Play ball!

In the face of choppy markets that have knocked down Morgan Stanley stock by a third since June, generated $11 billion of losses and cost him a bonus, Chief Executive John Mack had baseball on his mind.

Just before shareholders reaffirmed their faith in their captain, voting back all directors to the board and beating down a “say on Pay” uprising, Big Mack told Reuters that investments banks are in the final innings of what has been a grueling game.

“If you put it in a baseball analogy, and you look at the subprime problem in the U.S., you would say were in the eighth inning or maybe the top of the ninth.” (For our friends in England and other locales bereft of baseball’s blessings, there are nine innings in a game.)

Later: “Leveraged lending, as we know it, is in the ninth inning.”

And for those still keeping score at home: “The last thing we need to figure out is the commercial market, CMBS. In that, we’re in about the fifth inning.”

European markets are a whole other ball game [Editor's note: maybe rounders?]:

“We just don’t know. We don’t have enough info yet,” he said. “We keep getting disclosures that surprise us.” (While Mack declined to name names, he hinted at a bank with the initials U, B and S.)

In the same interview, Mack drew a picture where trillions of dollars of cash and a shot of confidence would inspire investors to once again come out swinging.

Anyway, let’s just hope this credit crunch doesn’t go into extra innings. Wall Street may not have that many strong bats left on the bench.