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Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Torre and boss get time to dine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Joe Torre was the perfect fit for the Yankees. They’d never been managed by one of their own, a native of New York City, before. Players’ manager. Every guy loved him. None of that Billy Martin rancor in his clubhouse. Joe got the rowdyism out of his system when he was young. In Atlanta, matter of fact, the Braves used to keep a ready fund on hand at the police station to cover his action.
No matter he’d been fired three times before. The Mets, right there in Flushing, first, then the Braves, then the Cardinals. Three strikes and most managers are out, but not so fast for Joe. He was feeling sort of out of it when I ran into him once in Toronto. He was traveling with the Angels, working in the broadcast booth. He was in his sixth season, and the phone hadn’t rung. Then one day George Steinbrenner called. After a string that included a Bucky, Buck and Stump, he wanted a manager with a name and social graces that looked right in pinstripes — and knew how to order in an upscale restaurant.
That was one of the things that got Torre in the soup with Ted Turner. Joe was a winner, one division championship, then two seasons in second place, which shouldn’t get a manager fired, but did. Ted thought he was spending too much on the phone lining up postgame dining.
No trouble in New York. Joe Torre was born there, knew how to move with the elegant, and knew how to win there. He was, then, the perfect fit, except for one thing: He was giving Steinbrenner too much free time in October. Made it to the playoffs the past three seasons, but the buck stopped there. I grant you, the Yankees team he has been fielding has such un-Yankee names: Mientkiewicz, Henn, Karstens, Hughes, Chamberlain, even one of the many Cabreras, a Taiwanese pitcher and a Japanese outfielder. Not only that, but in the closing days they had Wilson Betemit, the vagabond Braves infielder, playing first base. There’s just something mighty un-Yankee about that cast.
But they were still Yankees, One of those sports publications published staff predictions last week, and not only did most pick the Yankees to win the pennant, but half of them picked them to win the World Series. So did Steinbrenner, and a story got out that if they didn’t, Joe Torre would be looking for work. Sounds like George. He’d had all the free October time that he could stomach. It occurred to me, though, that the trouble might not be with Joe, but with Brian Cashman. Cashman has been a Yankees employee since he was 19 years old. Started off a “mail room” guy, as they say, and rose to the “board room.”
He has been general manager as of 1998, and at first it was swell. Now the pinstripes are hung in the lockers too early. But it was Torre that Steinbrenner served notice on. “Win the playoffs, or be gone,” it was said he said.
It was Cashman who signed Johnny Damon, who has a pitiably weak arm. And split first-base duty between Doug M. and Jason Giambi, confessed drug-user. The left side of the infield was weighed down with salary imbalance, but it was strange the relationship that existed between Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. A huge cash outlay that produced an early autumn.
Funny thing, a sports pub came out the other day offering “New York Yankee Stein Collection,” your favorite Yankee on your beer mug, “enhanced with platinum accents, Satisfaction Guaranteed.” You can get the Jeter Stein for $39.95, and you are advised to “respond promptly.” The timing couldn’t have been worse. There was no Torre mug in the collection.
Torre may go any day, or he may not go at all. He didn’t win a gold star with his pitcher-handling against Cleveland, but frankly, it wouldn’t have made much difference what moves he might have made. George might keep that in mind, and so should Brian. No ship ever sails well manned by an unharmonious crew. And as for the Yankees from where I sit, good riddance. Enjoy your fall.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
Lackluster start starts with lack of effort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The good thing about losing the first two games of an NHL season is you’re still open to dream, “Hey, we can get hot. We can win the next 80!” And, of course, that would be a franchise record.
The bad thing about losing the first two games of an NHL season is you’re still open to ponder, “Who’s got two weeks from Saturday in the first-win pool?”
The Thrashers have played only 2.4 percent of their schedule. A bigger issue than the actual losses is that they have looked so bad in the two games, alternately spacey or lethargic, that you wonder if there’s something going on. I mean, other than the obvious, like, “Center, ugh.”
“It’s kind of like, ‘Where did our game go?’ ” coach Bob Hartley said Tuesday. “We had a great preseason. Guys were healthy. There are no excuses. But the beauty of this game is you’re working with human beings, and sometimes it’s funny how human beings react. It would easy if you were working with PlayStation. Then you could just change a chip, and everything is fine to go.”
Sticking with that analogy, here’s where we are:
Opponents: PS-3.
Thrashers: Pong.
They claim to have all of this speed. But they are getting beat to the puck. Logic says they should be as motivated as anybody, trying to build momentum off a playoff season. But they are getting outworked. They had the same time in training camp as everybody else. But they’re out of position.
