MLB Bullets Has Flunked Chemistry

I'm ready for the playoffs to start.

• Bob Nightengale has written a piece on the importance of team chemistry which is a debate that's been going on for many years now.
• There were several reactions to the piece, I'll cite Craig Calcaterra, who attacked the piece as lacking evidence and pointing out that one of the players Nightengale quotes in support of chemistry, John Lackey, just three years ago, poo-poohed the idea of chemistry after the famous "chicken and beer" incident in Boston.
• Mike Piellucci wonders about the point of the debate when no one has ever defined what "team chemistry" means.
• Grant Brisbee has the five biggest regrets of the past offseason for teams.
• Near the top of that list was the Red Sox signing Hanley Ramirez and sticking him in left field. Ben Lindbergh examines some possible explanations as to why Ramirez is so terrible in left.
• The Red Sox won't have to worry about it much longer. Ramirez is moving to first base next season.
• More turmoil in Boston as popular long-time Red Sox TV broadcaster Don Orsillo has been replaced by Dave O'Brien for next season.
• Orsillo's partner Jerry Remy was quite emotional about the change. Orsillo had no comment.
• In more announcing news, Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to call an MLB game on ESPN on Monday.
• Sigh. I can't avoid it any longer. Curt Schilling has been taken off the call of the Little League World Series after a Tweet about Islam and Nazi Germany. Please don't ruin my day with your comments. Really, just reading the comments section in some of the on-line pieces were enough to ruin my entire week.
• Here's something that might make your day. ESPN is considering terminating Schilling over this. Might be kind of a "last straw" thing.
• Sports Illustrated is getting some attention for this profile piece on Yankees GM Brian Cashman. The piece is getting a lot of praise.
• Rob Neyer examines the case of Cashman for Cooperstown and the issues with getting front office executives elected.
• Craig Calcaterra, as always, takes the high road and focuses in on how the piece reveals that Cashman has his own fart machine.
• The Athletics have hired former Rangers manager Ron Washington for his old job as A's third base coach.
• Washington is happy to be involved in baseball again. When asked how easy it is to get back into the game, I presume Washington said "It's incredibly hard." And I'm sure Washington is happy that he'll be forever linked with saying something he actually never said.
• Matthew Leach notes that the Nationals got Denard Span off the disabled list just in time to make a late-season push to the postseason.
• Eddie Matz writes things are looking up and the team is more positive now that the Nationals finally have all their players healthy.
• Meanwhile, the Mets hit a team record eight home runs in a rout of the Phillies.
• David Schoenfield examines the secret to the Royals success and wonders how much of it was by design and how much was just a happy accident.
• Matt Snyder says this year's Blue Jays are built to go the distance.
• Ken Rosenthal traces how the Astros built a top-tier bullpen with unknowns and spare parts.
• Just to get a sense of how quickly fortunes can change in baseball, a year ago today the Brewers were in first place in the NL Central.
• Chad Moriyama looks at the sliding Dodgers and notes that it's not enough just to spend money in order to win.
• Dodgers rookie outfielder Joc Pederson says he understands why he's been benched.
• In what now is considered an expected tradition for stars, Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley took out a full-page ad thanking Phillies fans.
• Angels second baseman Johnny Giavotella talks about how surviving Hurricane Katrina helps him to overcome adversity on the ball field.
• Rob Neyer wants to welcome our new robot umpire overlords. He's convinced an automated strike zone is coming, no matter how good human umpires get.
• Neyer also wants to get rid of the neighborhood play.
• An examination of how different teams try to get their minor league pitchers to develop more velocity on their pitches.
• Five Braves minor leaguers were injured in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
• Allison Duffy examines the Little League teams of Uganda and Australia and how they represent the way the game is growing in both of those countries.
• President Obama claims that Derek Jeter hustled him at golf. He deserved if for being a White Sox fan.
• Former Tigers pitcher C.J. Nitkowski stood on the mound at old Tiger Stadium one more time.
• And finally, here's a clever gif that will show you the changes to every single MLB team logo dating back to 1876.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.