posted by OMDQ

David Ortiz is one of the most dangerous hitters in postseason history. That guy behind him in the batting order, however, is a future Hall of Famer. I don't care if Manny Ramirez missed most of September, hadn't fully reestablished himself in Boston's lineup and doesn't have Papi's "clutch" reputation - it's awfully tough to pitch to him in that situation.

Not that I envy Mike Scioscia for having to make the call there. Ortiz, Manny, Lowell, with only two bases open - it reminds me of a story I read a long time ago about Lefty Gomez and Jimmie Foxx. Foxx, of course, was an absolute beast at the plate, a two-time 50-homerun hitter who might have reached 700 if he could have controlled his inner demons. Gomez was a pretty good lefty for the Yankees who pitched well in the postseason and kept things light in the clubhouse.

In one game, Gomez was facing Foxx, when the catcher (I think it was Bill Dickey) couldn't get the pitcher to agree on a sign. Finally, exasperated, he ran out to the mound to see what was up. He was greeted by Gomez, who suggested they deal with Foxx by not actually dealing with him.

"Who knows," said Gomez, "maybe he'll get a phone call or something."

That quote isn't exact, of course. And the pitcher might've been Dizzy Dean or Rube Waddell or one of baseball's many crazy people. But the idea still stands. Sometimes, when you're faced with an impossible situation, the best solution is to avoid it for as long as possible.

Also, speaking of the Yankees: you've no doubt heard by now that they were outlasted by Cleveland, 2-1 in eleven innings, to fall behind 2-0 in the League Division Series. Two things I would like to mention:

1) Please, Cleveland, don't let up and drop three straight. I'm assuming that the Red Sox are going to win their series (knock on wood) and am pretty sure that I can't handle another Sox-Yankees ALCS. On the other hand, the Indians are firing on all cylinders right now and scare the hell out of me, but they are still the lesser of two evils.

2) For a good time before Signal to Noise's Sunday Night Football live-blog on Sunday, head over to Why Don't We Get Drunk and Blog, where Lozo will (hopefully) finally be attempting to fulfill one of his late-summer dreams: live-blogging the game in which the Yankees are finally eliminated in 2007. He's still up in the air as to whether or not he'll actually go through with it, but check in around 6 pm just to be sure. If it happens, it has the potential to be amazing.

(One more thing about the Ramirez homerun: kudos to TBS and Jose Mota on the post-game, on-field interview with Manny. The crowd noise was so loud that the only thing I heard for the first thirty seconds was, "I want to thank God...". When a guy who is famous for not wanting to talk to the media makes a big play, gets lost in the moment, and grants you an interview, you might do well to make sure we can hear what he has to say.)

Photo: Yahoo! Sports/AP (Charles Krupa)