Special teams figured to improve. Haven’t yet. The team is 1-for-8 on the power play and has killed 10 of 13 shorthanded situations (76.9 percent). Both rank in the league’s lower third. Tampa Bay also scored a shorthanded goal Saturday.
It’s early. But so far, this is Radio Nowhere. Is there anybody alive out there? (Assist from a Devils fan.)
When a team stumbles out of the chute like this, it opens such an ugly pool of possibilities. Maybe there are issues with the pieces. Or maybe the message from the coach is being lost. Or maybe the message is wrong.
Or maybe the Thrashers are also upset at Bobby Petrino.
Bobby Holik described the team’s play as “pathetic.” (Tact has never been his strong suit.) Asked if there are any problems relating to message or communication between players or coaches, Holik said: “That’s a fair question. But after two and a half percent of our games — and I know you don’t want to wait for 10 percent of the games because then it could be too late — it’s a little too early for deep analysis.”
General manager Don Waddell is watching. It can be argued others are watching him. But from Waddell’s perspective: “I don’t like how we’ve lost.”
He’s comforted by the play of rookies Bryan Little and Tobias Enstrom, as well as Kari Lehtonen and Ilya Kovalchuk. But there’s a flip side to that.
“Not to start naming names, but it’s the rest of them,” Waddell said. “We need the guys we’re going to count on all year, and who we counted on last year, to be better.
“Is it the end of the world? Certainly not. But we don’t want to dig ourselves too big of a hole here. If we’re still saying the same things after 15 games, or even 10 games, then it would become a big concern of mine.”
The goal early is survival. Tonight they’re probably going to have to play Ottawa without Marian Hossa (first career groin injury). Then come games at Buffalo, against New Jersey, at Philadelphia and against the New York Rangers. And then: seven straight on the road.
Does 0-2 suddenly look a little bigger? If this doesn’t get fixed, things could get ugly in a hurry.
It helps the Thrashers that there probably won’t be a dominant team in the Southeast Division. But it hurts them that just about every team in the Eastern Conference seems to be a playoff contender, even if because so many are bunched in mediocrity.
Answers?
“We’re searching,” Hartley said.
Wednesday night is game three. But there are only four teams left that haven’t won a game. That’s one potential pool you don’t want any part of.
Permalink | Comments (52) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
Throwing punchlines at Holyfield
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The Tuesday Countdown:
10: Bobby Petrino put out another fire Monday. Great. Only 11 weeks of fires to go.
9: Went to Philips Arena Friday and saw the Thrashers lose their opener. Went to Knoxville Saturday and saw the Bulldogs lose to the Vols. Went to Nashville Sunday and saw the Falcons lose to the Titans. Thinking of going to Las Vegas to lease my services as “The Cooler.”
8: Wonder if that would improve my chances with Maria Bello? I mean, if she falls for a schlep like “Bernie Lootz” …
7: Hate to step on the musical blogging toes of our Notorious DOB (Dave O’Brien), but: Rented a car for the trip that had satellite radio. Found station 10, “E Street Radio,” which for any Springsteen fan is nirvana. Also drove off I-75 when they played a bootleg of an old Bruce concert in some small New Jersey club, during which he said, “This is something new,” and he proceeded to play a still-raw version of “Jungleland.” Soooo much better than “Rocky Top.”
6: No Yankees, no Mets, no Dodgers, no Cubs, no Phillies, no Angels and certainly no Braves. If you think baseball and network executives are depressed now, what happens when the World Series ends up being Indians-Diamondbacks?
5: More evidence it’s not all about payroll: The Yankees had a majors-leading payroll of $190 million. Actually, the Red Sox are the only team among the top 22 payolls to make it to baseball’s final four. Cleveland ranked 23rd in payroll, Colorado 25th, Arizona 26th.
4: There’s a rumor going around that Evander Holyfield is fighting for a title this weekend. Naaaaaaah.
3: Really, I wish Holyfield no ill-will. But it speaks to the insignificance of this “WBO” title fight when nobody can name the champion (Sultan Ibragimov), the fight is being held in Moscow, the starting time in the Eastern time zone will be 1 p.m. on a college football Saturday, pay-per-view receipts will be few and his financial guarantee is even less. Does this sound like a heavyweight title fight?
2: As much as Joey Harrington probably will never win over a segment of the Falcons’ fanbase, Petrino made the right call in not making a change at starter yet. But if Byron Leftwich doesn’t get a significant share of snaps with the No. 1 offense in practice this weeks, sit in the first 10 rows at your own risk.
1: Nike announced it will not try to recoup millions in endorsement fees from disgraced gold medalist Marion Jones. But the Falcons have asked her for $22 million.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
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