Jerry Manuel's 'Bag' of Tricks

It is young Ike Davis's second appearance in the hallowed cyber-pages of Batter Chatter this week, though this one is not based on merit whatsover. Ike has been a miserable 1 for 13 with 6 Ks in Phoenix, and skipper Jerry Manuel suspects it's because Davis, a native of Scottsdale, is trying to impress his friends and family in the crowd at the D-backs' Chase Field.

SNY guy Gary Cohen related last night how Manuel said the young slugger was out of sorts this week. "Ike is trying a little too hard to impress," said Manuel, according to Cohen. "He's swinging at the rosin bag."

'Swinging at the rosin bag' sounded like a classic Jerry Manuel ad lib; if you haven't watched Manuel's post-game interviews, they're delightful. He's a fun mix of hepcat jazzbo and funky English professor, with a knack for quirky language.

The phrase suggests that Davis perhaps ingested some of that peyote our American deserts are famous for, which threw his hitting intuition slightly out of whack.

In fact, swinging at the rosin bag is an established expression, piped up Cohen's boothmate, Ron Darling. "It's an old baseball term," said Darling. "It doesn't matter what the pitcher is throwing up there--he's swinging."

Indeed, this past spring, Cubs farm director Oneri Fleita said this about prospect Starlin Castro:

"He was never really a guy who went up there swinging at the rosin bag,'' Fleita said. "He had plate discipline."

Back in 2005, when the Angels were back in Anaheim, then-DH Jeff DaVanon told the L.A. Times he was no longer making like a boxer and hitting the bag.

"I started walking more last year because I stopped swinging at the rosin bag," DaVanon said.

The Mets lost in 14 last night. Davis struck out thrice, but took heart in sending a rosin bag to the edge of the warning track in right-center, where it was caught by Justin Upton.

[image: equipmentbag.com]

Alex Cora Is So 'Money', and He Doesn't Even Know It

It's pretty clear that the Mets keep Alex Cora around because he's a smart baseball guy, almost another coach. Frequently you'll see skipper Jerry Manuel conferring with Cora about some decision he's contemplating.

Cora's on-field skills alone probably wouldn't merit a spot on the roster: a .223 average, less power than my neighborhood after that crazy windstorm in March. But despite having zero home runs (a bagel!), Cora's got 14 ribbies in just 94 at-bats--nothing to sneeze at.

SNY guy Gary Cohen noted Cora's knack for hitting with runners in scoring position yesterday against the Orioles. (Speaking of the Orioles, can Selig send the whole team down to triple A for a year and bring up the top AAA team in the country in their stead? I mean, c'mon! They look like Australia's Socceroos out there!)

"Cora's been amazing this year," said Cohen. "He hasn't hit at all except when money's been on the table."

Hadn't heard that phrase before, maybe because of the iffy relationship between baseball and gambling.

When we were kids, we called baserunners "ducks on the pond" in that situation--a quaint idiom that fits baseball's rural profile.

We've mentioned before the overlap of corporate-speak and baseball-speak; business types frequently mention not "leaving money on the table", as in, not charging enough (or anything) for a good or service that people are probably willing to part with a few shillings for.

"Don't Leave Money on the Table!" bellows a headline from Forbes back in 2008 in a business story that kicks off with a small-time seller of sweet syrups who Forbes figures should be doing much better revenues.

"Money's on the table" brings up just shy of 29,000 links on Google. At a quick glance, none of the links seem to be related to baseball.

In other cases, the player himself is the money. Witness the Miami Herald discussing moody slugger Hanley Ramirez:

He is also fully aware that he isn't producing the way he did a season ago when he won the National League batting title and was money with runners in scoring position.

[image: blueandorange.net]