Congratulations Yankees and Baseball HOF rant

Congratulations to the New York Yankees for sweeping 5 games from the Boston Red Sox this past weekend, in a redeux of the 1978 Boston Massacre. Before the first game on Friday, I said to a friend that I would be happy with either team winning the series 3-2, since that would have the Yankees leaving Boston with either a 1/2 game or a 2.5 game lead. So on Saturday after the Bombers won the third game, my opinion was "Mission Accomplished". The Yankees then went on to win in dramatic fashion on Sunday, and a pitchers duel on Monday completing the task. Leaving Boston with a 6.5 game lead was probably not on anyone's radar as being anything but a distant pipe dream, but that is where we stand today.

I am not one of this silly die hard fans, who believes that the Red Sox are only a shell of their former selves, and left for dead in Boston. Although a 6.5 game lead with 6 weeks to plays seems insurmountable, this is the same Boston franchise that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS in 2004, so nothing is impossible. These are both playoff caliber teams, who have been in the hunt in the past and won't just roll over and go away. Jason Variteck is scheduled to come off the DL next week, and as he goes, so goes the Bosox.

I won't be celebrating until the division is completely won, then and only then will I breathe a sign of relief knowing the Boston beast has been slayed for another year, considering the AL Wildcard won't be coming from the East this year. So for both the Yankees and the Red Sox this year is win or go home, a daunting task for both teams. As long as the Yankees continue to control their own fate and win 4-5 games per week, they should be fine.

On espn.com today, there was a story by Enrique Rojas (who writes for ESPNdeportes, the spanish version of ESPN), claiming that Felipe Alou should be considered for the hall of fame because of his 50 years in baseball. He starts off by praising the current crop of Latin Players who should be going to the hall when their careers are over (Pedro, Mariano, Pudge), but then goes on to say:

"But it's possible that none of the above have more genuine credentials than San Francisco Giants manager Felipe Alou, who is largely ignored when it comes to talking about Cooperstown. "

This is the biggest load of bull I have seen in quite some time. By Rojas' own admission, Alou was a mediocre ball player (.286/206/852) and is only 14 games above .500 as a manager (1,015-1,001), not exactly mind blowing numbers. He was Manager of the Year in 1994 with the Expos, but I am not sure they were a 1st place team because of the manager, but because of the talent on the field (Floyd, Walker, Grissom, M.Alou, Pedro, Fassero, Wettland, etc.) that year. I don't remember any baseball talking head ever telling me that a team was better because Alou was managing them.

If I were to put together a list of great current managers, Alou would be pretty far down the list. Torre, LaRussa, Cox, Pinella, Leyland are without a doubt the best managers in baseball today. The next tier would include Showalter (his legacy of building teams that win the WS after he leaves), Francona, Robinson, and Baker. (I am honestly not sure if Scioscia fits on this list or not.) Aftert these skippers I would place Alou. This should not be seen as a personal slight against Alou, no one can do anything for 50 years without a strong knowledge of the sport, but that does not qualify him for the Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown should be reserved for the best of the best, not the best of the mediocre who held on a long time and deserve honorable mention (Sutter, Winfield). Alou does not qualify as a player or as a manager. So I am not even sure why this is an issue. There are many deserving Latin ball players who will be enshrined when the time comes, but unfortunately Alou does not cut it in my book.