…Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told Ronald Blum of the Associated Press that he hopes to shorten the post season by two or three days next year. To do this they would have to eliminate some off days. [Yahoo]

“We’ve got to look at trying to—maybe not having so many off days and days when you have only one game,” Selig said at Tropicana Field before Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night.

…The New York Mets have hired Randy Niemann (his third time as a Met coach) as the bullpen coach and Razor Shines as the third base coach. The Mets said on Thursday that they are reassigning bullpen coach Guy Conti, third base coach Luis Aguayo and first base coach Ken Oberkfell. With all the moves their still in the market for a first base coach. [Yahoo]

…This is a bit odd, but it seems that Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox complained to the Japanese Media that the Rays had moved the rubber to benefit James Shields during the ALCS. Two of the top Major League officials Mike Port (VP of Umpiring) and Joe Garagiola Jr (Sr. VP of Baseball Operations) checked things out at the Trop and labeled it as a ‘Non Story’. Not to mention Andrew Friedman, Executive VP of the Rays wasn’t too happy about it. [St. Petersburg Times]

“It’s a ludicrous accusation,” Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. “It’s crazy.”

…As reported yesterday Team Japan is in the market for a manger for their World Baseball Classic team. Now it seems Katsuya Nomura the Manager of the Rakuten Eagles suggests that Ichiro (who has been adamant about finding a manager) go ahead and take the reigns of the team himself.[CBS Sports]

“Maybe we should just let Ichiro be a playing manager,” Nomura was quoted to say on the Nikkansports website Friday.

That’s the best original idea I’ve seen in sometime and honestly it could work.

…With all the Jake Peavy talk that’s been going on, and the rumor that the Atlanta Braves are in the driver seat has somewhat been squashed. Braves General Manager Frank Wren in an email told the Associated Press that they (the Braves) would not part with any of their top minor league prospects in trying to land the Ace. [CBS Sports]

“Many of the trade speculations that have been written over the past few weeks are inaccurate,” Wren said. “For the most part they are simply an outsider speculating what we might do and not what we would do.”

…If Curt Schilling returns next year it to pitch, it’ll only be a half of a season, this according to Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald. [Boston Herald]

“I haven’t said anything yet,” said Schilling, who then proceeded to say plenty. “I haven’t decided, and I don’t have to yet. When I have to decide, I’ll decide. If I do pitch, I’m not pitching the whole year next year. I would come back and pitch the second half of the season . . . I haven’t contacted anybody yet. I think I’m going to wait and see what happens for this period of time.”
Schilling said if does pitch next year, there would have to be “a process put into place, and I want to do it the right way. I wouldn’t want this to be the way some people have done it in the past.”

He was then asked if he was referring to Roger Clemens and his return to the Yankees in 2007. He responded with “Why ask a question you already know the answer too”.

The Players Choice Awards annually recognize the best player, pitcher, rookie and comeback player in each league.  The Player of the Year and Man of the Year awards bestow top honors without regard to league. Balloting of all Major League players for the Players Choice Awards was conducted in September under the supervision of accounting firm KPMG.

And here are your winners…

The 2008 Players Choice Awards finalists are [winners in bold]:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:
Outstanding Player: Josh Hamilton (Texas), Justin Morneau (Minnesota), Dustin Pedroia (Boston)
Outstanding Pitcher: Roy Halladay (Toronto), Cliff Lee (Cleveland), Francisco Rodriguez (LA Angels of Anaheim)
Outstanding Rookie: Mike Aviles (Kansas City), Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay), Alexei Ramirez (Chicago)
Comeback Player of the Year: Josh Hamilton (Texas), Cliff Lee (Cleveland), Troy Percival (Tampa Bay)

NATIONAL LEAGUE:
Outstanding Player: Ryan Howard (Philadelphia), Chipper Jones (Atlanta), Albert Pujols (St. Louis)
Outstanding Pitcher: Tim Lincecum (San Francisco), CC Sabathia (Milwaukee), Brandon Webb (Arizona)
Outstanding Rookie: Geovany Soto (Chicago), Jair Jurrjens (Atlanta), Joey Votto (Cincinnati)
Comeback Player of the Year: Jorge Cantu (Florida), Fernando Tatis (NY Mets), Kerry Wood (Chicago)

EITHER LEAGUE:
Player of the Year: Cliff Lee (Cleveland), Albert Pujols (St. Louis), Manny Ramirez (LA Dodgers)
Marvin Miller Man of the Year: Derek Jeter (NY Yankees), Albert Pujols (St. Louis), Michael Young (Texas)

A brief update on a couple of things during this World Series intermission…

 - I’ve received quite a few applications from writers who want to join the BDD team. I’ll be reviewing them this weekend and will be in contact with all those who have applied…whether they’re selected or not. Thank you for the tremendous response.

- With new top prospect lists popping up all over the place, it’s time to begin putting together the 2009 prospect compilation spreadsheet. Work on the file will begin this weekend. I should be caught up by the middle of next week at which time I’ll post the spreadsheet on the site and make a formal announcement.

