It's been a crazy week in baseball. Roger Clemens is returning to the Bronx. Tim Lincecum made his debut. Bengie Molina became the first Giant to hit two homers in an inning since Willie McCovey did it in 1977. But the sad saga of my troubles in the NL Experts league continues.
My pitching actually seems great. Between the solid foursome of Aaron Harang, Chris Young the pitcher, Ian Snell, and Cole Hamels, I have a pretty outstanding staff. Coupled with closer-for-now Dan Wheeler and split-time closer for the we-are-officialy-back Atlanta Braves Rafael Soriano, that's six of the seven pitchers required each week. I finally got rid of dead wood Woody Williams, who has started the season 0-5, and I gave up on Pedro Martinez, because I need results now. For now, Micah Owings is my seventh pitcher, and Prince bopper Matt Capps is on my bench. I figure if I feel like it, I can grab a weak two-start pitcher off of waivers each week in exchange for one of my weak bench players.
Speaking of weak bench players, that's currently where Chris Burke stands, er, sits I mean. Chris Burke is the player that has me most engulfed in flames. He gives me the rage to go out and kick ass, but at the same time, has left me in a situation that if is not cured could ultimately lead to something being broken, probably this chair I'm sitting on.
The thing is, it's not all his fault, but it's close to 50% his fault. His manager should just have more patience with him. But apparently Phil Garner thinks they need more power right now. It's weird, I sort of assumed that wouldn't be problem before the season because they have Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman. I got Burke super-early in the draft because I knew he would be starting every day in center field, and I saw him putting up 270-15 HR-30 SB. Plus he would have second base eligibilty, and I thought those were pretty good numbers for a second baseman. He wasn't at the top of my list, but it was about Round 8-10, and I didn't have a second baseman yet, so he seemed like a good deal. I didn't want to be left with a backup to start the season. In the last round of the draft, I grabbed Kaz Matsui as insurance in case something happened to Burke.
In the first two weeks, I felt like I had played it wonderfully. Matsui was hitting over 350 with five steals, looking like the best 22nd round pick of the draft. Burke had five steals also, but wasn't hitting very well. No problem, I thought, I'll just put him on my bench. It became a problem when Matsui left a game with back spasms. Soon he was on the DL.
I didn't think back spasms were such a big injury. After all, Adam Dunn left a game with back spasms around the same time as Matsui and was back in the lineup the next day, no problem at all. However, as mentioned in a previous post, Dunn is 6-6, 275, and superhuman. Matsui is definitely not. Matsui is too skinny for baseball.
Rubbish, you might say. You're thinking, baseball's not even for athletes. The all-time home run king Babe Ruth was a fatass! He enjoyed beers, cigars, and debaucherous women after ballgames! You ought to be proud to own a fit speedster like Kaz Matsui! And yet, somehow I'm not.
What I'm saying is that Matsui is not fat enough for baseball. I hope this does not mean I am cursed to excessive back pain later own, though I may be due to my scoliosis and bad posture.
Now this doesn't mean I'm going to drop Matsui. After all, he should still start at second base for the Rockies when he returns. That's a good place to play baseball if you're a hitter trying to impress Ben by putting up good numbers for his fantasy teem. And he should be back by the end of this month, though I'm awfully skeptical of that. It already has been pushed back. It's been almost a month now and he's just starting to run. He hasn't yet begun Triple A rehab games. So I'm a bit worried.
Burke on the other hand is riding the pine. Houston has brought up Triple A slugger Hunter Pence to play, and the weird thing about that is that he instantly became the starting center fielder for the Astros. In the almost ten games since Houston brought up Pence, Burke has only had about three at-bats as a pinch hitter. He has not made one start. Oh and that second base ability, forget about it. Houston wouldn't dream of benching Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, and even backup Mark Loretta is outplaying Burke right now.
Woe is me. Vote on my polls. Give me feedback. Just don't do drugs. Or be dumb. Excessively. You can be dumb in moderation, I grant you permission.
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