I Take It Back!

Maybe I was wrong to suggest that ideally Pedro Martinez would leave yesterday's game with a minor shoulder injury. Instead, he should've left with Jose Guillen's bat up his rectum.

Pedro, as you know by now, hit three Nats, after having hit just four batters all of last season. In his fairness, the pitches to Nick Johnson and the second to Jose Guillen were almost strikes. But there's little doubt that his first HBP, the one that nailed Jose Guillen, who bats over .400 against Pedro, in the shoulder was intentional. (Just as there's no doubt that FRodo's pitch that nailed noted ratbastard Paul LoDuca was intentional, as well.)

The second HBP resulted in a very angry Jose Guillen shaking the bat menacingly, as if Pedro were Mike Scioscia (or some other 'piece of garbage'). It was a great play by the then-homeplate umpire Ted Barrett to realize that he was dealing with a less-than-sane person by running out and horsecollaring Guillen, keeping him from going all Juan Marichal on Pedro. (Though that might've been fun to see, too!) Here's the video of the HBPs and 'brawl'.

Guillen even made the back cover of the NY Post!

It's a shame that the crapfest that was Joey Eischen and friends ruined it later, becase if they hadn't, Nick Johnson's subsequent game-tying three-run bomb off the slightly nervous Pedro (perhaps he was wary of having a base chucked at him from his left?) would have been one for the ol' memory banks. Instead, it's a small moral victory in what was a pretty dreary loss, all things considered. (NJ's homer)

The Lame Duck
There was lots of competition for this not-so-prestigious award, but the winner is young Zimmerman. Some, who show their true allegience to foreign powers famous solely for tulips and being underwater, hate the nickname 'Dutch'. Even they'd recognize, however, that an ohfer with four strikeouts ain't gonna cut it. (Perhaps Bill Ladson can write about what a bad player he is now?)

Zimmerman could have been the difference in the game. He left an amazing seven runners on base!? Second inning: 1/2, no outs, K; Third inning: 1/2, 2 outs, K; Seventh inning: 2/3, no outs, UGLY popup. Productive outs aren't something a team should strive for, but if you ARE going to make an out, it's damn better to do something with it than not.

Ramon Ortiz was Herr Zimmerman's biggest competition. Anytime a pitcher gives up more runs than innings pitched, it's been a long night.

He didn't really seem to have command of the strikezone, even though he didn't walk anyone. But his stuff just isn't good enough to get major league hitters out, as witnessed by his 1K performance. Pitchers who can't strike anyone out usually can't succeed, unless they're groundballers, which Ortiz really isn't. At least he held them to ten hits through five.

Joey Eischen stunk, as Joey Eischen frequently does. If he wasn't a crude, hick, loudmouth there wouldn't be nearly as much love for him as there is.

Brandon Watson, "Endy 2.0", continued to prove that he doesn't belong in the majors. He typically sees a lot of pitches, but that's because his slaptastic approach allows him to foul a lot of them off. Still he struck out twice, and didn't really even make solid contact. Ryan Church made his debut last night, and didn't do well. He better start hitting; this team needs him.

Hack Clayton stinks. Free [Any other freakin' shortstop]!

I was relieved to see that Frank Robinson's Magical Pointy Finger made it's debut this season. Do you suppose he keeps it in shape in the offseason by yelling at neighborhood kids to stay off his lawn?

Here's the NY Post's gamer, and a story that makes Guillen seem crazier than we thought. Revenge on his mind already! Here's the NY Times.