According to numerous St. Louis-based media outlets, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa is retiring.

This is what's known as "going out on top," I guess!

Ugh. The Hamilton home run would have been TOO storybook of a finish, huh?

It's no surprise that #1 Ranger fan/addict (and valued Bauxite) Jamey Newberg summed it up best on behalf of all us North Texas baseball watchers  in his e-mail newsletter this morning ...

John Heyman has apparently tweeted that Tony LaCava is "very likely" to be Baltimore's new GM. This has followed on from the earlier rumour that the Angel's are about to hire Jerry Dipoto. Nothing is certain, of course, until it's officially announced and in this case we definitely have to consider the source.

According  to The Sporting News yesterday, your 2011 Rookies of the Year in each league are ...

• Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo, who hit .254 with a team-leading 29 home runs and 89 runs
  batted in this season, was awarded the honor in the American League.
• Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, who had 46 saves and a 2.10 earned run average,
  nabbed the NL rookie honors.

Voting was done by 289 major league players, 177 in the AL and 112 in the NL.

Game 6 of the World Series now goes Thursday night, with Game-Seven-If-Necessary to follow on Friday.

Elsewhere...

Touch 'em all, Tom!

The annual Ford C. Frick ballot nominations are in full review by Baseball's Hall of Fame, and as such, the likeliest candidates are receiving full feature review from the Hall on Facebook and in update-subscriber e-mails ... today's edition highlights a man who will bear more than passing familiarity to Canadian baseball enthusiasts of both Jay and Expo lineage ... 2012 Frick Ballot Preview: Tom Cheek

Mike Napoli. (Wow!)

After the Cardinals dispatched the Brewers in the LCS, a considerable fuss was made of Tony LaRussa's managing of the Cardinals bullpen.

At least for one day, Derek Holland is really good.

Albert Pujols is pretty good.

The Toronto Blue Jays have taken 28 year-old righthander Jesse Chavez off the waiver wire from the Kansas City Royals.

Jesse Chavez has pitched for three major league clubs and drafted by two others.

I have an odd theory about why the Texas Rangers, despite their current 0-1 hole, at least seem like a better baseball team than the St. Louis Cardinals.

• Point #1: I think it's pretty clear who, given complete health, the best player on each team is. Albert Pujols (duh) and Josh Hamilton -- in fact, in the past couple of years, both have staked various claims on best player in baseball status. (And Albert may well still be That Guy.)
• Point #2: Pitching has been discussed earlier on this very site, and given the exceptions of of the Cardinals having the better #1 starter (Carpenter) and the Rangers having the better closer (Feliz, though holy crap, Motte can make a guy re-think that!), the staffs are pretty damn well evenly matched.
• Point #3: So here's the interesting question: who ....

Just was thinking about how dominating Bautista has been these last two years and got to thinking about which Jay had the most dominating season (vs teammates) all time? What about by position?

Okay, actuallly two questions. But they're so interrelated, they should count as one as the Cardinals (probably the least strong of the NL playoff teams) take on the Rangers (probably the stromgest of the AL playoff teams) in this year's Fall classic.

1. Which team has the least horrible starting pitching?
2. Which team has the better bullpen?

Let's give the Cardinals the edge in rotation ace and the Rangers the edge in closer. What say you all, noble Bauxites, about the other moundsmen of WS'11?

There are other matchups worth considering ...

Just Tuesday of this week, on this very site, inimitable Bauxite Thomas told the world,

Nelson Cruz continued his attempt to pry the “Mr. October” nickname away from Reggie Jackson with the first walk-off grand slam in postseason history.

While "Whoa" Nellie didn't "slam" anyone this evening, he did fire a three-run jack into the left field belachers in extra frames to propel his Texas teammates to a second-consecutive 7-3 overtime win in the ALCS. (Detroit is now Very Sad.)  And for the record, it is the first time in all of MLB history that one player has hit two extra-inning home runs in the same postseason series, so Cruz's pursuit of becoming Texas' own Senor Octubre is still very much fair game.

The Rangers, now up 3-1 in this series, look to return to the World Series this year (how preternaturally odd that sounds to anyone who's lived in North Texas for more than a year or two) -- they'd be the first AL team to do so, outside of the multi-ringed Yankees, since your 1992-93 Blue Jays.

Today's Question of the Day (essay format, no wrong answers ) ...