Opinion

In the past two entries in an attempt to repair a broken team, we looked at Chone Figgins and Dustin Ackley. The two make up a reasonably probable combination of second and third basemen for much of next season.

And now, ladies and gentleman, the Aflac $100,000 Question of the Day: Who is Dan Johnson?

Hmmmm ...

Was he the dude from Miami Vice? Wait, that was Don Johnson.

Okay ...

Around 9:15 EST Wednesday night while playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Derek Jeter did something we have never seen him do, and might never expect him to do. Jeter has been an ambassador of the game and is known for being class act for throughout his career, but on Wednesday night...

He acted.

Twelve is the magic number the Reds have at the moment to garner the National League Central Division title, and with it their first playoff berth in—guh—15 years! And, with a 7-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals, the Reds are in a good place..

Yankee fans were unhappy—to say the least—on Monday night, when the Yankees surrendered first place to the Rays for the first time since August 3. Tuesday night, the Yankees got first place back, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Amidst all that anger came an interesting thought: what if, by some chance, the Yankees didn’t win the division?

Here is today's Holy Crap discovery. It has to do with the roller coaster season Andre Ethier has had.

But let's not start in 2010. Let's go back to 2008.

Back in 2008, you'll recall, Manny Ramirez made kind of an ass out of himself (which is like saying back in the summer of 2003 Kobe Bryant had some trouble in Colorado), and got himself run out of Boston. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Manny, he had an unbelievable two months with L.A., and the Dodgers went to the NLCS.

So, who is still ready to throw Barry Zito into the nearest dumpster? Anybody?

Zito threw 5.2 innings and gave up one hit and no earned runs. He picked up loss No. 13.

He is 8-13 with a 4.02 ERA.

Now I realize when he is bad, he’s really bad. Zito has allowed four or more earned runs in nine of his 30 starts. In those nine starts, he has allowed 46 runs in 44.1 innings.

Zito is 0-6 in those starts. The Giants are 3-6 in those starts.

Jorge Posada had become something of a forgotten man around the Yankee Universe this season.

He's always stayed in the shadows of New York's starry landscape when you think about it, which is pretty amazing when you realize he's one of the greatest offensive catchers to ever play the game.

All indications are that Omar Minaya will not be running the show next year. So, under hopes that he won't be, the obvious question then becomes, who should replace him?

Here is the run-down of a potential candidate, Jon Daniels.


Who is he?

At the beginning of the month, the Reds called up phenom prospect Yonder Alonso to help provide some power off the bench.

Alonso is one of the more ballyhooed prospects to come up through the Reds' farm system in recent memory, and the 7th overall pick from 2008 put together a productive year in Louisville this year (.296 with 12 homers and 56 RBIs in 101 games).