Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Good For What Ails You

After the Tao pointed out my agitated, nearly apoplectic state on Friday; I experienced a strange calm similar to the one the Tao himself spoke of. A long weekend, a solid-to-excellent Halladay start, a shrimp sighting, and an all-ages hardcore show have that effect. The roster is going to get pretty crowded in the next few weeks, with Vernon Wells scheduled to return soon while Shannon Stewart & Jeremy Accardo run through their rehab stints. Kevin "Warning Track Power" Mench and one of the Tampa Two figure to be the odd men out, though Shannon Stewart should heed Hale's advice and retire with dignity.

I'll quickly give JP some credit; people love to disparage his decision to bring in Zambrano, Ohka and/or Mench as quick, cheap fixes that go nowhere. But consider John Parrish, Shawn Camp and Jesse Carlson. No account journeymen who have all stepped in and made positive contributions. Low ceiling guys all, they've eaten innings and provided effective relief/spot-starting when called upon.

The plummeting A's seem to have brought their Blue Jay-brand futility bats to Canada. Canadian wonderstory Scott Richmond takes to the hill tonight, facing Greg Smith. Smith makes his third start of the year against the Jays, which makes as little sense as his success in each of those starts. The ever-dangerous soft-tossing lefty has only given up 2 earned runs in 12.2 innings against the Blue Jays. Let's hope Scott Rolen's two days off yield a big day against a lesser foe.

2 comments:

  1. Rolen sitting two days in a row can't be good for his tender emotions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hopefully Cito is treading ever so lightly.

    ReplyDelete

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