It’s a light day in the baseball universe here in New York. Bill Madden reports that Don Mattingly will return as the Yankees’ hitting coach in 2005. According to George King, Mel Stottlemyre will inform the Yankees later today whether or not he’ll continue on as Joe Torre’s pitching coach. What else? Um, it’s still hard to fathom that the Red Sox won it all…(Dig it Dog, it really happened.) Oh, here’s the latest thoughts from Derek Jacques, and Jay Jaffe. Check em out.

Em and I saw Alexander Payne’s new movie “Sideways” this weekend, which features terrific work from Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church, and the lead, Paul Giamatti. It’s not a great movie, but the fact that it is uneven was kind of appealing. It’s moving and tender, not nearly as ironic or arch as Payne’s earlier work (which includes the hilarious “Election” as well as “Citizen Ruth” and “About Schmidt”). I’ve always liked Madsen. She was wonderful in an HBO movie about minor league baseball in the 1950s called “Long Gone,” and she makes the most of her supporting role here. Giamatti is solid, once again playing a dour intellectual. (There is a shot of him with is real-life father, Bart that will stand out to baseball fans.) I’d say that the movie is worth your ten bucks.

I finally started reading Leo Durocher’s autobiography “Nice Guys Finish Last” over the weekend. It was written with, er, by Ed Linn. Bill James loves the book and after reading just 15 pages I can see why. Durocher’s voice is so clear and the book is compusively readable. I’ve always enjoyed Linn’s work, so since I’m in a movie-frame-of-mind, I’m going to risk of being cheesy here, and present a bit I posted about about Linn’s book, “Steinbrenner’s Yankees” a few years ago:

Too bad that 70’s Retro is now passe. The Bronx Zoo Yankee team would make for a great bad movie. I picture it as a cross between “Slap Shot” and