WORLD SERIES Managers' smarts take center stage

The chess games between Joe Torre and Jack McKeon should be fascinating.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball is a game of wits and, often enough, half-wits. It's guessing and second-guessing, equal parts art, science and skill. It's gut feelings and dumb luck.
No one knows that better than the New York Yankees' Joe Torre and the Florida Marlins' Jack McKeon, who led their teams into the World Series after two of the most bodacious and draining pennant drives in history.
Keep an eye on Torre, 63, and McKeon, 72, as they match moves this series, summoning the wisdom of their ages, still pulling surprises while keeping steady hands on their teams. This is the 100th anniversary of the World Series and these guys have seen most of them, learning more than a little along the way.
Nasty splitters, leather-popping fastballs and moonshots into the bleachers don't win World Series as much as playing smart and managing smart do. The chess games between Torre and McKeon will be as fascinating to watch as any showdown on the mound, at the plate or in the field.
Emotional week
Torre's eighth season with the Yankees, and his bid for a fifth World Series ring as manager, has been his most tumultuous, a pressure cooker even before it started. An emotional man, it was no surprise to see him crying and hugging his players on the field after they came back from 4-0 in Game 7 of the ALCS and beat Boston 6-5 in 11 innings on Aaron Boone's homer.
"This was the sweetest taste of all for me," Torre said as the night spilled over with tears and champagne.
Wiped away in that moment were the stinging shots George Steinbrenner took at him, his coaches and his team leader, Derek Jeter, last winter and the sniping he heard from The Boss during the season.
Forgotten were the troubles caused last spring by David Wells' tell-all -- or tall tale -- book that roiled the organization. Gone briefly was the angst of nurturing the transition of Cuban defector Jose Contreras to justify the $32 million, four-year deal Steinbrenner gave him.
Pressure of spending
Steinbrenner had gone on a spending spree, buying Japan's Hideki Matsui, among others, and Torre was under pressure to produce a champion after two years of falling short in the playoffs. Injuries, even a huge one on opening day to Jeter, would be no excuse for failure.
McKeon took his own winding path to home plate Saturday night for the handshake and exchange of lineups with Torre before Game 1.
The cigar-puffing McKeon had been managing, on and off, for 30 years in four cities, never finishing first, much less winning a World Series ring. He'd been in organized ball for 52 years, a baseball lifer who wouldn't quit, even when no one wanted him.
He had worked with some of the best -- George Brett in Kansas City, Tony Gwynn in San Diego. He was smart enough to be named NL Manager of the Year in 1999 when his Cincinnati Reds won 96 games, then judged not to be so clever by his not-so-brilliant bosses when the injury-ridden team won 11 fewer games the next year.
Second-half surge
Now McKeon is seen as a genius, or at least a pretty sharp grandpappy, after taking over the foundering Marlins in midseason and leading them to the best record in baseball the second half of the year. They neutralized Barry Bonds and beat the Giants. They came back against the Cubs to beat their two best pitchers, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, in their own ballpark.
Who could blame McKeon for getting a little sentimental, his eyes glistening as he reflected on it all?
"I really take this as a gift for my family, my wife of almost 50 years who sacrificed so many things, my kids, my grandkids through the years, never having a dad, a grandfather around," he said. "I'm happy for them. For the first time, they may be able to enjoy something special."
Along with the rest of the country, they can watch him work in a World Series for the first time.
Old school
When he took over the Marlins, he made it clear to them he would suffer no fools and prima donnas, no matter how fat their contracts. He coaxed them into playing baseball the old-fashioned way, fundamentals first, bunting, moving runners over.
Speed was the key. Defense up the middle, the foundation of any great club, mattered. So, too, did pitching and a winning attitude.
He made these Marlins look a lot like last year's World Series champions, the Anaheim Angels -- team first, ego second.
Torre's Yankees are built differently, putting more of a premium on patience at the plate, getting on base with walks, coming up with big hits, wearing down pitchers. They are a reflection of his personality as he sits with Buddhalike calm in the dugout, waiting for opportunities to unfold. No manager in the game has been more adept at harnessing the talents and arrogance of highly paid superstars than he has, largely because of the respect he commands as a player, a manager and as a man.
The playoffs were games for the ages. And this World Series might be, too, a matchup between two teams and managers who know how baseball should be played.