was probably trying to do a little too much," Carpenter said. "I wasn't attacking the strike zone. That's not my game." But Williams coughed up the lead on Ronnie Belliard's two-run single in the bottom of the inning, and Carpenter quickly found his groove thing. With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, Williams walked Pujols leading off the inning before giving up a one-out RBI triple to Juan Encarnacion. Meredith, who posted a 1.07 ERA this season, hit Belliard on a 3-2 pitch, then gave up a two-strike, run-scoring single to Scott Spiezio. Russell Branyan's wild throw home from third on Carpenter's bases-loaded grounder made it 5-2, and David Eckstein's suicide squeeze scored the final run. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa started Spiezio at third in place of Rolen, who was one for 11 in the series and complained of a "fatigued" left shoulder after Game 3. La Russa was upset that Rolen had told him and the training staff that his surgically repaired shoulder was fine. Rolen admitted he misled the team after Game 3. "He felt like he had an obligation to be out there, which, you know, is one of those rock-and-a-hard-place (situations) because it has been explained to him over and over again that we have other guys (available)," La Russa said. "But he feels like he's one of the core guys that should play. I don't think we could've asked him more often or more clearly." While the Cardinals may have missed Rolen, Padres manager Bruce Bochy may have made out the weakest lineup in postseason history for Game 4. Journeyman catcher Josh Bard, who has 22 career homers, was the cleanup hitter, while Branyan, who has a .232 lifetime average, batted fifth. Bochy also sat ex-Cub Todd Walker, who was 0 for nine, and started rookie Josh Barfield at second base. Nothing worked, and now the Cardinals will get a real test in the Mets, perhaps the only NL team that could make the playoffs if they played in the American League.

I try to coordinate my game-day outfit to match what the Mets are wearing that day. Each night I have every jersey and hat combo on stand-by not knowing what they're going to wear. It drives me nuts. Most days I don't know until the broadcast comes on at 7. When I go to the games I have ALL combinations in my car trunk. When I get there I have to pay the MTA $2 to get up on the #7 platform to see what they're wearing and go back to my car to make the change. When I was taking the #7, jeez, I had to take a whole suitcase. Last year I went to the game in Milwaukee and wore TWO jerseys at once and had to re-layer the combo once I found out which jersey they were wearing (black). Trouble was that I only wore one hat (all black) and they ended up wearing the black with blue visor. I was so freaking pissed. I went to the souvenir shop and all they had was the blue. That damn Charlie Samuels got several letters from me that week. Then, for crying out loud, I completely forgot about '86 throwback weekend and looked like a total dunce when I had the pinstripes on but without the orange and blue piping down the side. Don't even get me started on the orange button on the cap. And since when did red become the dominant color of the Cyclones? I looked like a goofball there, too, with my blue-sleeved undershirt. I signed the petition and want to hand deliver it to the Wilpons myself.

Kenny is close to being somewhat forgiven.

I love the tiggers.

I never NEVER look at the MFY section with the on-line NYDN sports. Today, I could not help myself. Even it just one game. There is much joy.

The last time I watched a Mets playoff game in a bar, Zeile's warning track power killed me as Timo tiptoed around the bases.