As I write this, the ALCS umpires have just missed two calls on the same baserunner in the same inning, first calling him safe when he clearly wasn't and then calling him out when he probably wasn't (assuming the Fox replay cameras are properly cued up). What do you suppose are the chances they just up and call that second one a make-up call?

Haven't done this for a while, but I've been writing looong posts lately. Need a break. And this is just my usual title for links posts, but this time they're all actually pretty fresh! Onward:

• I've been a bit remiss here: a week or two ago, I was able to get my hands on a copy (by which I mean I had my hands on my laptop, which in turn held a PDF) of the TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook, written by brilliant Twins bloggers John Bonnes, Parker Hageman, Nick Nelson and Seth Stohs and released approximately 2.7 seconds after the season ended. I read the thing cover to cover (mostly), and it's great, and at $10 a must-have for any Twins fan. Over 134 quickly-moving pages, they hit on basically every decision that might possibly be facing the big-league team over the next five months or so. I don't necessarily agree with all of their recommendations or conclusions (just most of them), but that's a big part of what makes it fun, and the analysis of the problems facing the team is spot-on. At just $10, it's a no-brainer for any Twins fan. All teams should have four great writers, analysts and fans who care enough to come up with something this thorough (then again, if all the other teams did have that, would I know?).
  
• So the internet was all abuzz yesterday about the Mariano Rivera spitting incident that wasn't. The whole thing was ridiculous -- standing in the (almost literal) middle of 50,000 with millions more watching on TV, you're going to spit on a baseball from two feet away? Really? -- but the video itself was actually pretty entertaining, in that if you turn your brain off, it really looks like exactly what they said it was: Rivera looks around pretty nervously, then lowers his head and spits (from that angle) right at the ball. I just thought it was pretty funny. Unfortunately, what appears to be the only copy of the video clip was removed from YouTube by the user.
  
• On the other hand, as much as I'm against anti-homosexual humor of all types, there's just something that struck me as funny about this visual, so I'll offer it without comment.
  
• Lar at wezen-ball put up a really interesting and insanely complicated piece, complete with all kinds of little graphs, on how Tony LaRussa stacks up against other managers at getting the most out of the talent he was given. I still think he's a terrible manager.   
  
• Dave Cameron with a comprehensive 2009-2010 offseason plan for the Seattle Mariners. Yay for including Nick Johnson, who's a great fit for them; boo for a trade for JJ Hardy, because I really want the Twins to get him (and they don't have a Brandon Morrow to offer). So, this is great and everything, but it's not exactly a 134-page book.
  
• Over at his impartial gig, Cameron writes a scathing review of one of the three terrible Girardi decisions I picked on yesterday: Aceves replacing Robertson. He says basically what I did -- Robertson was the much better matchup for Kendrick, regardless of the various other considerations that screamed "DON'T DO THIS" -- but in a way that makes more sense.