Well, it looks like we now really do have an interesting World Series. Not just to see who will be crowned the best team in baseball. But to judge whether the pitching strategy of Yankees manager Joe Girardi or Phillies field boss Charlie Manuel was the best,

First, let me mention that three Mariners prospects -- Dustin Ackley, Phillippe Aumont and Josh Fields -- have been selected to play in the Arizona Fall Leauge's Rising Stars Game on Nov. 7. Ackley is hitting .313 with three doubles, three RBI and a .795 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for the Peoria Javelinas.

Aumont doesn't appear to belong in this trio, sitting 1-0 with a gaudy 15.00 ERA. But much of that comes from a couple of four-run outings against him. He has six strikeouts in six innings despite a .345 batting average against.

Fields is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA and also has six strikeouts in six innings. He has held opponents to a .174 batting average.

Back to the World Series. We discussed this yesterday, but Yankee manager Joe Girardi took a big risk in sticking to a three-man rotation for the duration of this series. He opted not to go with a seldom-used Chad Gaudin last night and stuck with A.J. Burnett on short rest. Whether it was the lack of rest, or simply Burnett being Burnett, the move blew up.

Now, the Yankees will almost certainly go with Andy Pettitte on short rest tomorrow and you can sense the panic starting to set in. Manuel kept his rotation in order and got a good start out of Cliff Lee last night and has Pedro Martinez going on full rest tomorrow.

Let the second-guessing begin. Or, I should say, let it continue.

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That sigh of relief you heard coming from the New York Yankees dugout last night was from manager Joe Girardi, who nearly had his most controversial World Series strategy blow up in his face.

Girardi is going with a three-man pitching rotation in the Fall Classic and it's worked for him up until now. But just barely.

The Phillies were one foul tip away from getting out of last night's ninth inning tied and likely going on to win Game 4 with all the momentum swinging their way. But Brad Lidge couldn't shut the door and the Yankees won 7-4 and now hold a commanding 3-1 lead.

So, how commanding is it?

In my view, you'd rather be up 3-1 than down. But let me say this. The Yankees are one Cliff Lee defeat away from being in serious trouble.

Here's why.

Photo Credit: AP

This pumpkin tribute to Ken Griffey Jr. was carved up, photographed and submitted by Mariners fan Heather Cuillier.

Maybe Griffey's renting it out from Cinderella as his wheels for the night.

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One of you wrote in to me earlier asking why Mariners left fielder Michael Saunders was replaced by a pinch-runner in his winter ball game in Venezuela yesterday. Well, it turns out he'd suffered a slight ankle sprain a few days back and had tried to play on it yesterday.

Mariners minor league operations director Pedro Grifol told me that Saunders had been doing some exercises on the ankle and felt well enough to play. Guess he jumped back in there a bit too soon.

He'd been swinging a hot bat down there, so I'm sure he was anxious to get back in ASAP.

I spoke to Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu earlier today and it turns out that new third base coach Mike Brumley has literally been stalking him for years. I mean, these guys played against each other in the Pacific Coast League, then worked together with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers.

These aren't a pair of 70-year-olds with four decades of experience. Neither has been in coaching that long and yet, they seem to jump from organization to organization at roughly the same time.

Interesting.

No wonder Wakamatsu told me Brumley is a guy whose thinking and approach to looking at baseball mirrors much of his own.

"I respect his intelligence and his understanding of the game, that's first and foremost,'' Wakamatsu said.

Photo Credit: AP

The Mariners have hired Mike Brumley to replace the fired Bruce Hines as third-base coach, the team announced this afternoon. Brumley, a former major-league infielder, had a stint with the Mariners in 1990.

"We talked to candidates inside and outside the organization," general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a press release, "and Mike will be a great fit for us. He's had experience as a major league shortstop, a minor league manager and third base coach and as a minor league field coordinator."

Brumley's career intersected with manager Don Wakamatsu when he served as the Texas Rangers' field coordinator from 2005-07, and as a minor-league manager in the Angels' organization from 2001-04. The last three seasons he was a Triple-A manager at Salt Lake. Wakamatsu was a Rangers' coach from 2003-07, and was a field coordinator for the Angels in 2001-02.

