Torre! Wave to the Bronx!

Picture it. Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre talking baseball in the dodgers' dugout during a playoff game. The October scoreboard has no games with the yankees on it for the first time in 14 or 15 years. Who would have thought that this scene possible 4 years ago?

I don't appreciate this as much as a sox or yanks fan would, but even I can recognize more than a bit irony that after getting low-balled out of town Joe Torre brings a young team (replace the '04 yanks Pettitte, Posada, and Jeter with '08 dodgers Billingsley, Martin, Kemp, and Ethier) to the playoffs. It's even more of a tribute to Torre because no one can say now that he can't win without superstar teams (the rap Phil Jackson of the NBA's lakers still has on him). The dodgers didn't have a superstar player until the trade deadline. Ramirez has been quite the difference maker, but compared to the ridiculously expensive free agent teams Torre managed this team is weak.

The yanks sitting at home with Girardi at their helm kind of exemplifies the demolition Cashman has decided to go with. I think he started off wrong with axing his manager. I guess now he may understand that Torre maybe wasn't so overpaid. The Yankees I think are trying to rebuild while riding out the guys they have to ride out like Jeter, A-Rod, Rivera, Mussina and others. Despite this, the yankees still have a ton of talent on their club.

I remember when the whole Torre drama first erupted. The way the story was interpreted was that Torre felt disrespected so he was willing to go to another team who was paying him even less because at least that team wanted him. It continues that given the dodgers crappy team, Torre would manage a few years while grooming his successor without much hopes of going to the playoffs as much as showing a bunch of young players 'how to win' or 'what it takes to win' or whatever other baseballisms you want to attach to what Torre's job was supposed to be. It wasn't expected he'd win ball games.

They didn't even bother to mention Torre in the farewell event to the old stadium. It just drives home the point that Torre at least has class, while the yankees have started to show a lack of it. The silver lining is that a yanks organization in a bit of disarray can only be a good thing for Boston. Life's a lot better when you only have to worry about catching rays.

Here's my impressions of Torre as manager. He seems very diplomatic, at least with the media. He's not very temperamental. He doesn't talk much. He doesn't call a lot of plays. He walks funny. He plays favorites (Scott Proctor), but only to a point. His bullpen usage is kind of strange at times. Torre has gotten more right than he has wrong. I think he helps most in the clubhouse by not letting some of the veteran players all act like managers and browbeating the young players.