Am I happy that Big Z is on the DL?
No.
But do I think that the NL should adopt the DH?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The Trib's Phil Rogers thinks they should, and his thinking even infected the Score's Mully and Hanley.
Ruined my drive in on this beautiful morning.
I'm not a historian, so I asked Don and Sutter last night: why was the stupid Designated Hitter rule started anyway?
Super-simplified: Because pitching dominated the game in the late 60's (Bob Gibson's ERA in '68 was 1.12, and Denny McClain won 31 games), baseball was looking for a way to inject more offense into the game.
It had NOTHING to do with protecting the pitcher from the hazards of running the bases.
But Phil likes that part of it, keeping a baseball player from hurting himself while playing baseball.
He believes that because Carlos Zambrano is a pitcher who makes a gazillion dollars, that he should not endanger himself by having to bat.
But you know what?
Injuries are part of the game.
Blown calls are part of the game.
Human beings are part of the game.
Hey, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano - they get hurt sometimes running the bases!
Did you notice that?
We should fix that too, right Phil?
Lets invent the Designated Runner - a guy like Joey Gathright - who stands behind the batter and takes off for first at the sound of the bat.
That way, Aramis could only get hurt if he got hit by a pitch, right?
So lets fix that little problem with the Designated Stander - a guy who stands in front of Aramis while he bats in case the pitch is too far inside.
Whoa, I completely forgot about fielding.
Aramis could hurt his arm throwing to first, or making a diving stop.
Sooo...if it's a soft grounder, Aramis could field it and underhand it to the Designated Thrower, or if it's too hard of a hit he could just get out of the way and let the Designated Fielder scoop it up and hand off to the Designated Thrower.
Aramis would be completely safe, and the game of baseball would be fixed.
Thank you Phil.
Okay, last night's game.
I can't believe that I got to see D Lee's grand slammer Sunday, and then last night get to see Ryan Theriot's smash liner into the stands - all from the comfort of our seats in Wrigley.
TheRiot crushed that ball so hard I think it got recycled already.
Ryan Dempster looked pretty good, and Carlos Marmol looked brilliant.
Cubs 4 Giants 2.
I didn't even mind the little girl constantly kicking the back of my seat throughout.
It was that nice.
Not nice?
Giants' ace Tim Lincecum today.
That guy is seriously good.
How about 31 year old rookie Bobby Scales gets into the game and drills one off him?
How about the team does something for Sean Marshall to make up for screwing up his last win?
1:20 today.
I'll have Emily's radio on...
