Three Guys Named Joe

So George's sons, the Katzenbrenner kids, screwed up the Joe Torre firing, but at least they got the man I believe is the best for the job, Joe Girardi. Girardi pulled off a minor miracle in keeping the 2006 Marlins, a team made up almost exclusively of rookies, a team that cut an unprecedented percentage of its salary from the previous season, at about .500 for the entire season.

Yankee fans might fear his handling of a potentially young staff next season. He Billy Balled the young Marlins staff last year and they showed the wear this year. But, that's nothing that a decent pitching coach—Leo Mazzone, anyone?—can't handle.

Joe Girardi replaces Joe Torre. The only other Joe in Yankee managerial history was Joe McCarthy. Maybe all Yankee managers should adopt the name Joe, and they can number them like they do with popes.

Anyway, I am more interested in what the other Joe. Torre takes over a club in LA that underperformed enthusiastically this past season and one that should be able to rebound quickly given a weak NL.

Anyway, Torre already has 2000 wins as a manager, over a thousand as a Yankee, and has all but sealed up a plaque in Cooperstown. Besides he will be starting over with a new team at the age of 67. I was wondering if there were any managers who started with a new team under similar circumstances and how well they did with the new team.

Well, there is just one manager who took a new job after the age of 60 and with 1000 or more wins with their previous team (Casey Stengel, who disastrously took over the expansion Mets after winning 1851 games with the Yankees) . As for managers age 60 or more who took a new job, there are six and here they are with there results with their previous team and over the remainder of their careers:

The most wins for a player starting a new managerial job was by guess who? Joe McCarthy who had 1460 with the Yankees when he took over the Red Sox in 1948. Here are the results for all

Name	Age	Exp	Prev W	Prev L	G	Prev Tm	First	Last	Remaining First	Remaining Last	Remaining W	Remaining L
Joe McCarthy	59	21	1460	867	2348	NYY	1931	1946	1948	1950	223	145
Bucky Harris	57	31	1336	1416	2776	MIN	1924	1954	1955	1956	161	147
Cap Anson	45	23	1283	932	2258	CHC	1879	1897	1898	1898	9	13
Casey Stengel	69	27	1149	696	1851	NYY	1949	1960	1962	1965	175	404
Hughie Jennings	51	14	1131	972	2127	DET	1907	1920	1924	1925	53	23
Frank Selee	41	12	1004	649	1677	ATL	1890	1901	1902	1905	280	213

There's not a lot of longevity in that crowd. I think it applies to Torre. He probably has no more than four or five years left in his managerial career, but he might have success left in him in that span especially with the Dodgers.

What's the Use of Getting Sober When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again

2007 is the worst postseason of all time. Period. And I can prove it.

It's not because my Phils lost or because TV ratings were down or even because the Red Sox won I say this season was the worst postseason because the average margin of victory overall was the worst in divisional play.

There were years in which the winning team beat up on the loser with a more ferocity, but those were seasons that consisted of one playoff series, the World Series. This year consisted of three rounds and seven separate series, and they almost all stunk to high heaven.

Here are the worst margins of victory for an entire postseason. Note that this season is a third of a run worse than the next year since the inception of divisional play: