I know we have that badass Delicious widget over there on the upper right corner now, but I thought I’d offer an old-fashioned reading post as we cruise towards the weekend:

• First the Mets had to fight a PR scandal over their new Citi Field, after Citi got bailed out by the American taxpayer (said taxpayer was none too thrilled that the naming rights for said stadium had cost $400 million). Now the team is assuring everyone that they are not, repeat, NOT for sale, even though ownership lost money in Bernie Madoff’s bizarre Ponzi scheme. Sounds exhausting.
• On WEEI.com: Rob Bradford has a fantastic piece where Dan Duquette talks about scouting — and drafting – Mark Teixeira, only to have Tex choose Georgia Tech instead.
• Craig Calcaterra: the “new Yankee Stadium is built on a foundation of graft.” Really, it’s like right out of Tammany Hall — the higher the land was valued, the more tax-free bonds the Yankees would get; so when the Yanks didn’t like the original valuation of the land, the city officials obligingly bumped it up from $27 million to $204 million. I wonder if there’s any connection to this article from last week’s New York Times: “Tax Shelter Helps Yankees Afford Those Big Salaries.” Any accountants out there want to do the math for me?
• In other Yankees news, I found this opening line unintentionally hilarious: Like a holiday shopper, the Yankees are carefully mulling how to spend their cash. In case you haven’t heard, this has been a disappointing holiday shopping season — to say the least — for retailers. Yet the Yankees have already spent more than $240 million on just two pitchers and are now considering a “hard push” for Manny Ramirez, including a rumored 3-year offer of as much as $75 million. That’s a lot of “careful mulling,” for sure.
• How crazy is this Rafael Furcal deal? I volunteered to cover MLBTR for the evening and spent the night updating this post. I think I have whiplash, now.
• Bobby Jenks gives a really interesting interview explaining why he doesn’t throw 100mph all the time anymore — because, he says, that’s his strategy. “Anyone can time 100 mph if they see it enough…My strikeouts are down, yes, but my pitch efficiency is higher than ever and my walks are down. I’m getting hitters swinging early in the counts, and when they get behind, I can put them away.” In other words, he’s not throwing…he’s pitching.
• Joe Posnanski takes a look at the Hall of Fame ballot and handicaps who’ll get in — and thinks Jim Rice will make it this time (even though Posnanski himself won’t be voting for him).
• Speaking of the HOF, HOFer Ryne Sandberg is moving up to AA — as a manager, that is. He’s been with the Cubs-affiliated Single-A Peoria Chiefs for the past two seasons, but will join the Double-ATennessee Smokies this season. Just another reason why this year’s minor league road trip will have to take in the Smokies!
• Speaking of minor league road trips, Deadspin has just noticed that the Buffalo Bisons have an ungrammatical name, which is something that my pal Rachael pointed out during the Bulls-Bisons game we watched in Durham in July. (I, on the other hand, took that moment to exclaim, “OH, the Buffalo BISONS — I GET IT NOW!“)

What did I miss?

For the record, I just have to say, it is unjust to lambaste Manny for a) that weirdo 390 foot single in Game 5 or for b) not sliding into home plate in the same game.

First, I flew into a rage Friday morning en route to work when I was listening to Boston’s sports radio station, WEEI, and the announcers not only criticized Manny, saying they “hadn’t even noticed it until a Tom Verducci article” that mentioned the non-slide. Then they also slammed a caller who criticized Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. It is hard to overstate the robustness of the Boston radio team’s defense of Buck and McCarver. It was as if they were literally watering at the mouth over how “excellent” they supposedly are. “Excellent.” Yes. They actually used that word. They even said they learned from listening to them!

[Sputter, fume, seethe, sputter.]

But as I was saying:

1. Re: the homer that wasn’t, the eggheads at BP have already said they thought it was a home run. I, for one, accept Cleveland’s crazy-ass ground rules but I still think that any ball that hits “the top” of the wall is “over” the wall and hence ought to be called a “home run.” Nonetheless, I think it’s transparent that Manny wasn’t running hard on that ball because he thought it was caught, not because he assumed it was out. If he’d assumed it was out, he would have stood at the plate with his hands in the air. Yes, he should have made it to second on that play, but it was understandably confusing. If that happens to David Ortiz, I guarantee you nobody mentions it.

2. Re: the slide that wasn’t, what the heck was Manny supposed to do? Kill Victor Martinez to make him drop the ball? Slide the 3.7 miles to home plate? If there’s one person to be blamed for that play, it’s clearly Demarlo Hale, the Red Sox third base coach. Maybe Jacoby Ellsbury can score from second on a shallow liner to right, but Manny Ramirez can’t.

So, yeah. There you have it. The only people who think otherwise are the kind of people who actually learn from Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Do you want to be that kind of person? Be honest. No, no you don’t.