national league baseball

Someday, perhaps, baseball will find itself so troubled that it again realizes it needs a commissioner.A real commissioner.An independent commissioner.A no-nonsense commissioner who truly will act in the best interest of a once-great game -- not kowtow to the players union, not front for the owners, not allow the ratings-first television networks to run the show.

When Doug Melvin took over as general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers in September 2002 and began rebuilding the franchise, he retained one department head, scouting director Jack Zduriencik.

Dear Babe: I have a baseball that my grandmother got when she and several other seniors went to Candlestick Park. Unfortunately, I have no idea what year that was except that it was in the 1960s. The ball is still white, not yellow as if it was varnished.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Baseball fans in this city are calling it the Pinellas County World Series, and it is sorely testing their allegiances.You see, Clearwater was a Phillies town for decades before the Tampa Bay Rays were even an idea. It's been the Phillies' spring training home since 1947.

In the aftermath of the Dodgers' failure against Philadelphia in the National League Championship Series, Los Angeles owner Frank McCourt finally gave general manager Ned Colletti a pat on the back. He confirmed that Colletti will return for the final year of his four-year contract but sidestepped questions about whether Colletti will be given an extension.

LOS ANGELES -- The ball jumped off Manny Ramirez's bat -- that oh, so familiar rise -- and landed in the right field pavilion. Dodger Stadium has been his personal playground for more than two months now, but unfortunately for the Dodgers Wednesday night, it was, once again, more Mannywood than Hollywood.

LOS ANGELES -- Doesn't Manny Ramirez pitch? Guess not, or the Los Angeles Dodgers would have used their magic man for that, too. Instead, they endured a late bullpen meltdown and dropped perilously close to the end of their postseason run Monday night.

Philadelphia Phillies general manager Pat Gillick says he is retiring -- again.But will baseball let him?How long will an owner desperate to win wait before calling Gillick and making him an offer he can't refuse?Remember, the man has retired three times previously but has been lured back each time. He's a baseball lifer. And he knows what it takes to win.

It's a funny game, baseball. We don't mean "ha-ha" funny. We mean anyone can win. Just ask the Los Angeles Angels. Or don't. They surely aren't in the mood.

This was supposed to be the classic fish-out-of-water scenario, as the puckish TV ad suggested. Joe Torre doing yoga? Riding a wave? Pitching a screenplay? Why, what's the quintessential New York guy doing in La-La Land, anyway? And how can he possibly function in such a laid-back environment? Quite effectively, it turned out.