Hardball Heaven

- Those surprising, lovable, feisty, determined, Yankee-beating Detroit Tigers are currently leading the A's, 5-0, in the 4th inning of ALCS Game 1. For all those fools who wager on baseball, and no doubt went with Barry Zito for this one, well, you're fools. Did I mention the Tigers beat the Yankees?

- Here's hoping Lou Piniella gets a managing job before the ALCS is over and decides to quit his broadcasting career. He is Joe Morganesque in terms of uselessness. A Tiger hitter hit a deep fly ball to left that curved foul, and lead announcer Thom Brenneman said, "Well, he had the distance but it ending up going foul." Piniella, who's supposed to add friggin' color, said "Home run distance there, Thom, but it just went foul." I mean, come on. He also just said that A's 3B Eric Chavez has an "akrit" arm. The man in the White House couldn't have said it better. (Note to GW: You want to get terrorists to squeal? Put a tape together of Morgan and Piniella and have them listen to it 24/7. Oh, they'll break.)

- We know one place where Lou won't be going. Despite all the breathless reports coming out of New York, Georgie Porgie woke up today, flipped a coin, and decided to keep Joe Torre around for another year. Gee, you think maybe it was also the fact that Joe still has a year to go on his contract at $7M per? It's bad enough that George is still paying half the American League, he can't stomach the thought of having to eat a manager's salary. I bet Torre was bummed when the Big Stein called him. He had visions of collecting those checks on the 1st and 15th while sunning his ample nose in Oahu.

- Speaking of which, is it me or has there been an unbelievable rash of irreponsible sports journalism lately? I know 'responsible journalism' is mostly an oxymoron, but it started with the whole T.O. drama - where word of his suicide attempt was plastered all over the Web within minutes - and now the Torre death watch. Torre was quoted as saying about all the TV trucks outside his house that he thought he had discovered the cure for cancer. Of course, sites like ESPN just have to put the word 'report' in front of a headline (i.e., Report: T.O. Tried to Kill Himself) and they're off the hook.

- The Sports Guy, ESPN's Bill Simmons has a new column up today on Joe Torre -- oh wait, it's something he wrote five years ago. Are you kidding me?

- Did I mention how fun it was to watch the Tigers upset the vaunted Yankees? For Sox fans, it was our just rewards for an incredibly frustrating season, and makes the five-game sweep a little less painful.

- The ALCS at least has the feel of a series that could go 7. The NLCS (Cards vs. Mets) just doesn't do it for me. I guess I'm pulling for an old-timey Tigers-Cards World Series. Gimme more Jim Leyland.

- The Globe's Bob Ryan, per usual, hits the nail on the head today about the Yankees' free-spending ways. The great debate in baseball is paying a guy based on what he's done versus what he's got left in the tank. The Sox have been ripped apart for letting guys like Pedro and Damon go, but they made a decision based on current value, and have refused to hand out lifetime achievement bonuses. George, on the other hand, knows no limits and has been downright irresponsible. In my view, he deserves a huge slice of blame pie for the Yanks' disappointing ending. Why do George and Cashman skate free while a good guy like Torre twists in the wind? Just a series of bad, expensive blunders. I love it. Will be interesting to see if they change their ways going forward. (I highly doubt it. How much for the Japanese guy? $200 million? We're in.)

- And last, some people are finally starting to see through the whole charade of Derek Jeter and his intangibles. The arrogant Yankee fans call him the ultimate leader, but every chance he gets he throws his teammates under the bus. If he's so dedicated to winning, wouldn't it behoove him to, like, at least talk to the guy that plays next to him? He won't give A-Rod the time of day. Some leader. leadership.