Pregame Distraction!

Frank and Jamie McCourt have been the face of the Dodgers for six years, but the McCourts may now turn the Dodgers into part of a divorce. Frank and Jamie McCourt filed for divorce late Wednesday, right before the Dodgers NLCS Opener.

Jamie McCourt doesn't own the Dodgers, but she is Chief Executive Officer, while her husband owns the team.

Six years after the McCourts bought the Dodgers from Rupert Murdoch, things may not have gone well at home, but they have gone well on the field as the Dodgers have Manny Ramirez and are playing in the NLCS for the second year in a row.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the McCourts were not sitting together during the NLDS series against the Cardinals and have rarely been seen together all season, so the divorce filing comes as no surprise.

Looking at other posts on the web, everyone wants to know what effect the divorce will have on the Dodgers in the post season?  That has to be the stupidest thing I ever heard of. As long as the divorce doesn’t affect the player’s paycheck, why the heck would it be a distraction for the players during the game?

The Dodgers will either win or lose the series, but neither one will be because of the owners divorce. - Blake Kearny

Blake Kearny is a retired baseball scout from Los Angeles, California. He currently runs a baseball school for children in Los Angeles

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Roto-Rx

If your question was not answered this time, you can go directly to the source @ https://www.roto-rx.com/ where Dr. Roto will answer all your Fantasy Baseball and Football questions.

The Doctor is in...

Question #1: When I’m comparing Ben Zobrist to other players, what position do I compare him at to get a gauge for his relative worth? – East Hampton, NY

Hampton: Zobrist should be considered a 2B if you have to give him a position, considering he played the most there last year. Remember, his true value lies in his versatility.

Question #2: Now that the regular season is over, who are your MVP and CY award winners? Does Dr. Roto get an actual vote? – Jose, Ramapo, NJ

Jose: No, Dr. Roto does not get an actual vote...hopefully, he will soon. My MVP's are: Albert Pujols in the NL and Mark Teixeira in the AL. Cy Young will go to Zack Greinke in the AL and Chris Carpenter in the NL.

Question #3: Do you think that Hideki Matsui will have a full time gig in MLB next year of will he go back to Japan? – Roy, Bowling Green, MO

Roy: The only place you'll be seeing Matusi next year will be in Yankee Stadium (so long as they want him). If he is not a Yankee, he will go back to Japan.

Question #4: Did the post season problems of Joe Nathan this year affect your outlook for him for next year’s fantasy season? – Felix, Bethel, CT

Felix: Joe Nathan's struggles in the post-season have not deterred Dr. Roto from him at all. In fact, I would use it to my advantage. When his name comes up at your auction next year, you should clear your throat and say, "Nice job in the playoffs". This should drop his value 3-5 dollars in the room and you get a steal.

Question #5: Would you protect Michael Cuddyer for $12 next year? He qualifies at two spots in my league. – Salvatore, San Mateo, CA

Salvatore: I think I would. He had over 30 HR and looked sharp for most of the year. He is always undervalued to boot. Keep him.

The Doctor is out...

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Enough with the love fest already….

Everyone is talking about the Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series as it’s a foregone conclusion.

Will Torre get an ovation louder than Girardi…. Will Mattingly get an ovation louder than Torre…. Will Jeter come over and hug Torre….

Enough with the love fest already…. Has everyone forgotten that the Yankees can’t beat the Angels and that the Phillies are the reining Worlds Champions?

I know the Yankees have the best record in baseball and they certainly have the best players. But there are two teams out there that do not fear the Yankees and they are the Angels and the Phillies. And to be honest, the Dodgers remind me of the Marlins team that beat the Yankees. Most of them are too young and naive to be intimidated by the Yankees, and Manny certainly isn’t.

I know the popular play is to pick the Yankees but I think someone (Angels, Phillies, Dodgers) is going to pick them off. I don’t think it’s going to be so easy to be a Yankee fan at this year’s Halloween party. - Paul Leume

Paul Leume is a MLB columnist from Montreal, Canada. Paul, a one-time beat writer covering the Montreal Expos for the Montreal Gazette is a proud grandfather of 3 girls and now spends his time offering his thoughts and prospective on Major League Baseball on a variety of blogs and websites throughout Al Gore’s internet.

