Manager		1st	2nd	3rd	Points
Scioscia 	15	10	1	106
Gardenhire 	6	12	6	72
Girardi 	4	3	5	34
Wakamatsu 	2	2	3	19
Washington 	1	1	11	19
Leyland 			2	2

I could see Gardenhire getting more votes than Girardi. But, Scioscia?

I like Scioscia – don’t get me wrong – but, was he really that much better than Girardi?

Goodness, was the stone mason right? Nope…via the Post -

No, Derek Jeter hasn’t blown through his fortune al ready — he’s playing a be draggled bum in a movie.

The Yan kees captain and five-time world champion is play ing a fictionalized version of himself in the upcoming Will Ferrell flick “The Other Guys,” which was being filmed yesterday at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island.

An elevated heart rate and high blood pressure sent a former Major League pitcher to a Denton-area hospital Thursday.

Former Texas Rangers pitcher and current Seattle Mariners bullpen coach John Wetteland was taken by ambulance to Denton Regional Medical Center Thursday afternoon after police were called to his house.

Denton County officials told CBS 11 Thursday afternoon that Wetteland had been hospitalized for a mental health issue, but in a release sent out to members of the media Thursday night by the Seattle Mariners, Wetteland said “My wife and I are very appreciative of the over and above care of our local officers and paramedics. The circumstances leading to my elevated blood pressure and heart rate have been addressed. I am currently resting safely at home.”

The Denton County Sheriff’s office told CBS 11 they took a call from the Bartonville area around 12:30 Thursday on a possibly suicidal person.

When officers arrived to the home, a man later identified as Wetteland came out with his hands in the air, saying he “needed help.”

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a statement, “We were relieved once we heard the details from John and Michelle and that John is safe at home and in good health. Contrary to earlier news reports, the reason John was hospitalized was because of an extremely high heart rate. We have let them know that the Mariners will do whatever we can to assist them.”

Wetteland was always a bit of a character. And, I don’t think you could call him a “shut down closer.” But, there was also something about the guy that I liked…and he was a big part of that 1996 ring team.

I hope this all works out well, in the end, for him.

You’d expect Alex Rodriguez to have a bedroom filled with trophies – not bizarre portraits of himself.

US Weekly reports the Yankee’s slugger has commissioned paintings of himself – as a centaur.

But wait, it gets better – they’re hanging above the superstar athletes’ bed, according to the magazine.

“He was so vain. He had not one, but two painted portraits of himself as a centaur. You know, the half man, half horse figure,” scoffs an ex-girlfriend to the magazine. “It was ridiculous.”

Obviously, one lady doesn’t mind it. Hudson and A-Rod are hitting home-runs all the time.

“They love sex!” an insider reveals to Us Weekly. The celebrity couple, who began dating in May, apparently can’t keep their hands off one another. And when they can’t be close enough to touch, they’re talking about it. “They talk about it all day,” the same snitch says. “Kate gets graphic talking about his body, even to her parents.”

The magazine also reports Hudson is trying to make her beau less egotistical. But talking about his body all the time probably doesn’t help.

For those who don’t get the “White Goodman” reference – remember this character (below)?

But, maybe not the best week to be linked to something called “Biggest Loser,” eh? Heaven forbid some of that might rub off…

Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman will be at ALCS Game 6 at Yankee Stadium as a guest of the Yankees, sources said.

The invitation is a not-do-subtle way of gaining an advantage in talks for the talented left-handed pitcher. Word is that Chapman is seeking a deal worth $40-60 million, and the Yankees and Red Sox could be gearing up for a battle.

The Cubs, Blue Jays, Rangers, Mets, Orioles and White Sox also have been mentioned as having interest.

But that’s a lot of money to pay for a pitcher who’s unproven as a big leaguer, and only the Yankees and Red Sox have a history of taking such a plunge (Boston paid $103 million for Daisuke Matsuzaka; the Yankees $32 million for Jose Contreras).

A few weeks back, I read this from Jim Callis on Chapman:

I won’t be surprised if Chapman gets three times as much as Stephen Strasburg’s draft-record $15.1 million contract. He’s a 22-year-old lefthander with a fastball clocked at 100 mph at the World Baseball Classic, and he’s on the open market—a potent combination. As one scout who saw him at the WBC said, “If you are looking for more than that in a pitcher, you’ll be searching your whole life.”

But here’s the kicker: Chapman never has dominated Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He’s much more of a thrower than a pitcher. Most of Cuban defectors haven’t lived up to their hype, and the last Cuban pitcher to attract this kind of fanfare was Jose Contreras. Contreras has three good seasons and a solid 71-63, 4.63 career, but expectations were that he’d deliver a lot more after signing a $32 million contract with the Yankees.

