Okay, maybe it's the alcohol, but seeing the Cardinals doing well in the playoffs just makes me sick.

Lose already!

Your manager is Tony Larussa, second only to Bobby Cox in choking in the playoffs! You can do it, I know you can!

According to Marc (and others by now), the Reds will not be bringing back hitting coach Chris Chambliss next season. Pitching coach Vern Ruhle, who hasn't coached much pitching this year thanks to his ongoing cancer treatment, will be reassigned, probably to something that jibes better with his medical schedule.

Just talked to Wayne Krivsky, who said Chambliss was informed of the decision last week. He declined to specify any reasons for the dismissal.

“We like Chris a lot,” said Krivsky. “He's a consummate pro, a quality person, he knows hitting. I can’t say anything bad about the guy.”

“But I'd like to,” he continued, “because then it would look less like I'm doing this just to displace blame for our late-season collapse from myself.”

Not really, of course. That's just what he said in my imagination.

I also asked who made the final call on the staff changes.

“Ultimately, it's Jerry's call,” said Krivsky. “We talk all the time and Jerry and I don't disagree on much on a serious level. Well, there might be one, but he says all that stuff in jest, anyway.”

Can you count three things that are wrong with this quote? Let's do it together:

1. The irony that Jerry Narron is firing coaches based on the team's performance is too much to bear.

2. Our general manager doesn't disagree with Narron about anything serious, such as benching Edwin Encarnación, pitching Ryan Franklin into the ground, or pinch-hitting with Royce Clayton.

3. Use of the word “ultimately” and the phrase “in jest.” It's like Dan O'Brien never left.

Airplane crashes into Manhattan high-rise from cnn.com. An airplane registered to former Reds' pitcher Cory Lidle crashed into a 50-story residential building today, killing at least two people. Doesn't sound like there's official word yet on whether Lidle was piloting, but our thoughts and well-wishes go out to the Lidle family.

UPDATE: You've probably found out by now that it was Lidle at the helm. What a tragedy. It's the top story right now at Ballbug, if you'd like to seek out more information.

I walked in on the game just as they were talking about Sean Casey coming out of it. He grounded out to end the top of the sixth and then was replaced in the line-up for the bottom of the inning. It didn't sound like they knew exactly what was wrong with him, and I'm not seeing anything about it online anywhere.

I have to go to bed, but I wanted to send a big Get Well Soon smooch to my darling Casey. Watching Casey win and the Cardinals lose are my favorite parts of the postseason so far.

You can tell how infrequently I link to other blogs by the fact that I can't figure out how to title the dang post.

Lame post titles aside, I was struck by JD's comments about the purported clash between Jerry Narron and Rich Aurilia during the free-fall that was the end of the 2006 season. Aurilia apparently swore he wouldn't return to the team if Narron was still in charge. Rheal Cormier also had issues with Narron's management.

I'm sure some people will say this is much ado about nothing, but if it's true I think it really signifies something. The number one hallmark of bad management, in sports or otherwise, is poor communication.

Hear, hear. And communication, along with “playing the game right,” was what Narron was supposed to have over our most recent managers. I understand that everyone was frustrated, nerves were frayed, and tempers short, but that's just when a good communicator is tested, isn't it?

I just wonder how this is only coming out now. The communications problems of Dave Miley were freaking plastered across the papers. The only ruffled feathers we heard about during this season were those of Jason LaRue, and those hardly made Narron look bad.