Oscar Gamble Society

Manny Ramirez - .393/.487/.749 with 17 HRs and 53 RBI in 51 games with the Dodgers.  It is amazing that a player can just flip a switch like that.  Not that he sucked this year in Boston, but he is playing like Barry Bonds in his Steroid- prime right now in a pitchers park.  Does he deserve the MVP?  Who is the other alternative in the NL.  I am certain that no Brewer outside of Sabathia should receive any votes.  David Wright has had a good year, but what if the Mets don’t make the playoffs?  Pujols has been great again, but he couldn’t lift his team to the playoffs.  There isn’t a Cub worth MVP.  The most important player on that team is arguably Mark Derosa.  Ryan Howard leads baseball in HR and RBI, but he is hitting .247.

Why shouldn’t Manny win the MVP.  The Dodgers aren’t sniffing the playoffs without him???  Of course, if I were a Boston fan, I would rather have Jason Bay

I was asked to compare the weak links of the Brewers and Mets {the bullpen}.Let’s assume bullpen has 1 long man, 1 closer, 4 Right handed set up and 1 LOOGY….

Closer Torres v Ayala. I would have to give edge to Torres. I really likethe lack of HRs Torres has given up (not including Soto’s bomb that almost killed the playoff chances) and his groundball tendencies. 2:1 ratio is excellent.

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There is only one reason, I disagree with the Yost firing…. it didn’t happen soon enough.  Ned should have been let go after the September swoon of 2007.  He showed enough of his incompetence during that year and nothing has changed.  He is a poor in-game manager, acts too much like a bench coach in his coddling of certain players, and never installed a winning attitude against tough opponents like BOS or PHI or NYM.
Here are some of his major issues: (more…)

Driving today, listening to WEEI (Boston sportstalk) and they were fawning over Pedroia - which is fine, he’s having a very nice season.  Two things that stuck with me - MVP talk, and his “chase” for a 20/20 season:

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Okay, time to get on record, people.

Who ya got?  Here’s what my crystal ball tells me:

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