Gibbons Out, Gaston In and Emily Litella Lives!

For those of you who actually read this blog, you may have thought that I have forgotten about the third manager firing of the week: John Gibbons of the Toronto Blue Jays.

I didn't forget. I was waiting for Cito Gaston to get back to Toronto and get some love from the club.

Gibbons was a firing waiting to happen. Two years ago, I thought he was going to get it when he had his altercation with Shea Hillenbrand. It was up to J.P. Ricciardi and Paul Godfrey to decide which head case to part with. Hillenbrand eventually made his way to the San Francisco Giants in a matter of days.

Even after the blowup with Frank Thomas I thought that Gibbons was a goner. It was the win-loss record that did him in. Not to mention that he has a temper, gets into scraps with his players, criticizes the team publicly when things aren't going well...and so forth.

Why bring back Gaston? Two reasons: The utmost respect Canadian baseball fans have of the man and those two rings on his finger. He is a darn good manager. Never mind the trailblazing bit, Gaston knows how to get the best of out of roster. Just play back some of his seasons in Toronto and see how Gaston took a highly talented ball club and made them national heroes.

The Jays are a highly talented ball club these days. Yet, it was a team looking for a leader where Gibbons and his staff failed to capture during their time together. Can Gaston's staff right this ship? If they can throw the Baltimore Orioles to the side and chart their course towards The Bronx and St. Petersburg, they have a legitimate shot at the post-season.

Speaking of Canada, what's up with the uproar over maple bats? Let me get Emily Litella for a moment, but does this have to do with pine tar? Nevermind...

This is something I admit I was unaware of...the construction of wood bats used in play. You'd think that after the cork incident with Sammy Sosa years ago that someone had to make some sort of decision of what standard bats should be made of. Now that we've seen a proliferation of injuries from broken maple bats, the league and the player's union will hopefully take in consideration a change in standard for bats used in a game. Frankly, I would like to know what other choices are out there other than maple and ash. Is it also a cost consideration in which a standard has to be determined? 'Splain it to us, please?

One more thing: In case everyone was asleep last night, the Minnesota Twins has the longest active winning streak going right now. Seven games with their victory over the San Diego Padres in the Gaslamp Quarter. They are now one-and-a-half games behind Ozzie Guillen's ball club. Sorry, Oz, but some little piranhas are a bit hungry. Maybe it's time to "push" before you get eaten, eh?