IF IT AIN'T BROKE...

...baseball will fix it.

Let's further dilute the value of the whole season by setting up a situation where the pennant winning team has an off-day and finds itself watching the playoffs on TV. We just watched a playoff where the team that established itself as baseball's best, lost to an also-ran team who happened to get hot at the right time. Now that scenario is enhanced by adding ANOTHER wild card game that could force a more deserving team to the sidelines because of some fluke situation that should never occur.
Thanks, baseball. Hope the money is worth it. And it always is.

The Red Sox are thisclose to hiring Bobby Valentine as their new manager. Valentine is a strong-willed, micro-managing Tony La Russsa wannabe. If things don't work out and he can't change the tenor of the clubhouse, he can always revert to a disguise, like he once did when tossed out of a game by the umpires. This would be a big gamble for Boston: it will work perfectly or everybody will be huddled in the clubhouse drinking beer and munching on chicken wings.

More rumors are surfacing that Nick Swisher is being shopped by the Yankees. Nick's biggest drawback seems to be his inability to produce in the post season. If he's traded to a non-contender, this problem would never show up and the Yanks could get better than full value for him. Package him with one of the prized minor league pitchers and maybe Austin Romine and you could have an offer Seattle might find hard to resist and they might finally let go of King Felix.

This is one of the best lines of the year that was quoted in Dwight Perry's column.

"As part of their divorce settlement, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has to pay his ex-wife Jamie $131 million," noted Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post. "Through force of habit, the Yankees offered her $175 million."

***THEY SAID IT***
"Jonathan Papelbon signed with the Phillies ending seven years with the Red Sox. Guess he'd had enough of that chicken outfit." -- RJ Currie
"The Boston Red Sox say they won't raise ticket prices next season, but finding additional revenue won't be a problem. They'll just start charging players for beer." -- Dwight Perry
"JWOWW of "Jersey Shore" was patted down by TSA agents at an airport in Fargo, North Dakota. Not surprisingly, the patdown lasted over nine hours." -- Alex Shubert
"Matt Kemp signed a $160 million contract extension. The last person Frank McCourt gave that much money also took his house and the Ferrari." -- Alan Ray
"Iowa State stunned Oklahoma State in double overtime on Friday night. Of the 17 Games of the Year so far in 2011, this was my favorite." -- Brad Dickson

CP-