This morning, I awoke to a dazzling late-September blue sky and the knowledge that the Yankees, who lost yesterday, still had not clinched a playoff berth. Plus, the Red Sox had an off-day. Even the Red Sox can’t find a way to lose on an off day.

It’s almost enough to make me a morning person.

Chez Sarah, the dramatic conclusion of the baseball season, coming as it does at the advent of the football season, calls for a certain amount of redecorating.  So it is that my living room now has two televisions, set up side-by-side, enabling me to watch the Patriots and the Red Sox at the same time and to avoid the Sophie’s choice of having to choose which team I love more on a given day.

So it has been, these past few Sundays, that I’ve noticed a certain discrepancy between my two teams. The Red Sox have stumbled. The Patriots have soared. What is to be done? Clearly, the Pats must find a way to aid their struggling brethren in their hour of need. Without further ado, I suggest the following measures:

• Patriots must share points with offensively impoverished Red Sox. Even at exchange rate of 6:1, Pats clearly have more offense than they need.
• Use Ellis Hobbs as pinch runner for Eric Hinske; instead of getting tagged out by Jorge Posada at home plate, Hobbs can fake him out with slick moves.
• Encourage Wes Welker to extend David Ortiz warning-track balls with sneaky lateral alley-oops into bullpen.
• Hire Tedy Bruschi as motivational speaker (see file: J.D. Drew, apathy).
• If Jason Varitek and Ortiz insist on trying to steal bases, bring in Asante Samuel to intercept throw from catcher. (Alternate plan: Junior Seau could tackle second baseman?)
• If Manny still on DL, replace in outfield with Randy Moss; can zip across outfield shagging fly balls with ease; better than Bobby Kielty, anyway.
• Tom Brady: more accurate arm than Dice-K. Poss third pitcher for postseason?
• If all else fails, Belichick can videotape signals.
• Ask Laurence Maroney about ability to “rush” weak grounders out of the infield.
• Replace Julio Lugo with Vince Wilfork; size of lineman means that all runners heading from second to third will have to run onto grass and be automatically out.

Yesterday, Ed Wade was hired as the new general manager of the Houston Astros. He beat out about 11 other candidates, including Phillies Assistant GM Ruben Amaro, Jr.

The Phillies won while Wade was in charge, but they didn’t win enough. The team never made the playoffs in Wade’s eight years on the job.

Houston’s hiring of Wade will no doubt promt snickers from Philly fans, who ran Wade out of town on a rail two years ago.

Phillies fans largely didn’t like Wade. But I’m here to defend the man.

Let’s start with what matters most: Wade inherited a team that had finished last two straight years and had posted a losing record in 10 of the previous 11 seasons. In Wade’s final season as GM, the team went 88-74 this season and finished one game behind NL wild-card winner Houston. It was the Phillies’ third consecutive winning season and fourth in five years.

Jonk at The Good Fight, who has put together a list (borrowed from MLB Trade Rumors) of all of the major (and not so major) moves that Wade made while in charge of the Fightins, had this to say about what made Wade a good GM:

While it seems weird to be happy that a GM didn’t make a bad move, look at all the opportunities Wade had to mortgage our future to make the playoffs. Heck, maybe he should have, but where would we be today? Not many GMs would risk the temptation to not trade one of those 5 players, but Wade gets full credit from me for recognizing good talent and keeping it.

Am I upset the Phils haven’t made the playoffs during his tenure or since? Absolutely. But I can recognize that Wade made plenty of moves that helped this team and while he left the minors failry barren, he still kept the players that actually turned into something.

I gotta agree with Jonk. Wade’s legacy is that he assembled the nucleus of young stars who will lead the team for years to come. Utley. Howard. Hamels. Rollins. These are all Wade guys.

Sure, Wade left the Phillies’ farm system barren. But he didn’t trade any of the team’s young studs — just some future duds.

And, sure, Wade never won a championship in Philly. But so what? Neither did Charles Barkley or Ron Jaworski, and we’ve learned to remember them fondly.

So let’s cut Wade some slack. The man was a decent GM.