There's a Kind of Hush

I'm dating myself with the title of that old Herman's Hermits song, but it adequately describes the lull in baseball news with the Christmas holiday. There have been no major news stories or transactions since Thursday, which is probably as it should be. I'm in the mall myself selling our books and this is the last day of what has been a successful season. The halls are empty on this Christmas Eve day and the canned holiday music is blaring to no one but us poor venders.

While I am sitting here on this quiet (considering) morning, I thought I would list my Christmas wish list. So in no particular order, I wish that:

- Ken Griffey Jr. would have one more successful season and play on a contending team.

- Santana stays with the Twins and the youngsters the Red Sox and Yankees did not trade have big impact years.

- Francisco Liriano comes back from his surgery and comes back better than ever.

- the Mitchell Report fades into the background so we can concentrate on baseball. I know...fat chance of that.

- Mariano Rivera has one more great year.

- Willie Randolph starts having some fun and confidence in his managing.

- Jim Edmonds has one more good year in San Diego.

- Scott Rolen decks Tony LaRussa.

- Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have very good seasons.

- Derek Jeter has another 200 hits and continues his pace to overtake Pete Rose.

- the Bay Rays have a season over .500

- the Royals have an encouraging and competitive season.

- Prince Fielder continues making gains in his career with a monster year.

- the Home Run Derby is canceled as a remnant of the steroid era. It's boring anyway.

- each league has exciting pennant races, with lots of surprise performances and fans happy everywhere.

Merry Christmas everyone and happy holidays.