Watching the ballclub today I was reminded how young it is. Rookie Brandon Crawford did not start, nor did rookies Brandon Belt and Emmanuel Burriss. But rookies Hector Sanchez, Brett Pill, and Conor Gillaspie did. Joaquin Arias is not a rookie, but he has what, 300 plate appearances in the majors? Buster Posey, despite his skill and savvy, is still shaking off the rust from his long rehab. It should not surprise us that the club is struggling in the field. Angel Pagan is not a rookie either, but he is an FNG and it looks like he has not taken charge in center field. Angel, brah--carpe diem. Mark your territory out there in the greensward and cover it. Madison Bumgarner, thankfully, is a god among men, a compliment I usually reserve for Matt Cain. The young lefty is The Stopper, Da Man, the Big Arm, and The Horse these days. But this is a raw, unpolished bunch. The organization made a commitment to youth in 2012, and when you do that you get a lot of raw, unpolished play. The guy displaying the most VSC, and a joy to watch, is FNG Melky Cabrera. Fine work at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. He has a dozen multi-hit games already. Young 'uns HSanchez and B-Pill both hit a couple of balls really hard and were rewarded, and CMG managed a smart RBI with a ground ball to the right side. We are going to see a lot of ups and downs with this bunch. The vets--the starters, in particular--will have to be rock-solid. The injuries have also forced Ol' Boch to stock the 'pen with rooks like Travis Blackley and Steve Edlefsen (with Dan Otero and Eric Surkamp in the wings). It's a young bunch, my friends. Regardless of how you feel about The Sabester, he has--so far--overcome his veteranophilia for 2012.
Pitch well, lads, and catch the bloody fecking ball, eh? That will get you back to winning ways. And t'anks and glory be to Bog and All His Holy Angels and Saints for Madison Bumgarner, for he not only can throw a world-class slider, he can rake in the clutch, too.
--M.C.
p.s. Hitting streaks are weird: Angel is up to 19 games but is still hitting .259 with a .284 OBP.
2 comments:
I was impressed by Melky's triple off a liner to the gap in LEFT center field. Ballsy. He might not have suceeded if the ball hadn't died at the base of the wall. I wonder if he saw that before he decided to take the extra base or if he just got lucky.
Feckin' awesome post eh.
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