Connie Mack-attack, etc.

What a laugher. Once upon a time, when baseball was better and America was stronger, men wore suits. Even big-league managers. There is something truly amiss when basketball coaches play the man better than baseball managers. Basketball is a hectic and flippant sport; the coaches ought to wear warm-up suits to the game. Baseball is dignified and conservative. Yet, it’s baseball that has traditionally seen its skippers pal around with their own players by wearing the same clothes they do, only some of them look half-ridiculous. (Tommy Lasorda?)

As a self-professed baseball “purist,” I suppose I should honor the tradition of my betters. However, I cannot help but be impressed by the image of a tall slender Connie Mack showing up the country in his well-pinched attire. How would it strike us to see the “Tall Tactician” roaming today’s dugouts? I say Francona should thumb his nose at MLB and emulate one of the early heroes of the game.

Also, Mr. Smith has more on Santana. As usual, he mixes solid points with an uppity style. It makes for annoying reading. There’s no way out. What did the conniver say? “If you give me six sentences written by the most innocent of men, I will find something in them with which to hang him." Whatever Santana does now, we will find something with which to malign him. Right? That’s it, right Stephen? Whenever Stoneman, Scioscia, Santana, Stalin, etc. get it right, it’s proof of purchase. But when they oops it, there must possibly be some other factor, some context, some brain dysfunction on the part of the critic to explain the situation. Life cuts both ways. Asking for performance in the midst of a pennant race (do we still have those in these days of the “wild card”?) is not necessarily illustrative of a quest for “instant gratification.” Rather, it’s acknowledgment that life is short, unforgiving, and fleeting and if we are spending any time at all spilling emotion over a boy’s game, we dare not wait too long.

Our own W&E chimed in on Smith's post concerning former outfielder turned reliever Warner Madrigal.