Coaching Staff Coming Into Place?

Becoming a new manager has its responsibilities. One of them is building a coaching staff. And with the departure of Joe Torre as manager at the end of this past season, several of his coaches left with him, leaving new manager Don Mattingly with the task of rebuilding the staff.

In recent weeks, we learned that Larry Bowa (third base coach), Mariano Duncan (first base coach) and Bob Schafer (bench coach) would not return to the Dodgers next season. And with Mattingly vacating his role as hitting coach once he was named the manager, that left at least four open spots on the staff. Only Rick Honeycutt and Ken Howell were said to either be definitely coming back, or at least considering it. Howell eventually agreed to return as the team's bullpen coach.

Over the weekend we learned that former Royals manager Trey Hillman was a leading candidate to become the bench coach, and today it was announced that Honeycutt accepted the invitation to return as the team's pitching coach. We also learned today that Tim Wallach, who was the Triple-A manager for the Dodgers in Albuquerque this past season and was a candidate to replace Torre as well as a handful of the other managerial openings around the league and interviewed for the job in Milwaukee, is not a finalist for the Brewers job. Wallach had already been told he would be part of next year's staff if he wasn't hired by any of the other teams looking for a new manager. Because the Dodgers didn't want the process of naming their new staff to linger, and with the unexpected large number of managerial openings around the league, the Dodgers asked Wallach to limit his options and to make himself available to only half of those teams. Thus, last week he did not interview for the job in Toronto, but did for Milwaukee. Word is now he will be the team's third base coach next season.

All that's left to be determined is the team's hitting coach and first base coach. Mike Pentland and Chili Davis are the leading candidates for the hitting coach, though my guess is Pentland is the favorite based on his experience at the Major League level in that capacity in recent years. Davis has been all but out baseball since he retired after the 1999 season. There's still no word or idea on who the first base coach might be.

Also, assistant GM Logan White is no longer a candidate to become the Mets new GM, and for now, he remains with the Dodgers in his current role. Whew, great news!

World Series Set

The Texas Rangers are headed to the World Series for the first time in franchise history after defeating the defending champion New York Yankees 6-1 on Friday night in Arlington to win the ALCS four games to two. They will be joined by the San Francisco Giants who stunned the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 last night in Philadelphia to win the NLCS four games to two.

The Giants are making their first appearance in the World Series since 2002 when they lost in seven games to the then-Anaheim Angels. The Giants have not won a World Series since 1954, when they were still in New York.

That all said, as a Dodger fan living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I think it's pretty obvious who I'm rooting for: Go Rangers!

My prediction: Rangers in six. I can't see the Giants beating Cliff Lee the way he's pitching.

Game one is Wednesday night in San Francisco.

Lilly Re-Ups with Dodgers

Ted Lilly, who was acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline from the Cubs, has officially re-signed with the Dodgers for three years after he passed his physical this morning. Lilly will earn $33MM over the three years, and has a full no-trade clause for the first two. He probably could have made more had he tested the free agency market but he instead chose to sign early.

With the signing, the Dodgers now have three-fifths of their 2011 rotation in place with Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers intend to try to bring back Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla, but for much less.

What?! Really?!

UPDATE (10:10 CT): Yankees have taken the lead on the Twins 6-4 in the seventh inning after a Mark Teixeira two-run dinger.

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Wow! What an opening act!

Roy Halladay pitched just the second post-season no-hitter ever tonight in his first ever post-season start. Halladay pitched a perfect game earlier in the season, as well.

Insane!

Phils take a 1-0 NLDS series lead over the Reds.

Rangers also won their first playoff game since 1996 today and took a 1-0 ALDS series lead on the Rays.

And the Twins currently lead the Yankees 3-0 through five innings of their ALDS Game 1 matchup.

Braves and Giants get underway tomorrow in San Francisco.

Post-Season Set

The Padres nearly pulled it off, but in the end, the Giants were too much and avoided a three-game sweep at home with a 3-0 win today at AT&T Park. With the win, the Giants clinched the NL West title, and coupled with Atlanta's win earlier in the day over the Phillies, the Braves earned the Wild Card and the Padres were sent home for the winter.

A Padres loss also avoided a three-team tie and two extra regular season "playoff" games for one of the two West contenders. Had the Padres won today with the Braves having already won, they would have hosted the Giants in a one-game playoff on Monday for the NL West crown, with the loser having to play Atlanta on Tuesday for the Wild Card.

Meanwhile, the Phillies, who have the best record in baseball, will host Cincinnati in one NLDS best-of-five matchup, while the Giants will host the Braves in the other.

In the AL, the Yankees lost two of three over the weekend in Boston, and with Tampa Bay winning two of three in Kansas City, the Rays wound up winning the East outright by one game, with the Yankees settling for the Wild Card. The Rays will host Texas in one ALDS matchup with the Yankees traveling to Minneapolis to play the Twins in the other.