Sunday, August 01, 2004
IT'S NOMAR TIME!!
Laura's brothers pulled a fast one on me today, announcing that the Cubs had acquired Nomar Garciaparra from the Red Sox for Francis Beltran, Felix Pie, Todd Walker, Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez, and another guy. This was not complete bullshit, as the Cubs did give up Beltran, Harris, Gonzalez, and Justin Jones--a lefty prospect NOBODY was talking about but who apparently may be the son of Kal-El--to acquire the aforementioned Mr. Mia Hamm. And you know what? I'm ecstatic!
Look, the argument could be made that today, Todd Walker cost the Cubs a run when he failed to pick up a routine grounder in the 2nd, allowing Jason Michaels to make first and score on Mike Lieberthal's home run. This is factual, but think of all the runs that Alex Gonzalez has cost the Cubs over the past few seasons of hitting like an absolute pile of dogshit. The guy was lauded last year for hitting a few "clutch" game-ending homers, but what people lose sight of is that THOSE GAMES MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE IF HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A HIT OR TWO IN INNINGS 1-9.
People have also lost sight of the fact that, after Steve Bartman made his mistake last year, Gonzalez botched a potentially inning-ending, rally-killing double play that was one of the worst plays I've ever seen a major leaguer make. If you hit .242 for your career and are a huge choker in the field, I don't care to have you playing for my favorite team. In fact, I hated Alex S Gonzalez--in a baseball sense--more than I've ever hated any athlete in my life. I am relieved and so pleased to be able to simply forget about him. Almost as pleased as I am to have Nomar on the team.
Almost. It's like this: the Cubs have removed the worst player on their team and replaced him with an All-Star caliber player who makes a lot of contact at the dish, and who should be re-energized by a change of scenery. And, oh yeah, whose wife is the lovely Mia Hamm. Thank you Jim Hendry. Thank you.
Laura's brothers pulled a fast one on me today, announcing that the Cubs had acquired Nomar Garciaparra from the Red Sox for Francis Beltran, Felix Pie, Todd Walker, Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez, and another guy. This was not complete bullshit, as the Cubs did give up Beltran, Harris, Gonzalez, and Justin Jones--a lefty prospect NOBODY was talking about but who apparently may be the son of Kal-El--to acquire the aforementioned Mr. Mia Hamm. And you know what? I'm ecstatic!
Look, the argument could be made that today, Todd Walker cost the Cubs a run when he failed to pick up a routine grounder in the 2nd, allowing Jason Michaels to make first and score on Mike Lieberthal's home run. This is factual, but think of all the runs that Alex Gonzalez has cost the Cubs over the past few seasons of hitting like an absolute pile of dogshit. The guy was lauded last year for hitting a few "clutch" game-ending homers, but what people lose sight of is that THOSE GAMES MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE IF HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A HIT OR TWO IN INNINGS 1-9.
People have also lost sight of the fact that, after Steve Bartman made his mistake last year, Gonzalez botched a potentially inning-ending, rally-killing double play that was one of the worst plays I've ever seen a major leaguer make. If you hit .242 for your career and are a huge choker in the field, I don't care to have you playing for my favorite team. In fact, I hated Alex S Gonzalez--in a baseball sense--more than I've ever hated any athlete in my life. I am relieved and so pleased to be able to simply forget about him. Almost as pleased as I am to have Nomar on the team.
Almost. It's like this: the Cubs have removed the worst player on their team and replaced him with an All-Star caliber player who makes a lot of contact at the dish, and who should be re-energized by a change of scenery. And, oh yeah, whose wife is the lovely Mia Hamm. Thank you Jim Hendry. Thank you.
