1) Rich Lederer revisits Game 7 of the 1965 World Series:

I recognize that Koufax benefited by pitching during the 1960s when runs were more scarce and by starting half of his games in the expanse of Dodger Stadium, one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks of the past 40 years. However, sabermetricians routinely undervalue Koufax's counting stats during his peak years and fail to give proper credit for pitching on two or three days rest, especially at critical junctures in the season such as Game Seven of the 1965 World Series.

How valuable is it to get one additional game out of a pitcher like Koufax in a seven-game series? That's a 50% increase over the more normal two starts. If that extra game is what makes the difference between winning and losing the World Championship, how do we quantify that?

Go to Rich's Weekend Baseball BEAT for, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.

2) Tyler Bleszinski on Athletics Nation uses my discussion of Frank McCourt earlier this week to launch back into the speculation about whether Oakland general manager Billy Beane is headed to Los Angeles:

McCourt will look around baseball for the best bargain bin shoppers and inevitably, his search will begin and end in Oakland. Billy Beane is the King of Baseball Frugality, the Purveyor of Penny-Pinching. The question is, will Billy want to be a part of this mess? Well, with one of the better farm systems in baseball because Evans refuses to part with any prospects and Beane's daughter residing in Newport Beach, the answer would appear to be yes.

It's a lingering cloud A's Nation will have to deal with until the McCourt sale is either final or goes down the debt-tube. For baseball's health and stability, lets hope the McCourt sale gets declined faster than Hammer's credit card at Macy's.

For my part, I don't think Billy Beane seems like the type of guy to get himself involved at this stage of his career with as problematic an owner as McCourt looks to be.