Clearing all Hurdles

Rockies manger Clint Hurdle made a lot of very good calls, such as removing starting pitcher Franklin Morales for pinch-hitter Seth Smith with the Rockies trailing 1-0 in the fourth. Smith dunked a broken-bat, two-run hit to leftfield, igniting a six-run rally that was highlighted by NLCS MVP Holliday's three-run homer to straightaway centerfield. Like O'Dowd, Hurdle was often criticized in past years. Like O'Dowd, he is now a hero.

Melvin's call bites D-Backs

Diamondbacks manger Bob Melvin, the likely NL Manager of the Year, might have gone too long with starting pitcher Micah Owings, who was allowed to keep pitching after he appeared to hurt his leg while diving for a ball in the inning. In regard to whether Owings was hurt, the pitcher said, "I won't ever say it.'' Melvin added, "Obviously, in hindsight, I'd go get him. We thought he'd get through it.'' Melvin did a masterful job handling his pitching staff this year. But in hindsight, he goofed here.

Report: Mattingly reticent to replace Torre

Don Mattingly told a member of the Steinbrenner family that he doesn't feel ready to replace Joe Torre, according to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger. That sounds like something Mattingly might do. He did, after, all liken the prospect of replacing Torre to replacing John Wooden.

If the report is true, perhaps Torre's chances of returning would increase. But by now Torre also has to sense that his support among the Yankee hierarchy is razor-thin.

Yankees bigwigs hit Tampa on Monday night and plan to meet all day Tuesday to come to a consensus about the next manager. While it is difficult to name one strong supporter of Torre after four straight postseason defeats, the issue of who'll replace him might be something to debate.

It is said that the Yankees' baseball people (i.e. Brian Cashman) like Joe Girardi. But this isn't necessarily going to be Cashman's call. George Steinbrenner's sons, especially the elder Hank, may be the wild cards in this. Hank was thought to be supportive of Mattingly.

Around the Majors

• The Yankees are expressing great confidence that they will keep Mariano Rivera with a new deal, probably for three years. Rivera said he'd shop around, but folks around baseball say they'd be surprised to see him leave.

• A couple execs said they believe that Jorge Posada could get a four-year deal elsewhere. Even so, the Yankees remain the favorite to retain him. While scouts say he's fallen off defensively, he could be converted to a DH in two or three years.

• Alex Rodriguez is meeting with agent Scott Boras this week at Boras' Ornage County, Calif., home to discuss their strategy heading into the Offseason of A-Rod.

• One scout on Curt Schilling: 'He's not very good right now.'' Another scout notes that Schilling was great against the Angels on 11 days' rest, but not so good against the Indians on five.

• According to the Los Angeles Times, Bill Stoneman is stepping down as Angels GM. Team spokesman Tim Mead would only say that the team will have a press conference on Tuesday related to their baseball operations department. Stoneman never made the trade for the big bat the Angels desperately needed.

• It's been a rough offseason for GMs already, although friends say that ex-Braves GM John Schuerholz has been considering stepping aside for a couple years (he became club president this week).

• Righthanded starter Aaron Cook might be ready to be activated for the World Series, which would give the Rockies another boost. Rockies people said Cook's stuff was "electric,'' but that his command was off while throwing off a mound on Monday afternoon.

• Eight days is a long time for the Rockies to wait for the World Series. We'll have to see whether the magic wears off.