I just realized… with this long rain delay, and Alfonseca and Cruz having pitched last night, we’re certain to see Travis Smith. Heck, there probably won’t even be enough people left in the outfield seats to fight over Cabrera’s and Lowell’s homers.
UPDATE: My God, is he awful. A 7.03 ERA now. I mean, I’ve seen some bad pitchers over the years, but he wouldn’t have been able to last on Tanner’s teams. And here he is in position to pick up a win, depending upon the Braves’ ability to stay ahead and the whim of the official scorer.
Shows what I know… I would have used Ortiz to hit for Smith there. Certainly not Hessman. Why bring in the guy most likely to strike out with a runner on third and one out? Meanwhile, Charles Thomas is like DeWayne Wise with ability.
Hm lemme see. Yep there’s anothing homer given up by Smith. I think it’s about time for him to go far far away.
The Braves have to have someone in the minors that could replace him, right?
Ugg
Yeah, Almanza! (sorry, I just couldn’t resist)
Meanwhile, McConnell is looking good, especially ompared to the other lefty relievers we’ve seen this year.
On an unrelated note, has anyone noticed the wonderbread nature of the Houston club? Not to go all Terence Moore, but other than the newly acquired Beltran, they have to have the most thouroghly caucasian team I can think of. I think they have Jose Vizcaino as a back up, but nothing else.
I read something about that the other day, snelville. Beltran has very light skin as well, really. If you saw them play at all, this year’s Hawks would trot out some lineups with 3-4 white guys after we got rid of our “good” players (Shareef and Theo).
I suspect that organizations which emphasize plate discipline tend to draft a lot more white-bread players–drawing walks is a white-bread skill. That’s racist, in a sense, but it’s also just an empirical fact, a real (though perhaps unhappy) tendency in the world. The A’s and Red Sox are also quite white, but they happily sign minority players (Dye; Ortiz) who fit their mold, and even some (Tejada; Garciaparra, Reese) who don’t. So that’s another factor to think about before we go all Terence Moore.
Hey, Sura carried my fantasy team. It’s funny, I always remembered him having green hair and being an outside shooter who couldn’t really make outside shots.
Uh, I didn’t realize Barry Bonds was white. I seem to remember something about him drawing a lot of walks.
Andy B: Keep the silly caveman analysis to yourself, please. Mindlessness like this is rampant enough. Common sense alone should tell you your theory is bunk: Manny Ramirez and Bonds almost always lead their leagues in walks.