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The true measure of Rivera's genius. His resolve.

On Saturday in the Joe Nathan make Armando Benitez look clutch post we spoke about the troubles that Joe Nathan has had in his playoff career. If you look at the numbers, it’s quite unbelievable really. It’s like he’s a completely different pitcher. But that’s what pressure does.

You squeeze the ball to tight, you muscle up, you aim…… All these things reduce ball movement, velocity and misplace the ball.

There is a great article up today by Mark Newman of MLB.com today that discusses the problem with getting those last few outs that closers are having. In the first round of playoffs alone there have been 6 blown saves! And these were from closers that were from the teams that are good enough to be in the playoffs.

There was Ryan Franklin's blown save for the Cardinals against the Dodgers, Joe Nathan's blown save for the Twins against Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees, Jonathan Papelbon's blown save for the Red Sox that allowed the Angels to clinch, Phillies reliever Ryan Madson in the seventh inning of Game 3 and the eighth inning of Game 4, and Huston Street's blown save for the Rockies in Philadelphia's clincher on Monday night.

Closing out games is not an easy thing to do. It’s as much mental as it is physical. If you do it, well that’s what you are supposed to do, if you don’t, you are a goat. They should probably have psych class for football field goal kickers and baseball closers on how to deal with failing. Look what did to the promising career of Byung Young Kim, he was never the same. Remember Donny Moore? Talk about blowing a save and having it weigh on your shoulders.

These examples all this point to the unbelievable success that Mariano Rivera has had in the post season. And he’s not perfect either. He’s human. As for the few that got away, they motivate him, they make him better. Rivera still says Dave Roberts was out stealing second in the ninth inning of Game 4, Yankees against the Red Sox in 2004 (the beginning of the end even if nobody knew it at the time.) And he still thinks he should have gotten out of that inning and caught Bill Mueller's game-tying single after Roberts did steal second.

He can recite every pitch and every moment of Game 7 against the Diamondbacks in the World Series of 2001, the bottom of the ninth that was the greatest shock of all with Rivera, Arizona scoring two and finally winning the Series on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez over Jeter's head. It eats at him; it just makes him work harder.

Maybe that is the true measure of Rivera's genius. His resolve. He remembers the ones that got away with as much clarity as that night in Game 7 of 2003 against the Red Sox when he pitched the last three innings and seemed perfectly willing to pitch all night.

Rivera comes in the game, relaxed, composed and seems to be able to block out and of the mental things that makes the body tense up, panic or take him out of his normal routine. And this on the biggest stage in the world.

We all know that Mariano Rivera is great. We know that he’s an all-time great. But he probably deserves even more accolades than that! There will come a time when Mariano will not be around to close out games anymore, and when that time comes, the legend of Mariano will grow, and grow and grow.

Derek Jeter on Rivera - "You want to know how great he really is? The only time you see people really wanting to talk to him after a game is when he occasionally blows one."

Sometimes you think: If he doesn't give up the home run to Sandy Alomar in Game 4 of the ALDS in 1997 … if he gets out of it against the Diamondbacks somehow … if he doesn't walk Kevin Millar to start the bottom of the ninth in Game 4 in '04 … then maybe he has won seven World Series already with the Yankees.

Rivera might not be the greatest baseball pitcher of all time because the most best starting pitchers all-time had to go through batting orders at least three times and sometimes four to get to where they got to in the record books. But Rivera is better at what he does, closing out games, than any pitcher who ever pitched. There has never been anyone better at getting the last out of a big game.

The moral of the story is that Yankee fans shouldn’t take this stuff for granted. You are watching a once in a life time athlete. Enjoy it while you can. - Keith A. Baker

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports and Major League Baseball in particular. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.

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They Angels will beat the Yankees again. Why? Mike Socia

There are not many teams that beat up on the Yankees in recent years. That’s not surprising. With the ability to have a payroll like the Yankees have had, you would think that they would have the better players the majority of the time.

But that’s not the case with the Angels. For whatever reason, they are not intimidated. During the legendary Joe Torre era of Yankee baseball that began in 1996 and included four World Series championships and 12 straight trips to the playoffs, only the Angels held a winning record against New York. Including Joe Girardi’s tenure the Angels hold a 79-66 advantage against the Yankees since 1996.

