Daily Links - A Question, Right? Edition

Another day another giant awful mess of a loss. Can't say we aren't used to it now, huh? The good news though, folks, if there is good news, can be found by simply clicking on the "Standings" page at MLB.com. While you're gazing at who leads who for the Wild Card, ask yourself which position you'd rather be in, that of Tampa or that of Boston. Then, go down to the court house, legally change your name to "Bill" and when you get home, take a chill pill.

Link time!

We all love a good kerfuffle, right? Well the Moneyball movie is here to help. First we have the reviews. As mentioned a few days ago, Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk did see the movie. He liked it, more or less. Next up, Jon Weissman of Dodger Thoughts. He loved it. Finally, ESPN's Keith Law (writing on his own blog) thought the movie was total garbage and says, "if I hadn’t been planning to review it, I would have walked out." Great, you say, but I was promised a kerfuffle. Patience, my literary device. If we all just hop over to The Platoon Advantage (every time I see that name I think of this scene from Naked Gun [1:30 mark of the video]) you'll see The Common Man's post on Keith Law's review. But, what makes it so interesting is that someone (Christopher Rosen at Moviefone) got in touch with Michael Lewis (don't you love all this name dropping?), the author of the book on which the movie is based. Mr. Rosen read Mr. Lewis Mr. Law's remarks. Mr. Lewis didn't like them. Mr. The Common Man discusses all. fin!

We all love a good terrible idea, right? Chip Buck of Fire Brand of the AL certainly does. He noticed that Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston suggested to virtually ordered Terry Francona to remove John Lackey from the starting rotation. Mr. Buck details, in a much nicer way than I would have, why this idea is brain dead. Has John Lackey been good? No, he has not. Has he pitched as badly as his ERA says? No, he has not. Is there anyone better to take over his spot in the rotation? This, I should note, is where Mr. Edes argument goes completely off the rails.) No, you'd better believe there is not. Unless you tithe at the Church of Andrew Miller or you're convinced that Tim Wakefield still "has it in him" or you just know, just know that Kyle Weiland's AAA stats are totally repeatable at the major league level. The end game of this argument though is this question: Is he still signed for three more seasons at $45 million? Antagonizing him just before the playoffs are set to begin seems like the opposite of a good idea then, huh?

We all love a feel good story, right? This one made me tear up a bit, I'm not ashamed to admit it. When Matt Dominguez of the Florida Marlins was called up to the majors early this year, it was the culmination of years and years of hard work. Hard work by Matt Dominguez, yes, but also by his parents. So it was especially sweet for them to hear that their son was called up to the majors and even sweeter to see their son play his first big league game. Matt Dominguez's dad tells his story in the pages of the LA Times.

We all love Joe Posnanski, right? As usual *YAWN!* Mr. Posnanski hits the nail on the head when it comes to WAR, something incidentally that Marc Normandin and I discussed with Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk on this week's OTM Podcast, coming up later today. Anyway, WAR is a tool to be used, not the one true god of stats handed down from on high.

We all love C.C. Sabathia, right? Not as much as he loves food! Ha ha! He's very large so must eat a lot! Former podcast guest and baseball writer extraordinaire Jay Jaffe runs over The Hungry One's Cy Young case and looks at how it competes with those of Justin Verlander and Jered Weaver. Maybe surprising to some, though not to me as Mr. Jaffe is pretty even handed even when it comes to the slimming effects of pinstripes, he ultimately sides against [spoiler alert!].

Finally, you mean this isn't a perfect idea? Alert Bud Selig immediately!