- Last night we ran our first ever live blog (or chat…whatever you want to call it) for Game 2 of the World Series. It went very well, and I’d like to thank all those who participated. We’re probably going to try it again over the next few days with some tweaks to the format. In the future, I’d like to have special guests (like players, execs, and media members) join us to take questions and discuss the game using this great feature.

A win is a win is a win.  The Rays scored three runs without hitting the ball out of the infield, survived the lead-off runner for the Phillies reaching six times and a few questionable calls at the plate to even the World Series up to at one as Tampa Bay beat Philadelphia 4-2 in Game 2 of the World Series.

Some asked how a guy who only pitched for a team that finished at the bottom of the standings earned the nickname “Big Game” James but that was resolved on Thursday.  James Shields pitched in and out of trouble for 5-2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

“It was kind of a joke at first,” said Shields.  “I ended up pitching a couple of good games in the minor leagues and they say, you know, my whole organization is calling me ‘Big Game.’  They don’t call me by my first name anymore.”

The Rays offense scratched and clawed their way to two runs in the first and added two runs late while Shields let nine Phillies’ base runners reach base — all of which were stranded as the Phillies continued to struggle at the plate with runners in scoring position. 

“I’m concerned about us hitting with guys on base, because it looks like at times we might be trying a little too hard,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.  “But we can fix that.  Like I said, we got behind early, like [Brett] Myers walked the first guy, and they got a hit.  And Jayson [Werth] booted one in right field, and put runners in scoring position.  We got behind and we had a time catching up.  Then we didn’t execute.”

The Phillies left 11 runners in scoring position including Pedro Feliz who made four inning-ending outs and left six runners on base.  Lead-off spark plug Jimmy Rollins went 0-for-5 and went 0-for-4 with runners on base.  The usually potent Phillies lineup started the World Series 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position before an infield single by Shane Victorino in the fourth — their only hit with runners in scoring position in the Series so far.  They were held scoreless until an Eric Bruntlett solo homer off of Price in the eighth cut the lead to 4-1.

The 23-year-old Price pitched the final 2-1/3 innings and allowed two runs — one earned — but retired Chase Utley and Howard who represented the tying run in the ninth to close out Tampa Bay’s first win in World Series history.

“[Their] human, just like everyone else out there,” said Price about facing Utley and Howard for the first time.  “[They don’t] have any super powers.  So just make the pitch, keep the ball down, because [they] can definitely hit it over the fence.”

With the win, the Rays split the first two games in Tampa Bay and need to win one of three in Philadelphia to return the World Series to Tropicana Field for Game 6.

For Game 3, the Phillies send 45-year-old Jamie Moyer to the mound to face ALCS MVP Matt Garza.  Weather forecasters report a 70% chance of rain for Saturday in Phildaelphia which could impact the entire World Series schedule should Game 3 need to be rescheduled.

NOTES:  The Phillies are 1-for-30 with runners in scoring position through two games in the Series… Attendance at Tropicana Field reached 40,843 — 60 higher than Game 1… David Price was fastest to go from number one overall pick to the World Series with his 2-1/3 inning appearance.  Before Price, Atlanta’s Chipper Jones (drafted in 1990, World Series in 1995) and Los Angeles’ Tim Belcher (drafted in 1983, World Series in 1988) were the fastest… Eric Bruntlett’s pinch-hit home run was the 22nd pinch-hit homer in World Series history.  The blast traveled 402 feet… The first-ever Baseball Digest Daily Live Blog took place during this game and the transcript can be found via this link.

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RAYS THREE KEYS

• Minimize the Phillies “Big Innings”

Two one-run innings were all the Phillies could muster despite numerous chances for the Phillies.  Six times the Phillies had their lead-off runner on and the lineup had 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position but went 1-for-17 and only produced an infield hit.

• Choose the Right Closer

No closer situation here as Joe Maddon stuck with the youngster David Price to finish out the game.  The decision was one swing away from backfiring but Price retired Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to minimize the late-inning damage done by the Phillies.

• Avoid Fielding Mistakes

The ninth inning error on Evan Longoria was a hard shot that was a debatable scoring decision.  Other than that, the Rays were solid in the field and avoided any major mistakes.

PHILLIES THREE KEYS

• The Manuel Manual

Charlie Manuel’s decision to go with Greg Dobbs over Matt Stairs as the DH did not work out.  Also, there were a few opportunities to play small ball and move runners but instead they hit away.  Tough to knock Charlie for that one though since his club was 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

• Hold Serve at Home

The Phillies need to take a page out of the Rays playbook and serve up a little Meatloaf at home.  Two out of three ain’t bad and would put the Rays on the brink of elimination with two games at Tropicana Field.  If, somehow, the Phillies sweep the Rays at Citizens Bank Park 3=1 (World Championship) and no return to the cowbells and catwalks of the Trop.

• Myers and Moyer

On some days, Brett Myers performance was good enough to win but on this night it wasn’t.  He pitched deep and gave the bullpen the night off but the damage was done early and Myers failed to steal a second game in Tampa Bay St. Petersburg.