I have a hankerin' for Bigelow's green tea and I can't explain why.

" 'I've been fortunate to play for a lot of great managers,' says Doug Mientkiewicz, who also played for Torre in New York. 'But with all due respect to those other guys, he's the best I've ever played for.

'He's been through everything. He knows what it takes to win games. He knows how to handle every situation, every kind of personality. He's had veteran-laden teams, and he's had young teams. And he's really good at defusing bombs before they even get lit, if that makes sense. A lot of people are reactionary. He's proactive in situations before they even happen.' "

Torre is so observant and proactive, that he can write a book detailing the inner workings of the psyches of all of his players. Torre can probably predict what Buddy Groom is eating for dinner tonight.

However, Torre is not observant enough to notice when his players are taking human growth hormone or steroids.

Truth is, neither Torre nor McCourt nor Selig want to give back the prestige and revenue that Manny brought to the Dodgers in 2008.

Wasn't it nice to have a big market team in the playoffs?