Weaksauce

Yesterday it was the pitching, today it was the rest of the team who had a case of the "duhs."

Derek Lowe did give up 3 runs but they were pretty much a fluke compared to the rest of the game he pitched. Six innings, 3 hits and 5 strikeouts. He just gave up those 3 runs in one inning where he had too many walks. Otherwise he was aces with 8 ground-ball outs.

Joe Smith came in to finish the job for 2 innings. The two guys did everyone a solid by going the distance after the bullpen's extended use yesterday. Joe struck out 2 and only gave up 2 hits in his 2 innings. His ERA is still under 3.

Our batters were pretty much stymied today. They did walk 5 times but they only got 5 hits and had a team LOB of 9. ARRRRRGGH!!!

The top of the lineup is just not getting it done at the moment. Choo did get a hit and Kipnis did get a walk, but Hafner did nothing.

Asdrubal got a hit, which stopped an 0-for-16 slide. But...nothing else. He went 1 for 4. So, that does jibe with his .278 average but - dude, why is your average .278? He is, however, back to being solid in the field so that's at least one thing we've got going for us. He's not literally giving up runs with errors anymore. For now.

Santana...ok, slowly but surely. He was actually more impressive than the 4 above him today, getting both a walk AND a hit. But he left guys on base, Hafner left guys on base, Asdrubal left guys on base...you get the picture.

Michael Goddamn Brantley tho - how about that dude? Thirteen game hitting streak now, going 2 for 3 today and 8 for 11 on the series. HOT DAMN! He got 2 hits and a walk today, both of his hits being doubles. That puts him tied for 2nd in the league with Choo and A-Gon. His average is over .300 now and he's hitting .474 over the last 10 games.

I sent over a request to Fresh Brewed Tees that they need to get some Brantley gear made up. I don't think we need to be ignoring this guy any longer!

And that's it! Not even Casey Kotchman did anything heroic today, nor did Shelley or Lopez who came in to pinch hit. Of course Johnny Damon couldn't get anything done. Him and Kotch left 7 on base between them (that's different than the team LOB and I'm sure their 3 and 4 LOB's overlapped. But still...THAT IS A LOT!)

It's going to be a rough week versus the Rays if we can't get our bats out of our asses. I'm hoping pitching won't be too bad (won't see Ubaldo until Thursday) but I guess Rays' pitching has been dominant as of late and our hitting has been anything but these last 3 games.

Chris Perez is from the Tampa area so I'm hoping he's going to get the boys extra special pumped up for a win. Or extra special hung over from a huge pig roast. I'm hoping the former, with gusto.

Tomorrow starts us off with our new favorite Zach McAllister versus a RHP, so we've got promise.

I'll see you there!

Oh sorry, no Radio Chatter...I was in the car on my way home for most of the game. I don't take notes and drive!