Quotes, notes and comment

Of course we’re going to win. If we’re nice we’ll let it go six (games), but I’m thinking five. Close it out at home.

—Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins on Jay Leno's show

* The Yankees have played nine games in 24 days, a leisurely schedule by any measure. Mike Scoscia, whose Angels team had a much deeper starting rotation than did the Yanks, called the schedule "ridiculous," which of course it is, but we don't see him or his players turning down Fox's money.

Yes, the extra off days allowed the Yankees to go with just three starting pitchers through the first two rounds. Managers have done that in the past. Tom Kelly used just three starters in both 1987 (Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven and Les Straker) and 1991 (Jack Morris, Kevin Tapani, Scott Erickson) — and after the '87 Series Whitey Herzog beefed about how the short series didn't expose the Twins weakness in he back of the rotation.

October has historically been about front-line players, not the fifth starter. With the exception of "personal catchers" — see Jose Molina working with A.J. Burnett — we don't see the backup catchers in October either.

My problem with all the off days isn't so much that it's possible to skip the fourth stater — its the loss of the sense of continuity baseball thrives on.

* Indications are that Joe Girardi is leaning toward starting Chad Gaudin in Game 5 rather than have Burnett on three days rest. This would mean a Yankees rotation of:

CC Sabathia-Burnett- Andy Pettitte-Sabathia-Gaudin-Burnett-Sabathia.

And that means the longer the series goes, the better for the Phillies.

Considering how eager Girardi has been to go for the kill, it's baffling that he'd take a Series start from Pettitte (or Burnett — I'd rather use a lefty like Pettitte against the Phillies than a righty) to give it to the last man on his pitching staff. I'll believe it when I see it.

* The Houston Astros wanted Manny Acta, but refused to give him a three-year deal, so Acta took the Cleveland Indians job instead. Two years was enough for Brad Mills, however; he took the job.

Which is the better job? If the Indians owner has a realistic notion of where the franchise is right now, Cleveland is — but he fact that Bobby Valentine was a finalist there suggests they have delusions of grandeur.

A piece of the Acta, and other odds and ends

It's good to see a long-suffering team like the Yankees finally reach the World Series.

Surrre it is.

* The Cleveland Indians, with a choice of a win-now manager from the outside (Bobby Valentine) and a veteran of their farm system to supervise a rebuilding project (Torey Lovullo), split the difference to hire Manny Acta.

Acta (above) is a more sensible choice than Valentine, who told the Cleveland media after his interview that he and the Tribe may not be a good fit. But the reality for the Indians is that they are rebuilding and they're going to take their lumps in 2010. Lovullo would have made more sense.

Of course, it's possible that general manager Mark Shapiro doesn't have enough security to write off 2010 — in which case he'll make more, and worse, mistakes in the offseason that's just beginning.

* The current issue of Baseball America names Joe Mauer its Major League Player of the Year. Mauer is the first player to be BA's High School Player of the year, Minor League Player of the Year, and Major League Player of the Year.

*Tony LaRussa will return as St. Louis manager. Just as important: pitching coach Dave Duncan, who was vocally on the outs with the front office during the season, will return also. Less important, but certain to make headlines: Mark McGwire will be the hitting coach.

LaRussa was, at best, a passive encourager of the rise of steroids in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. Even after the backlash, he vocally sought to bring Barry Bonds to the Cardinals and defended Rick Ankiel's use of human growth hormone. And now he's trying to rehabilitate McGwire's image.

Good luck with that.

A piece of the Acta

The Washington Nationals — possessors of a .299 winning percentage this season — fired manager Manny Acta on Monday.

What an ill-run franchise: An interim general manager, an interim manager, a scandal in its Latin American scouting operation, a roster badly in need of detonation — even uniforms with the team name misspelled.

From the outside, it's difficult to tell what role Acta played in the deterioration of the team's record. In his first season, the Nats were 73-89; in his second, 59-102; and now 26-61.

Peter Gammons on Monday's Baseball Tonight called it "the most ill-conceived roster," and that's an accurate assessment. What input Acta had as former GM Jim Bowden went about accumulating corner outfielders and first basemen is the question the comes first to my mind. If Acta assured him that Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes were capable center fielders, then Acta shares the blame for the silliness.

The second question is why the Nationals' bullpen is such a mess. A useful quick-n-dirty gauge to the quality of an organization is the bullpen. A sharp operation can dig up usable arms for short stints. Operations that have repeated bad years in the pen (the Mets, the Indians) get those bad years for a reason. The Nationals' pen has deteriorated each season under Acta.

There are things I like about the Nationals. In Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan and Ross Detwiler, they have three starters of promise. Assuming they (a) get first-round pick Stephen Strasburg signed and (b) keep everybody healthy, they could very quickly have the best starting rotation in the division.

That's something to build on. They need some players who can catch the ball — starting with center field and second base — to protect those pitchers. And that's going to require a GM who can turn their ridiculous surplus of DH-first base-slow outfielders (Adam Dunn, Dmitri Young, Josh Willingham, Austin Kearns, Nick Johnson) into something usable.

As for Acta: I suspect there are a half-dozen teams that would benefit from having him as their manager rather than the current occupant. But that's only a suspicion. I'm inclined to put the blame for the ill-conceived roster on Bowden. But Acta was in the room.