"I have had the opportunity to work with Mike in the past," Wakamatsu said, "and know first hand of his passion for winning and skill as a teacher. He will be a good fit on our staff."

Last year, we discussed how the Fielding Bible Awards had become a more legitimate exercise than the Gold Gloves in determining the top defensive players in the game. Namely because the Gold Gloves are awarded almost exclusively based off reputation, voted on by coaches. Many of the Gold Glove voters only see certain players a handful of time per year, and also tend to use more traditional defensive stats like errors or fielding percentage (or simply go off memory alone) to pick a winner.

As we've written all season, there are now more modern defensive stats and systems that tend to tell us more about a fielder.

And it should come as no surprise that the Mariners this year took home the most honors in the annual Fielding Bible awards, announced today. Franklin Gutierrez was named the game's top center fielder, Ichiro was the best right fielder and Jack Wilson the best shortstop.

The Fielding Bible is an authoritative book on defense published by John Dewan, a leading researcher in the field of baseball data. Dewan is the founder of Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) has come up with a number of defensive ratings systems over the years with data compiled by the research staff he employs in Philadelphia. According to his Defensive Runs Saved system, which we wrote about during spring training, the Mariners were the top defensive team in baseball this past season with 109 defensive runs saved.

The Fielding Bible Awards are selected by a panel of 10 experts, including Dewan, baseball columnists Peter Gammons and Joe Posnanski and sabermetric guru Bill James. Many of the panel members either created some of the newer statistical defensive measurements used in the game today, or are well-versed in them.

Voting methodology is the same as BBWAA members use to select MVP winners. You pick your top-10 players at each position, with first place getting 10 points, second place getting nine points, thir place getting eight and so on down the line.

Gutierrez recevied the second-highest voting score from the panel at 97 points, trailing only the 99 points recevied for left field by Carl Crawford of the Rays.

Photo Credit: Tony Dejak/AP

As we were saying, that A.J. Burnett guy is really something, isn't he? Those of you hoping for an interesting World Series can thank Yankees pitcher Burnett, who looked as good as I've ever seen him last night in salvaging Game 2 for his ballclub. Not sure what Fox analyst Eric Karros was smoking before the game when he declared that this wasn't a "must win'' for the Yanks. Uh, are you kidding? A 2-0 deficit heading to Philly, where the home team is 11-1 the past two years in the playoffs? Eric, the series was over if Burnett didn't pitch the game of his life. Not sure what it takes to be a TV analyst these days, other than having played some ball. Apologies to Mike Blowers, Jeff Nelson, etc., but seriously, dude, Burnett just saved his team's season and legacy -- at least for another 24 hours.

The thing with Burnett is, he's always had that curveball and that stellar movement on his fastball. He just could never control it. Barely controlled it at times in this game. But when he does harness it -- about as often as you see a solar eclipse -- he looks like the best pitcher in the game. It takes a sharp head on your shoulders to control stuff like that. Which explains a lot about what's gone on with Burnett over the years.

Speaking of saving legacies and stuff, anyone who watched this game would be hard-pressed not to admit that the time for video replay in baseball has arrived. You can work out the particulars later on, but poor first base ump Brian Gorman would be under police protection right now had the Phillies somehow managed to pull this game out. And they nearly did, with manager Charlie Manuel's refusal to start the runners prior to that double-play grounder by Chase Utley in the eighth playing a key role.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Mariners cleared room on their 40-man roster today by out-righting four players to Class AAA Tacoma. In addition, left-handed pitcher Justin Thomas, who appeared in eight games for the Mariners in 2008, was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

First baseman Bryan LaHair, right-handed pitchers Randy Messenger and Marwin Vega, and left-handed pitcher Cesar Jimenez, were all placed on outright waivers earlier in the week and went through the 48-hour waiver period without being claimed. The Mariners today out-righted them off the 40-man roster.

In the case of LaHair, Messenger and Jimenez (who was actived from the 60-day disabled list), they are all eligible for free agency as six-year minor leaguers. Vega is not eligible for free agency and will remain in the organization. The others, once they file for free agency as expected, could re-sign with the Mariner organization or seek to sign with another team.

The Mariners now have 35 players on their 40-man roster, leaving them some room to manuever as they head into the off season.