Opinion

In a move that was neither surprising nor buzz-worthy, the Milwaukee Brewers and Ken Macha parted ways on Monday. After a meeting over coffee, according to the Milwaukee Brewers website, GM Doug Melvin told Macha that the club was declining his option.

Apparently, he even helped Macha pack up his stuff before he headed out of town. It's about what I expected to happen after a team goes 157-167 in two years, with consecutive third place finishes in the NL Central.

Texas Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee pitched a great Game 1 of the the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays. The only problem is that he quickly took a back seat to Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay.

Earlier today, Roy Halladay of the Toro... Philadelphia Phillies just pitched the second no-hitter in Major League Baseball playoff history.

As a life-long Torontonian and die hard Blue Jay fan this was, to say the least, bittersweet.

Amid the early months of autumn, baseball keeps getting better and better. The tone is dazzling. The words are beautiful. The unhittable ace accomplished the unthinkable on the mound, and the city of Philly screamed with delight, enough to widen the crack in the Liberty Bell.

Talk about Tim Welke screwing Carlos Pena. Talk about the Rays struggling on offense. Talk about Joe Maddon’s bizarre decision to play Rocco Baldelli as the designated hitter.

Those played a role in the Rays’s 5-1 loss to the Rangers, but that wasn’t the reason why the Rays lost the playoff opener.

They lost because David Price did not pitch well. Price’s job was to keep up with Cliff Lee in every inning, but it did not happen yesterday.

With John Russell gone, the top priority is now on selecting a new, hopefully winning, manager for the team. There are several good candidates, some of whom have strong Pittsburgh ties.

That should not be a litmus test, but could be a useful tiebreaker, if aptitudes are otherwise comparable.

Adam Lind’s 2010 campaign was disappointing, as he fell well shy of what many hoped was his 2009 breakout (.305, 35 HR, 114 RBI).

The fact of the matter is, he had little opportunity to approach those numbers once again.

His HR/FB in ‘09 was 19.8 percent, significantly higher then what he had posted in portions of the prior two years (13.3 percent and 11.0 percent).

While the playoffs are now on the front burner, in the back of every baseball fan's mind, or the front if your team has been eliminated from contention, is what moves the team will make this offseason.

Free agency is always a hot bed for debate, and every year there will be a fair share of diamonds in the rough as well as big time busts. Often times, contracts are a sign of the free agent class as a whole and not necessarily what the player is worth. Once the top tier guys start to get signed, teams that missed out often overpay for second tier guys, and so on.

The Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't have summarized their disappointing season any better than manager Joe Torre's farewell speech Sunday, following a Dodgers win that allowed the team to finish a game under .500 for a fourth-place finish in the National League West.

Torre's speech seemed to stumble along in pleasantry, rambling while he searched for words to describe his tenure as Dodgers manager.

Part 6 of 7 Phillies Championship Advantages

Professional sports teams have been known to win championships without it. 

Sometimes sheer talent and fortuitous circumstance converge together to achieve a successful outcome. 

Sometimes a team simply catches fire and makes an unlikely championship run.