Father Alou did this before, but then Grip went on the DL, making room and opportunity for Elly to show out in center. And to my eyes, besides a bit of overexuberance, that's exactly what Elly did. A bunch of nice catches that obviously would have been more difficult/impossible for Grissom to make, along with a few diving ones thrown in for good measure. Throwing out a couple of runners at the plate, something that I'd be totally certain that Grissom couldn't do, except that I saw Kenny Lofton throw out a runner at the plate the other day. So I suppose it possible, just not likely -- and obviously Elly has a much stronger arm than Grissom.
More range, stronger arm...yeah, sure, put him in right field, Felipe, that makes a lot of sense.
- Interesting, as I'm watching the Mets, that the Mets really think that Carlos Beltran should be in center over Mike Cameron. It could just be a respect nod, as Beltran's the 100 million dollar man and all, but Cameron's got Gold Gloves for a reason, and Beltran doesn't for a reason. It's not as if Beltran's not a more than capable centerfielder -- he's very good there, but I think that Cameron's better. Any Mets fans reading that want to chime in on this?
- F. Alou disappointed me. Noah Lowry gets a leadoff double, and Felipe has Elly bunt him over to third. It's the 3rd inning, Felipe, why give away an out at this point, especially when you have a hitter at the plate with home run power? Sure enough, Omar Vizquel can't get the runner home and Deivi Cruz strikes out to end the inning. So stupid to bunt while only down one run in the first few innings of the game.
- FOX has a decent play-by-play guy, but I'm wondering who the color guy is, because I want to make sure I avoid his broadcasts from now on. He'd be pretty good if it weren't for the fact that he's terrible.
I have to give a tip of the cap to my other fave team, the Royals, who have now improved to 4-0 under new manager Buddy Bell. Three of those wins coming at the expense of the New York Yankees in a sweep. Unfortunately the Royals keep sending Jose Lima to the mound, so with his start today that streak will come to a screeching halt. With an 8.13 ERA, I think I might be able to use Lima's performance to scare little children...
"And then, even though we thought he was dead for sure, Lima keeeeept coming back. With a spooooky 1.70 WHIP, and already giving up 15 home runs of terror in only 55 innings pitched, Lima shambled to the mound..."
Heck, I'm scared.
UPDATE: Of course, now that I've said that, the Royals have already taken a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. The Reverse Curse (tm) seems to be working quite well.
2 comments:
Ellison in RF isn't a terrible idea in SBC, although of course the corrolary is that the only CF left after that is Grissom, who is terrible in CF there. It's always quite a wonder that more triples don't go over his head in RCF.
I've only been in Shea once, but I don't recall anything special and challenging about RF, at least not like SBC. Then again... we lost anyway, so at some point you might as well play Dallimore out there.
I still think SBC calls for two Ellison-style OF, or at least a classic CF and a good-fielding RF with great mobility and a great arm. Beltran would have been a good candidate I think. But that would have tied up all the money needed to sign Alou, Benitez, Matheny, and now to pay Hawkins...
BB
Sabean had not seen fit to re-sign two of the better right fielders the Giants have had -- Jose Cruz, Jr., and Reggie Sanders. Cruz had his problems, so although I think he played the best right field in the short history of SBC, not re-signing him wasn't a huge mistake in my mind. Sanders, though -- that one hurt a bit. He's done nothing but help the Cardinals in the time he's been there.
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