For whatever reason, this combination of management and players for the Angels has been able to do what no other team in baseball does. Routinely beat the Yankees.

One Of The Very Best

With a third consecutive AL West crown, Mike Scioscia became the first manager in history to bring six clubs into postseason play in his first 10 seasons. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to get past the Yankees either. The Socia let Angels and Yankees have some history in October, and the memories are not warm and fuzzy for the Bronx Bombers and their fans.

- In 2002 and in '05, the Angels eliminated the Yanks in ALDS showdowns.

- En route to the franchise's lone World Series championship in '02, the Halos knocked out New York in four games, splitting the first two in the Bronx and then taking two in Anaheim.

- Three years later, in a rematch, the Yankees again split their two home games before going west and losing the decisive fifth game at Angel Stadium.

This year The Angels and Yanks split 10 games this season with the Bombers taking three of four in their new home ballpark.

The Yankees haven't been to an ALCS since 2004, when the Red Sox chased away all their ghosts with their implausible dream of a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. The Angels' most recent visit to an ALCS also was less than satisfying. The White Sox took them out in five games in '05, winning the last four.
With each team sweeping their AL Division Series and having four days off, each team having fully rested rotations. Some would argue too much time.

With the storied history of the Yankee, there aren’t any teams that they feel they have to prove something against, except the Angels. The Yankees have the stars, the Angels have the guts.

Who remembers Mike Scioscia’s dramatic, ninth inning, game-tying home run against the New York Mets' Dwight Gooden in Game 4 of the 1988 National League Championship Series (Click to watch)? The ‘88 Mets do. Take a look at Doc Gooden in the picture. It was the start of the downfall of a “what was supposed to be a Hall of Fame career.”

Scioscia was a key player on the Dodgers' 1981 and 1988 World Series champion teams, and is the Dodgers' all-time leader in games caught (1,395.) He was a winner as a player and a winner as a manager.

The Angels will beat the Yankees again. Why? Mike Socia. - Blake Kearny

Blake Kearny is a retired baseball scout from Los Angeles, California. He currently runs a baseball school for children in Los Angeles

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Have a Fantasy Football or Rotisserie baseball question? Want to know who to pick up, who to activate and who the hot prospects are? Ask Dr. Roto. Let Dr. Roto guide your team to a league championship.

Roto-Rx – Answering Your Fantasy Baseball Questions

If your question was not answered this time, you can go directly to the source @ https://www.roto-rx.com/ where Dr. Roto will answer all your Fantasy Baseball and Football questions.

The Doctor is in...

Question #1: Is Ian Stewart a keeper at $6? He qualifies all over and can really thump… but the batting average! – Evan, Barlow, KY

Evan: Stewart has some pop in his bat, plays multiple positions, and even surprises with a few SB now and then. It's true that his BA is horrendous, but there is too much upside to ignore. He is a Dr. Roto favorite.

Question #2: Troy Tulowitzki or Derek Jeter. Who do I protect for next year - both are $13 and I don’t want to protect 2 SS’s. – Michael, Freemont Hills, MO

Michael: That is a great choice to have, Michael. You are probably the envy of the rest of your league. Why not protect 2 SS though? Dr. Roto doesn't know the makeup of your league, but he does know that you have two of the best players in the game. Sometimes position doesn't matter. It also helps you trade from strength.

Question #3: Do you rank Miguel Montero as a top tier catcher for next year? – Larry, La Habra, CA

Larry: If you are asking whether Montero is a top 12 catcher, the answer is yes. As for higher than that, let's hold off to see what happens in the off-season.

Question #4: All things being equal, would I be better off with David Wright or Pablo Sandoval for next year? – Marv, Yonkers, NY

Marv: That is a tough one Marv. If I am getting David Wright from 2008 I take him for sure. If I am getting the 2009 version, I think I take Sandoval's .330 average and emerging power. That's another let's see question. Let's see where the Mets and Giants are after the off-season....

Question #5: Is David Ortiz worth $9 for next year or should I throw him back? – Ace, Duke University

Ace: Did you know that David Ortiz led the majors in HR from June onwards this year? Let's put it this way...his first two months were the worst they could be. If he improves on those numbers alone, he will be worth it. Keep Him.

The Doctor is out...

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