Tacoma Rainiers manager Dave Brundage, a long-time player, coach and manager in the Seattle system, was fired last Friday.

Brundage, who spent 19 years with the Mariners, guided the Rainiers to a 74-70 record and a second-place finish last season, his first with the Triple-A team. As the Mariners' Double-A manager in 2003, Brundage was named Minor League Manager of the Year by Baseball America for leading San Antonio to the Texas League Championship.

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Q: While the starting pitching needs to be addressed, the biggest flaw in the team is the lack of hitting with runners on base. Ichiro, Sexson and Beltre were abysmal at this especially during the July/August swoon. Sexson claiming he is proud of hitting well when they were out of contention is a bit scary. Is there a site where statistics like batting average with men on base or BA with runners in scoring position is compiled? I would be interested to see where our big three stand there. – iqbal70

There is a website that does that. Go to ESPN.com, call up the player's card, go to the splits option, then go to more splits and scroll down, way down. It's a pain to get to but you can get there. I'll save you some work and post Sexson, Beltre and Ichiro. Here you go:

PLAYER..............MEN ON BASE................IN SCORING POS.
Sexson.............. .273, 16 HR, 89 RBI..... .261, 12 HR, 76 RBI
Beltre.............. .271, 10 HR, 74 RBI..... .256, 6 HR, 62 RBI
Ichiro.............. .290, 4 HR, 44 RBI..... .228, 2 HR, 40 RBI

Note: Ichiro's numbers don't look so good but consider he's a leadoff hitter who had just 49 RBI on the season. His average when leading off an inning is .354, which ain't too shabby.

1. NY Yankees (1) – Injuries to pitchers Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina hurt their playoff chances.
2. Oakland (3) – Will this be the first team under GM Billy Beane to win a first-round playoff series?
3. Minnesota (4) – Speaking of smart GMs, why doesn’t Terry Ryan get more recognition for what he does with his limited resources?
4. Detroit (5) – No one should be bummed about their finish. Just making the playoffs was an accomplishment.
5. NY Mets (2) – Liked their chances a whole lot better with Pedro Martinez on the mound.
6. San Diego (7) – This is how weak the NL is: Padres wouldn’t finish second in any of the AL divisions.
7. LA Dodgers (8) – Game 7 of the NLCS, a tiring veteran pitcher on the mound. This is manager Grady Little’s nightmare.
8. Chicago White Sox (9) – Congratulations! White Sox win the not-so-coveted award of best team not to make the playoffs.
9. LA Angels (6) – They are the favorite to land free agent Alfonso Soriano.
10. Philadelphia (10) – With or without a playoff appearance, crazy season yielded a much-needed change in clubhouse atmosphere.
11. Houston (20) – For two years running, these guys have a finishing kick equal to Seabiscuit’s.
12. Toronto (13) – Might need to spend another $50 million this offseason to surpass the Yankees in the standings.
13. St. Louis (11) – Say this for them, these Cards really know how to fold.
14. Boston (12) – Because of age and injury, will have to rethink their entire pitching staff for next season.
15. Cincinnati (19) – Give them credit for making tens of moves in an attempt to stay in the race.
16. Texas (15) – With team stuck in place, will manager Buck Showalter get walking papers?
17. Florida (14) – Don’t worry about Joe Giradi. He’ll be gainfully employed come spring.
18. Atlanta (16) – It’s no coincidence their pitching failed the year their 14 consecutive division title streak was snapped.
19. Cleveland (23) – I deserve 10 lashes with a wet noodle for buying into the Indians’ rebuilding plan.
20. Seattle (18) – GM Bill Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove remain at the helm so the ship will stay the course … for now.
21. San Francisco (17) – The lesson learned here is no team should have more than three 40-year-olds if it wants to win a title.
22. Arizona (21) – If the Russ Ortiz fiasco taught them anything it is be careful when going after free agent pitchers.
23. Milwaukee (24) – Made strides but was tripped up by one of the worst road records in the NL.
24. Colorado (22) – The pitching improved but the team didn’t. Now what?
25. Washington (25) – With no pitching, no minor-league talent and probably no Alfonso Soriano, this team has no hope to be better in 2007.
26. Baltimore (27) – Once model franchise enters another rebuilding offseason.
27. Pittsburgh (26) – With strong second half, they think they’ve turned the corner.
28. Chicago Cubs (28) – Don’t be surprised if pitcher Carlos Zambrano wins the Cy Young Award.
29. Tampa Bay (30) – Same story as the last three years: Love their manager, love their young hitters, hate their pitching situation.
30. Kansas City (29) – They’ll be better next year because they’ve got a GM who knows what he’s doing and talent in the pipeline.