Baseball Today - Tuesday, October 23
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD Tuesday, Oct. 23
No games scheduled. The World Series starts in Boston on Wednesday.
Oddmakers list Boston as -210 favorites in Game 1. The total for the game is set at 8 1/2.
FIRST-TIMERS
The Colorado Rockies, in their 15th season, are making their first appearance in the World Series. The Rockies, winners of 21 of their last 22 games, are the sixth team since 1992 to reach the Fall Classic for the first time. The previous five have a 4-1 record with Toronto (1992), Florida (1997), Arizona (2001) and Anaheim (2002) all victorious and Houston (2005) the one to fail. Hopefully, they won't have to wait as long as the Red Sox, who broke an 86-year World Series drought by winning in 2004.
MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND
Tony La Russa dedided to return for a 13th season as manager of the Cardinals on Monday, agreeing to a two-year contract to stay in St. Louis. A year after winning the World Series, the Cardinals missed the playoffs with a disappointing 78-win season. ... Kansas City introduced 44-year-old Trey Hillman as the Royals' 15th full-time manager. A veteran of 13 years managing in the New York Yankees minor league system and one of the few big league managers who has never coached or played in the majors, Hillman has managed in Japan for the past five years. Hillman will manage the Nippon Ham Fighters in their defense of Japan's World Series championship.
YANKEE DOODLES
The New York Yankees began their search for a new manager on Monday following the decision by Joe Torre, who left last week after 12 seasons. The interview process began with former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi, who spent about an hour at Legends Field. Yankees bench coach Don Mattingly was due in Tuesday and New York first base coach Tony Pena on Wednesday.
SPEAKING
''We're under the radar. It's being billed as a David and Goliath situation. But that's OK. We're as confident as anybody, we're as hot as anybody. We think we're as good as anybody.'' - Colorado reliever Matt Herges on the upcoming matchup between the Rockies and the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Game 1 begins on Wednesday in Boston.