chinmusic,

I agree with everything you just said. Of course, Torre wouldn't do a better job with the Devil Rays than Sweet Lou -- not better enough to make much of a difference, anyway.

But not everyone can make a winning team (or even a "team" at all) out of a collection of stars. It's a rare and special talent; Joe's got it, and the Yanks need it. None of Torre's recent predecessors -- by "recent," I mean since Stengel -- could do the job, despite George's free spending.

Joe Torre's performance is similar to that of one of my favorite personalities in another sport -- Phil Jackson. I was a big fan of Phil's when he was a bench player with the Knicks in their championship years, and the biggest hippie (and perhaps the smartest guy) in professional sports. As a coach, he's been blessed with the very greatest talent imaginable, and usually won. It's a tribute to his great intelligence and wisdom that he has usually gotten his superstars to control their egos and function as teammates.

You may well be right about the Boston pitching staff being better than the Yankees' this year, but I think the Yanks have a better defense, or are at least more likely to come up with game-saving defensive plays. (That is, Jeter is always capable of pulling an unbelieveable play out of his, er, whatever.) On offense, of course, both teams are super. A tossup, sez me -- of course, we'll see what happens over the next few days.