Jimy Williams FIRED!!

Yeah, read all about it.

Re: Arrojo, he's not my favorite either, but a lot of players changed hands in that deal, and the only one who didn't turn out to be total human detrius is Arrojo. In Pedro's absence he's probably been the best starter, attention lapses and all.

Kerrigan is obviously some kind of genius as a pitching coach, but making him manager will probably dilute his effectiveness in that regard. Unless he continues dealing with his reclamation projects, and just sends the best lineup out there and gets out of the way, which would probably be good. Am I the only one here who isn't a red sox fan?

I'm a Red Sox fan by default, though I LOATHE the way Dan Duquette has handled the entire Jimy Williams era. Especially during the first big Carl Everett fracas - can't recall specifics, but Duquette sided with EVERETT when Carl was giving Jimy some smack (something about showing up late, or spitting on an umpire, or kicking a pregnant woman, I dunno). He has made some good moves, but has a horrible reputation, has a fetish for veterans (which is a 50-50 proposition), and is the epitome of the PR disaster. Watching him speak this afternoon before introducing Kerrigan reminded me of some of the folks in my Public Speaking classes that didn't do so well.

And, so far, the BoSox are beating the mighty Mariners, 2-0. David Cone (the most consistent Red Sox starter since the All-Star break) is pitching just well enough. Two solo homers (including one that Ichiro ALMOST took away from Jose "Bam Bam" Offerman). And the most excellent broadcasting duo of Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy are seriously (but judiciously) questioning Duquette's motivations behind this move (which leads me to believe that they'll be working for another team in the near future, if the Duke feels like putting his foot down again).

Kerrigan's record as Red Sox manager: 1-0

All aboard, all aboard the bandwagon... the bandwagon is leaving the station...

(And yeah, it's well-known that Duquette looks and acts like a serial killer pretty much all the time. They should hire a cute sock puppet to handle his interviews.)

When I heard the news about Williams I started trying to figure out some way the Indians could trade Charlie Manuel to the Red Sox and then bring Felipe Alou in to manage the rest of the season. Foiled again. . .

What's wrong with Charlie Manuel?

And what's with the Felipe Alou fetish? His track record ain't so hot - reputation is overrated, and the results suX0r.

Dan Duquette's a psycho. I mean, the guy's from western Massachusetts for fuck's sake. Not even psychos from western Mass like him. Everyone loves Sean McDonaugh and Jery Remy, they're twin institutions, they've been around my whole life, they're the only two people in the last twenty years to show loyalty to the Sox, and New England won't forget that. Touch them and we'll hog tie Duquette and call him ma'am, and that's only if we're out of tar and feathers. The Sox, if they're gonna continue to refuse to have their pitchers use the slide-step (like it even matters, this team's rotation's got some whack-ass stupid-slow wind-ups that no step's gonna fix), need some speed. I know that would go against Red Sox decorum and all, stealing bases being unseemly or whatever, but in the last 80 years, a Red Sox player has stolen 30 or more bases only 4 times (one of those 4 was our man Jery Remy), whereas it happened 11 times between 1901 and 1920, back when they used to win World Series. God bless the Sox though, the laziest team in sports 100 years running. Their problem is that what makes everyone love them is exactly what makes them lose. I wish they'd kept Williams around, I loved hating him. Kerrigan, whatever, he's a fucking pitching coach. Did they name him interim manager? He might be alright for the rest of the year, but keeping him longer than that would be a mistake. I hope they bring back Williams. Williams pissed people off. You can't have a good team without infighting, and you can't have the Red Sox without entertainingly obscure moves behind everything.

(And yeah, it's well-known that Duquette looks and acts like a serial killer pretty much all the time. They should hire a cute sock puppet to handle his interviews.)

Isn't the Pets.com dog available? That'd be classic. I'd become a fan instantaneously and follow them all around the country if that happened. Probably not, but still.

Alternately, they could hire Derek Jeter to give his interviews for him. I just wanted an excuse to say "Derek Jeter".

Otis - if you want the "interpretive" old school style of managing, there's one man, and ONLY one man, that should be brought back into the fold.

Joe Morgan.

And, no, not the ESPN announcer / Reds 2nd baseman Joe Morgan. You folks know who I'm talking about. For whatever reason, I miss those days. No stolen bases, no Coke bottles, no JumboTronVision, crap pitching outside of Clemens & the occasional Boddicker "gem", and Ellis Burks would lead the team in homers with 18. And good ol' Joe, talking about baseball like he was talking about fishin'. Ah, those were the days...

If you folks are looking for a dose of the surreal in your sports broadcasting, and you live in the tri-state area, check out FoxSports New York during a Mets game. Ralph Kiner & Fran Healy on the play-by- play. It's like _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead_, but with off- speed pitches and tobacco juice (and a tad less erudition).

Manuel -- I'm sick of seeing the Indians go to sleep about June 15 every year. Maybe they wake up ('97), maybe they don't ('99, '00). With a $90M payroll, you better be right there at the end every year. And then there's his post-game interviews. . .

Charlie was John Hart's guy from the get-go. With Hart gone after this season, there's no one left to protect him -- if they don't make the WS this year, I expect him to go in the off-season. Joel Skinner (current 3B coach) is the manager-in-waiting, and is well- thought-of by everyone. Actually, the presence of Skinner would have stopped me from bringing Alou in before the presence of Manuel would have.

They tried to get Alou but wouldn't give him enough years... so much for Duke's Montreal savoir-faire... I think Kerrigan's a genius tho and I'm all for it. Managers don't actually do very much anyway; the guys seem to like him and that's probably more important.

....Ichiro! Ichiro! Roll on, you Mariner machine!

Here's an "interesting" little piece, hypothesizing about Jimy's motives and motivation - click here.

And, for more ICHIRO!, click here. This might belong on the Godzilla thread, too.