So, there you have it. In a way, Aroldis Chapman is the Cuban Andrew Brackman. So, I’m sure that Brian Cashman will break the bank to obtain him for the Yankees.

Vinny Milano, aka Bald Vinny, runs a website selling t-shirts designed to celebrate particular Yankee players and/or denigrate the opposition. One of his shirts honors Swisher’s habit of saluting the bleachers during the roll call that the bleacher denizens sing out to welcome each Yankee starter during the top of the first inning. Milano got one of the shirts to Swisher earlier this season, so he was dismayed to learn recently that Swisher had trademarked the phrase and that Modell’s was now selling the shirts.

On his Twitter account, Milano vented some anger toward Swisher for swiping his idea and profting from it.

“I just couldn’t believe he’d stab me in the back like that, because Swisher has been so cool to us,” Milano told the New York Post. “He’s such a fan favorite. I just couldn’t believe he’d betray me like that.”

As it turns out, though, Swisher isn’t worthy of a one-finger salute. While Swisher did trademark the phrase, the t-shirts on sale at Modell’s are produced by the Major League Baseball Players Association and, according to Swisher on Twitter, are being made without his consent. Per their agreement with the MLBPA, Swisher and all players get a share of total licensing monies from merchandise without particular attention paid to whose name is pushing the merch.

Makes we wonder why this never happened with those “Aaron Got Guiel!” shirts that I once had made…

…yes, I’m kidding…there are no such shirts…

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is finally playing hero in the post-season. That whole notion of A-Rod-can’t-hit-in-the-clutch seems but a distant dream this October. Ditto for the steroid revelations that dominated sports pages this off-season and Spring Training. But Miamian Yuri Sucart, his cousin and right-hand man made infamous for his role in A-Rod’s ‘roid use, might still be dealing with the consequences. After being barred from MLB facilities, Sucart has hit some serious financial straits: His Kendall home is in the midst of foreclosure.

For about a week in February, after it was exposed that he provided Rodriguez with Dominican-bought steroids, 46-year-old Sucart became the national sports media’s most-chased figure. ESPN.com devoted 3,000 words to the man, “who was more like an older brother” to the superstar. Reporters camped outside his home, interviewed his cocker spaniel, and described his A-Rod-dependent financial situation. From the ESPN.com article:

It’s unclear what Sucart’s exact income is or has been, but friends say his compensation couldn’t be much. Sucart always seems, according to one friend, to “just be getting by.” The one-story house Sucart owns in South Miami-Dade sits on a beautiful estate, but from the street, it looks to be in rugged shape. Friends say the house is “a dump.”

Soon after he was implicated in the scandal, Sucart was banned from all MLB facilities — a devastating career blow to a professional right-hand man. And on August 12, US Bank began foreclosure proceedings, which are continuing, on the SW 94th Street home he and his wife Carmen purchased in June 2006. The 1,300-square-foot house sits on almost an acre. According to a claim made in Miami-Dade Court, the Sucarts owe $538,266.24 on the property they originally purchased for $675,000.

The Sucarts, who have two children, are notoriously media-shy and did not immediately return a message left by Riptide at their home.

If you’re wondering, the money owed on the mortgage represents less than three games’ salary for A-Rod, who made $33 million this season. So we gotta ask: Where’s the big-money cousin now?

Poor Yuri…young, dumb and naïve…and, now, possibly homeless. And, it doesn’t appear that cousin Alex is about to dip into the secret compartment of his ring that he fills with his A-Rod super energy pill and help him out any time soon…does it?

The Yankees’ wives and girlfriends have been banned from trashing Kate Hudson after Page Six revealed there was coldness between her and Derek Jeter’s squeeze, Minka Kelly. We told how low-key Kelly disapproved of Hudson’s antics including cheering wildly from the front row and smooching A-Rod all over town. A source said, “The Yankees told the girls to be careful who they spoke to about Kate. They are concerned about the ramifications for the players.”

Here’s more on the whole Minka Kelly thing, for those who missed it back in August.

I’m really starting to get a Memo Paris vibe from Ms. Hudson…

How about you?

Greeley native and former major league pitcher Shawn Chacon is wanted on a warrant for allegedly failing to pay $150,000 in gambling markers, the Las Vegas Sun is reporting today.

Chacon faces a felony charge of writing three bad checks for $50,000 each to Caesars Palace in March, according to the Sun’s report.

The high school baseball standout from Greeley Central High School signed a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics in June. He formerly pitched for the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. He also was voted to the Major League All-Star team in 2003.

Well, I guess not every year can be as magic as 2005…