The Antidote

Mike Meyers has struck out Ortiz 6 consecutive times. Wow! he's the anti-Heredia. He occupies the narrowest niche in the history of major league pitching--he's really on the team to get one guy out. And yet it's no small role. The antidote to Poopie.

Poopie's girth, by the way, is twice the size it was in Minnesota and his head has grown right along to Bondsian proportions. I'm not saying he uses HGH, but--okay yeah that's exactly what I'm saying.

Slow Joe's been coming in for some love on the blog lately, for playing small ball in the 8th on Monday, for playing and sticking with the reserves. I'm going to add one more kudo even before I know how it comes out. So long as Mussina was going to miss a turn anyway (there's nothing wrong with his groin, I know, it's momma Joe being Momma Joe, but frankly I think his arm could use the rest), I think it's smart to push Wright back and start the rook tonight. Not just because the Angels pose a much sterner test than the Mariners, but because after a draining 5 game wallopalooza, you need something to juice the subsequent game, and having an unproven kid pitch means that for at least one player on the field, this is a really big game, the biggest of his life. The other players can feed on that anticipation, uncertainty, and hope. Maybe this is the guy to replace Ponson as a spot starter and supplement the kiddie core of Cano, Melky and Wang. The antidote to dog day drag out.