According to the signals coming from Chicago, Jerry Manuel’s job is hanging by one more losing streak.

Wally Backman, former Met is managing in the Sox’s minor league system. The funny thing is Backman’s team has been running like crazy and that is the philosophy he would like to bring to the Southside of Chicago.

Someone should introduce him to Paul Konerko, Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Lee. Once Backman takes a quick look at the roster I wonder how many times he will go over the steal sign with these guys.

Minor league hitter Joe Borchard still isn’t hitting, he’s not the answer as of yet. The big club needs an overhaul before any manager can turn things around.

Jerry Manuel is not the cause of the the Chicago troubles, their inability to handle Minnesota is one of the major things holding the Sox back. With Mark Buehrle struggling, the Sox only have Bartolo Colon and Esteban Loaiza as bright spots on the mound.

Sacking Jerry Manuel for run happy Wally Backman won’t make things any better, if they really want a solid baseball man they should tap Chicago native and Cubs AAA manager Mike Quade, who taught the current A’s players how to play the game.

Click Read more for more.The A’s stumbled their way through another loss to the Twins. Ramon Hernadez failed to complete an easy home to first double play, the middle infielders fumbled a double play try, John Halama wobbled through six innings, and the bull pen failed to get key outs, leading to an all important insurance run.

Minnesota scores about the same amount of runs the A’s do, they have a better on base percentage too, Minnesota doesn’t walk nearly as much as Oakland. Meaning the Twins hit to get on base and look much sharper at the plate as a result.

The Twins took two of three from Oakland without using their two best pitchers Brad Radke and Kyle Lohse.

Friday, the A’s meet Kansas City and 6′ 8″ rookie righty Kyle Snyder. Snyder should be a welcome sight to the A’s since he is only making his 5th major league appearance and gives up homers quite frequently so far.

Kansas City has had trouble with Mark Mulder in the past and I would expect Mulder will easily handle the homer happy Royals who hit six Wednesday night in Seattle.

Jim Mecir is still on the mend from knee problems causing Ken Macha much grief in finding the right combination in the eighth inning. Look for Mulder to go nine Friday night on Fireworks Night at the Coliseum.

Brad Radke faces Jamie Moyer in Seattle. Radke has been hit hard by just about everybody in the Seattle lineup in the past. Moyer has trouble with Torii Hunter and little else on the Twins. Minnesota is now 8-6 versus lefties, but they are clearly weaker against the lefty throwers.

Matt LeCroy left Thursday’s game with a knee problem, he’s one of the better righthanded hitters on the Twins and will be missed if this is serious.

The Angels face Tampa Bay and throw their ace Jarrod Washburn who has 50 major league wins against only 30 losses in his career. Washburn should handle Jeremi Gonzalez and the Rays in Lou Piniella’s first trip back to Anaheim with this team.

Ben Grieve is back on the Rays active roster as Jim Parque, a courageous pitcher is sent back to the minors.

The Giants go into Colorado for the weeknd. Damian Moss throws a lot of breaking balls, not a good sign for a pitcher in Coors. Barry Bonds has gone nuts their before and the Giants just might outhit the Rockies in the opener, if Jason Young starts for Colorado. Colorado still cannot win on the road and especially not against the Giants and Dodgers in California, the Rocks generally beat the Giants at home and need to generate some offense quickly. Gabe Kapler and Brent Butler are allegedly on the block as the Rockies look for more contact hitters.

With the Cubs defense among the worst in the league, you have to give credit to the Chicago pitching staff for doing as well as they do. They have taken things into their own hands by striking out batters at a remarkable pace. That is one way to disguise a porous defense.

Houston keeps rolling along behind that fabulous bullpen. By taking two of three from St. Louis, the Astros are showing that they won’t be intimidated by the big hitting Cards.

Brian Roberts took Troy Percival deep for a ninth inning grand slam for the Orioles, showing once again that major league hitters can hit a 98 MPH fastball if they know it is coming. Percival worked himself into a bases loaded jam and had no room to throw anything but the heater. So long game.

The Yankees got bad news with Bernie Williams out for 4-6 weeks with knee surgery. Hideki Matsui will move to center, but the big hole will be in the four spot in the order.

Hey, Red Sox this is your chance, don’t blow it.

Memorial Day on its way, that means the peaches aren’t too far away. When the peaches are on the trees, the baseball is more predictable, and then the story really takes off.