In Baseball Related News...

It will come as no suprise to learn that the nearly God-Like Jim Leyland has been given the title AL Manager of the Year. Leyland nearly singlehandedly brought his team from the depths of despair to within reach of the gold ring. It should be noted that Leyland didn't actually field a postion, had no hits but commited no errors. What value a manager has is debateable (to some GM's) but whatever IT IS, Leyland clearly has it. And he has done it in both the AL and the NL. It was hard to dislike the guy, even with his Tigers shutting us down. From what I saw of his style, he made the moves when needed and played a hunch or two. He continually put his team a postion to win, and that's all you can ask. As for the NL, Joe Girardi was also the front runner to nab this one. Joe took a team that everyone wrote off and somehow got them to keep winning. Sadly for his reward he was fired, and as punishment is off to the north side to manage the hapless Cubs, bummer. Both managers showed that a manager can make a difference. They didn't over-manage, but they just didn't chew gum either. They are smart baseball men, not hotheads. I can only hope as the A's move forward, our new manager can make decisions, on the field, during the game that will result in a few more W's than L's. Just 1 or 2 will work. He doesn't need to be a personality, he just needs to know his team.