And technically, Borowski threw a hitless ninth to earn his first save of the season. But there’s “hitless” and there’s “Gil-Mota-with-double-vision-wearing-oven-mitts.”
Okay, that was hysterical.
But to me, the telling stat is that Tom Mastny and Raffy Betancourt EACH only had one more strike than ball. When neither of these guys is on target, it’s a tough day to throw strikes.
A lot of it was the umpire. Hammy and Hegan kept harping how AWFUL he was all game for both teams. So many pitches that should have been strikes were called balls. The pitchers had to literally throw it into a tea cup. Thank God it was cold, as if it was mid-summer the final score might have been 18-17. Which begs the question, as the ump, wouldn't you EXPAND the strike zone to get the hell out of there? What sort of idiot wants to hang around and play baseball in 30 degree and snowy weather? Was that Lt. Frank Drebin behind the plate?
(He’s still considered “pretty good,” although I believe he actually scared Jason Michaels empty-bowelled when “congratulating” him for the game-ending catch.)
I finally caught the reply of the final play late last night. Who was more excited....the fans or Sizemore? Jesus. He acted like we won the World Series after that catch. BTW, I like that.
I don’t care if this is a rational response. I don’t care if this flushes my credibility as an analyst down the tubes. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. I just want this man out of the 5 hole batting behind Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. I must have this. I will not sleep until this is so.
Okay, actually I will, but I will continue to complain.
I'm with Buff on this. I don't mind Casey Blake in the lineup hitting 8th/9th....but for God sakes, not 5th. Shapiro said he wants to let the early part of the season play out before he identifies what we need.....and folks, it may in fact end up being a RHed power bat to slide into the 4/5 hole. I know there were many on here hoping we would get that this offseason. We did try with Alou, but it looks like at some point we need one (or Garko hopefully is the answer). I don't think this has a huge affect on how many wins we have, but long-run it WILL affect the pitches Hafner and Victor get. I mean, Hafner was walked four times yesterday.
