La Russa staying put
Tony La Russa tended to his many pets on the West Coast for a week or so, and made up his mind: He wanted to keep managing.
Now, he’s hoping the St. Louis Cardinals can make an equally quick decision on hiring a general manager.
La Russa agreed Monday to a two-year contract to stay in St. Louis, confident that the Cardinals can still be contenders. Whether he ever works out his rift with Scott Rolen, that remains to be seen.
“You’ve got to be honest, he’s probably the one guy who has issues with me,” La Russa said. “You hope he’s healthy, understand we have issues, and don’t let it get in the way.”
The 63-year-old La Russa never courted offers from other teams. He would have preferred the new GM give the OK for his return, but La Russa felt it was important to finalize his status heading into free agency.
Mitchell denies leak
Baseball investigator George Mitchell, also a director for the A.L. champion Boston Red Sox, denied providing information for a story that Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd used human growth hormone.
Sunday, Byrd acknowledged using HGH after the San Francisco Chronicle reported he spent nearly $25,000 on the drug and syringes from 2002-05 – before HGH was banned by Major League Baseball.
ALCS draws big numbers
Sunday night’s Game 7 between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox drew an 11.7 rating, which was 8 percent better than the 10.8 earned by last year’s NLCS Game 7 between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. It was the highest-rated LCS game since 2004.
The series attracted an average 7.4 rating, a 37 percent increase over the 5.4 for the four-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers of the Oakland A’s in last year’s ALCS. It was the highest-rated ALCS not involving a Red Sox-Yankees matchup since 2001 (Yankees-Mariners).
The Rockies’ NLCS sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks on TBS drew an average 2.8 rating for all households and a 3.3 for homes with the cable network.
When the Red Sox’s 11-2 win over the Indians ended at 11:45 p.m. on Sunday night, 57 percent of households in the Boston area – and 86 percent of homes with the TV on – were tuned in.
Red Sox 2-1 favorites
The Boston Red Sox are 2-1 favorites to win the World Series and end the magical run of the Colorado Rockies.
“Colorado is a real Cinderella story,” said Jay Kornegay, director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. “We’re just not sure when it’s going to strike midnight.”
Las Vegas oddsmakers put the Red Sox at minus-$2, meaning every $2 bet will win $1 if Boston wins. Colorado is plus $1.70, meaning every $1 wins $1.70 if the Rockies take the series.
Rockies halt ticket sales
The Colorado Rockies suspended World Series ticket sales after overwhelming demand crashed their computer system.
“Right now we’re shutting the system down,” club spokesman Jay Alves announced outside Coors Field, drawing boos from fans. “We expect to be online at some point.”
There were 8.5 million attempts to connect with the computers in the first 90 minutes after sales started, he said, and only several hundred tickets had been sold before the system had to be shut down.
Yankees start interviews
Joe Girardi met with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, becoming the first person to interview as a potential replacement for departed manager Joe Torre.
Yankees bench coach Don Mattingly, scheduled to be interviewed today, is considered the favorite. New York first base coach Tony Pena is slated for a Wednesday interview.