Brother, can you spare a dime?

A movement is breweing over at Fire Dusty Baker, where they're calling for the Cubs manager's toothpick-munching wristband-wearing butt to get shipped right out of town. I'm all about it. I really feel like Dusty Baker is the worst thing to happen to the Cubs since Ryne Sandberg's first retirement. He doesn't agree, of course, and was quoted in the Sun-Times as saying "I still look at six or seven more years. There are things I need and want to accomplish. I'm still here. I plan on being here." Oh god, I hope not.

Baker's an ok tactician, in terms of putting a competitive squad on the field, but I wonder if he's really able to make the most of what he's got when the Cubs are currently 5 games under .500 on the season. Yes, injuries to Wood and Prior and Nomar killed some of the buzz. But St. Louis has Walker, Rolen and Sanders out of the line-up (and lost Isringhausen for half of the season) and is still in cruise control. Atlanta? Worst outfield in MLB until Cox ditched the old-timers in favor of an all-rookie LF-CF-RF combo. The Braves still have the goods.

That's the rub. Baker is notoriously terrible dealing with youg players. Just awful. Any success through the minor league pipeline should be attributed entirely to Jim Hendry and Andy McPhail. Where's Corey Patterson? What happened to Matt Murton and Jason Dubois? Will Zambrano recover from over-use and abuse? Will Felix Pie ever see a Cubs uniform? I like a little bit of flash and arrogance. It gets the fans riled up, and Tony LaRussa is the master of this. But have you ever seen a worse press conference interview than Dusty Baker? It's like a giant homework assignment where points are assigned by not answering the questions posed by the reporters. Boo.

Pride of the Yankees

Just got back from New York, where my gracious hosts Duncan and Molly helped me to continue my personal winning streak of seeing single games at different ballparks this season (White Sox-Pittsburgh-Washington-Philly) with a trip to see the Yankees' Single A club on Staten Island. I was hoping for a long-awaited visit to Shea Stadium, but then again, I'd never seen a minor league baseball game before last week. It was pretty great. The park is one of those new-school old-school constructions, with a lovely view of the waterfront and Ellis Island and the Manhattan skyline.

The team's so popular it has three mascots and an unofficial fourth -- some obese guy named King Henry who roams the stands with a crown and a bat-and-ball scepter. The official mascot of the Staten Island Yankees is Scooter the Holy Cow, a freckled, halo-wearing cow. He also has two female bovine acolytes. I know this is in tribute to Yanks great/sportscaster extrordinaire Phil Rizzuto, but I wonder how long the fun will last in light of MLB handing down the longest milk-related suspension ever. Also, the team store sells Yankees yarmulkes. That kinda rules.