Appearantly Bill Bavasi loves my reading, and took my threat to stop writing about the M's until Jones was called up seriously, as he made the move the same night! Coincidence? I think not. So of course the big news is that he's finally here. And of course its ruffling some feathers, as Guillen says hes "pissed off" about it. No news there, if you watch Jose, as he seems pissed off about everything. He's doing the good teammate thing and sticking up for his fellow vets, which I have no problem with, but I would like to see him go a little easier on a 22 year old rookie. Maybe help him out a little instead of attacking him. He says he doesn't understand this move right now, which makes no sense, as Adam shoulda been here at least a month ago. We'll see how he can perform with the pressure of a playoff run AND the vets having it out for him.
Now onto what WOULD have been the big news had AJ not been called up. Ben Broussard appears to be in a platoon (FINALLY!) with Sexson. This move has definitly come a month or two too late, as Ben has been one of our better hitters this season. How does he respond? 1-3 with an RBI, as opposed to Richie (who pinch hit for him) going 0-3 with 2 strikeouts and a tapper to the pitcher. Seriously Richie? 3 at bats and the farthest you hit the ball was to the pitchers mound? So much for a power hitter. But to be honest, I feel badly for the guy. He IS trying out there, and hes a local guy, so those boos from his hometown people gotta be hurting him. I understand he deserves the boo's (.197 as a full time player is... well pathetic doesn't even describe it) but he is still on the hook for $15 mil NEXT year, so there is no point in just breaking the poor guys confidence. We'll see how this plays out, but with Ben in we have a productive RBI guy back in the middle of our lineup.
And about that game last night... WOW. Felix almost killed by Broussard, makes one bad pitch really all night (hanging change that Anderson hit for a 2 run bomb) and went 8 innings in our biggest game of the year. That is the Felix we all hope shows up for the years to come. Unfortuanltly it looks like Matthews Jr is back on his HGH. 3 hrs this series, including the game tying 2 run bomb off JJ last night (8-12 with 3 hrs in his career against JJ, he owns him). He should be drug tested immediatly. Willie Bloomquist some heads up baserunning (taking third) and then left hung out to dry by Lopez (who I know is a great bunter, but LET HIM SWING!). I was suprised by the bunt call, especially with Matthews JR playing the role of a 5th infielder. That leaves Garret the gimp Anderson and Vlad to cover the entire expanse of Safeco's outfield. A simple pop fly ends the game, so I don't see why you risk sending Willie there. Oh well that's McLaren for ya. and Yuni, who had some AMAZING plays at SS came through with the game winner, against the 5 man IF again. This had to be one of the craziest games I've ever watched. Both pitchers were under fire all game and that neither got hurt is amazing. Balls were being scorched so much that the defenses were booting and rushing plays. Both teams wanted this and the M's came out on top for once. Gameball goes to the bullpen too, as Green, Sherrill, Morrow, and Eric 'the win vulture' O'Flaherty bent, but didn't break in shutting down the Angels. So much for needing bullpen help, there are 5 guys we could send out there that wouldn't worry me (NOT including Putz, the 5th being Lowe) and honestly I like RRS is the long roll. With Rietsma gone, there isn't a single bullpen pitcher that scares me. How nice of a luxury is that?
Well, Adam is up, the bullpen is settled, and we're 3 games out the West, 1 game out of the wildcard (cleveland won today). Boston comes here (where we have owned them of late) then onto the road to Baltimore and Chicago. This is a good chance for the M's to pick up some games, and I for one am pumped to see how Adam does this second go around. Go M's!
