Some things to read while looking for the perfect Scrabble word.

There's not exactly a litany of fresh stuff out there, but there is some more stuff about the managerial search: Tom H. says Willie Randolph interviewed yesterday and Buck Showalter is not a candidate. In-Between Hops has some tidbits and facts about Bob Brenly. Chuckie Hacks is still rooting for Ken Macha. There's an off-day during the World Series Friday, so it's possible the Brewers could request permission to announce a winner then.

In Seattle, some were predicting the Mariners would announce their new GM yesterday, but it didn't happen. There's also a rumor floating around that the Mariners will wait until after the World Series and interview retiring Phillies GM Pat Gillick. John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer squashed that one. U.S.S. Mariner likes all the options and just hopes the new GM will be allowed to clean house. Again, since an announcement wasn't made yesterday, Friday is the first day it could happen.

Mike Cameron leads the field of potential free agent center fielders. Brewed Sports is calling Cameron the free agent signing of the year. Certainly he was a better investment than one of those squirting flowers.

Remember the walk-off grand slam Ryan Braun hit against the Pirates this season? Want to re-live it over and over? Here's the iPhone commercial featuring it.

The World Series starts tonight, as you might have heard. I won't burn too much space here analyzing it, as I'm sure you've heard about it already. I will, though, point you to the only World Series preview I read, over at WhatIfSports.

Also worth noting: During the draft in Moneyball, Billy Beane is excited, to put it mildly, to see Scott Kazmir and Cole Hamels go off the board so he can draft Nick Swisher. Swisher is having a nice MLB career, to be sure, but Kazmir and Hamels will start game 1 of the World Series tonight.

Of course, on the bad decision scale Billy Beane is still light years behind Jim Bowden, who was diagnosed with skin cancer in June but waited to undergo treatment until this week, since he didn't want to miss a week of his job as GM of the National League's worst team. Here's hoping he doesn't end up regretting that one.

Here's a guy who will get a minor league deal somewhere and make it worth someone's time: the Rockies have released 2B Jayson Nix.

The youth movement continues in Cincinnati, as the Reds have extended offers for 2009 to David Weathers (38) and Jerry Hairston (32).

It's a study in contrast: Joe Posnanski shows how being willing to work harder than anyone else can pay off, and Home Run Derby shows that no matter how determined you are, if you can't run down stairs or climb a wall, you likely won't have much success as a streaker at Fenway Park.

Oh, and today is a Woot-off. I guess I know what I'm doing today (cleaning out my garage to make a home for more cheap electronics).

Drink up.

I missed most of last night's game, but when I got home, I liked what I saw.  Another clutch bomb from Prince (against a lefty, no less), some stylish defense from Ryan Braun, and an inning without pain courtesy of Eric Gagne.  The Cubs are in Washington playing the NL East team that actually does suck, so we're still two games back.

The regulars:

• FanGraphs Win Probability chart
• BR Box Score
• BDD Daily Recap
• BP Postseason Odds:  84.7 wins and 22% chance of the division.

Before we get to some articles, I'd like to present to you a photo essay in four clicks that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face:

1. Carlos!
2. Ryan!
3. Prince!
4. Gagne!

The Junkball Blues looks at the efficiency of our starting pitching --that is, how many innings are they getting out of the pitches they throw?  The conclusions aren't surprising, but the degree to which Parra is working for his number of frames might be.

Ben Sheets threw yesterday and said, "It felt good."   I would've given this top billing, but you all know as well as I do how little Sheets updates can mean sometimes.

At The Book Blog, MGL tries to rate pitching coaches.   I had considered doing something very similar to this, so I'm glad he did.  As he acknowledges, it's a very difficult effect to nail down, but as it turns out, Mike Maddux appears to have been a positive influence--though not overwhelmingly so--over the last five years.

Some injuries:

• Scott Baker left his start last night with a groin strain , leaving the Twins wondering if they'll have any starting pitching left by June, and dejectedly realizing that the Rangers have Sidney Ponson this year.
• Kevin Correia got all of one out before leaving with a back injury.   Ouch.
• Kerwin Danley got hit.   Hard.  (Link has video.)

In former Brewers news, it's a big day to be a part of the old Brewers-Braves trade.  Dan Kolb (yes, that Dan Kolb) was released by the Red Sox, and Jose Capellan (yes, that Jose Capellan) was promoted by the Rockies.

Speaking of the Rockies, somebody had to go to make room for Capellan, and that someone was...Jayson Nix .  Doug: Gyt oyn thy phoyne, immydyatly!

The Pirates are bad.  Charlie at Bucs Dugout sums it all up in one brilliant post.

I'm guessing most of you haven't heard of Danny Ray Herrera, but he's a great story.  He was part of the Josh Hamilton trade in the offseason, and he just made a successful debut in Triple-A.   For the whole Herrera tale, from being a too-short-for-the-scouts college pitcher to a surprise success in A ball, click here.  (It's a great article.)

That's it for today...at least for the next two hours, until game time.