Baseball

I figured since no one has decided to defend the Captain, then it was only fitting that I would step up to the plate and do it myself.

It has been three days now since Derek Jeter picked up the nickname, "Cheater Jeter," or "Jeter the Cheater." Either way you slice it, majority of those people either hate the New York Yankees or Jeter. He could hit a home run and people still would find a way to criticize him and his teammates.

Derek Jeter cheated.

Derek Jeter—the ultimate role-model, leader, and winner—cheated.

So people say.

However, it really is just part of the game.

For those who haven't seen or don't know about the incident in the Yankees-Rays game at Tropicana Field on Wednesday night (and if you call yourself a Yankees fan and haven't, I'm guessing you live under a rock), Derek Jeter came to bat in a crucial divisional game with his Yankees down by one in the late innings.

The New York Mets have good news and bad news right now. As the season is winding down, they are finally at the .500 mark and for those keeping track at home, 13 games out of the division. That's not the news I refer to.

New York Yankees legend Don Mattingly will be replacing Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre at the end of the season. This ends a disappointing fun for Torre as the Dodgers manager.

Torre started his Dodger career with a 5-0 victory and kept on winning right into the 2008 playoffs. There, he managed his team to a 3-0 sweep over the Cubs.

If Joe Girardi decides he had enough of the Yankees experience and goes to the Cubs, the Yankees can forget about Don Mattingly managing them.

The Dodgers hired Mattingly as their new manager after Joe Torre announced he won't return as the Dodger manager next year.

The Dodgers need pitching, hitting, a great closer, a first baseman who can hit for power and the same at third, and probably a new center fielder and what do they end up with? 

A new manager who has never managed before.

I love Don Mattingly as a player. With that steady career batting average of .307, nine gold gloves, an MVP Award and some batting titles - but can he transpose his personal winning attitude and baseball acumen to his team?

Joe Torre has made it official: he will be stepping down as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of the 2010 season, and thus comes to a close one of the great managerial careers in baseball history.

It is a bitter-sweet end, though, as after 12 brilliant season with the New York Yankees, Torre leaves the Dodgers without having brought a championship to L.A. in his three seasons there.

To make matters all the more wrenching, Torre's Dodgers reached the NLCS in each of his first two years at Chavez Ravine, but could never get over the hump.

Joe Torre shockingly announced he will retire from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and hands  the reins to successor Don Mattingly today  with two weeks left in the regular season.

It's a move that caught everyone by surprise considering that the Dodgers may want to interview others such as Tim Wallach, but nevertheless Mattingly is the incoming manager while Torre is nothing but a lame duck on the West Coast.

As most Dodgers fans expected, Joe Torre is stepping down as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and hitting coach Don Mattingly will be replacing him.

I don’t know how well Mattingly will do as a manager because he has never managed at any level, but I don’t think it will really matter who the Dodgers' manager is.

Please be sure to check out Mets Paradise and our forum for everything Mets!!!

----

The New York Mets are certainly no stranger to Bobby Cox. The Atlanta Braves' skipper has managed to win 192 of 352 games played against the Mets. Tonight will be the last time the Mets start a series against the Braves with Cox as their manager as he will not return for the 2011 season.