I’m going to take Jason one step further;
If Willie Bloomquist was black and from New York, there wouldn’t be 4 people in Seattle who cared about him. He’d be Charles Gipson, a widely recognized scrub who got cheers for running hard but everyone realized had no business as a major league player.
Bloomquist’s entire reputation as anything resembling a major league player is based on the fact that he grew up near Seattle and looks just like Joe Fan.
Oh, and one more thing; It was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, folks. Willie got his hits today off Rob Bell and his 7.36 ERA (who replaced Jason Standridge, he of the 7.03 ERA). The kid still can’t hit major league pitching, and he’ll never have anything resembling the career Jeff Cirillo has had. Despite his problems, Cirillo is still the better player.
Folks, I’d just like to remind you that Willie Bloomquist is not a very good baseball player. I know there’s going to be all sorts of crazy talk after the three games he started this weekend — to be fair, he was good at the plate and in the field — but that doesn’t erase a pretty poor minor league career.