Da Yankees Win, Daaaa Yankees WIN!

Now onto news you may not have heard.

Nick Carfardo writes a very long notes-type column mostly about Kevin Towers and JP Ricciardi, but he ends on a fascinating note, that Mets fans should find interesting:

From the Bill Chuck Files: “Here’s a Dustin Pedroia number for you: Swinging at 1,099 pitches he missed only 84. That 7.4 percent was the best in the AL and second only to the Mets’ Luis Castillo, who swung and missed only 55 times out of 785, a 7 percent rate.’’

If you look long enough, numbers might change your perception.  That’s a stat that makes me think a little differently about Luis Castillo, but really only a little bit.

And in case you are wondering why all the teams looking for new managers haven’t been waiting around to see if Tony LaRussa was available, its because he is not, and they all must have known that early.  LaRussa will be announced as returning to the Cardinals today, but along with that, it seems will be the announcement that Mark McGwire will return to Cardinals as their hitting coach.  Hal McRae’s contract was not renewed.

The one thing I got out of the All-Star game experience loud and clear is that most St. Louis fans felt McGwire should have been included.  He has been missed by the city, so bringing him back should make a lot of folks happy.  He may have to answer a lot of questions about what he took and when, but really, now that so much else has come out about steroids, if he can be honest, its doubtful that he will continue to be hurt significantly by any of it.  For more on this see this Joe Strauss piece.