Get Used To This

Last night in Philly, the defending champions lost to the restocked Braves, as Derek Lowe was sharp and Brett Myers continued his unfortunate first-inning home run pattern by giving up three shots that were so vicious, they might have been directed at his spouse. (It's funny because it refers to actual real life abuse!)

These things happen, even on national television and on a night that was so nice, it hardly seemed possible that it was early April, and I've got no further point about that. But let's look at the ninth inning, where Bobby Cox brought in Mike Gonzales to protect a 4-run lead.

- E. Bruntlett doubled to deep left
- J. Rollins flied out to deep right, E. Bruntlett to third
- J. Werth singled to left, E. Bruntlett scored
- C. Utley walked, J. Werth to second

At this point, three out of four men have reached base, about as good a start to an inning as you could hope for, especially when Eric Bruntlett and his career .315 OBA leads off with a double.

But then, well, this happens.

- R. Howard struck out looking
- R. Ibanez struck out swinging

Because, well, Ryan Howard has a career .314 OBA against left handers (compared to .412 against right-handers) and strikes out (gulp) over 40% of the time he sees them. Ibanez has a .323 OBA, but at least puts the ball in play, albeit without power (.734 OPS to .849 for right handers). And that's your ball game.

On Saturday in an exhibition game, the Rays beat the Phillies when a right-handed power hitting outfielder, some guy by the name of Pat Burrell, went yard. Mr. Burrell, who oddly enough seems to have a highly involved history of playing for the Phillies, has a career OPS of .950 against left-handers, and really would have been a better fit in the lineup last night, rather than have, well, three lefties in a row.

Perhaps new Phillies GM Ruben Amaro can give manager Charlie Manuel another right-handed bat to help balance this situation. Because, well, it really looks like in the current lineup, you'd have to be a complete idiot to not throw every lefty you have against the Fightin's. Especially in the late innings. I mean, I'm just the guy who writes for a remarkably unpopular sports blog, and I can see how really stupid it is to have that much of a platoon shift...

Persistence

On some level, 142 ejections (and counting) is a remarkable milestone for Bobby Cox. The fact that the guy still cares enough to get tossed is kind of amazing, given that he's the modern-day Connie Mack in terms of longevity (he's now working his 23rd season in Atlanta, and his 27th overall).

The guy is also 67 years old, for Pete's sake. Which leads me to wonder just how he's getting run, really. Is there such a timeliness to his profanity and insults, or does he more or less just get out there and ask the umpire to run him as a favor? Seriously, Bobby, tell us your secrets. Consider history.

Epic Drop: Top 10 Ways In Which The Braves Betrayed Jeff Francoeur

A quite heavenly little list here for the latest example of how the athlete who has found a very public religious calling might not be, well, someone you want to take a lot of spiritual guidance from. Here's the money quote...

After three years, after playing hurt, playing every day, going in every day whether I got a hit and never complaining, I just played because Bobby [Cox] kept putting me in the lineup. But I just felt like a little three-minute thing -- 'Hey, you're going down' -- I feel like after three years, I was owed a little more of an explanation... You almost felt like they had made [their minds] up before the game. That's where I felt frustrated, where I felt a little betrayed.

No, seriously.

For the record, Francoeur also makes $460,000 a year, so perhaps his playing every day might not just be a sign of his impeccable nobility.

I don't mean to completely throw a guy under a bus for an unfortunate quote, but Pwecious does know that he's been hitting like a back-up infielder this year, right? And that the Braves are six games under .500 and in danger of becoming completely irrelevant in the NL East and wild-card races, despite the fact that the top teams in their division are all incredibly flawed?

A small note to any and all athletes that might stumble upon these words... teams do not betray you, because that involves having any faith or fealty in you in the first place. Look out amongst your fellow ballplayers, and gaze deeply at your Milton Bradleys, your Elijah Dukes, your Jeff Kents. Consider the idea that, if a team had its druthers, it might prefer to employ people who are not, you know, completely amoral pricks... but that the ability to hit the ball is more or less independent of how Gosh Darn Nice you are. It's a business, ya moron, and one man's "betrayal" is another man's "trying to win some freaking games." Sheesh.

Can the approval ratings get any lower?

The Lemur has decided that we need to see the current 30% approved resident of the White House on their signature broadcast, Nationals-Braves, to hang out with Miller and Morgan.

I'd tell you more about what was said here, but the self-induced pounding on my head made it hard to think about...

Other than, of course, Miller doing the mouth job by telling about how much Shrub loves MLB. Um, do the research, scumbags. Shrub loved the opportunity to make an ungodly amount of money using the team's "need" for a new stadium to make a fortune in a corrupt land grab.

Perhaps sensing the need to get away, both the Braves and Nationals made a lot of first-pitch outs to try to get this off the air quickly...

Oh, and nice move by Shrub to continue to deny that he's, well, from Connecticut... and he's not interested in buying a new team. And the first home run in the history of the stadium was hit by Larry Jones (some may know him as Chipper) off Odalis Perez, and narrated by Shrub with a delivery that called to mind the excitable tones of, say, Joe Buck on downers. (Yes, I know, he's off the drugs now, honest and for true. Yay!)

Next, they talked about exposing inner city kids to baseball, to bring it back in those areas. Hey, how about providing decent jobs for lower income people, so that parents can afford to get their kids in programs, or have the ability to not work two and three jobs, preventing them from going to see their kids games? Or, you know, provide secure places to live and... oh, I give up.

Anyway, a million laughs were had, all at the expense of the American people. Good times!

Updated... here's the video clip. Note the booing, and the mouth job that Miller gives immediately afterward to help cover up the booing...

This Is Nationals Baseball

Tonight, John Smoltz took a no-hitter into the 8th. An idiot took the field and ran around it for ten minutes before security finally brought him down. This is what it looks like, by the way, when they finally catch the guy...